Heading To Hanover

Canada's Cochrane Eagle, a newspaper in Alberta, writes about Dartmouth-bound tailback Ryder Stone. The 5-foot-10, 205-pound Stone averaged seven yards per carry while running for 1,224 yards and scoring 14 touchdowns during a prep year at Phillips Andover. LINK

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Yesterday was Patriot League media day and several notes from a story posted by The Sports Network (LINK) should make ears perk up in Hanover and around the Ivy League, particularly given the introduction of scholarships by regular the Ivy scheduling partner:

Incredibly, six of the seven Patriot teams started a freshman quarterback at some point last season, including league rookie of the year Peter Pujals of Holy Cross. 

Ivy League teams will occasionally play a freshman quarterback. All but one Patriot League team had a freshman quarter start games last year. The difference? Scholarships raised the level of incoming player in the PL last year.

"I think all of us are seeing a little better student-athlete as a whole," (Lafayette coach Frank) Tavani said. "A little bit stronger students, better players, players that now have a high interest - they like Lafayette academically or Lehigh or anybody in the Patriot League. The financial-need analysis was a bit of a roadblock for a lot of families. Now that's removed and people are chasing us." 

Read that again. "Stronger students," and "better players."

Here's the Patriot League preseason poll:

1. Fordham, 72 points (12 first-place votes)

2. Lehigh, 54

3. Lafayette, 51 (2)

4. Bucknell, 43

5. Colgate, 33

6. Holy Cross, 29

7. Georgetown, 12

Holy Cross, the lone Patriot League team on Dartmouth's schedule this fall, had just one player named to the conference's preseason all-league team. Junior Kalif Raymond was selected as a return specialist.

By the way, kudos to the Patriot League for running a real media day with the seven coaches being joined by players from each school, the Patriot League Network broadcasting interviews and fans being invited to send in their questions. LINK

Green Alert Take: It was always a bit of a pain to drive to Yale Golf Club for the Ivy League media day, and a lot of the coaches weren't crazy about it either. But it was well worth it. It is a shame the Ivy League is limiting its media day once again to a conference phone call.

Here's the Holy Cross media day video:



Here's the PL preview video:



Green Alert Take: The hope here is that the Ivies continue to schedule the majority of their games against teams from the Patriot League. Given the number of kids who apply to both Colgate and Dartmouth it's a natural rival for the Big Green. Ditto for Bucknell and the rest. Honestly, how much cross-over do you think there is with Sacred Heart or Central Connecticut?

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To counter lackluster student ticket sales, the University of Iowa is raffling off one-year scholarships to pay the $8,000 in-state tuition to five students who buy season tickets.

Given that Penn State tickets sold out in minutes, that's not going to happen in Happy Valley but some of us who are paying ridiculous out-of-state tuition, room and board out there sure wish it would ;-)

Dartmouth In Starkville

Yesterday's BGA Daily picked up a blurb from Football Scoop that Dartmouth was looking for someone to fill its offensive quality control position. Today's Football Scoop has the explanation for the opening.

Albert Poree, the former New Orleans high school teammate of assistant coach Cortez Hankton who spent the last year at Dartmouth, has moved on to Mississippi State, where he will hold down a defensive quality control position.

In Starkville, Poree can trade Dartmouth memories with Mississippi State tight end coach Scott Sallach (BIO), who coached wide receivers and special teams in Hanover from 1998-2002 before moving on to Princeton. In 2009 Sallach moved to Mississippi State, where he was united with head coach Dan Mullen, a college teammate at Ursinus.

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Speaking of former New Orleans high school players, this was news to me. Aenas Williams, who will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame Saturday after playing corner for 14 years for the Arizona Cardinals and the St. Louis Rams, might have ended up at Dartmouth. From a story in the Baton Rouge Advocate (LINK):

Williams’ senior year ended without a football scholarship offer, although he said he could have attended Ivy League school Dartmouth and played.

Williams must have been a very good student. According to Wikipedia (LINK), he didn't play football in his first two years at Southern University and then played what would have been his junior year as a grad student. He was then drafted in the third round. He is now an ordained minister and founding pastor of the Lord Family Church in St. Louis.

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The Portland (Oregon) Business Journal has a column headlined, What I learned from talking to Hank Paulson, Jamie Dimon and Phil Knight. Paulson, of course, is a former Dartmouth lineman better known for his stint as Treasure Secretary. From the story:

Fitting for a former college football player (Dartmouth), Paulson struck me as someone who tackles problems the moment they land on his desk. 

Find the story HERE.

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Football season kicks off at Memorial Field Saturday at 5:30 p.m. when the Dartmouth facility hosts the annual Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl all-star game featuring graduated seniors from New Hampshire and Vermont. (LINK) The game will be preceded at noon by the Shrine parade down Main Street in Hanover.

New Hampshire has won 13 consecutive games in the series, as many as Vermont has won in total since the game started in 1954. The Granite State holds an overwhelming, 45-13-2 lead in the series.

Among those suiting up for New Hampshire with be Hanover speed burner Shawn Cavallaro (LINK), who, barring a redshirt season, Dartmouth will see in Durham, N.H., on Sept. 27, when he is playing either wide receiver or defensive back for UNH.

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Thunder and lightning yesterday cost That Certain '14 the chance to make it up Mt. Elbert, at 14,433 feet the second-highest peak in the contiguous United States. At about 12,500 feet she and her hiking partner made the right decision to turn back. She sent along a couple of pictures from her hike a day earlier to the peak of 14,157-foot Mt. Sneffels. In the second that's her in the circle ;-)

Click the pix to blow them up.

 

Hey, I've Been There!

Heading into town this morning for a presentation I need to sit in on as part of a freelance assignment, so this has to be pretty quick.

Working on another freelance assignment I stumbled across this WCVB-TV (Boston ABC affiliate) video report about Hanover's Main Street.

If you haven't been here for a while, or you know someone who is heading this way for school, you'll appreciate this look at what one report called the best college town in America.

CLICK HERE to watch the WCVB report.

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CLICK HERE for the listing of the best college towns in America.

Green Alert Take: Congratulations to our fine town for being at the head of the class, but any listing of top college towns that doesn't have State College, Pa. in the top 10 has made a mistake.

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From Football Scoop:

Dartmouth has an opening for the position of offensive quality control. If interested please send cover letter and resume to Joey McIntyre.

The posting includes a link to Joey Mc's email, but rather than let the spambots discover his address I'll leave it to you to look it up on the Dartmouth football website.

