More On Incoming Back

Incoming recruit Ryan Paganetti, a 5-foot-10, 206-pound running back from Belmont Hill School in Massachusetts, is the subject of a story in the Bedford Minuteman. The piece notes that Paganetti transferred to the boarding school from Bedford High School and went on to rush for "nearly 1,900 yards" and score 23 touchdowns in his two years at Belmont Hill. The story also says that he, "played about half of the defensive plays at outside linebacker, specializing in pass rush."

Here's what Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens told BGA about Paganetti earlier:

“He is an 11 flat 100-meter guy. ... He's ranked in the state in the discus and the shot. ... He is an explosive, powerful back, probably like Nick Schwieger in terms of stature, speed and quickness. ... Has a chance to help us on special teams early. ... It was Harvard and ourselves, and a couple of the other Ivies.”

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Former jayvee quarterback Sean Furey '04 won the national title in the javelin at the U.S. Outdoor Nationals in Des Moines, Iowa, with a throw of 262 feet. There is a story in his Massachusetts hometown newspaper, The Eagle Tribune. Retired Dartmouth throws coach Carl Wallin gets a nod in the piece, which mentions Furey's upcoming marriage to Matti Chatterton-Richmond, herself a former standout Big Green track performer.

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A regular poster on the Any Given Saturday site does assessments of Patriot League football recruiting classes using the same points system for each school. While it's easy to nitpick the formula there's some interesting stuff in the capsule, including the mention of a transfer from UConn who redshirted for the Huskies.

Set to be in a Bucknell uniform come Sept. 18 when the Big Green opens up will be 6-foot-4 (or 6-5 depending ;-) 306-pound Clark Maturo, a junior offensive lineman apparently with sophomore eligibility. His recruiting profile out of Hotchkiss school is here and there was a story about him on UConn's Scout.com page. With the return from a Mormon mission of former All-Patriot League defensive end Josh Eden, and with new coach Joe Susan on board, there could be a lot of excitement building in Lewisburg.

Bucknell was 4-7 last year although it did finish the season with a huge, 23-17, win over NCAA playoff-bound Holy Cross, the Patriot League champion.

(While we are at it, for the same message board poster's look at the Holy Cross recruiting class, click here.)

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The changing landscape of big-time college football conferences won't have much of a trickle-down effect on the Ivy League but changes at the FCS level could have an impact on out-of-league scheduling. Old friend Craig Haley at The Sports Network writes here about the ground shaking under the powerhouse Colonial Athletic Association. From the story:

At the end of the 2009 regular season, the premier conference in the FCS had two programs drop the sport - first Northeastern, then Hofstra. Now word is filtering out (including via a Richmond Times-Dispatch report) that Rhode Island, which for decades has struggled to be competitive in a conference full of bigger members, is studying a possible departure from the CAA to join the smaller Northeast Conference for the start of the 2013 season.

CAA Football will get back two of the losses when Old Dominion joins the conference for the 2011 season and fellow independent Georgia State, which is debuting its program this season, will follow in 2012.

New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Villanova of the CAA have all been annual opponents of Ivy League teams (except UNH this fall). Haley suggests Stony Brook – another school that has started to show up on Ivy schedules – "might be attractive to the CAA."