2011 Game To Remember

Happy Leap Day ;-)

Seventh in a series of the most memorable games of each year of BGA. . .

Dartmouth 21, Brown 16
Nov. 12, 2011

With Brown needing a win to keep its Ivy League title hopes alive in Week 9 and Dartmouth needing a victory to have a shot at a winning conference record tailback Nick Schwieger lifted the Big Green on its shoulders in an upset in Providence that helped Dartmouth finish 4-3 in the conference.

His team trailing, 16-14, as the third quarter wore down, Schwieger made arguably the play of the season for the Big Green. Collecting a third-and-10 swing pass at his own 39, the hard-running tailback didn’t seem to have a chance but broke two tackles before diving for the first down in front of the Dartmouth bench. He eventually capped a 15-play drive with a one-yard run for the winning points.

Clinging to a five-point lead, Dartmouth killed all but the final 23 seconds of the game with Schwieger again doing the heavy lifting, carrying the ball on eight plays of a 10-play drive and twice converting on third-and-one.

2010 Game To Remember

Sixth in a series of the most memorable games of each year of BGA. . .. . .

Dartmouth 31, Princeton 0
Nov. 20, 2010

Dartmouth ended a string of 13 years without a winning season with a convincing win over Princeton to finish the season at 6-4.

Tailback Nick Schwieger, who would go on to sign with the St. Louis Rams, ran for three touchdowns, Dan Rooney connected with Timmy McManus for a 69-yard touchdown and Foley Schmidt kicked a field goal as the Big Green fashioned its first shutout since the undefeated 1996 team whitewashed the Tigers in the finale at Princeton.

Shawn Abuhoff ensured the shutout with an interception of a second-and-goal pass at the Dartmouth one-yard line with 2:18 remaining.

The first victory over Princeton since the 2003 season sparked a winning streak over the Tigers that reached six games last November.

2009 Game To Remember

Fifth in a series of the most memorable games of each year of BGA. . .

Dartmouth 20, Cornell 17 (2 ot)
Nov. 7, 2009

Greg Patton, who had been thought of as a defensive back when he was being recruited and was playing quarterback with the junior varsity the week before, exploded for a school-record 243 yards on the ground as a wildcat QB to help Dartmouth to a win over Cornell in the Big Green's first-ever double-overtime game.

Trailing, 10-0, through three quarters, Dartmouth got on the board for the first time on Patton’s 52-yard run with 12:04 left in regulation. Foley Schmidt then tied the score with a 26-yard field goal with 2:16 remaining, capping an 80-yard drive. Pete Pidermann saved the day for Dartmouth and forced overtime by blocking Cornell's 35-yard field goal attempt at the end of regulation.

The teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime with Patton getting Dartmouth’s points on a 13-yard run.

Schmidt’s 40-yard field goal in the top half of the second overtime gave the Big Green a lead that held up when Cornell missed a 36-yarder wide left in the bottom half.

2008 Game To Remember

Fourth in a series of the most memorable games of each year of BGA. . .

Colgate 34, Dartmouth 20

Sept. 20, 2008

What would be a long season for Dartmouth began with promise as the Big Green carried a lead into the final minute of the third quarter against a traditional nemesis before falling in a game much closer than the final score would suggest.

Alex Jenny passed for 343 yards and Phil Galligan caught 10 balls for 146 yards in the Big Green opener in Hamilton, N.Y.


After Colgate broke a 20-all tie on a touchdown 7:27 remaining Dartmouth came right back, driving to the Raiders’ 17. But a sack and an incomplete pass left the Big Green facing a fourth-and-10 at the 'Gate 24. A hard rush resulted in another sack and the home team then salted the game away with a 67-yard touchdown drive.

2007 Game To Remember

Third in a series of the most memorable games of each year of BGA. . .

Dartmouth 21, Penn 13
Sept. 29, 2007

Dartmouth survived a late Penn rally to open the Ivy League season with a win for the first time in a decade with a victory over the Quakers.

A 29-yard touchdown pass from Tom Bennewitz to Eric Paul in the first minute of the fourth quarter gave Dartmouth a 15-point lead that seemed secure as the final period wore down. Then things got interesting.

With just over 2 1/2 minutes remaining Penn blocked a Dartmouth punt and took over at the Big Green 26. It took the Quakers just three plays and all of 20 seconds to make it a one-possession game on a nine-yard TD pass.

Down eight points, Penn recovered an onside kick, taking possession at its 40 with 2:17 still remaining.

The Quakers made it all the way to the Dartmouth 6 before a fourth-down pass in the end zone was incomplete. Penn made seven trips into the red zone on the day but managed just 13 points.

