Kemp Time

Jeff Kemp is on the left.

At the Friends of Dartmouth Football Golf Outing last spring for some reason I volunteered to shoot  photos of each group on the tee. If nothing else, it gave me a chance to meet some old friends as well as speak with Jeff Kemp '81, who played 10 years in the NFL with the Rams, 49ers, Seahawks and Eagles.

Although the college game has changed radically with the Nintendo passing numbers being put up, the 2,385 career passing yards Kemp had in two years had him third on the Dartmouth chart when he graduated in 1981. He also was a fine runner for Joe Yukica's Big Green.

On the Sunday before the Iowa caucus it feels like the perfect time to share something from Kemp, a man of strong faith as well the son of former NFL quarterback and onetime vice presidential nominee.

As the author of a newish book called Facing the Blitz Kemp handed me me this promotional card:

He does a regular video blog for Facing the Blitz. Here's one of his entries:

Easy To Cheer For

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Thanks to the alert eyes of a regular reader I was going to toss a screenshot up this morning of the Towson University football schedule page. Alerted to it yesterday, I visited the page and it showed Towson's game vs. Dartmouth as being played in Manchester, N.H.

Now, I know schools occasionally play home games away from home. (See below for two Penn State home games being played away from State College.) But I never even made a call to see if the Dartmouth-Towson game was actually being played at Manchester's 3,700-seat Gill Stadium or the 7,500-seat Double-A Fisher Cats stadium for one simple reason. It would be a ridiculous idea.

And of course it isn't being played there. By this morning the Towson schedule had been corrected.

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That Certain Nittany Lion Senior was on one of more than a dozen buses making the four-plus hour drive from Happy Valley to New York City early this morning for an afternoon/evening Penn State-Michigan doubleheader at Madison Square Garden. At noon the Nittany Lions and Wolverines tip off on the hardwood, and at 7 they face off on the ice. Pretty cool stuff ;-)

Looking Forward By Looking Back

After twice making the All-Ivy League second team Cody Fulleton broke through and earned a spot on the all-conference first team last fall. Now Fulleton, listed at 6-foot-3, 280 pounds on the Dartmouth roster page, is looking to play professionally. Here is a look back at his senior highlight video:

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At age 28 former Harvard defensive back Andrew Berry, who graduated in four years with a bachelors in economics and a masters in computer science, might be the Cleveland Browns' Theo Epstein. Check out the FootballScoop story.

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When I was at the newspaper we tried to "localize" the Super Bowl every year. We would look high and low for someone from our area who had a connection with one of the teams. Most years we were able to find someone although, to be completely honest, sometimes the link could be kind of dubious. One of my favorite stories was about a local young man who had long been a huge Emmitt Smith fan and eventually had a fascinating interaction with him. I recall developing a new respect for Smith as a result.

It would have been easy this year if the New England Patriots had made it given freshman quarterback Harry Kraft being with the Big Green but a Boston Globe story about the Pats' team doctor leaving that role provided another possibility. Turns out that Dr. Matthew Provencher is a graduate of Dartmouth Medical School (now known as Geisel School of Medicine).

Provencher, a New Hampshire native, is also leaving his role as chief of the sports medicine service at Massachusetts General Hospital to work as an orthopedic surgeon at the well-regarded Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo.

More Hardware!

Dartmouth has won a share of the Lambert Meadowlands Award as the top FCS team in the East. The Big Green splits the honor with fellow Ivy League champions Harvard and Penn. According to the ECAC release, it had been 29 years since an Ivy team won the Lambert Award and this year three won it. ;-)

Here's how the final poll shaped up:
1T - Dartmouth 9-1
1T - Harvard 9-1
1T - Pennsylvania 7-3
4 - Richmond 10-4
5 - Fordham 9-3
6 - Colgate 9-5
7 - James Madison 9-3
8 - William & Mary 9-4
9 - Duquense 8-4
10 - New Hampshire 7-5

More from the release announcing Navy as the FBS winner, Shepherd of West Virginia as the DII winner and Wesley of Delaware as the DIII winner:

Fordham University will collect the award for ECAC Football Championship Subdivision Team of the Year after posting a 9-2 record and reaching the NCAA FCS Championship tournament. 

Green Alert Take: OK, now I'm confused. Fordham is the FCS team of the year but finished fifth in the final poll? For some reason I'm reminded of one of those endless nights at the newspaper taking phone calls from high school basketball coaches and having one tell me, "We lost, but we are still undefeated." I wasn't buying that one, either.

For what it's worth, there was a time when the Lambert Trophy, "emblematic of supremacy in the East," was a huge thing. Undefeated Dartmouth won the award in 1965, and again in 1970, when it finished 14th in the nation and was challenged by Penn State's Joe Paterno to play the Nittany Lions in a postseason game. Dartmouth coach Bob Blackman famously responded:

"I think, with the type of player we have on this team that we would enjoy it, if it were possible, to play in a bowl game. If we did did have the chance, though, we'd like to play against a team with a better season record than Penn State."

Click story from The Day archives to make it readable.

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The Greeley Tribune writes about former two-time Dartmouth assistant coach James Jones moving from San Jose State to Northern Colorado.

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Finally, from Dartmouth Now:

The Board of Trustees voted Wednesday, Jan. 27, to establish the School of Graduate and Advanced Studies at Dartmouth, creating the College’s first new school in more than 100 years.

And . . .

The new graduate school will consolidate resources currently supporting approximately 800 students in 16 PhD programs and 12 masters programs, as well as 250 postdoctoral students, under the dean of the administratively independent school; the dean will report directly to the provost. The school, expected to open July 1, 2016, will also expand professional development resources for graduate students and postdocs.

What does it all mean? From The Dartmouth:

The new school will streamline administrative oversight of the over 800 Ph.D., M.S. and M.A. students at the College, in addition to about 200 postdoctoral students. There is no plan to increase the number of graduate students, nor is any large reallocation of resources planned, Dean of Graduate Studies Jon Kull said. 

Enjoy

Having seen him perform magic ever since his freshman year, a lot of us might have been guilty of taking Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams for granted as his record-setting career wound down. Check out these senior highlights and marvel with fresh eyes at the sweet spiral, the athletic throws across his body, the ability to elude tacklers and make plays with his arm and his feet, and never forget what we saw the past four years.

The highlights have been posted by Pillar Sports Management, which would seem, then, to be representing him.

Save The Date(s)

It took a a little time but I finally have those two important dates you've been looking for ;-)

This year's Ivy League championship awards banquet/brunch will be held on Sunday, April 3.

The Green-White Spring Game is set for Saturday, May 7.

