As part of "media day," at Dartmouth yesterday, positional meetings were open to, well, the media. At the top, Chris Wilkerson makes a point during a meeting on special teams in the Floren Varsity House "smart classroom." The next photo shows first-year offensive line coach Keith Clark making a point while going over things with the offensive line. (Click photos to enlarge)Craig Morton. If you are an NFL fan of a certain age, the name probably brings to mind an NFL quarterback who played for the Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants and Denver Broncos before retiring in the early 1980s.
If you are a Dartmouth football fan, you think of arguably the most exciting receiver in school history, a 6-foot, 170-pound whippet who averaged 24.2 yards per catch while grabbing 44 catches as a sophomore in 1986.
Although he was just a three-year varsity player (freshmen were not eligible for the varsity in 1986) and struggled much of his final two seasons with strapped shoulder, Morton '89 stands first in career receiving yardage at Dartmouth (2,605), third in career receptions (138) and first in average yards per catch for anyone with more than 50 catches at 18.9.
Two quick stories.
I was working in the sports information office at the college when Morton was a freshman. I remember being in the office when the stats from his first game against Princeton came in over the FAX machine (long time ago, huh?) and then SID Kathy Slattery (Phillips) and I were laughing about some intern thoroughly bollixing them up. No way this Morton kid could ever have done what was being reported. But after checking, it was correct. Every bit of it. I don't have the exact numbers handy but I do have the score: 21-17, with Morton scoring all three touchdowns on long – I mean long – receptions.
Before the season was over he would catch 21 passes for 718 yards and nine touchdowns in six games. Do the math and you'll see he averaged a mind-boggling 34.2 yards per catch!
One year later Morton was a sophomore on the Dartmouth varsity. I remember like yesterday head coach Joe Yukica telling me before the game against powerhouse Holy Cross that he was going to streak Morton down the field in the first series. I seem to recall JY chuckling and saying something along the lines of, "They think they know how fast he is. They are going to find out he's faster." Sure enough, second play of the game, Morton takes off, David Gabianelli launches and 64-yards later Dartmouth has its only points of the afternoon. To this day I think JY knew that game was going to be tough and he wanted to make sure to have a little bit of fun.
Morton also caught a 98-yard touchdown pass that fall against Columbia.
In his senior winter Morton went to the NFL Combine and worked out for scouts in Hanover, but eventually informed teams he did not intend to play professional football because he would be getting married. He changed his mind about the football piece a couple of years later and had some success in the World League of American Football before going to work in computer services at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and starting to raise a family.
Why bring Morton up today? I heard that the local paper was working on a story about his son, a budding standout at Lebanon High School. (His daughter was a track star at the nearby school.) But the real reason for recalling Morton's career – beyond the fact that it is fun – is a reader sent a link to where he is and what he is doing today.
Morton, who was active in Campus Crusade for Christ at Dartmouth and used to drag his battered body out of bed on Sunday mornings following road games to host a religious radio program, is now a pastor at the Wellspring Worship Center in Lebanon along with his wife, Karen. Find a bio and picture of Craig here. You can listen to part or all of one of Pastor Craig's sermons here.
Wonder what's up at season-opening opponent Colgate? The always well-done Lehigh Football Nation site takes a look at the Raiders in its "Offseason" series. LFN links to a Utica Observer-Dispatch story confirming that, "Cornerback Wayne Moten, the team’s defensive MVP last year, chose not to play this year."
The news out of UNH following the Wildcats' Blue-White scrimmage, according to the Laconia Citizen, is that quarterback RJ Toman was, "on the field for four series and engineered touchdown drives in all four as the offense as a whole produced seven touchdowns and 54 points."
As always, scrimmage results can be parsed in many different ways. In this case, is it that the offense is really good or the defense is really bad? Might be the former because there's a lot of hype in Durham this year that, finally, the UNH defense is going to be strong. A large number of returning starters suggests that, and so does coach Sean McDonnell, who tolds the Citizen, "I did like that drive at the end of the half by the offense. That was good to see because our No. 1 defense has been pretty stout for most of fall camp." (Italics are mine.)
The Root has a story featuring a photo of new Yale football coach Tom Williams. The headline is, "Black and Coaching in the Ivy League; Tom Williams will soon begin his first season as head football coach at Yale. What the NCAA can learn from the Ivys about diversity."
The story includes this:
There are only four black coaches at the 119 schools that comprise Division 1A, the highest level of competition in the NCAA. The Ivy League is in Division 1-AA, where Williams joins Columbia University’s Norries Wilson, the first black coach in the Ivy League.(An aside: The NCAA might as well give up on the FBS/FCS nomenclature. It seems I-A and I-AA will never go away.)
The story also says:
The Ivy League has succeeded in diversity in ways that other conferences should envy. In addition to their high marks in football, half of the conference’s basketball coaches are African-American, which compares favorably to the 30 percent average in the NCAA.I have to admit to mixed feelings about the recent schedule announcement that Dartmouth will be playing a home-and-home with Butler. I'd hoped, and maybe it will happen, the Big Green would try to schedule Northern Colorado. It would be a great trip, Colorado is prime recruiting ground and it sounds like a bigger-time game than some others.
Northern Colorado, after all, played Hawaii two years ago, Purdue last year and will face Kansas this year. And here's the best part. It's not like the Bears are a powerhouse, although if you don't tell anyone they've gone 3-31 over their past 34 games I won't. Find a Denver Post story about Northern Colorado's move from Division II national champions in 1996 and '97 to struggling I-AA (oops, FCS) program.
And finally, the lede of an ESPN.com story:
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A Division II school in Virginia has canceled its 2009 season opener because it doesn't have helmets or football pads ...And One More Thing
This used to be the time of year back when I was a kid that I'd get all excited about a few new TV shows starting up. The networks would have been showing teasers starting in mid-summer and it was exciting to finally get to see the programs. Times have changed. These days programs are introduced seemingly all around the calendar. But who is watching? No one in this house. Honestly, I don't think any of us have watched a single show on ABC, NBC, CBS (or FOX for that matter) other than news, a news magazine or sports in at least five years and probably more. Not one.
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