2006 Game To Remember

Second in a series of the most memorable games of each year of BGA. . .

Dartmouth 19, Brown 13 (ot)
Nov. 11, 2006

Andrew Kempler’s 29-yard field goal at the gun forced overtime and Jason Bash’s one-yard touchdown run in overtime lifted Dartmouth to a dramatic overtime win against Brown on Memorial Field.

With Brown leading, 10-0, through three quarters, Dartmouth got on the board for the first time early in the fourth quarter as Nate Servis capped a 12-play, 74-yard drive with a four-yard TD run to make it 10-7. Kempler then tied the score with a 35-yard field goal with 6:59 to play.

Brown appeared to be on its way to victory  when Steve Morgan booted a 21-yard field goal with 1:48 remaining but Dartmouth came right back with a 58-yard drive highlighted by 28- and 11-yard first-down passes from Mike Fritz to Ryan Fusilie, setting Kempler up for the field goal that brought on overtime.

While We're Away . . .

A year ago Mrs. BGA and I used a much-appreciated Southwest Airlines gift card to spend a week away from the frigid Upper Valley camping on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean just north of San Diego. Our return flight was delayed and ultimately cancelled after we reached Chicago, and as a result we were awarded vouchers for another flight that had to be used within a calendar year.

Given that the calendar year runs out in the next two weeks we spent a little time in December checking out Southwest's "Wanna Get Away" fares and booked a flight from Hartford, Conn., to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., that will allow us to visit with That Certain '14. (Those who have been following along know that after spending the summer and fall as a ranger at Yellowstone she is posted this winter as a ranger at Everglades National Park ;-)

All that is by way of saying that we are going to be away from today until the night of March 3. We'll be camping in the Everglades and for a night or two in the Keys with That Certain '14 – who has finagled a three-day weekend – if we can land a much-coveted campsite on the way to Key West. (By the way, TCD '14 updated her blog with Everglades pictures HERE.)

While we are in South Florida we're excited about the chance to together with several BGA families in their native habitat!

With Internet access in the Everglades limited-to-nonexistent, rather than put this site on hiatus I've pulled together a compilation of the most memorable games from each of the first 11 years of BGA. Keeping in mind that your mileage may vary, enjoy a look back at capsules of those most memorable games, starting with today's look at a special game from 2005.

First in a series . . .

Dartmouth 26, Colgate 21
Sept. 17, 2005

Colgate had the better of the statistics but the only numbers that mattered favored Dartmouth as the Big Green began Buddy Teevens’ second tenure in Hanover in style with a win over Colgate on Memorial Field.

Trailing 7-0, Dartmouth scored 17 consecutive points in the second period on a 29-yard fumble return by Josh Dooley, a three-yard pass from Charlie Rittgers to Mark Brogna, and a 42-yard field goal by Erik Hinterbichler.

Dartmouth was limited to eight first downs and was 2-of-14 in third-down conversions but still managed to stop a six-game losing streak against the Raiders. With the win the Big Green opened the year 1-0 for the first time since 1997.

Welcome To The New Week

It was another of those mornings on Moose Mountain when I go down to the end of the driveway to get the paper and hustle back inside to grab my camera. Once again, I couldn't quite get the splendor of the scene as the sun broke through on the Vermont mountains, but this should give you an idea. Click the picture to enlarge it and then click it again.

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The Ivy League has pulled together a nine-minute video titled, "Season Review: 2015 Ivy League Football." Enjoy!

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Calvin Thibodeaux, who coached the defensive line at Dartmouth in 2011 is a leading contender to join the staff at Oklahoma, where he played as a collegian. He sent last year at Kansas and prior to that coached at Tulsa. NewOK has the story.

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Another day, another list of someone's "most" something. In this case, Dartmouth shows up on Condé Nast's piece, "The 20 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America." Dartmouth is not the only Ivy on the list ;-)

Bullish On Dalyn

Emory Hunt of footballgameplan.com does a pretty thorough analysis of the pro potential of Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams, calling him the best "deep-ball" thrower available in this  year's draft.

But that's not all. Hunt has Williams slated as the No. 2 overall quarterback in the draft and it would seem he's suggesting he could be a second-round draft pick. Like a lot of people he compares Williams to Russell Wilson, although in this case it's Russell Wilson when he was playing at North Carolina State.

Green Alert Take: Hunt always does a very nice job with his videos and seems to know his stuff. With absolutely no intent to demean his work or the talent and accomplishments of Dalyn Williams, I'd have to say Hunt is way out on an island on this one. He did say he saw Williams against Cornell in person and Williams does have Louisiana ties like Hunt, so maybe that played into his perception. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out.