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While That Certain Nittany Lion was having a nice weekend on the links, That Certain '14 was hiking one of the 14,000-footers in Colorado on a day off from her summer position as a park ranger. Today she is hiking another one. Good thing she's fit ;-)

Get Pumped

Pretty good "pump-up" video for the 2014 Ivy League season.



There's a selection of Dartmouth clips in the video, including two that are memorable. At the 3:22 mark Garrett Waggoner's interception in the snow seals Dartmouth's season-ending win over Princeton.

And at 3:40 or so, Cole Marcoux makes the one-handed TD grab at the right sideline that had most anyone who knows his story wanting to stand up and cheer.

Speaking of Marcoux – who would graduate Phi Beta Kappa and as a Rufus Choate Scholar –  click here to read a three-part blog post he wrote for his Sociology 91 class entitled, Sociological Imagination: Situating Oneself in Both Time and Place. From his introduction, which talks about growing up in NewYork City rooting for the Jets:

These blog posts are an attempt to dissect a previously unconsidered aspect of my life: being a die-hard fan of New York’s professional sports teams.

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Finished a long three-day weekend yesterday doing PR for the Tommy Keane Invitational golf tournament at Hanover Country Club. That Certain Nittany Lion and his partner won their morning match yesterday before falling in the First flight championship.

Media Day (Of Sorts) Just Over A Week Away

The annual Ivy League football media day is Tuesday, Aug. 5, and I will be on the call. Look for something on BGA that afternoon.

I still rue the end of the old Ivy media days at Yale Golf Course when it was actually possible to ask questions of the coaches without everyone hearing what you were asking, and what the coaches were answering. Much better for getting "scoops."

I was never a boat-rocker as the beat writer for the local daily, but I'd have to say it was pretty interesting hearing what the coaches said about the prohibition on going to the NCAA playoffs and scheduling an 11th game.

Actually, when I asked the question in the public section of the Q&A, I didn't get much. But in rotating from coach to coach afterward for one-on-one interview I got more, as well as a lot of good off-the-record stuff. The absolute best comment I got was in the men's room, uh, standing next to one of the coaches. Couldn't use that one! You don't get any of that stuff on the phone, nor do the coaches get to know you, and you the coaches.

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Once again, BGA Premium kicks off the in-depth preview series on Aug. 17. If you've sent along a check for a subscription, be sure to fill out the form at this LINK. If you are renewing your subscription and already have a password, you are set.

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One of the great things about going to every full practice is there isn't much you don't see and hear (although there's occasional stuff you can't write). At the newspaper I couldn't go to every practice and so I missed things, like a story about former Princeton standout-turned-actor Dean Cain.

Apparently, while former Dartmouth coach John Lyons was a big fan of Cain's play, he wasn't going to let the Tigers' star defensive back be the one to beat him. A former Big Green player recounts a little bit about Lyons' strategy in a comment he posted below an NBC Sports story headlined, Dean Cain, Matt Leinart trade barbs (yes, it’s still a little slow). Scroll down to read the lengthy comment. LINK

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It's my final day doing PR for the Tommy Keane Invitational at Hanover Country Club. I always enjoy doing golf but the last day is always the best, because it's the day I can step away from the computer and actually get out on the course. That Certain Nittany Lion is in the semifinals of the first flight.

NFL Names And Numbers

Wanted to toss this up while it is still valid. To be sure, some of the Ivy Leaguers in NFL camps will be released in the early going but there's a bounty of 20 former Ancient Eight players going through their paces as camps open. Here's the list with their heights, weights, positions and team bios.

Jeff Adams, 6-7, 305 offensive tackle, Columbia/Titans

Kevin Boothe,  6-5, 325 offensive guard, Cornell/Raiders

Cameron Brate, 6-5, 235, tight end, Harvard/Buccaneers

Desmond Bryant, 6-6, 310 defensive lineman, Harvard/Browns

Mike Catapano, 6-4, 270 defensive iceman, Princeton/Chiefs

Brandon Copeland, 6-3, 260 linebacker, Penn/Titans

Zak DeOssie, 6-4, 249 long snapper, Brown/Giants

James Develin, 6-3, 255 fullback, Brown/Patriots

Jake Dombrowski, 6-1, 190, punter, Harvard/Bills

Ryan Fitzpatrick, 6-2, 223 quarterback Harvard/Texans

Kyle Juszczyk, 6-1, 248 fullback, Harvard/Ravens

Josh Martin, 6-3, 245 linebacker, Columbia/Chiefs

Jeff Mathews, 6-4, 229, quarterback, Cornell/Falcons

Kevin Murphy, 6-7, 305, offensive tackle, Harvard/Vikings

Nnamdi Obokwelu, 6-3, 303 defensive end, Harvard/Colts

Tyler Ott, 6-3, 255 linebacker, Harvard/Patriots

Caraun Reid, 6-2, 301 defensive tackle, Princeton/Lions

Greg Van Roten, 6-3, 303, offensive guard Penn/Seahawks

JC Tretter, 6-4, 307 center/guard, Cornell/Packers

Bryan Walters, 6-0, 190, wide receiver, Cornell/Seahawks

By School

Harvard 8

Cornell 4

Brown 2

Columbia 2

Penn 2

Princeton 2

By Position

Offensive line - 5

Defensive line - 4

Linebacker - 3

Quarterback - 2

Fullback - 2

Tight end - 1

Wide receiver - 1

Punter - 1

Long snapper - 1

Busy Days

Doing PR this week for the Tommy Keane Invitational golf tournament at Hanover Country Club. The tournament honors the man who coached Dartmouth golf from 1922-1966. Think about that! I'll be updating the TKI blog all day through Sunday HERE.

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The FCS Gameday preseason poll has defending Ivy League co-champion Princeton as the No. 25 team in the country. LINK

New Hampshire, which advanced to the national semifinals last year in the FCS, is ranked No. 6. Dartmouth will play the Wildcats under the lights in Week 2 of the Big Green season.

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The Moorpark, Calif., newspaper has a lengthy story with recent Dartmouth grad AJ Dettorre. LINK Not surprisingly, the Big Green victory that cost Princeton an  undefeated Ivy League season figures prominently in the story.

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Now off to the links (which isn't really a links course, but you get the idea ;-)

Dartmouth In Cajun Country

Click to enlarge

The Dartmouth contingent who helped staff the Manning Passing Academy staff in Thibodaux, LA gathers for a photo at a party thrown by supporters of the annual event. Pictured (left to right) are Jim Eden '79, Joe McLaughlin '81, David Shula '81, Jim Rill '81 and Buddy Teevens along with – could it possibly be? – Bob Weiss. If you look closely you can barely make out Peyton Manning in the background.

Teevens is associate director of the Manning Passing Academy where he, "oversees all aspects of the on-field operation and coaching staff." (LINK)

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Click to enlarge.

As of this week the trees behind the north end zone of Memorial Field are no more. They will be replaced by a row of arborvitae (a fancy hedge row to the rest of us) according to the minutes for the Hanover planning board from May 6.

Check out the minutes to see mention of the replacement of the trees and, oh yeah, the home stands. It is included in Item 3 of the, "Submission of application for site plan review by the trustees of Dartmouth College to replace the west stands bleachers at Memorial Field, with upgrades to access, bathrooms, and related athletic functions/facilities." (LINK to PDF)

UNH Night Game Confirmed

The University of New Hampshire has announced game times and the Sept. 27 game against Dartmouth will indeed be the first-ever home night game at Cowell Stadium. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. LINK

In case you were wondering, sunset in Durham on Sept. 27 is 6:31 p.m. according to the Old Farmer's Almanac ;-)

The game is being promoted as State of New Hampshire Day by UNH.

UNH has been installing lights as an early phase of its stadium renovation project. Find photos of the light installation HERE and renderings of the entire project that is tentatively slated to be completed late next year HERE.

With the announcement of the UNH start time the Big Green will play its first two games under the lights. The Big Green opens the season Sept. 20 against Central Connecticut at 7 p.m. on Memorial Field. All other games are in the afternoon barring a change for TV purposes. (No word yet on potential TV games.)

First Kickoff In One Month

While Dartmouth won't begin practice until four days later, the first college football game of the season is exactly one month from today!

On Aug. 23 Sam Houston State will visit Eastern Washington in the new FCS Kickoff game to be broadcast on ESPN at 3:30 p.m.

Dartmouth's three non conference opponents tee it up one week later with New Hampshire visiting Toledo, Holy Cross traveling to Albany and Central Connecticut at Towson.

Dartmouth begins practice on Aug. 27 and, like its Ivy League brethren, begins the season on Sept. 20 against Central Connecticut.

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Week 2 opponent New Hampshire has been picked a strong favorite to win the powerhouse Colonial Athletic Association title. The Wildcats, who return the core of the team that made it to the national semifinals last year, garnered 15 of 24 first-place votes in the poll released Wednesday. (LINK)

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Dartmouth senior Kirby Schoenthaler has been named to the College Football Performance Awards (CFPA) Kickoff Returner Award Watch List. From the Dartmouth release:

"A wide receiver from Bartlesville, Okla., Schoenthaler was held back from returning kickoffs last year during an injury-marred junior campaign that limited him to appearing in just five contests. But as a sophomore, he averaged more than 20 yards per return and brought one kickoff back 79 yards for a touchdown against Sacred Heart. He also has hauled in 44 passes in his career for 411 yards including a pair of touchdowns for the Big Green."

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The National Football Foundation reports that seven new college football teams will start play this fall. Between 2013 and 2016 a total of 28 new teams will have hit the field.

Astonishingly, perhaps, there were 484 college football teams in 1978 and there will be 657 this fall, an increase of 173 teams. (LINK)

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Dartmouth product Kyle Hendricks tossed seven shutout innings to earn his first major league victory for the Chicago Cubs last night. Hendricks fanned five and walked three in a win over the San Diego Padres. Find a game story centered around Hendricks HERE.

Even before the game, ESPN's Rick Sutcliffe had this to say about Hendricks:

"There are so many things about Kyle that flash me back to when I first met Greg (Maddux) and when I first met Mike (Mussina). These guys don't lose.

"It starts with ability, of course. They are better prepared and they're smarter. Kyle is one of those guys."  

 And Sutcliffe added this:

"Back in the day when I read (manager) Don Zimmer's comments in the paper that we could 'pencil in Maddux in the rotation,' I walked into his office and said, 'Forget the pencil, get out the (pen), he's going to help us.' I feel the same about Hendricks."

Eight Is Enough

Remember the buzz about the young man who was accepted at all eight Ivy League schools? This probably isn't as rare, but 6-foot-2, 275-pound defensive tackle Daniel James of McKinley High School in Baton Route, La., may have his pick of the Ivies as well.

The Times-Picayune among other publications, has a story (LINK) about James receiving "offers" from all eight Ivies that includes this quote from McKinley coach Robert Signater:

"This is the first time ever I've had a kid offered by every Ivy League school there is," the coach said. "Last year we had a couple guys that were offered by a few Ivy League schools, but this is the first time where they flooded it ... Sometimes it's amazing when you have a guy come visit and say, 'I'm from Dartmouth,' or 'I'm from Yale.' I'm kind of like, 'Wow,' you know? It's truly amazing to me."

It certainly doesn't hurt Dartmouth's chances that former NFL wide receiver and New Orleans native Cortez Hankton recruits his home state. Hankton has proven to be a very effective recruiter.

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Saw an interesting media day quote from Kansas coach Charlie Weiss and it brought to mind Dartmouth starter Dalyn Williams as well as Alex Park, a much better runner than most people know (LINK):

Anytime you have a mobile quarterback which is really not the way we were suited to last year until Montell (Cozart) started playing. Until that you are playing 11 on 10 football. If the quarterback is never going to carry the ball and is not a threat to the defense and they don't have to worry about him, then they are plus one as far as numbers go. By having a quarterback being able to be one of the guys who can carry the ball puts much more stress on the defense.

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Former Dartmouth placekicker Erik Hinterbichler '06 (LINK) gets a bouquet from the website Mac360 (LINK) for his free mail program, Herald. If you use Apple's Mail program, it's a "must-have."

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When we brought him home a little over three weeks ago, Griff the Wonder Pup took one look at the two steps up to our deck and gave out a little whimper. Three weeks later he just about left me behind hiking to the South Peak of Moose Mountain, out behind our house. Yup, looks as if he'll be ready to go for the annual BGA hike on the morning of the opening game against Central Connecticut.