Green Alert Take: For the first time, I will have to bring in someone to cover the spring game for BGA. The Green-White coincides with graduation weekend for That Certain Nittany Lion Senior so I'll be out in Happy Valley. I'd been hoping the spring game was the weekend before but no luck :-(

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It isn't often that you smile reading a story about Dartmouth losing a promising recruit to Princeton but there will be more than a few people who will take satisfaction in something the high school senior told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette blog:

"Dartmouth did have some things better than Princeton, like a little better facilities."

Talk about things you never would have read before the Floren Varsity House was built!

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So you want to be a college football coach? You might end up on a first-name basis with Bekins Van Lines or United or Mayflower.

Football Scoop has a note about James Jones joining the staff at Northern Colorado for the second time. Jones also did two stints at Dartmouth under Buddy Teevens. Add it up and he's had a dozen stops just since 1998: Morehouse, Cornell, Wagner, Texas Southern, Prairie View, Dartmouth, Kansas State, Kentucky State, Dartmouth again, Northern Colorado, San Jose State and now Northern Colorado again.

Recruiting Primer

It's old news but good news in Hanover that The State in South Carolina has a story in which quarterback Cole Douglas reaffirms his commitment to Dartmouth. That comes after he took a visit to The Citadel, where his father was one of the school's all-time quarterbacks. Given that Douglas was an early decision admit to Dartmouth the visit to The Citadel was probably a pro forma thing but the thought here is that the headline was welcomed in Floren Varsity House.

OK, here's a little recruit reporting primer. One of the most effective ways to find/confirm commitments in the age of social media is via Twitter. Duh.

Some high school seniors come right out and announce their intentions on Twitter.

Others are found by following digital bread crumbs. What's that? When a current player starts "following" a high school player it's a hint that something might be up.

Another hint: When you go to that kid's Twitter page and find current players who play the same position starting to follow him. When you have all that and toss a Welcome to the Woods banner across the top of his Twitter page you can just about put a kid in the "confirmed" category.

All that is by way of noting that Seth Simmer, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound defensive lineman/tight end from Harrison HS and Kennesaw, Ga. would seem to be headed this way. Find his Twitter feed HERE. He's not included in the list below because the word "commit" doesn't show up on his Twitter or anywhere else that I can find, but don't be surprised if that changes.

For what it's worth, there's another name that shows up in all the usual places, but he doesn't have that banner on his page and  it's too early to make the call on him. Suffice it to say he's probably home from school shoveling snow today. Oh, and that shovel probably seems pretty small in his hands ;-)

What We Think We Know About Who Is Coming:

QUARTERBACK
 
Cole Douglas, 6-1, 200 Irmo, S.C./Dutch Fork

Jared Gerbino, 6-4, 220 Rochester, N.Y./Rush-Henrietta
Jake Pallotta, 6-1, 190 , Massillon, Ohio/Jackson

RUNNING  BACK
Jordan Argilagos, 5-11, 185, Norcross, Ga./Wesleyan

WIDE RECEIVER
 
Drew Estrada, 6-0, 186, Argyle, Texas/Argyle
Hunter Hagdorn, 6-0, 180, Manvel, Texas/Manvel
Zach Hawkins, 6-2, 195, Potomac, Md./Bullis

Brandon Hester, 5-11, 180, El Cajon, Calif./Christian

TIGHT END
 
Hamilton Day, 6-6 1/2, 240 Hyattsville, Md./DeMatha
Tucker Spears, 6-5, 225, Dakota Dune, SD/Bishop Heelan/Avon Old Farms

OFFENSIVE LINE
 
John Lass, 6-5, 280, Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East

DEFENSIVE LINE
Jordan McGriff, 6-2, 300, Willingboro, N.J./Hun

DEFENSIVE END 
Niko Lalos, 6-5, 239, Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary's
Tamerick Simpson, 6-3, 225, Miami, Fla./Berkshire/Miami Central

LINEBACKER 

Ross Andreasik, 6-2, 210 Glenbard, Ill./Glenbard West
Colton Forster, 6-3, 235, Napa, Calif./Napa
Arthur Kaslow, 6-3, 225, Calabasas, Calif./Calabasas

DEFENSIVE BACK 
Michael Gordon, 6-2, 170, Marietta, Ga./Choate-Rosemary Hall
Isiah Swann, 5-11, 170, Chandler, Ariz./Chandler

Ryan Roegge, 6-2, 210, Marietta, Ga./Walton

KICKER/PUNTER
 
Davis Brief, 6-1, 180, Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley

LONGSNAPPER
 
Grant Jaffe, 6-5, 225, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif/ Santa Margarita

One last thing. There is still another way for me to ferret out names of recruits. Armchair detectives can email links this way . . . or, and this has happened in the past, the recruits/families can share links themselves. It's OK. Really ;-)

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We stopped by the Boss Tennis Center at Dartmouth yesterday to watch the Big Green square off against Penn State. That Certain Nittany Lion Senior's team beat That Certain Dartmouth '14's team, 4-2 in a hard-fought and highly entertaining match of nationally ranked squads.

A memorable weekend for Dartmouth athletics included men's and women's basketball sweeping Harvard, men's hockey sweeping Cornell and Colgate, skiing winning the Colby Carnival and women's swimming breaking four records while winning the Dartmouth Invitational. And those are just the teams that went unbeaten on the weekend.

Two More

Add running back Jordan Argilagos and defensive lineman Tamerick Simpson to the list of incoming Dartmouth recruits according to their Twitter accounts.

The 5-11, 185 Argilagos comes from Wesleyan High School in Norcross, Ga., where last fall he rushed for 1,280 yards and 11 touchdowns according to MaxPreps. He topped 100 yards seven times while averaging 6.4 yards per carry and 106.7 yards per game. He also caught 15 passes for 250 yards.

The Gwinnett Daily addresses his change of position from corner/receiver to running back in his junior year and Recruiting News has a Q&A with him.

Find his Twitter announcement HERE and his highlight video HERE.

The 6-3, 225 Simpson hails from Miami. After Miami Central he spent a year at the Berkshire School. Find Tamerick "TJ" Simpson's Twitter announcement HERE. Watch his postgrad highlight video HERE.

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Nice win by Dartmouth men's basketball last night over five-time defending Ivy League champion Harvard, 63-50, for the Big Green's first victory over Harvard in Hanover since 2008. (LINK) The women's team also defeated Harvard, 70-64 (LINK), and the men's hockey team completed a terrific weekend that began with a 3-0 win at No. 10 Cornell by winning at Colgate Saturday night, 3-2.

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For what it's worth, while much of the east is dealing with up to three feet of snow we didn't get a single flake here in the Upper Valley.

