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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.