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The largest student-run philanthropy in the world, the 46-hour Penn State Dance Marathon, better known as Thon, raised more than $13.3 million last year to "enhance the lives of children and families impacted by childhood cancer." Thon started in 1977 and has since raised more than $127 million to support the Four Diamonds fund at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital. Among the many athletes who took the stage to help entertain the dancers on the floor (who are not allowed to sleep or even sit) and the thousands of onlookers who wait hours to be shoehorned into the cavernous Bryce Jordan Center, was the group of football players in the video above.

The dancers took to the floor Friday at 6 p.m. and the amount raised this year will be revealed at the end of Thon at 4 p.m.

Hey, it's a Sunday and you've got the time. Watch at least the start of "Why We Dance: The Story of Thon," and be prepared to shed some tears.

Green Alert Take: When That Certain Dartmouth '14 was running for student body president she talked about trying to introduce some kind of initiative to bring the diverse populations on the Hanover Plain together the way Thon brings all of Penn State together for one important cause. It would have been a good thing. Penn State could win the national championship in football and I wouldn't be any more proud of calling myself a Penn Stater than I am this weekend.

Mercy Sakes

Several years ago Dartmouth was in serious talks with Mercer about scheduling a football game or two, and it's not hard to understand why.

Mercer is located in Macon, Ga., and Georgia has become a prime breeding ground for some very good Ivy League football players over the last few years. The game would be another chance for Dartmouth to play an intersectional game, to gain valuable exposure in a football-rich state, and for players from that part of the country to play in front of family and friends.

On top of that, the Mercer football program had been disbanded in 1942 and was only coming back in 2012 as a member of the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League.

The fly in the ointment was the growing suspicion that Mercer was a little more serious about football success than your average non-scholarship bear. (Pun intended. They are the Mercer Bears.)

Turns out that feeling was right. Mercer went an eye-popping 10-2 in its very first year back and promptly punted the Pioneer in favor of scholarships and a move to the Southern Conference. (LINK)

Mercer hasn't taken the SoCon by storm . . . yet . . . while going just 6-6 overall two years ago and 5-6 last fall. But any question about how aggressively the school is pursing football success was on display in New York's Times Square where passersby were greeted by this:

 

From a USA Today story:

Last year for college football's national signing day, the school welcomed its new signees on digital billboards throughout Georgia -- a trend larger schools such as LSU are jumping on this year in their home states.

About a month ago, Mercer athletics director Jim Cole turned to associate athletics director Daniel Tate and his marketing team, director of new media Lisa Cherry and sports information director Jordon Bruner, and asked a simple question: "You surprised me last year; what do you have this year?"

The answer was even more outside the box: Times Square.

Yes, the Macon, Ga., private school with an undergraduate enrollment of 4,570 is commandeering two giant video boards in the middle of New York City to celebrate its football signees Wednesday.

The story ends this way:

Cole said he thought the expected benefits and exposure outweighed the cost of paying for video boards in Times Square.

"When we started football four years ago, the main reason was to increase the exposure of our university," Cole said. "We've got a great university. Really, nobody knew about it, because if you don't compete at a high level in sports, you don't get that name recognition to attract students to the school. Football's done well for us." 

Addendum: Mercer's appearance on the big screens at Times Square was postponed for several days because of the shooting death of one of its basketball players.

Spring Practice Schedule

When I first covered Ivy League football the conference allowed just one day of spring practice. To be sure, it wasn't much more than an opportunity to meet, get fitted for equipment and run a few plays.

That all changed with cutback in recruiting numbers accompanied by the start of freshman eligibility ahead of the 1993 season. As an aside, I still remember then-head coach John Lyons telling me at the time that Adam Nelson, who would go on to win a gold medal in the Olympic shot put, was his early favorite to become the first freshman to play for Dartmouth because of his ability to long snap. I don't think it worked out that way but it makes for a good story ;-)

All that said, here's the schedule for Dartmouth's 12 days of spring football now allowed:

Tuesday, April 12

Thursday, April 14

Saturday, April 16

Tuesday, April 19

Thursday, April 21

Saturday, April 23

Tuesday, April 26

Thursday, April 28

Saturday, April 30

Tuesday, May 3

Thursday, May 5

Saturday, May7 (Spring Game)

Tuesday and Thursday practices will be in the afternoon. Saturday practices will be in the morning.

