Verbal Schmerbal

The first "verbal commitment" for the next Ivy League football recruiting class listed on the Rivals site is John Van Allen, a three-star safety/wide receiver/linebacker who is said to have chosen Harvard over offers from Boston College, Maryland, Duke and others. No doubt, there are other rising high school seniors who made verbal commitments to Ivy League schools coming out of camps, perhaps including at Dartmouth, and news of those commitments will start hitting the Internet in weeks to come.

What does it all mean? TigerBlog gave it some thought in a column earlier in the week that began this way:

TigerBlog has spent much of his summer being asked the same question: What does a verbal commitment from a high school prospect mean?

And he has spent much of his summer giving the same answer: Nothing, with pieces of everything mixed in.

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Yale Athletic Director Tom Beckett will represent the Ivy League on the executive committee of the the Division I Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association. Find a story here.