Mellor, who caught 72 passes for 1,115 yards and 19 touchdowns this past season, said his relationship with Teevens was the strongest of any from the start. In late November, the Big Green coach called for the first time and asked Mellor if he had dreams of playing in the NFL. No other coach had suggested such a thing, Mellor said. Teevens visited the Mellor home on Dec. 7, with the visit moving Mellor’s mother to tears. “Everything he said was what my mom was for,” Mellor said.
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Speaking of the NFL, The New York Times writes about Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, whose late father Harry '77 played at Dartmouth and then had a shot with the San Diego Chargers. Wilson's uncle Ben is a Dartmouth trustee. (LINK)From the Times STORY:
(Ben Wilson) laughed when teased about not being able to persuade his nephew to attend Dartmouth as well. The course of Ivy League football, and certainly of Dartmouth football, might have changed significantly.
“I took him on a tour of the campus,” Ben Wilson said. “He clearly enjoyed being on the campus where his dad had been a student.”
Nevertheless, Ben Wilson isn’t so sure that Dartmouth would have been the ideal place for his nephew. “All of the doubts that were raised about Russell would have been exacerbated had he gone to Dartmouth, because people would have said, Not only is he small, but he hasn’t played against any competition,” he said. “That would have been yet another hurdle to overcome.’
In retrospect, Russell Wilson could have made it regardless of where he played.
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College Sporting News "Fabulous Fifty FCS All-America Team" members of interest (LINK):• Tyler Varga, Yale running back
• Harold Spears, New Hampshire tight end
• RJ Harris, New Hampshire wide receiver
• Zach Hodges, Harvard defensive end
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Now pay attention.From a Football Scoop posting:
As it stands right now, Division III is the only collegiate division that does not allow players to wear pads during spring practices. Players take the field in the spring with a jersey and pair of shorts as practices trended more towards conditioning than anything resembling a practice in the fall.
A recent vote aimed to change that immediately.In a discussion of the impetus for the vote, Football Scoop included a takeout from "Proposal 5," pushing for padded practices. It mentioned both the difficulty teaching safe technique without pads, and the increased chance of injury trying to do so without pads.
Makes sense.
But do you want to guess what led off the list of reasons why pads should be allowed in the spring? Because (and the italics are mine) . . .
Football student-athletes are not currently provided similar opportunities to those afforded other student-athletes with fall or spring championships to develop their sport-specific skills during a nontraditional segment.In other words, what's fair for athletes in one sport is fair for athletes in another.
Are you listening, Ivy League?
For those of you new to the Ivy League, the Ancient Eight allows every athlete in the league to go to the NCAA playoffs except football players, who, to borrow from the italicized part of the statement above, are not provided with similar opportunities to those afforded other student-athletes . . .
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Sad news on the local front with the passing of Dave Orr '57, long an avid follower of the Dartmouth football program. Until this fall I don't think I'd ever been at a game at Memorial Field without seeing Dave up in the press box keeping participation, or tackles, or notes for a newsletter, some of the various responsibilities he had over the years. For many years he also was a fixture at Big Green road games.Dave will be missed not only by his friends at Dartmouth, but also by Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl all-star football game. There was no bigger advocate for the annual contest between graduated high school seniors from Vermont and New Hampshire that raises money for Shriners Hospitals.
Read more about Dave's life here.
