Talking Football

During a comprehensive KWY Radio spring football interview, Penn Coach Al Bagnoli noted that every team in the Ancient Eight will return its starting quarterback next fall, including the two-time defending champion Quakers. In fact, Penn will welcome back both Ivy Player of the Year finalist Billy Ragone (eight starts) and Ryan Becker (two starts) and both could have three years of eligibility remaining.

Penn's experience under center will be in stark contrast to a year ago when Bagnoli said the Quakers couldn't put in their full offense until the second half of the season.

Bagnoli said he expects the Dartmouth offense will be as multiple as it will be all year when the teams square off in Week Three of the season.

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The Daily Dartmouth has a column under the headline, Football program cut in 2012. While that sounds like an April Fool's joke and the piece begins like one, it's not. The story starts this way:

That’s right, no more Dartmouth football. I’m sure this news will come as a shock to the student body, because we have so many adamant fans. Just look at how many came to the games last year!

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The story gives no indication if he's thinking about giving college football a shot, but the Hunterdon County Democrat story suggest that an all-county selection from New Jersey has Dartmouth as one of his final two choices along with Johns Hopkins. From a story about Matt Berry being honored during the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame-Delaware Valley Chapter awards:

Berry, a Lions’ team captain, was an outstanding all-around performer for North Hunterdon. He was a second-team All-County selection at linebacker besides also playing well at fullback and place-kicker.

The 5-foot-9, 195-pound Berry averaged 5.2 yards per carry while running for 230 yards last fall and caught nine balls for a 24-yard average.

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There was quite a buzz last year when news broke that Boise State tight end Trevor Peterson was transferring to Yale. (He also reportedly considered Dartmouth.) A year later the Portal 31 blog writes that Peterson is leaving the program after spending last season with the Yale jayvees. From the story:

"He hung up his cleats," Yale coach Tom Williams said. "It was a disappointment, we expected big things from him. I guess he lost his desire to play college football."

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Add five Harvard players to the list of Ivy Leaguers giving pro football a shot. Working out at two pro days according to the Crimson were defensive back Collin Zych, tailback Gino Gordon, receiver Marco Iannuzzi, defensive tackle Chuks Obi and offensive lineman Brent Osborne.

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It's a snow day for school kids here in the Upper Valley with about eight inches expected and a little more likely at higher elevations ... like this. What this means for spring football, which is slated to kick off Tuesday, remains to be seen.