See Reggie Run

Former Dartmouth and Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Reggie Williams, despite 24 knee surgeries and the very real threat of losing a leg, hopes to complete what he calls his "impossible dream," and run up the field at Paul Brown Stadium. Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens and the Reggie Williams Award get a brief mention at the end of a Cincinnati Enquirer column about Williams' goal. LINK

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Speaking of Teevens, the New York Daily News spent four days at the Manning Passing Academy and the resulting story includes a recounting of Johnny Manziel being sent home last year. Teevens, who helped start the camp when he was head coach at Tulane, is quoted with regard to the Manziel contretemps. LINK

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The Ivy League football home page has collected most of the preseason All-America, all-conference and positional watch lists that have been trickling onto the BGA pages over the past month or so on one page.

Included is the USA College Football preseason All-America list. The Dartmouth players on that list were posted on BGA earlier but Dartmouth captain Sean Ronan, who was chosen for his play on the offensive line, was mistakenly left off when he should have been included. Find the Big Green co-captain's bio HERE.

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A couple of former Harvard football players are making news. Tight end Cameron Brate, who wrapped up his career last fall, is in camp with the Tampa Bay Bucs as an undrafted free agent. LINK (Thanks for the tip ;-).

And Matt Birk, who had a long and decorated pro career as a center, has been named the NFL's Director of Football Development. A league release (LINK) explains his responsibilities this way:

In his new role, Birk will assist in developing the game at all levels of the sport, from players to coaches to front office personnel. He will also assist in the administration of NFL game day operations.

Birk will guide the continued evolution of the Scouting Combine and Regional Combines as well as the annual all-star games for aspiring NFL players, such as the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Game.

Could that last lead to a little more exposure for Ivy League grads? Can't hurt ;-)

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And finally, I saw this on a message board and wonder if you agree:

Top two wishes of Ivy football fans everywhere: Playoff participation by the Ivy champion and the diversification of opponents in scheduling games.

Green Alert Take: Anyone who has spent any time in this electronic precinct knows I beat the drum for the playoffs all the time. As for "diversification of opponents," I'm not so sure. I'd much rather play Holy Cross, Colgate, Lehigh, Lafayette or Bucknell than the Monmouths, Wagners, Central Connecticuts and Sacred Hearts that have started to dot Ivy League schedules. Nothing against those schools, it's just that the Patriot League and Ivy League really do have more in common.

If diversification means traveling to other parts of the country, count me in. But if the games are in the northeast, give me Patriot League opponents with a New Hampshire for Dartmouth, a Rhode Island for Brown and a Villanova for Penn sprinkled in.

Rather than schedule diversification, my wish list after the playoffs would be schedule expansion. It's time for the Ivy League to join the rest of the free world and schedule an 11th game instead of playing a preseason game, a la Dartmouth-Harvard and Brown-Yale.

Catching Up

It's always interesting to learn where former Dartmouth assistant coaches are these days and what they are doing.

Adam Hollis came to Dartmouth in 1999 to work with tight ends and went on to coach Big Green running backs before joining former Dartmouth assistant Roger Hughes at Princeton in 2008.

After Hughes and his staff were let go following the 2009 season, Hollis relocated to Tennessee. While he's no longer coaching he's still around college sports, working out of Nashville, Tenn., as a client advocate for Advent, which "cre­ates dynamic, inspir­ing, and engag­ing brand spaces for cor­po­rate, edu­ca­tional, and civic insti­tu­tions."

A few of the programs Advent has worked with are Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Auburn, Maryland and Virginia football. The company website also has links to its work with Gonzaga and Miami men's basketball, Maryland women's basketball, Southern Cal athletics, Kentucky baseball, Notre Dame fencing, Pepperdine athletics and more. Check out some of their projects page HERE.

Hollis' Advent page is HERE.

An example of Advent's work can be seen here:

The Vanderbilt Football Lobby from Advent on Vimeo.

Attention Stat Geeks

A true stat geek has dug through all available rosters in the FCS to calculate for each team:
• Offensive starters lost
• Offensive line starts lost
• Percentage of positive net rushing yards lost
• Percentage of passing yards lost
• Percentage of wide receiver yards lost

The stats include the rushing and passing yards per game from a year ago to put the losses in context.

Defensively, the workup includes:
• Percentage of defensive starters lost
• Percentage of defensive tackling performance
• Percentage of loss from the defensive line, linebackers and defensive backs

The site uses all of the above to make a weighted numerical assessment of losses and then ranks the FCS teams from 1 (least affected) to 124 (most affected). Here's how the Ivies rank:

32 Yale
44 Princeton
68 Dartmouth
82 Columbia
94 Harvard
99 Penn
117 Cornell
124 Brown

Frighteningly (if there's much validity to the numbers) New Hampshire comes in at 16 one  year after making it to the national semifinals.

Central Connecticut is at 28 and Holy Cross is listed at 79.

Here's the LINK to the full breakdown.*

* Your mileage may vary ;-)

A Great Story

A handful of things I really enjoy about doing Big Green Alert Premium:

1. For most part, I get along with my boss (me ;-)

2. I can hold staff meetings in a phone booth (if I can find one, which I occasionally have to do because I don’t own a cell phone).

3. Coaches and others around the Dartmouth football program are unfailingly helpful and friendly.

4. I thoroughly enjoy getting to know alums, friends of the program and parents of players. (We had unbelievably good seats to see the Colorado Rockies last week courtesy of a parent who became a friend, and were hosted and treated to a terrific time in Colorado by parents of another former player, who have been wonderful friends.)

5. I get to know the players better than I did when I was at the newspaper and missed the occasional deserving story because I wasn't around the program the way I am now and wasn't as keyed in.

One of the people I should have written about when I was at the paper is John Stanton, but I wasn't aware of his story until starting BGA.

John Stanton in the '92 Dartmouth media guide (click photo to enlarge)

A graduate of California’s Harvard Westlake School, Stanton was a reserve linebacker on the 1990, ’91 and ’92 teams that each won Ivy League titles. A walk-on who played for love the game and for love of the team, he probably would have seen game action at a lot of schools around the Ancient Eight. But as a member of championship Dartmouth squads loaded with talent, his main contributions came when no one was watching – including the local beat reporter.

Now, anyone who sticks with it without seeing the field on Saturdays is a good story. But the undersized linebacker from California’s story is a great one, and not just because he stuck with it.

John Stanton, who was out there banging helmets like everyone else for four years, was just the second deaf student ever to attend Dartmouth (the first graduated in 1979).

While the school has had one or two deaf students a year on average since the 1990s, and more and more deaf students are finding a home on Ivy campuses, Stanton knows of just one other deaf student-athlete to play football in the Ancient Eight. (The other was Columbia offensive lineman Nathan Walcker, who graduated in 2009).