Forever Green

The latest issue of PEAK, the DP2 quarterly magazine, is online and it includes a story I freelanced on the advantages and challenges of coaching at a school where you were an athlete. I talked with four coaches for the story and one of them was head football coach Buddy Teevens. The others were track coach Barry Harwick, men's hockey coach Bob Gaudet and ski coach Peter Dodge.

You can access the full magazine HERE.

If all you want to read is the story featuring Teevens, you can access that HERE.

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Today's issue of The Dartmouth has a Q&A with onetime Big Green football captain Preston Copley '07. The former offensive lineman is now director of Creative Development for Jean Doumanian Productions in New York City where he is involved in film, theater and television.

Catching Up With 2 QBs

NFL Draft Diamonds, which describes itself as, "An NFL Draft website specializing in Small School Football Players," has a Q&A with Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams that includes this from the former Big Green standout:

"I think my play is most comparable to that of Russell Wilson. We have similar builds and while we both use our athleticism to extend plays, when necessary we can take off to gain necessary yards." 

And this . . .

"My will to win, love for the game, escapability, ability to throw on the run, running ability, ability to make difficult throws and deep ball accuracy separate me on the football field from my peers. "

Find the full Draft Diamonds interview here.

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Mrs. BGA and I went to the movies last night to see The Finest Hours, the story of the Coast Guard rescue of crewmen from an oil tanker that broke up during a blizzard off Cape Cod in 1952. It was a so-so flick but as usual we hung around to scan the credits, to see who played who, and to find out where the movie was filmed.

It wasn't until then that I noticed a familiar name. Playing the role of Donald Bangs was . . . wait for it . . . former Dartmouth quarterback Ben Koldyke '91, who earned an Ivy League championship ring in 1990.

Koldyke has a long line of TV and movie credits on his IMDB page (screen grab below).

Taking A Shot

With a thought to continuing to play after graduation, Dartmouth wide receiver Victor Williams has posted his junior-senior highlights:

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Channel surfing last night I stumbled across someone who had a couple of mint-condition 1938 Dartmouth Winter Carnival posters to be appraised on Antiques Roadshow.

I hung around long enough to see what the appraiser – whose outfit might catch your eye even before the wonderful posters – thought the 1938 versions were worth.

Curious? Here's another screen shot that offers up the potential auction value:

Catching Up With The MVP

Check out this trailer featuring the new-look Dartmouth Mobile Virtual Player tackling dummy in action both at the American Football Coaches Association convention last month in San Antonio as well as from last fall, before its makeover ;-)

Also new to YouTube are a nine-second clip of the MVP going through an "L-Drill," (LINK) and the MVP getting crushed running a route in a three-second clip (LINK).

Speaking of the MVP . . .

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From a story in Dartmouth Engineer Magazine about the robotic tackling dummy born in Thayer School of Engineering:

Calling the plays on the field today is Dartmouth head football coach Eugene “Buddy” Teevens ’79, who has been a crusader for reducing injuries at practice—going so far as to ban full-contact practices back in 2010. Three years ago he was talking with his classmate John Currier ’79 Th’81, a Thayer research engineer, about mechanical ways the team might simulate tackling. “We decided the most effective way would be to take it to the Thayer School and position it as a capstone project,” says Currier, who reached out to Elliot Kastner ’13 Th’14 ’15, an engineering student and Dartmouth football player. He was enthusiastic about taking it on. “For the majority of my life, football and engineering have been living in separate worlds,” says Kastner, clutching the MVP’s remote control on the sidelines. “Now I got to see them come together.”

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Heat wave here in the Upper Valley. It was a more balmy 11.5 below zero overnight on Moose Mountain. Astonishingly (given the past few days) the mercury (or silicon?) could reach the upper 40s on Tuesday!

Nuff Said*

* That's not wind chill, folks.

Winter carnival (lowercase c)

This is a screengrab taken this morning from the Baker Tower webcam overlooking the Green. In the middle of the Green is the Cat in the Hat – minus the Cat – a lonely reminder of the missing sculpture. I'm not an alum – just a parent of an alum – and it makes me sad to see such a wonderful tradition fail.

This year's Dartmouth Winter Carnival poster

The way things were – 2004

Screengrab from a Dartmouth football graphic

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A total of 29 NFL teams sent someone to Dartmouth to look at members of this year's senior class since last spring. It will be interesting to see how many show up for the Big Green Pro Day on Saturday, April 2. 

