Gaudet Set For NCAA Debut

Good story in Virginia's Daily Progress about former Dartmouth tailback Chad Gaudet going to the NCAA's as a grad student with the Cavalier lacrosse team. This quote from coach Dom Starsia doesn't surprise me at all:

"I made a joke to the team earlier in the spring. I said, ‘Are we going to let an Ivy Leaguer be the toughest guy on the team?’ He brings that component to us. He’s an animal in the weight room and works his tail off on the field.”

For anyone who saw Gaudet play at Dartmouth before the devastating knee injury that ended his football career, that's not a surprise. I've said it before and I'll say it again: If Gaudet had stayed healthy running behind an improving line he would have broken the Dartmouth career rushing record and would have helped the Big Green program turn the corner.

A couple of interesting notes from a Q&A with Princeton head coach Roger Hughes.

First, Hughes said the wildcard for his team at quarterback might be 6-foot-2, 195-pound Brett Kan. Should Kan win the job he would be the second son of a former Dartmouth player to quarterback the Tigers in four years. Kan's father, Darryl Wong '82, got tryouts with the San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers after graduation and today is an orthopedic surgeon in Hawaii. Jeff Terrell, who quarterbacked Princeton to the 2006 Ivy League title and won the Bushnell Cup as IvyLeague Player of the Year, is the son of Steve Terrell '79, whose 61-yard punt is tied for ninth all-time on the Dartmouth career chart.

The other note of interest from Hughes is also in regard to the Princeton quarterback situation. Hughes said:

I fired my quarterback coach, which is me. Basically, with my responsibilities, trust me that the best part of my day is being out on the field with the players. I love coaching quarterbacks; with that said, the demands of a head coach and all the hats I have to wear take away from my time. As I looked at it, I wondered if the time I have to do other things and not be with the quarterbacks may have slowed their growth a bit.

The Portsmouth Herald's web page has a story in anticipation of today's Blue-White scrimmage at the University of New Hampshire that offers good insight into the team Dartmouth will visit in the second game of the season. Write Mike Zhe notes:

The annually explosive UNH offense will head into battle this fall with one of the league's top quarterbacks (R.J. Toman), running backs (Chad Kackert) and tight ends (Scott Sicko). But with four new starters, the line blocking for that trio is anything but proven.

And ...

Last year, UNH entered the season with four senior starters on the line and ended up churning out 406.9 yards a game (best in the CAA) and 35.6 points (second to James Madison). This will be as young and as inexperienced it has been at the position as any time in recent memory.

There's also this about the 2009 UNH schedule that. It is now ancient history, but it sill has to sting the Green faithful:

Looking ahead to the fall, the Wildcats' 11 opponents include two teams that were winless in 2008 (St. Francis, Dartmouth), four others that finished below .500 (Towson, Hofstra, Northeastern, Rhode Island), and five that finished above .500 (Ball State, Villanova, Massachusetts, William and Mary, Maine).

The poll over there on the left has closed with 54 percent of you suggesting that you are more optimistic than a year ago at this time, 25 percent feeling about the same, 10 percent feeling less interested and nine percent less optimistic.

Green Alert Take: That 54 percent of you are more optimistic is a surprise because the sense that I got last spring was that there was significant optimism coming off a 3-4 Ivy League season. I wonder if a good portion of that 54 percent is actually more optimistic than they were after last season. I'd expect that if the question were reframed to ask it that way the number would soar if only because, really, there's just one way to go.

And finally, back when that certain Hanover High junior was still playing baseball with the boys (right through the summer of her freshman year), I asked a Dartmouth softball coach whether that was a good idea, or if it might slow her transition down to softball whenever that might come. The word I got back was that baseball with the boys would only help her and clearly it has.

Yesterday she pulled something off that you don't often see girls do. On third base with two outs, she came off the base a little bit more with each successive pitch until finally breaking for home when the catcher lobbed the ball back to the pitcher. She slid in safely with a delayed steal of the plate that scored another run when the stunned pitcher's hurried return throw went into the dugout area. That certain catcher also threw a runner out bunting, picked a runner off first and threw a runner out stealing second. Alas, her team remained winless.