A lot of Dartmouth players who made headlines have graduated since Stanton, but few continue to bleed green the way he does. No one, and I mean no one, sticks up for Dartmouth football quite like Stanton, who does so almost to a fault.

That's how much Dartmouth has meant to him.

It's why he proposed to wife Cindy Bellefeuille Stanton '97 outside the Corey Ford Rugby Clubhouse after her alumni game. It's why the onetime scout-team linebacker and the onetime captain of the Dartmouth women’s rugby team were married several months later not in Washington, D.C., where he practices law, but here in Hanover.

A graduate of Georgetown Law, he has long been a dedicated volunteer for the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, a deaf advocacy group that promotes speaking and lipreading.

Now the reason for the late introduction to Stanton.

Recently he was presented with the AG Bell Honors of the Association Award, “given to individuals who have demonstrated dedication to – and sustained efforts toward – the mission of AG Bell.”

A video recognizing this year’s AG Bell Award recipients includes a segment about Stanton that details his efforts for the organization and features pictures of him and his family. Find it HERE. To view the entire video, CLICK HERE.

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Andrew Goldstein, who helped the Dartmouth men's lacrosse team to the NCAA Tournament, who scored a goal in the tourney game against Syracuse and who, oh yeah, came out as gay right around that time, is featured in a story out of the World Lacrosse Championships headlined, For a trailblazing Israeli lacrosse team, a pioneer in the nets. Find the story HERE.

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The Stanford Daily writes about softball coach Rachel Hanson's move last week from Dartmouth to Stanford. Hanson is just the latest in a line of successful Big Green coaches who went on to coach at Stanford. Men's soccer coach Bobby Clark and women's coach Steve Swanson, men's cross country and track coach Vin Lananna and football coach Buddy Teevens all headed up teams at both schools. Check out the Hanson story HERE.

Got One Right

There are too many mistakes on the USA College Football preseason All-America team but the sense here is the site got it right when it included Dartmouth senior Scotty Whitmore among its whopping 21 "first-team" offensive linemen.

In his second year as a starter last fall the 6-foot-4, 305-pound Texan made the All-Ivy League first team for helping Dartmouth lead the Ivy League with 2,193 yards on the ground, and to pile up 4,249 yards of total offense, second-most in school history.

Named to the USA College Football preseason second team from Dartmouth were defensive lineman Evan Chrustic and defensive back Stephen Dazzo. Defensive lineman Cody Fulleton and defensive back Vernon Harris were chosen third team and wide receiver Bo Patterson and quarterback Dalyn Williams were honorable mention as the website did a good job of following the 2013 All-Ivy team.

All totaled, 32 Ivy Leaguers were included on the first, second, third and honorable-mention teams.

Unfortunately, the USA College Football preseason team got names wrong (Penn's Kyle Wilcox is listed as Mike), Central Connecticut tailback Rob Holloman is listed on both the first and second team, Sacred Heart's Troy Moore is first-team defensive line where he is joined by his fictitious alter-ego Tony Moore. According to message board postings, players who have left school also show up on the list.

Find the USA College Football preseason All-America team HERE.

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Dartmouth's game at Columbia is now listed as a 1:30 kickoff on the Columbia site. While a noon start might have been better for those of us hoping to make a down-and-back trip of it, the tee time does help fill in what had been one of the two remaining time gaps on the Big Green schedule. All that remains is the UNH game, which I'm still thinking has a very good chance of being at night given that the school is installing lights. (LINK)

Dartmouth 2014 Game Times
Sept. 20 Central Connecticut, 7 p.m.
Sept. 27 at UNH, TBA
Oct. 4 Penn, 1:30 p.m.
Oct. 11 at Yale, 12 p.m.
Oct. 18 Holy Cross, 1:30 p.m.
Oct. 25 at Columbia, 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 1 Harvard, 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 8 at Cornell, 12:30 p.m.
Nov. 15 Brown, 1:30 p.m.
Nov. 22 at Princeton, 1 p.m.

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Dartmouth players who are on campus, the Big Green coaches and their wives will be center stage when the college offers a free Football 101 "crash course" on Memorial Field from 6-9 p.m., on Tuesday, Aug. 12. According to the press release, the course is, "guaranteed to get you ready for the 2014 season."

The evening will include a skills station, a period with a rules official, a bounce house, flag football and poster-making activities for kids, a "football-themed" fashion show that will include unveiling of the team's new uniforms, a tailgate and more.

The first 100 attendees 18 and over will receive a Dartmouth Football Dri-FIT T-shirt and the first 250 kids will go home with a free mini-football.

For more information CLICK HERE.

Green Alert Take: This is a great way to stir interest in Dartmouth football.

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Dartmouth grad Kyle Hendricks, who made his big league debut with the Chicago Cubs last week, tossed two shutout innings for the PCL team in the Triple-A all-star game. (LINK)

Hendricks has been optioned back to Triple-A, largely to get work during the major league all-star break. (LINK)

Back At It

A flight delayed on the runway in Chicago, a longer-than-expected wait for a shuttle van and rain most of the way home from Hartford, Conn., conspired to keep us from arriving at the front (side ;-) door until about 5 this morning. Considering that we left Sister BGA's rental in Colorado a little before 1 p.m., it made for a l-o-n-g day. But it was a great trip and we wouldn't change anything.

Now back to work although first we have to go collect the new Wonder Pup, Griff, from his vacation visit home.

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The Monday Dartmouth had a story about concussion protocol in the Big Green program (LINK).

While the BGA home office was empty, the school paper had a story about new NCAA policies taking effect on Aug. 1 regarding regulations for providing food for students, street drug use and certifications for strength and conditioning coaches. The new rules are not expected to have much of an impact at Dartmouth. (LINK)

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A reminder that enrollment for the 10th year of BGA Premium is now open. Because there will be little new content before the middle of August, your current subscription will continue to be active this year until Aug. 15.

As an aside, if you haven't visited the site since spring ball, there's a summer story up about an initiative Dartmouth football coach Buddy Teevens has embraced to encourage Big Green student-athletes to play a positive role in the culture on campus.

Heading Home

The backpack is filled with dirty clothes and the wallet is just about empty and that can mean just one thing. It's our final day on the road.

Regular posting will resume tomorrow, although a little later than usual given that we will be flying east overnight and an early morning wakeup call is most definitely not on the agenda.

