Halfway There

I don't know about you but sandwiched between June 1 and Sept. 1 the way it is, July 15 feels like the middle of summer. This leaf I found on my hike to Moose Mountain's South Peak yesterday was a reminder of where we are in the calendar – and that football season is headed this way ;-)

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Like most everyone else who follows football at the FCS level I saw the blurbs about Pope Francis's trip to the United States and how his visit to Philadelphia led to the Penn-Villanova football game being moved up from Saturday, Sept. 26 to Thursday, Sept. 24.

What I didn't think about until this morning is that the Quakers play host to Dartmouth the week following the pontiff's visit. From the Daily Pennsylvanian:

The earlier gameday means that Penn will have extra time to get ready for their first Ivy opponent; The Red and Blue will now have a full 10 days to prepare for their Oct. 3 contest versus Dartmouth, a game that will also serve as the Quaker’s first home game of the season.

Green Alert Take: Whether it's New Hampshire or Villanova, playing one of the better CAA teams takes something out of you. Villanova is projected to be a national title contender this fall and while the schedule change will mean the Quakers have two fewer days to get ready for Nova, they will have two more days to get healthy for Dartmouth.

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A list of college counselors at the Manning Passing Academy:

Brandon Allen – Arkansas
Kade Bell – Jacksonville University
Sean Bellotti – Cal Lutheran
Trevone Boykin – TCU
Jacoby Brissett – N.C. State
Ryan Buchanan – Ole Miss
Keller Chryst – Stanford
Montell Cozart – Kansas
Joshua Dobbs – Tennessee
Brandon Doughty – Western Kentucky
Michael Eubank – Samford
Tuskani Figaro – Nicholls State
Jared Goff – Cal
Christian Hackenberg – Penn State
Kevin Hogan – Stanford
Jacob Huesman – Chattanooga – Tennessee
LaMontiez Ivy – Jackson State
Chuckie Keeton – Utah State
Chad Kelly – Ole Miss
Cody Kessler – USC
Gunner Kiel – Cincinnati
Trevor Knight – Oklahoma
Cooper Kupp – Eastern Washington
Tanner Lee – Tulane
Mitch Leidner – Minnesota
Jeff Lockie – Oregon
Maty Mauk – Missouri
John O’Korn – Michigan
Dak Prescott – Mississippi State
Mason Rudolph – Oklahoma State
Seth Russell – Baylor
Jordan Scelfo – Incarnate College – Texas (Incarnate Word)
Thomas Sirk – Duke
Nate Sudfeld – Indiana
Chad Voytik – Pitt
Dalyn Williams – Dartmouth
Johnathan Williams – Grambling
Marquise Williams – North Carolina
Jeff Ziemba – Shepherd College

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Dartmouth's incoming freshmen will have their first collegiate practice six weeks from today. Here's a video the football office pulled together after the new players were dropped off by their parents last fall: