Catching Up With 'The Catch"er

Former Dartmouth wide receiver Andrew Hall of "The Catch" fame throws the discus in this still taken from a video of a one-on-one practice competition with training partner Jonathan Collins. The pair, dubbed "Salt n Peppa," hope to make Team USA in the decathlon. (Thanks for the link.)

For video of "The Catch," with John Sterling making the call, click here. Newbies: If you haven't seen that video, don't miss it. Great stuff. For a fun story I wrote on The Catch, click here.

Dartmouth's non-league schedule next fall has the Big Green playing Colgate, Sacred Heart and Holy Cross. Who are the other Ivy League teams playing in their non-conference games? Not all teams have "released" their schedule but here's what I've pieced together:

Brown
Stony Brook
at Rhode Island
at Holy Cross

Columbia
Fordham
Towson
Lafayette

Cornell
at Wagner
at Bucknell
Colgate

Dartmouth
at Colgate
Sacred Heart
Holy Cross

Harvard
Holy Cross
at Lafayette
Lehigh

Penn
Lafayette
at Villanova
at Bucknell

Princeton
at Lehigh
Lafayette
Colgate

Yale
Georgetown
Albany
Fordham

Who has the toughest non-league schedule? Who has the easiest schedule? Discuss among yourselves.

Colgate, by the way, will play Monmouth and Furman before taking on the Big Green in Dartmouth's opener.

Sacred Heart will face Marist, Robert Morris and St. Francis before playing Dartmouth.

Speaking of Sacred Heart, there will be familiar name on the other side of the line when the Big Green faces the Pioneers. On the defensive line for Sacred Heart next fall will be 6-foot-4, 240-pound Adam Conger, younger brother of former Dartmouth defensive end standout Ryan Conger '05, now a mechanical engineer in Seattle. The younger Conger had eight tackles last fall, including one behind the line.

Ryan Conger was a two-time member of the All-Ivy first team. He had 16 sacks and a whopping 27 tackles for loss over his final two seasons. Conger teamed with future pro Anthony Gargiulo to give Dartmouth one of the best one-two punches at defensive end in school history. Ryan also won my favorite Dartmouth postseason honor, the Manners Makyth Man Award.

There's a recap of the first week of Penn spring football on the Penn site.

Yale has lost a running back recruit to Stanford, which has tendered Jackson Cummings preferred walk-on status. (link)

Dartmouth lost a line recruit named Andy Altman to a walk-on role at Stanford a couple of years ago. Altman was not with the Cardinal last year according to the Stanford Daily, and does not appear on the 2010 spring roster.

From the story about Cummings, the Yale recruit who is instead heading to Palo Alto:

Having to tell Yale that he was not following through on his commitment was hard for Jackson.

“It was really tough,” said Jackson, who had a 4.5 grade point average last semester. “I called the recruiting coordinator, who is also my recruiting coach, and I just kind of told him all the stuff that happened and he wasn’t really happy about it. And the (Yale) head coach, who I didn’t have a number for, ended up calling my dad. (The Stanford) opportunity came through really late and I get a chance to earn a scholarship and be close to home. I still love Yale and the coaching staff at Yale and I really think I would have had a great time there as well.”

Yale does not offer its students athletic scholarships and the cost per year is about $50,000. However Yale does offer lots of grants and financial aid. Jackson said, at the time that he signed with Yale, that nearly all of his fees were being paid for.

And finally, Mrs. BGA's car is at the shop where the mechanic suggested it might be a good idea to check with our insurance agent. Who would think mud could do that kind of damage? It's small consolation but we woke up this morning to a dusting of snow. Think powdered sugar on top of mud pie. Real mud pie.

And finally II: How's your bracket looking this morning? Probably not as good as this one. (Thanks for the link.)