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Two Ivy League kickers have been named to the CFPA preseason watch list. Chosen were Princeton's Nolan Bieck and Yale kicker/punter Kyle Cazetta.

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Thanks to a friend of BGA for sharing a link to a Q&A with Dartmouth grad Abbey D'Agostino, who talks about her transition to professional running. Find it HERE.

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I'd read this before but another BGA friend sent along a link to a lengthy story that former Dartmouth point guard Flinder Boyd '02 wrote for Fox Sports called Run and Gun, How  Javaris Crittenton went from basketball phenom to standing trial on a murder charge. Boyd had a long professional basketball career in Europe before turning to writing. LINK

Winding Down

Tried to sleep under the stars last night but then the skeeters came out. Got up this morning to watch the sunrise over the Grand Mesa.

It's our final full day in Colorado. We'll be catching the red-eye Tuesday and the regular blog will start up again Wednesday morning. 

That Certain Park Ranger updated her blog with a post about the monolith we hiked to a couple of days ago at this link: http://woodkelly.blogspot.com/2014/07/4th-of-july.html?m=1 .

Go West Young Person

That Certain '14 turned-Summer National Park Ranger chats with a young visitor and his family after presenting a program at her campfire talk Friday night. The summer position is a natural for an earth science graduate with a minor in education.

On Saturday morning we tagged along on one of the "hiking" days when her assignment is to spend most of her shift on the trails answering questions and offering insights to park visitors. (An aside- We met the parents of a Dartmouth '17 when we got back to the trailhead.) The 100-ish temperatures and altitude wore three of us down but That Certain '14, who has acclimated well, went out last night and finished seventh overall and second (?) among women in a very good time at a novel full-moonlight 10-k race. 

Today we'll head out on another hike and then take in a minor league baseball matinee before taking the ranger and her ranger roommate out for dinner. 

Here's a great quote That Certain '14 has on the blog she periodically updates:

"If you have not touched the rocky wall of a canyon. If you have not heard a rushing river pound over cobblestones. If you have not seen a native trout rise in a crystalline pool beneath a shattering riffle, or a golden eagle spread its wings and cover you in shadow. If you have not seen the tree line recede to the top of a bare crested mountain. If you have not looked into a pair of wild eyes and seen your own reflection. Please, for the good of your soul, travel west.”

― Daniel J. Rice

Around The Girdled Earth

Double click and check out the lid!

More Watch List

Several players Dartmouth will see this fall have been named to the CFPA tight end preseason watch list.

Named were Harvard's Tyler Hamblin and Penn's Ryan O'Malley from the Ivy League. Also selected was Harold Spears of New Hampshire.

The full watch list from College Football Performance Awards:

Brian Parker, Albany
Justin Henderson, Bethune-Cookman
Austin Fleming, Campbell
Faysal Shafaat, Chattanooga
Trey Huelskamp, Davidson
Nick Boyle, Delaware
Eric Saubert, Drake
Jeff LePak, Eastern Illinois
Dan Light, Fordham
Seth Cranfill, Gardner-Webb
Mike Estes, Gardner-Webb
Tyler Hamblin, Harvard
Kenneth Bibbins, Houston Baptist
Josh Cook, Idaho State
James O'Shaughnessy, Illinois State
Robert Brown, Mercer
Gannon Sinclair, Missouri State
Tiai Salanoa, Montana State
Nate Ingram, Morgan State
Harold Spears, New Hampshire
Nathan Scruggs, North Carolina Central
Kevin Vaadeland, North Dakota State
R.J. Rickert, Northern Arizona
Braden Lehman, Northern Iowa
Ryan O'Malley, Penn
Hunter Westfall, Richmond
Chris Broadnax, Sacramento State
Shane Young, Sam Houston State
Kris Drummond, Savannah State
Temarrick Hemingway, South Carolina State
Jeremy Meyers, Southeastern Louisiana
Mycole Pruitt, Southern Illinois
Anthony Norris, Southern Utah
Will Tye, Stony Brook
Michael Helms, Western Carolina
Nate Adams, Youngstown State

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We are heading into the "back country" tonight so this site could go quiet until Monday, but we'll see . . .

Tee Times

There are still a couple of TBA's but the rest of the game times for Dartmouth football this fall are now available.

* The Big Green will open at home against Central Connecticut at 7 p.m., as of this writing the only night game of the year. But stay tuned . . .

* The next week's game at New Hampshire is one of the TBA's, but the guess here is that if the UNH lights are ready to go, that one will probably be at night. Again, that's a guess, but an "informed" one ;-)

* The Ivy League season kicks off in Week Three with a 1:30 game against Penn at Memorial Field.

* Dartmouth will have an early wakeup call on Oct. 11 with a noon start at Yale.

* On Oct. 18 it's 1:30 again for the Homecoming matchup with Holy Cross.

* The Columbia game the next week is the final TBA.

* Dartmouth and Harvard, which have played recently under the lights will be back to the traditional 1:30 start in Hanover on Nov. 1.

* The game at Cornell is set for 12:30 on Nov. 8, a start time much appreciated by everyone who has to make the long drive back from Ithaca.

* The Big Green will close out its home slate against Brown the next week at the regular 1:30 Memorial Field time slot.

* The season will wrap up at Princeton on Nov. 22 starting at 1 p.m.

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Harvard's Zach Hodges is the lone Ivy Leaguer on The Sports Network's preseason watch list for the Buchanan Award, emblematic of the top defensive player in the FCS. Find bios for Hodges and the 20 players on the list HERE.

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Thanks to a BGA regular who shared a link to a Business Insider story about great college traditions.

Dartmouth's Winter Carnival is one of the featured traditions along with Dragon Day at Cornell and The Game (although I think if  you were playing a game of which doesn't belong, the finger would be pointed at a game).

Penn State's Thon dance marathon gets a writeup as do more unusual traditions like the Rotblatt softball game at Carleton College.

But while I have soft spots for Winter Carnival and Thon, the Little 500 at Indiana might top my list. Might be because I enjoyed the 1979 movie built around it, BREAKING AWAY.

NCAA Talks Contact

The NCAA is suggesting college football teams limit contact to twice a week. LINK

Chris Nowitzki, founding executive director of the Sports Legacy Institute, told ESPN:

"It is an important first step toward fixing the large gaps in the protection of college athletes. "It was a significant effort to develop guidelines quickly with the support of so many organizations, and the guidelines themselves make sense.