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And finally, That Certain Dartmouth '14 had an interesting week at Everglades National Park as National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis visited the park to observe the program she is helping to run. She was privileged to have the chance to greet and chat with him when he arrived at the program a little early. Special stuff for a young ranger!

One Who Got Away

ESPN has an online story and will have a report on "Sunday NFL Countdown" between 1 and 3 p.m.  about Matthew Slater of the New England Patriots. In case you don't recognize the name, here's a bit from the story:

For five seasons, 6-foot, 198-pound Matthew has been the Patriots' special teams' captain, and, in each of those seasons, he was the AFC's sole non-kicking special teams player named to the Pro Bowl.

What does that have to do with Dartmouth football? More from the story:

Matthew is smart (he verbally committed to Dartmouth before deciding on UCLA because it was closer to home), tough and versatile. 

How close did Dartmouth actually get to landing Slater, an eight-year NFL veteran? From Chris Lincoln's book, Playing the Game:

In mid-April 2003, Dartmouth head football coach John Lyons and his staff were anxiously awaiting to hear if Matthew Slater would be attending Dartmouth in the fall. The son of NFL Hall of Fame lineman Jackie Slater had been through the entire recruiting process – receiving a visit from Lyons in his California home, making a visit to Hanover to see the Dartmouth campus with his parents, talking on the phone once a week with John (Perry), the Dartmouth assistant who was his primary recruiting contact. Now it was time to decide. Slater had received his official acceptance letter of acceptance from Dartmouth admissions. All he had to do was mail in the card, due by May 1, that confirmed he would be attending the school.

Slater had started out as a "million-to-one" shot for Dartmouth when (Perry) showed Lyons videotape of the wide receiver with blazing speed back in December. Lyons had watched the tape and said, 'Oh my God. He's like a man playing with boys. He's that much better.' As a result of his exceptional ability, Matthew Slater's courtship had lasted far longer than usual for Ivy League football recruits, most of whom committed to Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Penn, and their Ivy League counterparts by early February each year. "He was so good," says Lyons, "we just couldn't rush him. We said, 'Matthew, we'd love to have you, so whatever it takes we'll just do it.' "

And . . .

 . . . (D)espite the sales pitches from . . .  big-time schools, Dartmouth remained Matthew Slater's first choice. Five days after receiving his official Dartmouth acceptance in early April, he spoke to (Perry) on the phone, who was pleased to tell Lyons that their dream prospect had said, "I've made my decision, I want to come to Dartmouth. I'm still working with my parents." 

But he didn't.

Find the full story in Playing the Game.

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Williams College has received 97 applications for its head football coaching position and according to the Berkshire Eagle's sources, there are at least two Ivy League assistants in the field: Princeton's James Perry and Dartmouth's Chris Rorke. Both have close connections to the program.

Nice

It was on my to-do list to head down to campus and take a shot of the actual Ivy League championship trophy, but I certainly can't  do better than this screen grab from a Dartmouth football Twitter account. (Thanks for the help ;-):

This is a photo I did snap of the coach-of-the-year medallion presented to Buddy Teevens ;-)

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Thanks to several of you for sharing a link to a Washington Post story about former Dartmouth basketball point guard Alex Mitola, who graduated with a 3.5 GPA in economics in three years and is now playing for 14-4 George Washington. There has been a lot of speculation about why he left and this excerpt helps explain his thinking:

At Dartmouth, Mitola started every game over three seasons. He averaged almost 12 points per game, set a program record for three-pointers by a freshman and led the league in free throw percentage as a sophomore and junior. In March 2014, he made eight three-pointers and scored 33 points against Cornell. 

Yet he was not satisfied. 

“I did enjoy the school and loved my teammates and the program,” Mitola said, “but I felt like it wasn’t everything I was looking for in college basketball.”

Translation: He was confident he could play at a higher level and wanted to prepare himself for a possible basketball career in Europe.

Texas Receiver Heading This Way

Dartmouth has added another wide receiver with the commitment of Drew Estrada of Argyle (Texas) High School. He posted his intentions on Twitter. (LINK)

MaxPreps reports him with a team-high 64 catches for 1,050 yards (16.4 ypc) and eight touchdowns. He showed his running ability with seven carries for 137 yards (19.6 ypr) and two touchdowns in a win over Kennedale. He finished the year with 42 rushes for 353 yards and eight TDs.

Argyle closed out the year 15-2.

Crashing The Party

STATS, which acquired The Sports Network last year, took a look back at the 2015 Ivy League season in yesterday's column. It began this way:

The Ivy League was supposed to be a two-horse race between Harvard and Dartmouth, but a rookie coach and a band of plucky Quakers turned it into a three-way finish.

The piece includes a few notes from Dartmouth's season. Read it HERE.

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A Sports Illustrated story looking at how Hall of Fame tight end Jackie Smith, "has lived his life after his crucial drop in the Cowboys' loss to the Steelers in Super Bowl XIII," includes a mention of his son, Greg '97, a former Dartmouth football captain.

Greg Smith transferred to Dartmouth from Missouri (LINK) and was the Big Green's leading rusher in 1995 as well as on the undefeated 1996 team. From the story:

Smith’s children had to contend with the drop as well. Greg, his younger son, would go on to play football at Dartmouth, where he would hear it on the field: Oh, Smith—your dad’s the one who dropped the ball in the end zone!

The story notes that these days Greg Smith is "Vice-President of Sales for OneSpace, a company that helps place freelance writers." That line hit close to home so it got me Googling a little ;-)

Find Greg Smith's OneSpace bio HERE.

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Another email asking about the Green-White spring football game has arrived but despite my occasional inquiries no white smoke has puffed out of the top of Floren Varsity House yet ;-) Once the date is finalized I'll be sure to post it here.

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From a Wall Street Journal blog about a campaign stop in Plymouth, N.H.:

Not one minute into listening to a presentation at a local drug-abuse prevention center here, John Kasich interrupted with a suggestion.

“I think you ought to add a couple of people to the board who are famous people in New Hampshire, particularly athletes,” he said. “Do we have any … former Dartmouth football or basketball players?”

Never mind that Dartmouth’s Ivy League athletes are hardly boldfaced names here, an hour west though the mountains from the university.

That wouldn't work on so many levels. And by the way, Plymouth is an hour east of Dartmouth.

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Speaking of the presidential race, if you think you are tired of the politicking ahead of Iowa and New Hampshire, be glad you don't live here. If it isn't a campaign worker on the phone it's a robo call from the candidate him/herself or someone with questions for one of several polls. Fortunately the circus is going to move on before too long.

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These releases make my eyes glaze over but you may be interested in a note about the Ivy League signing with a "marketing rights agency." (LINK) From the release:

JMI Sports is a full-service collegiate marketing firm providing the highest quality management of athletics multimedia rights and breaking new ground in the creation of campus-wide sponsorship programs, maximizing the economic potential of universities. 

