It's official. A 6-foot-4, 225-pound quarterback expected to vie for the starting job at Nebraska this year will instead be headed to Yale. Patrick Witt's decision was reported on the New Haven Register's Portal 31 blog. Witt offered a statement to the Omaha World-Herald about his decision to transfer here. For a December story in the Omaha paper where Witt is projected as the likely starter this fall, click here.
Witt graduated from high school in January of 2007 in order to go through spring football with the Huskers and then redshirted that fall. He saw action in five games in 2008, completing 6-of-8 passes for 98 yards and running four times for 21 yards. Find his Nebraska bio here.
Easy to miss at the end of the Portal 31 entry about Witt was a throw-away line by the writer:
"I'm hoping to hear about another transfer from a BCS school soon."It appears new Yale coach Tom Williams might be getting the same kind of housewarming gifts that former coach Jack Siedlecki received back when he took over for Carm Cozza in the late '90s. After a 1-9 debut season, Siedlecki welcomed Stanford transfer Than Merrill and Air Force transfer Rashad Bartholomew.
The bruising Bartholomew ended up rushing for a then school-record 3,015 yards in three years (Dartmouth's career record is 2,252) before going to camp with the Tennessee Titans. Merrill ended up being a two-time, All-Ivy League safety and played in the NFL before becoming a house-flipping real estate celebrity.
Oh, and while they were at it, Merrill and Bartholomew helped Yale go 6-4 in their first season and go 9-1 while winning the Ivy League championship the next fall.
Dartmouth's early season schedule has been daunting for the past decade or so. Should Witt be the real deal and another impact BCS transfer be in the cards, that schedule just got a little more daunting.
Speaking of transfer quarterbacks, the million dollar question in the Ivy League has been whether Andrew Hatch, he of the Harvard-to-LSU-to-Harvard itinerary (with a Mormon mission mixed in) would be eligible for the Crimson next fall. A Harvard Crimson column somewhat buried this curious comment from Harvard coach Tim Murphy:
"There’s usually a small chance that when you transfer and then come back to the same school, I’m sure someone’s been made eligible for it, but most times it never happens.”The columnist followed with this thought:
In all likelihood, Winters and Simpson will get one year to prove themselves, as NCAA transfer rules will likely prevent any immediate return by Hatch. That would set up an entertaining battle for the starting spot in 2010, when Hatch, Winters, and Simpson could all be in the mix for the starting job as seniors.Hatch is apparently back at Harvard despite a moratorium on transfers this year.
In the aftermath of the draft, the Harvard Crimson has a story about the Ivy League impact in the NFL.
The Colonial Athletic Association has been putting blog posts on its site from CAA football players and with New Hampshire finally in action, speedy tailback Chad Kackert has joined the conversation here. Among other thoughts, he offers these:
I have been impressed with the way the defense has been flying around. They are making plays on the ball with more speed than I have seen in my four years. The defensive front is showing tenacity in each snap, giving our young offensive line a good chance to get some real experience.In the midst of its spring practice sessions, UNH took time out to do a community service project cleaning up debris from a December ice storm. Find a story here.
For a follow on the Ivy League championship run of a Dartmouth rugby team that features a number of former football players, check out a story in the Daily Dartmouth.
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