Two More Names

Credit Google with delivering news of a couple more Dartmouth football recruits. Heading to Hanover from Newton (NJ) HS are Evan Chrustic, a 6-foot-4, 250 defensive tackle, and Garrett Schmidt, a 6-3, 240 tight end from Olentangy HS, Lewis Center, Ohio.

Chrustic's college plans were reported in a New Jersey Herald wrestling notebook that wrote he "will be going to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire in the fall to play football." Chrustic was an All-West Jersey third-team pick. It probably didn't help his chances for postseason honors that his team went 3-7. A talented wrestler, he medaled in the New Jersey state wrestling championships. Find a very quick clip of him in this westling move of the week video.

Schmidt – who will be the third unrelated Schmidt on the Big Green in the fall, joining Foley and Phil – was reported to be headed to Dartmouth in a story about a teammate who will be playing at Northwestern. ThisWeekSports.com wrote: "Garrett Schmidt recently announced that he would play at Dartmouth, a Football Championship Subdivision program (formerly Division I-AA)."

To see Schmidt's highlight video, click here.

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There's renewed optimism in Princeton with the return of injured quarterback Tommy Wornham who missed the second half of last season including the Tigers' loss to Dartmouth. Two years ago Wornham completed 18-of-29 passes for 211 yards and ran seven times for 49 yards in a win over the Big Green. The Princeton Packet writes about the triggerman for the Tigers' uptempo offense:

Bob Surace, who is gearing up for his second season as head coach, is still looking for the Tigers to run the fast-paced offense that can provide big points when it’s run well, but led to too many quick three-and-outs without Wornham.

"Oregon and Auburn, the two national championship teams, run it,” Surace said. “What we have to do is be successful with it. Earlier in the year, when we were humming along on offense, we were having success with it. Tommy went down and we probably weren’t as suited for it without him."

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It's hard not to be impressed by what the University of New Hampshire football program has accomplished over the past decade or so despite almost no local recruiting base and a stadium that compared to those of its conference brethren can only charitably be called, "subpar." With Rhode Island moving to the Northeast Conference, UMass to the MAC and the Big East flirting with Villanova, UNH and Maine may be in line for a lot of frequent flyer miles as members of the Colonial Athletic Association. With that in mind, the editorial staff at the UNH school newspaper has written a piece under the headline:

If CAA collapses, (Athletic Director Marty) Scarano needs to be prepared
Move to Patriot League may be an option

From the story:

The Patriot League would likely jump at the prospect of adding a team with the FCS prestige that UNH has.

Green Alert Take: UNH could certainly do worse than align with the Patriot League. But whether the PL would "jump" at the prospect of adding New Hampshire is another question. Not to disparage a fine university that tries to do things the right way, but apart from a bizarre relationship with Towson University for several years, the Patriot League has been made up of schools that draw largely from a different academic pool than UNH. The suspicion here is that some associated with the PL would be concerned that adding a larger, public university would water down the Patriot League brand.

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There aren't any Ivy or FCS teams included, but this list of NFL draft picks since 2000 by FBS conference teams is pretty interesting.