Here's a novel idea to help market the Ivy League: Join the rest of the free world and hold a postseason basketball tournament.

I'm not much of a Twitter guy but I've started thinking about a new hashtag for the Ivy League basketball season.    #0gametournament

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Looks as if the big snowstorm is going to hit south of us. Most years that would be a huge disappointment but not so this year.

With the renovations we are doing here on Moose Mountain our garage has been a workshop/staging area for our contractor for several months. The idea of digging our cars out when the plow guy finishes with the driveway is not appealing. (For what it's worth, we haven't had a kitchen or any running water on the first floor since before Halloween. It's been lots of microwaving, sandwiches and visits to Subway . . . )

Champions

A couple more quick snaps from my stop by the football offices (click photos once and again to supersize) . . .

While the actual Ivy League championship trophy will spend equal time at three schools for the next year, each school gets to keep one of these on permanent display.

Dartmouth and head coach Buddy Teevens were recognized at the American Football Coaches Association meeting.

Rock Solid

The Oktoks Western Wheel in Alberta, Can., has a story and photo recognizing Ryder Stone's role in helping Dartmouth win a share of the Ivy League championship. The story begins this way:

Sharing the rock left a former Holy Trinity Academy Knight’s opponents green with envy.

That would be Big Green and Ivy green.

Ryder Stone, a 2013 HTA graduate, was the leading rusher for the Dartmouth Big Green which shared the Ivy League football title this season with Harvard and Penn with 7-1 league records (Dartmouth was 9-1 overall).

“That was our goal coming into the season to win the Ivy League and to be able to achieve that, it means a lot,” said Stone, a sophomore at Dartmouth.

Also from the story:

Stone has produced in the classroom as well as the gridiron. He has a 3.5 GPA and is majoring in environmental science and is a public policy minor.

“Going to Dartmouth is the best decision I ever made,” Stone said. “Next year, I hope to be the outright starter and hopefully we will have the same success as a team.”

He hasn’t forgotten his roots — Stone was one of the guest speakers at the Holy Trinity Academy Knights awards banquet on Dec. 17. 

Read the full story HERE.

Iowa Tight End

Tucker Spears, a 6-foot-5, 225-pound tight end from Bishop Heelan Catholic in Sioux City, Iowa by way of Connecticut's Avon Old Farms has announced for Dartmouth. Check out his Twitter feed.

A Blue-Gray American Bowl posting says he was . . .

"Named as the Offensive MVP, the 6-5 and 230-pound junior recently re-qualified for the Class of 2016 and has scholarship offers in place from Bucknell, Eastern Michigan and North Dakota State."

Spears' brother Connor transferred from Columbia to USC. Check out his bio HERE. The brothers are from Dakota Dunes, S.D.

DB Commits

Add to the list of commitments Isiah Swann, a 5-foot-11, 170 corner from Chandler HS in Chandler, Ariz., per Scout, which assigns him two stars.

Navy, Air Force, Harvard and Cornell are reported to have offered him.

Scout ranked him ninth among the top 25 defensive backs in Arizona.

Concussion Discussion

If it's going to be impossible to completely stop them, the holy grail regarding concussions is being able to make a timely and accurate diagnosis of the condition. There was promising news on that front from Indiana University Bloomington Health Sciences News earlier this month (LINK)

. . .  (T)wo Indiana University scientists continue their work toward a portable sideline device that will be able to quickly detect signs of mild brain trauma. Since 2010, Nicholas Port and Steven A. Hitzeman, researchers at the IU School of Optometry, have gathered baseline data on the eye movements and balance of IU athletes and have since expanded their work to Bloomington North and South high schools and local club and youth sports. To help fund the sideline device, the duo received two two–year grants in 2014: $429,000 from the National Institutes of Health and a $120,000 award from the Indiana Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Fund. To measure concussion symptoms, Port devised a system that consists of eye–tracking goggles within a shoebox–sized device and a balance platform based on technology in Nintendo's Wii gaming system. By comparing an athlete's baseline numbers with similar tests after a high–impact blow, the tester can quickly determine whether the athlete suffered a concussion and should be withheld from competition.

(Thanks to Mrs. BGA for the link ;-)

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On the same topic . . .

After seeing the back of a player's head slam into the turf during the fall I found myself wondering if it might help to have something like a gel pack sealed inside the back of a helmet with a softer shell covering that part of the helmet. Given that the back of the head doesn't seem to absorb as much punishment as other parts during the run of play it would seem that the most important duty of that part of the helmet would be to absorb the blow when the head hits the turf.

Now, I'm no scientist – I only play on on the blog – but could I have been on to something? Check out this WIRED story on the Zero1 Flexible Football helmet.

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Other schools are making runs at an early decision Dartmouth recruit and a regular decision commit.

From The State in South Carolina:

Dutch Fork quarterback Cole Douglas visited Dartmouth over the weekend. Douglas will visit The Citadel next weekend.

Douglas’ father, Jack, is a former Citadel quarterback. Douglas threw for 2,050 yards and rushed for 1,101 yards with 30 total touchdowns this season.

Douglas was an early decision admit by Dartmouth.

Niko Lalos, a linebacker/tight end at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s in Akron, Ohio, is a Dartmouth commit for the spring admission period who earlier received an offer to walk on at Notre Dame. He now has added a preferred walk-on offer at Ohio State. From a USports story:

Dartmouth ended up earning his verbal commitment thanks in part to its pristine academic reputation. With this as a paramount pillar of his recruitment, Lalos’ eventual offer from Ohio State did little to tip the scales in the Buckeyes’ favor.

“It was only a preferred walk-on offer, so I knew it was coming,” Lalos said. “They’ve been in contact with me, but I wasn’t too interested to start off. It’s nothing special, honestly because I already have a walk-on offer at Notre Dame. . . . I still have to look into it and talk it over with my parents, but right now I’m still kind of leaning towards the more educational opportunity.”

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I knew people had strong feelings about him but I was still surprised that Saturday's mention of former Holy Cross coach Mark Duffner being named linebacker coach for the Tampa Bay Bucs brought the emails it did . . . and not just from Dartmouth fans. Apparently people remember lopsided scores being put up when the Crusaders still had scholarships and were playing schools that didn't.

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And finally, That Certain Dartmouth '14 updated her blog with information regarding her latest posting with the National Park Service as an educational ranger at Everglades National Park. That comes on the heels of her summer and fall as a ranger at Yellowstone. It might be of some interest to those of you who have been following her adventures since she was a Hanover High School freshman. Find the posting HERE.