"Since they are guidelines and not rules, it will be important to monitor their adoption to ensure they are creating the necessary change to protect athletes, and going forward the players themselves need to be represented with a voice at the table, as it is their health at stake."

Nowitzki, interestingly, is a former Harvard nose tackle who later wrestled in the WWE. Check out a lengthy story about him and his five concussions on a Harvard Crimson piece called Confronting the Concussion. LINK

Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens joined the non-tackling movement early and hasn't held a full-contact practice in several years.

Hendricks To Make MLB Debut With Cubs

The Dartmouth grad will start on the mound against the Reds later this week. LINK

Dartmouth release.

Watch This

The preseason watch list for the Payton Award -- the FCS version of the Heisman Trophy as named by The Sports Network -- features 20 players including:

* One Ivy League player

* Two other players Dartmouth will face this year, and . . .

* Another familiar name.

The Ivy Leaguer is Princeton quarterback Quinn Epperly, the reigning Bushnell Cup winner as the Ancient Eight's offensive player of the year last fall.

The two other Payton watch-listers Dartmouth will face this year are New Hampshire wide receiver RJ Harris and Central Connecticut Rob Holloman.

The familiar name is Sacred Heart running back Keshaudas Spence.

Find bios and 2013 stats for all the members of the watch list HERE. The Sports Network story introducing the watch list is HERE.

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Be sure to check out the story and video interview with former Dartmouth pitcher Kyle Hendricks (LINK), who may soon be promoted to the Chicago Cubs' major league roster.

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Speaking of major league pitchers, Dartmouth righthander Adam Charnin-Aker, the son of former big league pitcher Jake Aker, is behind an initiative called Dartmouth Feeding Neighbors that redirects food left over from the college dining hall and local restaurants to help the hungry in the Upper Valley. Find a story in the Valley News.

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Following up on yesterday's announcement of the start of the 10th year of BGA Premium, those of you who already sent along checks are all set for the 2014 season. Because we are away this week, official enrollment for the coming season kicks off when we return next week.

One final note.

Because we are going to be camping Wednesday through Sunday on our summer vacation, posting here will be sporadic at best. If time and the internet permit, I'll toss some stuff up. Otherwise, the site will go quiet until early next week.

10th Year Of BGA About To Begin

To learn more, CLICK HERE

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Continuing the look at what players who came along since the start of BGA are doing . . .

Josh Speicher '09, who walked on an earn a spot as starting longsnapper, earned his law degree from Northeastern and is now assistant district attorney in the Essex County (Massachusetts) district attorney's office.

Keep those updates coming! 

Well-Deserved Honor

Screen grab from LA TIMES article

Josh Davis, who will get his first look as a walk-on wide receiver with the Dartmouth football team this fall, has been awarded a $20,000 Foot Locker Scholar Athlete scholarship. The shot above is from a Los Angeles Times clip.

Davis got a mention in an earlier LA TIMES column about players honored by the National Football Foundation. The story included this:

Josh Davis, a receiver at Garfield, used to be homeless and living in shelters. Then his grandmother took him in. He gets up at 5 a.m. and takes two buses to school. He has a 4.21 GPA and hopes to attend Dartmouth and become a psychiatrist.

"Growing up, I didn't have anybody to talk to as a kid," he said. "Growing up is hard with no one to talk to. I want to be there for kids."

Find Davis' Foot Locker bio (click on his photo) and information on the Foot Locker Scholar Athlete program HERE.

Pick 'Em

Since 1970 Dartmouth has had six players drafted by the NFL. Can you name them?

Three are easy because two are relatively recent and one had along and distinguished NFL career:

The two most recent Dartmouth picks were Casey Cramer by the Tampa Bay Bucs in 2004 and Zack Walz by the Arizona Cardinals in 1998. Longtime Cincinnati Bengal Reggie Williams is an easy one.

But who are the other three?

Dartmouth's DRAFT PAGE on NFL.com reveals them to be Gregg Robinson by the New York Jets in 1978, Tom Fleming by the Cleveland Browns in 1976 and Willie Bogan by the Baltimore Colts in 1971.

NFL.com has full draft histories for every school, including all of the Ivies. Click through and you will learn that one Ivy has had no fewer than 19 players drafted since 1970 and one school has had just three. Can you guess which is which?

Ivy League draft picks by school:

BrownColumbiaCornellHarvardPennPrincetonYale

Happy Fourth of July!

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Spencer Brown is the new head football trainer for the Dartmouth football program. Find his Strength Performance Network page listing his new role HERE. He succeeds Dave Jenkerson.

Brown grew up in Florida and played linebacker at Lafayette through 2009, graduating with a degree in anthropology and sociology. Find his Lafayette player bio HERE.

After graduation Brown tried out for the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks and was signed by the Professional Indoor Football League team. (LINK)

Brown was assistant strength and conditioning coach at Lafayette from 2010-12 and most recently was head strength and conditioning coach at Moravian College. Find his Moravian bio HERE.

Reports: Kicker Switches To USC

Kicker Wyatt Schmidt, the heralded younger brother of four-year Dartmouth kicker Foley Schmidt '12, has decided to take his chances as a walk-on at USC instead of report to Hanover next month with the Class of 2018.

From the June 29 KICKOLOGY BLOG:

"Kicker Wyatt Schmidt from St. Thomas Academy in St. Paul has decided to turn down a scholarship offer from Dartmouth and other schools to play hockey, to walk on at USC to play football. He made the decision yesterday and will arrive at SC around July 29."

OK, the scholarship thing was wrong but you get the idea.

A poster on the USC 247 BOARD offers a little more info:

"He came out for an unofficial visit during Spring Ball with his father, and just loves USC and the connections he will have in SoCal."

Wyatt Schmidt tweeted the news himself on June 30. (LINK)

Schmidt was the 2012 Herbalife 24 Chris Sailer Award winner as the national high school kicker of the year after going 15-for-15 on field goals. Find an earlier BGA posting about him HERE.

Despite the loss of one kicker, the incoming freshman class still has a talented foot heading this way in the person of Quebec's David Smith. (LINK)

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Regular visitors to this site know I'm a huge proponent of transcripts accompanying online videos. Unfortunately, there wasn't a transcript with Football Gameplan's FCS preseason All-America team so I had to watch the whole thing to extract names of interest – so you don't have to ;-)

The one Ivy Leaguer tapped for the first team was Princeton offensive tackle Spenser Huston. The only other Ivy representative is Princeton's Quinn Epperly, chosen – bizarrely – as the second team's "all-purpose" player. He was described as "Tebowesque," which in this case is meant as a compliment.

