The Art of a Quarterback

Reserve quarterback Max Heiges, out with an ankle injury, was one of three varsity athletes briefly profiled in Dartmouth Life about, "how they balance their studies in studio art with their athletic commitments." Heiges, also the Big Green's backup punter, will wrap up his football career this fall. He told Dartmouth Life:

"Coach Teevens has been so supportive of my art, and I'll miss football. But after closing the studio every night for the last three years because I could only work on art projects after practice, I'm really excited at the thought of being in there as much as I want and just being able to dig in."

The buzz around the state about Saturday's Dartmouth-New Hampshire game is starting to pick up. Allen Lessel's blog on the Manchester Union Leader page reports that senior tailback Chad Kackert, the speedburner who pulled a hamstring late in the preseason, will likely get on the field for the first time this year against the Big Green. Coach Sean McDonnell:

"I don’t think we’ll see him in a gazillion reps out there, but I think we’ll see him in some. I think he’s got a chance to play Saturday and it will be good for all of us.”

The New Hampshire Football Report reminds us that UNH has "morphed into a team best known for its defense. At least that's what the statistics suggest."

The Report includes a couple of McDonnell's thoughts on Dartmouth and in particularl, defensive end Charles Bay:

"I see a better football team. And it starts on the defensive line. I think they've got a kid there Charles Bay, number 96 -- he's a very good football player. He a top-half-of-the-league defensive player in the CAA or in the Ivy League. He's athletic. He gives them a presence on the edge, and we gotta be very aware of him. Where he's at."

McDonnell said that while UNH and Dartmouth don't often cross paths on the recruiting trail, the Wildcats did make runs at Dartmouth defensive tackles Mark Dwyer and Tyler Green and tailback Nick Schwieger.

The New Hampshire Football Report also has a Dartmouth update spun out of Tuesday's Ivy League teleconference here.

To listen to a podcast of the UNH coach Sean McDonnell's coach's show, click here.

The Seacoastonline.com site has a story about preseason All-America tight end Scott Sicko. The piece notes:

Through two games this year, the projected No. 1 pass catcher — tight end Scott Sicko — has four receptions for 25 yards. And almost as many drops.

"It's tough," said quarterback R.J. Toman. "I'm dropping back and there's a lot of times he's double-covered. They're playing a guy on him with a safety over the top. They know how important he is to us."

The official Dartmouth sports publicity office preview has been posted here and Dartmouth's game notes (with depth chart) can be found here. As always, your mileage may vary with the depth chart ;-)

The New Hampshire school paper has a story under the headline, "Bye week gears UNH up for Dartmouth," but it's more of a look back at the Wildcats' win over Ball State than anything else.

ESPN.com has an interesting story about Nebraska transfer Patrick Witt playing this year at Yale and Harvard-to-LSU-to-Harvard transfer Andew Hatch sitting out a year at Harvard before returning to action next fall. The headline: "Two QBs travel road from BCS to Ivy."

Speaking of Yale, this one is kind of hard to believe, but the New Haven Register's Portal 31 blog reports: Governor M. Jodi Rell is proclaiming Saturday "Tom Williams Day" in the state with a proclamation being read and presented to Williams.

Yale beat Georgetown in its opener. Wonder what the state will do if the Bulldogs beat Harvard?

An active college football player serving as a bouncer just doesn't seem like a particularly good idea. Turns out it wasn't for Brown standout David Howard, who found himself in legal trouble after a "melee." The Providence Journal has a story.

Something that flew under the radar Saturday. When Colgate sophomore Jordan McCord carried 44 times for 212 yards Saturday against Dartmouth he was just two carries short of the Patriot League record for carries in a game.

The official Dartmouth release announcing the hiring of former quarterback Brian Mann as director of football operations can be found here. The release notes, "In this role Mann will oversee all administrative functions of the football office and work closely with football alumni and others to coordinate activities of the Friends of Dartmouth Football."

An ESPN.com piece tells the story of what former UNH assistant Chip Kelly did when a fan billed him $439 for travel expenses to see Kelly's Oregon team perform poorly in a loss at Boise State. It may surprise you.

If you haven't seen the video or heard the story of a high school boy with Down syndrome running for a touchdown in a freshman football game, check out this link. Pretty special stuff.

Extra Point
Tom Sawyer would love it. Driving down to Claremont, NH, the other day to renew my license, I couldn't help but notice that virtually every white fence I saw in the countryside was made not of wood, but of vinyl. No paint. No whitewash. No problem for Tom.