A Big One

Dartmouth has landed a big one in Jordan McGriff, a 6-foot-2, 300-plus pound lineman from the Hun School and Willingboro, N.J., who Tweeted his commitment HERE.

 McGriff, who played both ways at Hun, was originally at Fordham commit. According to a TRENTONIAN STORY, he had 22 pancake blocks on the offensive line. Defensively, he had 42 tackles, 14 stops for a loss, three sacks and an interception.

A July NJ.com story from when he announced for Fordham, reports that McGriff dropped 50 pounds while at Hun. Yahoo Sports has him listed at 320 pounds.

Check out the impressive interview with McGriff on THIS PAGE . Click on the second video from the left. McGriff compares himself to Vince Wilfork, saying they are basically the same size ;-)

Check It Out

Click photo to enlarge this scene symbolizing The Woods.

While passing through the Dartmouth football offices earlier this week I snapped a picture of the mural that greets visitors as they approach the reception area. There will be some talented high school seniors who will be getting a look at the wall-sized poster this weekend.

Question to ponder: With snow falling today in Hanover, is that a good thing on a recruiting weekend?

Green Alert Take: Given that there has been occasional negative recruiting from afar about the weather in Hanover, it's not something that you hide. It's something to embrace, which is why recruits are sometimes taken to Occom Pond to skate or to snowshoe at Hanover Country Club.

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A terrific athlete from Havre, Mont., has chosen basketball near home over football at Dartmouth. From the Independent Record:

Academically, Dane Warp's decision between Dartmouth and in-state Carroll were both promising avenues.

Athletically, though, there was a contrast for Havre's aspiring pre-med student: Play quarterback at the Ivy League school in New Hampshire or pursue basketball in the familiar Frontier Conference.

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Former Holy Cross coach Mark Duffner apparently likes Florida. He was the Jacksonville Jaguars linebacker coach for seven years, then coached the same position with the Miami Dolphins. This fall he'll coach the linebackers at Tampa Bay.

Duffner, you may recall, had a 60-5-1 record at Holy Cross between 1986 and 1991. His worst record was 9-2. He was 6-0 against Dartmouth, winning the first two matchups, 48-7 and 62-23. The first year after he left was payback for Dartmouth as the Big Green put a 48-0 hurt on the Crusaders in 1992.

But by then Duffner was at Maryland, where in his first year he lost more games than he did in six years combined at Holy Cross, going 3-8. He lasted five years with the Terrapins, going 20-35.

Lookin' Good

The Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup standings are intended to identify the nation's best all-around athletic programs. The fall Division I standings are out and as usual Stanford is No. 1 in the country by a mile, followed in order by Syracuse, North Carolina, Michigan and UCLA.

Here's how Ivy League athletic programs stack up:

24. Princeton
82. Dartmouth
111. Penn
147. Brown
147. Yale
150. Columbia
150. Cornell
155. Harvard

For an explanation of the Learfield scoring, CLICK HERE.

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Stopping by the Dartmouth football office yesterday I shot a few pics that I'll share over the next few days. Here's one:

Catching Up With Two Recruits

A couple of news stories this morning about Dartmouth recruits . . .

Upstate New York's Democrat and Chronicle spoke with Jared Gerbino, the 6-foot-4, 230-pound quarterback from Rush-Henrietta High School outside of Rochester, and he had this to say about his recruitment:

“It feels great knowing I’m leaving such a great program here at R-H with such great coaches and entering another great program. This was the best decision for me and my future. I am going to get a great education and play in a very competitive league with a bunch of great guys.”

Recruiting News Guru has a Q&A with 6-3, 255 Calabasas, Calif., linebacker/defensive end Arthur Kaslow that includes this in the intro:

Kaslow started his high school career playing basketball but added football to his list of hobbies entering his junior year. After four games he was named a starter for Calabasas High School and went on to lead his team with 86 tackles and 14 tackles for a loss in 11 games. With a little bit of technique polish to his athleticism, along with 25 pounds of muscle, the now 6’3”, 255 pound, talent proved his worth as a senior coming up with 118 total tackles, 10 sacks, one interception, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, and a mind numbing 30 tackles for a loss.

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Something called Stadium Journey has compiled its 2015 FCS College Football Stadium Experience Rankings (as if that's actually possible ;-).

Dartmouth comes in 29th in a field of 125. Here's how the Ivy League ranks:

23. Franklin Field, Penn
29. Memorial Field, Dartmouth
30. Yale Bowl
33. Harvard Stadium
67. Princeton Stadium
70. Schoellkopf Field, Cornell
72. Brown Stadium
114. Wien Stadium, Columbia

All you need to know to completely discount those rankings is that Georgetown's embarrassing Multi-Sport Field came in 21st, ahead of every Ivy League school. Oh, and that New Hampshire's Cowell Stadium – referred to by its own players as The Dungeon because of its sorry state – came in 42nd, ahead of four Ivy League schools including Princeton. (Cowell will be a totally different stadium when it reopens next fall.)

Granted, the ranking is about more than the stadium itself, but really?

Bragging Rights

The Massey Ratings are fun to talk about and to their credit they did predict a 9-1 Dartmouth record this year.

That said, they do kind of march to the beat of a different drummer ;-)

Keeping that in mind, here's their final Top-20 in FCS football:

1. North Dakota State 13-2
2. Jacksonville State 13-2
3. Northern Iowa 9-5
4. DARTMOUTH 9-1
5. Illinois State 10-3
6. Harvard 9-1
7. South Dakota State 8-4
8. Citadel 9-4
9. Charleston Southern 10-3
10. Chattanooga 9-4
11. Richmond 10-4
12. Western Illinois 7-6
13. Southern Utah 8-4
14. Sam Houston State 11-4
15. Portland State 9-3
16. Penn 7-3
17. Montana 8-5
18. Youngstown State 5-6
19. McNeese State 10-1
20. Western Carolina 7-4


Other Ivies
35. Yale 6-4
39. Princeton 5-5
48. Brown 5-5
66. Columbia 2-8
91. Cornell 1-9

Other Dartmouth Opponents
61. Georgetown 4-7
79. Sacred Heart 6-5
98. Central Connecticut 4-7

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Matt Burke '98, a former Dartmouth defensive back with 12 years as an NFL assistant behind him, is moving from the Cincinnati Bengals to the Miami Dolphins as linebackers coach. From a story out of Cincinnati.com (LINK)

"Coach Burke, man, he’s like a player’s coach," linebacker Emmanuel Lamur said. "He understands. He put himself in our shoes. He sees things from a different perspective. He’s a great coach in what he does. Sometimes coaching is not all about coaching. it’s also having a good relationship with your players and vice versa. He’s done a great job in just explaining things thoroughly."