The Big Green will face one more player recognized by Gameplan in Central Connecticut's Rob Holloman, chosen second-team running back.

Dartmouth followers may find it interesting that Sacred Heart's Keshaudas Spence was named first-team running back and teammate Troy Moore is a first-team defensive tackle.

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There have been all kinds of whispers about star Yale tailback Tyler Varga's future after he was lost to injury last year. Will he be ready or even able to play this year? Yale coach Tony Reno was noncommittal with the PORTAL 31 BLOG, which wrote of Varga:

He has made progress and saw a handful of foot specialists during the offseason. 

So will the bruising RB be ready? 

“I honestly don’t know,” Reno said. “I expect him to be here for preseason camp. Once he puts the pads on, we’ll see.” 

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The local daily ran a blurb last week about former Columbia head coach Larry McElreavy taking over the reigns at Newport High School, about 45 minutes from Hanover. Yesterday there was a FEATURE STORY on McElreavy, a Claremont, N.H., native who had been coaching a middle school team in his hometown.

Report Dates And Silly Season Teams

Dartmouth players from "away" report for the preseason on Monday, Aug. 25, the rest of the team one day later. Practice No. 1 is set for Wednesday, Aug. 27, at 10 a.m.

The Big Green is slated to hold its annual preseason game against Harvard  in Cambridge at 1 p.m., on Thursday, Sept. 11.

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Five Dartmouth players have been chosen to the Beyond Sports Network Preseason All-Ivy League team.

Named were wide receiver Bo Patterson and lineman Scotty Whitmore on the offensive side. Defensive picks were linemen Evan Chrustic and Cody Fulleton as well as safety Stephen Dazzo.

The full Beyond Sports Network Preseason All-Ivy team (LINK):

OFFENSE
Quarterback
Quinn Epperly, Princeton
Connor Hempel, Harvard

Running Back
Paul Stanton, Harvard
DiAndre Atwater, Princeton
Tyler Varga, Yale

Wide Receiver
Bo Patterson, Dartmouth
Deon Randall Yale
Seth DeValve, Princeton
Connor Kelley, Princeton

Offensive Line
Scotty Whitmore, Dartmouth
Nick Easton, Harvard
Spenser Hutson, Princeton
Ben Carbery, Yale
Zach Wilk, Cornell

DEFENSE
Defensive Line
Evan Chrustic, Dartmouth
Cody Fulleton, Dartmouth
Zach Hodges, Harvard
Niko Padilla, Columbia

Linebacker
Daniel Davis, Penn
Daniel Giovachini, Brown
William Vaughan, Yale

Corner
Norman Hays, Harvard
Anthony Gaffney, Princeton
Foeyesade Oluokun, Yale

Safety
Stephen Dazzo, Dartmouth
Cole Champions, Yale

SPECIAL TEAMS
Placekicker
Kyle Cazzetta, Yale

Punter
Chris Fraser, Cornell

Kick Returner
Alexander Jette, Brown
Max Lescano, Princeton

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Sports Network has named its All-America preseason team. Chosen from the Ivies by TSN were (LINK):

First Team Defense
DE Zach Hodges, Harvard

Second Team Offense
OL Nick Easton, Harvard

Third Team Offense
All-Purpose Deon Randall, Yale

Third Team Defense
LB Daniel Davis, Penn
LS Courtland Clavette, Brown

Other players named that Dartmouth will face this year:

First Team Offense
WR RJ Harris, New Hampshire
AP Rob Holloman, Central Connecticut

Second Team Offense
OL Mike Coccia, UNH

Of note is that old friend Sacred Heart had defensive tackle Troy Moore named to the first team and running back Keshaudas Spence named to the second team.

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Beyond Sports also named its preseason All-America team. Named from the Ivies were (LINK):

Second Team Defense
DE Zach Hodges, Harvard

Third Team Offense
QB Quinn Epperly, Princeton

Third Team Defense
CB Anthony Gaffney, Princeton

Other players named that Dartmouth will face this year:

First Team Offense

WR RJ Harris, UNH

Second Team Offense

AP Rob Holloman, CCSU

Once again, Sacred Heart was well represented with Moore on the first team, Spence on the second team and offensive tackle Jaime Martinez and linebacker Kellen Sperduto on the third team.

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Kudos to former jayvee quarterback Ed Lucas '04, whose single to right in the 11th inning last night helped the Marlins to a win over the Phillies. The utility man headlined this story (featuring an interview) and got a mini-shower from his teammates in this video.

Lucas is batting .248 with one her and six RBIs in 42 games.

Bits And Pieces

Former junior varsity quarterback Sean Furey '05 made the right decision when he decided to give up throwing a football to concentrate on track and field. (BIO) The 2012 Olympian threw the javelin 266-1 to win the event at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Championship in Sacramento. (RESULTS)

For a video interview with Furey from a year ago, click here.

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It's a good indication of the caliber of player you are recruiting when a rising high school senior's three football camps so far are two Big Ten schools and Dartmouth. A Chicago Sun publication includes a note about a linebacker who has camped at Illinois, Indiana and Dartmouth. (LINK)

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A Vancouver Sun story under the headline, Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and the business of football references his upbringing and how it helped get him where he is today. (LINK) From the story:

His dad, Harrison Wilson III, played two sports at Dartmouth, went to law school at the University of Virginia and was nicknamed The Professor by the San Diego Chargers when he tried out for the NFL team.

When Wilson’s dad died from complications of diabetes, his uncle, Benjamin Wilson, became more important in his sprawling familial support system. Ben Wilson, who attended Harvard Law School after Dartmouth, is a prominent environmental lawyer, managing principal of Beveridge & Diamond in Washington, D.C.

And then this from Art Thiel, a Seattle sportswriter writing a book on Wilson:

“He comes from a very bright family … very polished and sophisticated public figures. It was easy for Russell to pick up role models because he’s been around successful people all his life.”

The Vancouver Sun story mentions that one of the Seahawk players who will be working Wilson's camp is Cornell grad Bryan Walters.

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Speaking of quarterbacks, the Long Island Exchange has a blurb about former Dartmouth and Miami Dolphins quarterback Jay Fiedler making an appearance at a middle school. (LINK)

Fiedler is a full-time director of the The Sports Academy at Brookwood Camps, a family business. Check out his Brookwood bio here. Jay is briefly featured in a Brookwood Camp video starting here.