McManus, Abuhoff On Preseason Team

With 42 days until the first Dartmouth practice, the Ivy League's official football page has awakened. In addition to listing the Athlon Top 25 (Harvard is at No. 23) and the Sporting News Ivy League picks (Dartmouth is No. 8), the Ivy page lists Phil Steele's two preseason all-conference teams. Here's how many total players Steele's well-regarded magazine picked for the first team from each school, followed by a breakdown by unit:

Total First Team Picks

• 7 – Penn (3 offense, 3 defense, 1 special teams)
  
• 6 – Brown (3-3-0)
• 6 – Harvard (4-2-0)
• 3 – Columbia (0-2-1)
• 2 – Princeton (1-1-0)
• 1 – Yale (0-0-1)
• 0 – Dartmouth, Cornell

Here's how many total first- and second-team picks each school had, followed by the breakdown:

• 9 – Harvard (6 first team, 3 second team)
• 9 – Penn (7-2)
• 8 – Columbia (3-5)
• 7 – Brown (6-1)
• 7 – Princeton (2-5)
• 5 – Yale (1-4)
• 3 – Cornell (0-3)
• 2 – Dartmouth (0-2)

Dartmouth's picks for the second team? No surprise, really. Junior wide receiver Timmy McManus deserved consideration for a spot on the first unit considering what he accomplished last year starting one game at quarterback and practicing both at wideout and QB. The other Dartmouth player honored is sophomore defensive back Shawn Abuhoff, another smart choice. By the way, although Abuhoff is wearing No. 27 in this year's poster (see yesterday's BGA), look for him in a more stylish No. 8 jersey this fall.

Green Alert Take: Preseason teams are always a guess, but seeing Columbia with almost as many picks as likely preseason favorites Harvard and Penn – and more than the other five schools – suggests one of two things. Either the Lions are ready to pounce, or the excitement around Norries Wilson's rebuilding project has carried the critics away. I'll let you know which is right in November ;-)

Green Alert Take II: As for overlooked Dartmouth candidates based on last year's statistics, senior safety Peter Pidermann had to be right at the cut-line for the team, both as a return specialist (second-leading kickoff returner in the Ivies but hurt because he didn't return punts) and defensive back (ninth among all returning tacklers in the Ivies).

Dartmouth could be in the running for a 6-foot-1, 220-pound true fullback from Massachusetts. Clay Cleveland was a high school teammate of incoming Dartmouth lineman Teddy Reed at Masconomet High School in Massachusetts. Like Reed, who went to Deerfield Academy after graduating, Cleveland is taking a postgrad year. From a story in the Salem News:

Among those that recruited him last winter were Ivy League schools like Princeton and Dartmouth, and upper-echelon Football Championship Subdivision teams such as Delaware.

And ...

"Obviously there are no guarantees, but a lot of the Ivys said I was very close (to getting in) and a year at Phillips might help," the multiple-time Cape Ann League all-star said.

And this:

One of my best friends is Teddy Reed, who PG'd and wound up at Dartmouth. So hopefully it'll be worth it for me."

Cleveland will be in action tonight in the 48th annual Agganis Football Classic at Manning Field in Lynn, Mass.