June grad RC Willenbrock's Dartmouth athletic career probably didn't go the way he hoped but thanks to the NCAA allowing grad students the opportunity to use their final season of eligibility, he's getting a one-year do-over.
A placekicker with a strong leg who had the misfortune to come along a year after always dependable Foley Schmidt and also struggle with injury, Willenbrock is walking on to the University of Virginia football team. Find his UVa bio here. The Roanoke Times writes:
Walk-on R.C. Willenbrock, no relation to Virginia Tech offensive lineman Jack Willenbrock, is a 2013 Dartmouth graduate who is a walk-on place-kicker for the Cavaliers.
Willenbrock played football and lacrosse at Cherry Creek High School in suburban Denver and appeared in nine lacrosse games for Dartmouth over three seasons, 2010-12. He missed the 2010 and 2011 football seasons due to injury but once was said to have “unlimited potential” by kicking guru Chris Sailer.Find Willenbrock's Dartmouth bio here. He also played lacrosse at Dartmouth.
Willenbrock isn't the first former Dartmouth football player to finish his athletic career at Virginia.
Chad Gaudet '08, who seemed poised to do great things at running back for the Big Green before suffering a (football) career-ending leg injury, played one season of lacrosse with the Cavaliers, earning a role as the team's faceoff specialist. Find a story about him here.
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Tustin (Calif.) corner Daron Minnix is mentioned in an OC Varsity blog item as holding an "offer" from Dartmouth while, "drawing interest from Fresno State, San Diego State, New Mexico State, Missouri and Northern Arizona." Find a story here.
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A long weekend of golf coverage wrapped up yesterday with a fun championship match at the Tommy Keane Invitational held at Hanover Country Club. In case you are curious what I was up to, check out the TKI blog.By the way, among the players in the tournament was Fred Kelley, for many years Dartmouth's head trainer and a familiar face both on Memorial Field and in Davis Varsity House. I wrote a story about Fred for last year's blog. Find that story here.