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In a piece revisiting the number of national championships claimed by Alabama, Sports Illustrated writes of the 1925 season:

Alabama (10–0) says the school shares the national title for this year with Dartmouth (8-0). The claim is based on votes by the Helms Athletic Foundation and the College Football Researchers Association. However, both HAF and CFRA were not founded until years later, meaning Alabama’s 1925 title was retroactively awarded. Alabama is not the only school to retroactively claim a title. In fact, schools are permitted to declare titles based on a set of standards of their own choosing. The NCAA only lists Alabama.

For a thorough analysis of who SHOULD be acknowledged as the national champion, in 1925, CLICK HERE.

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The Ivy League's weekly men's basketball release includes this incredibly irksome line:

Four teams get their first taste of the #14GameTournament on Saturday . . .

Green Alert Take: The emperor has no clothes. The Ivy League does not have a tournament and everybody in the country knows it except a few people around the Ivy League.

Green Alert Take 2: What are they going to call the regular season next year, or the year after, when the Ivy League does have a tournament?

Still Another

Per his Twitter account, Napa (Calif.) linebacker Colton Forster will be headed to Dartmouth. He is listed at 6-foot-3, 235 pounds. Find his Hudl video highlights HERE.

MaxPreps listed him with 88 tackles and four interceptions last year.

Looking Good

Dartmouth finishes 23rd in final STATS poll. Find a Dartmouth release HERE.

Rank School Votes Prev
1 North Dakota State (13-2) 3750 (150) 2
2 Jacksonville State (13-2) 3599 1
3 Sam Houston State (11-4) 3315 6
4 Richmond (10-4) 3267 12
5 Illinois State (10-3) 3081 4
6 Charleston Southern (10-3) 2698 9
7 McNeese State (10-1) 2683 3
8 UNI (9-5) 2679 15
9 Chattanooga (9-4) 2620 7
10 Portland State (9-3) 2339 5
11 James Madison (9-3) 1909 8
12 William & Mary (9-4) 1839 13
13 Citadel (9-4) 1782 18
14 Montana (8-5) 1773 16
15 South Dakota State (8-4) 1675 10
16 Coastal Carolina (9-3) 1667 10
17 Colgate (9-5) 1320 NR
18 Southern Utah (8-4) 1178 17
19 Fordham (9-3) 1067 14
20 Harvard (9-1) 857 19
21 North Carolina A&T (10-2) 679 22
22 Western Illinois (7-6) 580 NR
23 Dartmouth (9-1) 536 20
24 Grambling State (9-3) 285 21
25 Eastern Illinois (7-5) 278 24
Others: Eastern Washington (220) , Bethune-Cookman (182) , Alcorn State (143) , New Hampshire (131) , Duquesne (117) , Northern Arizona (113) , Dayton (108) , North Dakota (91) , Central Arkansas (40) , Penn (35) , Eastern Kentucky (33) , UT Martin (31) , North Carolina Central (15) , Youngstown State (14) , Western Carolina (8) , Towson (7) , Montana State (2) , Villanova (2) , Liberty (2)

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Here's what we know and what we think we know about the recruiting class so far thanks to the Early Decision announcements and Internet reports on the rest. (Corrections and additions welcomed ;-)

*Ross Andreasik, LB, 6-2, 210 Glenbard, Ill./Glenbard West
*Davis Brief, K/P, 6-1, 180, Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley
*Hamilton Day, TE, 6-6 1/2, 240 Hyattsville, Md./DeMatha
*Cole Douglas, QB, 6-1, 200 Irmo, S.C./Dutch Fork
*Jared Gerbino, QB, 6-4, 220 Rochester, N.Y./Rush-Henrietta
Michael Gordon, DB, 6-2, 170, Marietta, Ga./Choate-Rosemary Hall

*Hunter Hagdorn, WR, 6-0, 180 Manvel, Texas/Manvel
Zach Hawkins, WR, 6-2, 195, Potomac, Md./Bullis
*Brandon Hester, WR, 5-11, 180, El Cajon, Calif./Christian
*Grant Jaffe, LS, 6-5, 225, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif/ Santa Margarita
Arthur Kaslow, LB, 6-3, 225, Calabasas, Calif./Calabasas
Niko Lalos, DE, 6-5, 239, Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary's
*John Lass, OL, 6-5, 280, Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East
*Jake Pallotta, QB, 6-1, 190 , Massillon, Ohio/Jackson
*Ryan Roegge,DB,  6-2, 210, Marietta, Ga./Walton

* = accepted early decision

By position:

QUARTERBACK
 
Cole Douglas, 6-1, 200 Irmo, S.C./Dutch Fork

Jared Gerbino, 6-4, 220 Rochester, N.Y./Rush-Henrietta
Jake Pallotta, 6-1, 190 , Massillon, Ohio/Jackson

WIDE RECEIVER
 
Hunter Hagdorn, 6-0, 180 Manvel, Texas/Manvel
Zach Hawkins, 6-2, 195, Potomac, Md./Bullis

Brandon Hester, 5-11, 180, El Cajon, Calif./Christian

TIGHT END
 
Hamilton Day, 6-6 1/2, 240 Hyattsville, Md./DeMatha

OFFENSIVE LINE
 
John Lass, 6-5, 280, Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East

DEFENSIVE END 
Niko Lalos, 6-5, 239, Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary's

LINEBACKER 

Ross Andreasik, 6-2, 210 Glenbard, Ill./Glenbard West
Arthur Kaslow, 6-3, 225, Calabasas, Calif./Calabasas
 
DEFENSIVE BACK 
Michael Gordon, 6-2, 170, Marietta, Ga./Choate-Rosemary Hall

Ryan Roegge, 6-2, 210, Marietta, Ga./Walton

KICKER/PUNTER
 
Davis Brief, 6-1, 180, Warwick, N.Y./Warwick Valley

LONGSNAPPER
 
Grant Jaffe, 6-5, 225, Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif/ Santa Margarita

One More

Michael Gordon, a 6-foot-2, 170 defensive back from Marietta, Ga., via Choate Rosemary-Hall has Tweeted his intention to continue his career at Dartmouth. (LINK). The Portal 31 blog had him ticketed previously to Yale. (LINK)

Find his Hudl page with highlights HERE.

Gordon played his high school ball at Wheeler HS, which sent former captain and All-Ivy League pick Charles Bay '11 to Dartmouth.

Another Commit

According to his Twitter posting, Arthur Kaslow of Calabasas, Calif., has announced for Dartmouth. Kaslow's Hudl highlights list him as a defensive end/linebacker. He's a Rivals two-star listed at 6-foot-3, 225 pounds. He was co-MVP of the Canyon League.

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Florida's Bradenton Herald has nice story on graduating Dartmouth offensive lineman Josh Clark. The story recounts the end of the Princeton game that gave the Big Green a share of the Ivy League title:

The Big Green were tied 10-10 when Kyle Bramble caught a screen pass and raced in for a 12-yard touchdown with 24 seconds remaining.

Clark was a lead blocker on the championship-winning play.

"If you're going to go out, that's 100 percent the way that you always dream about," said Clark, a history major set to graduate in June. "Even when you're playing football as a kid in the yard, you want to win the championship on the last play. And that's how you always remember your time playing football. While it's sad to be done, I can be happy that's how it ended."

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The Plain Dealer's Cleveland.com follows up on a commitment to Dartmouth reported yesterday. From the story:

St. Vincent-St. Mary senior linebacker Niko Lalos has made a verbal commitment to Dartmouth. Lalos made his announcement on Twitter.

Lalos weighed offers from several Mid-American Conference and Ivy League schools, including Davidson, Buffalo State, Columbia, Brown, Ball State, Akron, Colgate and Kent State. 

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A note came this way recently about a stroke suffered by Reggie Williams '76, the all-time Dartmouth and Cincinnati Bengals great. Without knowing whether the information was public and out of respect for Williams I held off until seeing this STORY in the Orlando Sentinel. From the story:

On New Year's Eve, he settled into a bar to watch the Alabama-Michigan State college playoff game. Bama's beatdown of the Spartans hadn't started yet when Williams' right arm went haywire, jerking up uncontrollably. Within minutes, the gift of speech was gone.

"I had a stroke," Williams said. "I was fortunate to get to the hospital quickly. Since then, I've been fighting to regain what was lost. It's been a scary undertaking."

Since his release from a hospital three days after the incident, Williams has managed to regain most of his speech, but now adds speech therapy to the daily grind of therapy on his legs.

Also from the story:

He's gone through 24 knee surgeries, three right-knee replacements and another on his left as well as multiple knee and bone infections. He suffered a tear and rupture in his aorta in October 2014 while still living in Orlando. 

  

First Weekend Commits

The first big recruiting weekend of the year brings the first regular decision commitments per Yahoo and Twitter.

Choosing Dartmouth according to his Twitter is 6-foot-5, 239-pound Niko Lalos, a tight end/defensive end from St. Vincent-St. Mary's and Akron, Ohio. He announced his decision on Twitter.

He chose Dartmouth over a preferred walk-on offer from Notre Dame, which wanted him as a tight end according to Rivals. (LINK)

Find his highlights HERE.

Also choosing Dartmouth is Zach Hawkins, a 6-2, 195 wide receiver from Bullis HS and Potomac, Md. His commitment was reported by Yahoo, which lists him as having an offer from James Madison. (LINK)

Find his highlights HERE.

Delay Of Game

Driving That Certain Nittany Lion '16 to East Hartford, Conn., right now so he can catch the Penn State of New England bus back to Happy Valley. Look for an update after we get back to the Upper Valley this afternoon.

Flores Honored

Graduating Dartmouth center Jacob Flores has been chosen to the Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association (FCS ADA) Academic All-Star Team for his performance on the field and in the classroom. From a Dartmouth release:

Flores, a 6-4, 290-pound senior, took over the snapping duties as the Big Green center this year and excelled in his new role. Named to the All-Ivy League First Team as well as the All-New England Team (comprised of players from both the FBS and FCS), Flores had earned a GPA of 3.47 entering his senior year as a religion major.

Flores is one of just three Ivy Leaguers named to the 52-man team.

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Speaking of honors, Pat McInally, who played tight end at Harvard from 1972-74, is one of 14 players who have been named to the 2016 College Football Hall of Fame Class announced by the National Football Foundation. (LINK)

McInally played wide receiver at the start of his NFL career with the Cincinnati Bengals but is probably remembered more as the team's punter from 1976-85.

Also named to the Hall of Fame was former New Hampshire football coach Bill Bowes, who coached many games against Dartmouth. From a UNH release (LINK):

Bowes coached the UNH football team for 27 seasons, retiring after the 1998 season as the all-time winningest coach in Yankee Conference/Atlantic 10 history with a mark of 175-106-5 and seven coach of the year awards. His UNH squads posted winning records 21 times, including 20 of his final 24 years at the helm. To this day, his 97 conference victories are No. 2 on the all-time list behind Villanova's Andy Talley.

A Serious Subject

From an Ivy League release:

The Ivy League's new concussion public service announcement will make its national television debut this Saturday as part of the FS1 broadcast of the Princeton at Penn men's basketball game scheduled for a 4:30 p.m. tipoff.

(You won't see the PSA but if you get NESN you can catch the Dartmouth-Harvard men's basketball game from Harvard at 2 p.m.)

The Ivy release included a link to an earlier video on concussions that featured, among others, Dartmouth running back Abrm McQuarters:



The video ends with graphics reading this way:

The Ivy League
Leaders in concussion prevention
Leaders in concussion management
Leaders in concussion research
because it's the smart thing to do.

Green Alert Take: Kudos to the Ivy League for being on the front lines in the concussion fight. I'm no expert but if they had asked me I would have ended it with Leaders in concussion research. It just seems to me that, "because it's the smart thing to do" is a little too slick and self-congratulatory for such a serious subject.

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It's the first big recruiting weekend for Dartmouth. There will be a lot of talented high school seniors checking out Memorial Field, Floren Varsity House, Baker Library and the rest of campus.

Safety First

From a posting by old friend TigerBlog (LINK):

(Chuck) Dibilio came to Princeton in 2011 to play football. He broke every rushing record at Nazareth High School - broke records set by his father, interestingly enough - and he then became the only Ivy League true freshman ever to rush for more than 1,000 yards.

Then, two months later, he had a stroke.

Dibilio's story has been turned into a 35-minute documentary that is available on the Ivy League Digital Network free of charge. To watch it, CLICK HERE.

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This isn't new but the Huffington Post has a story headlined Practicing Without Helmets Could Make Football Safer For Players: For elite college athletes, one or two helmetless drills per week significantly reduced head impacts. The story is spun out of a study at the University of New Hampshire. Find the story HERE.

Green Alert Take: Nothing earth-shattering there. Joe Paterno used to say if you took the facemasks off helmets the game would actually be safer because players would be less likely to use their heads as weapons.

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Still on the subject of player safety, a loyal BGA reader has shared a link to a brief story about a youth football league in Massachusetts that has opted to go from tackle to flag football for children through eighth grade. The Boston Globe has the story HERE.

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With Signing Day on Feb. 3 the recruiting effort ramps up in January for high school seniors as they make campus visits and weigh scholarship offers. Coming this way for a visit according to 247Sports is prized California defensive back Micah Croom, who told the site "he's still considering five schools. Stanford, Harvard, Dartmouth, Indiana and Colorado." Interesting list. Apparently he had previously committed to Utah.

