What Might Have Been

The Sunday Boston Globe magazine has a lengthy piece on two-time NFL Pro Bowl player Matthew Slater of the New England Patriots. It mentions that Slater ran a 10.76 in the 100 meters in high school, that he averaged a record 29.0 yards per kickoff return in college with three touchdowns, and that he was a stellar student.

Oh yeah, and it mentions that his college choice came down to UCLA or . . . wait for it . . . Dartmouth, where he was um, slated to play wide receiver.

For some interesting background on the one that got away from then-coach John Lyons, check out Chris Lincoln's book, Playing The Game. In the left column you'll see a box that says, "Search Inside The Book." Fill in the word "Slater" and you can read several pages about how close Slater came to coming to Dartmouth, and what a difference maker he was expected to have been.

For more information on Slater, check out his Patriots bio and his Wikipedia entry.

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With the bowl season over and the coaches convention in full swing, kudos to a couple of former Dartmouth players (and assistants) who were graduate assistants for bowl-winning teams. Former defensive back Joe Scola '07 just finished his second season at Florida State and former defensive lineman Derham Cato '05 just closed out his second campaign at Vanderbilt.