Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens' responses to questions about the 2013 team during Tuesday's media day teleconference:
On the overall look of the team coming into the season:
Like all of us we are very excited for the season to commence. Our guys come back a little bit later, the 26th of August. But the off-season training and spring practice has gone well for us. I’d say (there’s) a good level of an enthusiasm. (We have) a fair number of returners on both sides of the ball. We generally have played a good number of players so there’s some experience there, but there’s also some spots, our offensive line in particular, where we need to replace a number of starters. The defensive front as well. But (there’s) a good attitude. The athleticism continues to (grow and we’ve) become more comfortable with what we are doing on the field, and so we are at this juncture in time very excited to start.
On quarterback Dalyn Williams and tailback Dominick Pierre:
We are very pleased and fortunate to have two of those guys back. . . . Dalyn Williams came in replacing Alex Park, who was hurt midseason. We feel like we have two starters. Park was the guy that established himself early on in the season. We certainly knew Dalyn Williams was a gifted athlete .. . He played every ballgame so he kind of developed as time went on. He was fully prepared to take over as the starter. The competition between the two has been very, very healthy. They are both supportive of each other but highly competitive. I think it has made the position much stronger and the depth much better.
. . . Dominick has been just a very steady player for us for the past three seasons and certainly is looking forward to his senior year. (He’s) a very productive and physical runner. A smart football player for us. He has helped tremendously with the development of Brian Grove, who saw a fair amount of time last year, and Kyle Bramble. So we have some guys that can carry the football. We have some people who can spell Dominick . . . but we are looking for a big year from him.
On what it takes to compete with the Penns and the Harvards of the Ivy League:
Both Harvard and Penn set a very, very high bar across the board, and for the last 10 years (they) really have been tremendously successful. We look at them as the standard we need to perform at. We feel like we are getting closer as time goes on. The critical thing . . . in those specific ballgames, is to play our best football. You know they are very, very consistent over time. You get the same type of thing year after year. We have to compete at their level in order to have success.
On the talent level of the league now compared to his playing days and first tenure in Hanover:
It is a well kept secret but I think the coaching in this league, the recruiting in this league (and) the development of players in this league is as good as any place in the country. . . . Obviously, we coach intelligent young men. Because of that we can do collectively more things on either side of the football, so . . . there is a lot of preparation involved. The physicality, just demonstrated by the number of young men that have an opportunity as free agents or draft choices to go on, has gotten better and better. And the recruiting. I don’t think there are any secrets any longer. Everybody canvasses extremely well. I think the funding within is a lot more appropriate. I think everybody is working on more of an even plane at this point. So it is a very, very talented league. I send tape to some of my friends and so forth and the comment comes back, Wow, I didn’t expect that when I heard Ivy League football. We have smart kids who play hard.
On the importance of Dartmouth's veteran defense:
Don Dobes, our linebacker coach, has done a wonderful job as the defensive coordinator as well. The linebacker corps area is very, very solid. Bronson Green will be a four-year starter for us. Michael Runger was the league’s top tackler a year ago, a very, very solid football player. Both are having fine offseasons. Will McNamara came in and replaced Bronson Green when Bronson got nicked up a little bit and he is going to be a fine player as a sophomore. Eric Wickham, another young man that got nicked up a little bit early in the season, is a guy that we are counting on as well. We have more depth than we have really had at the position. (They are) good guys, good physical people and there’s a lot of competition.
The same holds true in the back end. Garrett Waggoner is just a legitimate safety at any level. He is a big, powerful kid. He loves the game. He works very, very hard at it and is a very good leader for us. Steve Dazzo has responded extremely well. (Corner) Chase Womack is coming back. (So is) Vernon Harris, who started as a freshman for us. So there’s a lot of people that have played and they’re comfortable with their ability to play. They are also very highly competitive. So in the back end we feel like we’ve got some people who will compete and help us. Unlike the past, we have some depth. Injuries are going to occur at some point and to have guys that can step forward and also have participated previously (is important).
The front, the offensive and defensive lines, are the two concern areas.
On the defensive line:
We’ve played a lot of guys. That’s just a belief that I had . . . coming into our program. And over time we (have been) recruiting more talented athletes as we have gone through. Guys that you haven’t heard of a lot of have actually taken a good amount of snaps. Evan Chrustic, Frank Fulleton, Elliott Kastner, Martin Pomykala, Jeff Winthrop, AJ Zuttah. Sawyer Whalen was injured last year and wasn’t able to take some snaps but (it helps) having guys like that come in and have real good springs for us. The fact (is) that most of them (were) on the field last year a fair amount of time. There’s a little bit more awareness and appreciation for what they need, one, to prepare, and two, to execute successfully. So there are some names that you haven’t heard as much of, but they have been in the mix before and we feel like they’ve got some experience that will prove invaluable this fall.