From the story (LINK):

He feels Dartmouth is recruiting him the hardest.

"They extended the offer first, Harvard followed. Penn recently jumped off," Croom said.

The three-star recruit is ranked as the nation's No. 48 safety and the No. 76 prospect in California in the 2016 class by 247Sports.com Composite Rankings.

Find his ESPN recruiting page HERE and the Yahoo page that awards him three stars HERE.

Eye Catcher

One of the players NFL scouts quickly noticed at Dartmouth practices was All-Ivy League corner Vernon Harris, who started every game of his Big Green career. Here's a look at his highlight video:

Watch And Smile

A quick look back at the game that clinched a share of the 2015 Ivy League championship:



And a look back at the 2014 team that just missed out on the title . . .

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It's 5-below zero as I write this. What were the chances in a winter when the temperature has been ridiculously warm that by far the coldest weather of the season would arrive during the three days when work on our kitchen requires us to may a pretty long walk outside to get to the other side of our house? Brrrrrr.

Familiar Names

The Associated Press has a story about New Orleans Saints linebacker Kasim Edebali, who came from Germany to play prep school football at Kimball Union Academy with an assist from John Lyons, the former Dartmouth and KUA head coach. Lyons coached in Germany in the NFL's World League.

From an earlier story about Edebali, after he wrapped up a solid career at Boston College:

Edebali was raised by his mother Nesrin, a single parent, and found the father figure that had always been absent from his life when he arrived at Kimball Union Academy in head coach John Lyons, who is now the defensive coordinator at the University of New Hampshire.

“He was a mentor, like a father to me and an advisor, and he was my biggest critic,” explained Edebali. “I would not be here without him. My English was not that good when I arrived at KU and coach Lyons helped me and got me through.

“I know that no matter what situation I’m in, I can call Coach Lyons. I had a couple of rough years at BC and I could always call him. I would like to be with him during the NFL Draft, but he’s up at UNH and I’m here at BC.”

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Former Dartmouth linebacker Gordy Quist, former defensive back Trevor Nealon and The Band of Heathens are hugely popular in music-crazed Austin, Tex., and on the Americana scene.

Gordy also has his own solo career and this is my favorite of his acoustic pieces that he wrote and performs here:

Show(case) Time

Quarterback Dalyn Williams and corner Vernon Harris will be taking part in the College Gridiron Showcase from Jan. 10-13 in Bedford, Tex.

They will be joined by players from Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgia, Nebraska, Texas, Texas Tech, Colorado State, Duke, Wake Forest, Houston and Rutgers as well as by players from the FCS and lower divisions.

The Gridiron Showcase describes itself as an event that . . .

". . . provides exposure and education for top seniors from around the country. The players are selected by a panel of football experts and receive professional coaching, mentoring, life coaching and seminars that benefit them as they move forward in their professional lives in or out of football.

"The practices and scrimmage will showcase the players to scouts and executives from top professional leagues such as the NFL, CFL and AFL. The players attend meetings, practice, perform individual drills, 1 on 1’s, team drills and in many cases have personal interviews with the scouts and executives from these professional clubs."

 From the Showcase website:

"Last year’s event, which took place on January 31, 2015 in Arlington, TX, produced 10 NFL Draft Picks, 53 signed undrafted free agents and 22 rookie camp invitees, totaling 85 of our 104 (81%) athletes getting opportunities in the NFL. 

And . . .

. . . "(S)couts from 31 of the 32 NFL Clubs and 7 of the 9 CFL Clubs. Overall we had more than 100 scouts in attendance of our practices and interviews of our athletes."

These screen grabs are from the CGS Twitter feed, which is full of announcements of various players who will be participating:

With Dartmouth beginning classes tomorrow a handful of Big Green seniors were expected instead to take the winter off to prepare for their NFL shot.

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The Valley News has a lengthy Q&A with Dartmouth Athletic Director Harry Sheehy that is a must-read HERE. A few outtakes to whet your appetite:

Sheehy on competing with Harvard in the financial aid battle:

Harvard’s going to give them a better (financial aid) package. If we’re both recruiting the same kid, we’ll match Harvard’s offer, so it doesn’t hurt us as much. But then the question is: Will that kid come here if he gets into both schools? The real strength of Harvard’s program is to get kids who have been offered scholarships. Our package just isn’t going to match their package because we just don’t have as much money.

 Sheehy on his philosophy going up against Harvard:

(W)e don’t have to beat Harvard, Yale and Princeton for kids; we have to recruit kids who can beat Harvard, Yale and Princeton.

Sheehy, never afraid to tell it like it is, on charging to watch streaming video of football games:

I told the (Ivy) presidents that I would just stream everything for free. But Harvard and Yale will always be on TV, so I need to be able to have our website in September read, “Dartmouth to Appear on National Television Four Times.” I just have to have that. If I take that away, we’ve lost a recruiting battle for the three or four kids we might get from Harvard and Yale. My big gripe is how long the games take when they’re on television. It’s brutal. 

The athletic director also speaks to the Ivy League and the FCS playoffs and the possibility of an 11th game. Now go read the story HERE.

Special Teams

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On this day when That Certain Nittany Lion Senior and That Certain Dartmouth '14 will have the same rooting interest in a bowl game that figures to be an uphill challenge for That Certain Team from the Big Ten, here's something else they have in common:

Their schools have two of The 10 Most Powerful College Alumni Networks in the nation.

2016 Defense

Click graphic to enlarge.

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Dartmouth's Mobile Virtual Player is the subject of a column on Denver's Mile High Huddle Scout site that includes previously posted video footage of the device in action along with several recycled interviews including one with Buddy Teevens and one with Will McNamara. (LINK) Writes the somewhat skeptical author of the piece:

I watched it speed across the field and my only thought was, “Great - but they make lots of simple robots that travel and spin. How does that carry over into getting a quality practice experience?” 

It also occurred to me that Dartmouth isn’t exactly an SEC powerhouse of a team. Do they get the same level of training with the robot that they would against another human player? The players said that they did. A quick check had Dartmouth’s last 4 season’s records. 

2012: 6-4

2013: 6-4

2014: 8-2

2015: 9-1 

They haven’t tackled live in 7 years, but their record was anything but that of a pushover team.  

That was the first time I had to step off my initial, uninformed reaction. 

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The well-traveled Kevin Lempa, a defensive coach at Dartmouth from 1991-96, is leaving his third stint at Boston College to serve for the second time as defensive coordinator at Hawaii. He was at Columbia in 2012. Find a story about his hiring HERE.

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Happy New Year all!