As 32 N.F.L. teams opened their camps, the new practice model virtually prohibits tackling and tolerates only nominal full-scale contact between the players, often no more than five minutes a week.When Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens virtually eliminated tackling from practice a couple of years ago there were a lot of people (present company included) who wondered if it really was the wave of the future. Apparently it is.
More from the Times about the NFL changes:
The regular-season games may still be three hours of vicious collisions, but training camp, once six weeks long, is now a three-week summer exercise in getting players prepared, as safely as possible, for the physical rigor that awaits them.
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The Sports Network has a column spun out of the Patriot League media day and not surprisingly, it deals with the institution of football scholarships in the conference most closely aligned with the Ivy League philosophy. From the column:While the quality of play will rise in the league and Patriot programs are better prepared for the recruiting battles against other scholarship conferences - even the rival Ivy League, which doesn't have athletic scholarships - its members will need to get help from true walk-ons. Under league rules, a program which offers academic aid to a student-athlete must relinquish a scholarship. It surely won't happen, so there will be fewer "recruited" players overall.And . . .
"What's going to be important is roster management," Lehigh coach Andy Coen said. "The Patriot League classes have always been in the high 20s, maybe some years even 30 kids. This year, we're bringing in 22 players. I think that's going to be about the top end. If you look at some of the stronger programs in the FCS, they're giving 15 scholarships a year. You need to give the full scholarship to get the better player."The Ivy League allows an average of 30 recruits per year (120 over a four-year period).
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Dartmouth will be playing two Patriot League schools this year – Bucknell and Holy Cross. Of the latter, TSN had this to say:Don't sleep on the Crusaders after five of their losses last season were by four points or less.The Big Green beat Holy Cross last year in Worcester, 13-10, on a field goal with no time left.
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In the newspaper business this might be called "burying the lede" but here goes. The Patriot League is offering a conference-wide streaming video package this year and it is free!Granted, only five of the seven football-playing schools are included (no word on which two are not included), but as a BGA emailer wrote, the exposure for the PL will be "invaluable." There's an analysis of the PL initiative on the fine Lehigh Football Nation site.
Taken straight from a Patriot League Network fact sheet:
Everything is FREE!
• All games appearing on the PLN will be free to watch on the PLN video player and the school’s video player.
• All video on-demand content will be free to watch.
• Among the video on-demand programming are features, highlights, championship previews and recaps, coverage of media days and archived regular-season games and championships.
• 700-plus live events scheduled for the 2013-14 season, including live coverage of various Patriot League Championships.
• Distribution for live games — games available on participating school sites and Patriot League site, Campus Insiders site, various other national sports online outlets, and newspapers sites across the country.