Green Alert Take: I've been to just about every Dartmouth pro day since before quarterback Jay Fiedler was drawing scouts to Hanover in 1993 on his way to a long NFL career. With a handful of players on the the league's radar, I'd venture to say there will be more NFL scouts here on April 2 than at any pro day in at least the past 25 years. Stay tuned ;-)

Check It Out

It was 10.2 degrees below zero when I brought Griff the Wonder Pup outside for his morning, uh, constitutional. Fortunately, he took care of business pretty quickly. Fingers crossed that he's as attentive to detail over the weekend when it's supposed to actually get cold. ;-)

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The Jackson (Ohio) High School football page (above) has coverage of 6-foot-1, 190-pound Massilon quarterback/safety "signing" with Dartmouth. Jackson football coach Tim Budd quoted in the story:

Jake represents everything right about Jackson High School, the community, and our football program.  His work ethic, discipline, and competitive nature will carry him to many future achievements both in football and in the classroom.  We all look forward to watching him excel at Dartmouth and beyond."

Check out the story HERE.

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FootballScoop covers NCAA meetings that recommended a strengthening of the targeting rules. From the Scoop:

“The targeting rule is serving the game well, and has enhanced player safety,” said committee chair and South Dakota head coach Bob Nielson. “Because this is such a severe penalty, we are instructing replay officials to review plays to ensure that the required elements of targeting exist. We are also adding the ability for the replay official to stop the game when a potential targeting foul is not detected on the field.”

This being the NCAA, nothing is ever final. The rules committee’s proposals will now be forwarded for membership comment, and then move before the Playing Rules Oversight Panel on March 8. If and when approved, the new rules will go into effect for this season.

Green Alert Take: OK, this is just me talking but with the Ivy League eager to be on the front lines of the fight against concussions and with video streaming technology around the conference now in place . . .

Is it time for the Ivy League to pull out the stops and expedite plans for instant replay so as to allow officials the chance to make on-site decisions regarding targeting? If you haven't been around you may not know that there are already replays at Ivy basketball and hockey games. Granted, no one at a game likes having it delayed by officials "going under the hood," but when it's player safety that's at stake it's a different matter.

Be Careful In 140 Characters Or Less

While chasing down recruiting information the past couple of months I spent a lot of time on the Twitter accounts of current Dartmouth and Ivy League football players as well as potential Ivy League football recruits. Given that I saw way too much that made me shudder I'm thinking the time has come for my annual reminder about the dangers of Tweeting without thinking.

Guys, be careful. Remember that your family, your teachers, your coaches, admissions directors, journalists and potential future employers can see what you write and will form opinions about you based on what they read. Everything you worked for can be jeopardized by 140 characters tapped out on your phone without thinking about how it will be perceived. And keep this very important thing in mind: Even when you retweet something distasteful that someone else said, YOU own it.

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Incoming wide receiver Hunter Hagdorn is one of 13 players from Manvel High School in Texas who formalized their college commitments last week. While Hagdorn chose Dartmouth over several big-time offers, no fewer than 10 of his teammates are going on to FBS schools, with two each to Mississippi and Houston, and one each to Texas, TCU, Indiana, SMU, Memphis and New Mexico State. The Houston Chronicle has the story about a remarkable yield from one high school's senior class.

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The Yale Daily has a story about football recruiting classes that includes the following, along with a chart of top recruits for each school:

Yale headlined not only the Ivy League but also the entire FCS, according to the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings. Columbia came in the No. 2 spot, and Harvard was at No. 5. In another review of FCS recruiting classes, Brian McLaughlin of HERO Sports ranked Yale at No. 2, Harvard at No. 8 and Columbia at No. 18.

Green Alert Take: Given that the Ivy League doesn't recognize the Letter of Intent and no school has released its full recruiting classes this is nothing more than silly season speculation. It's fun to talk about but it's absolutely meaningless. Having followed Ivy League recruiting with BGA for more than a decade I am here to tell you that when it comes to the Ivy League, and rating Ivy League football recruits, the so-called recruiting services are clueless.

Dalyn Williams Podcast

From the C.S. Podcast, which runs a little more than 18 minutes:

2016 NFL Draft Prospect, QB out of Dartmouth College, Dalyn Williams joined Chris Shanafelt on The C.S. Podcast on February 8, 2016 for an interview to talk about his overall experience quarterbacking the Big Green over the past 4 years, the College Gridiron Showcase in which he participated in last month, how he looks at having the "small-school" label as he pursues a professional football career, why an NFL G.M. should want him a part of their squad & more!

Dalyn notes that he is training in Boca Raton, Fla., and working hard on improving his 40 time. He says he will have his pro day at Dartmouth on April 2.

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A Look At The Defense

Here's a completely unofficial look at how the 2016 Dartmouth defense shapes up. Tomorrow: A look at special teams.

Click to enlarge.

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Morgan Roberts had a terrific career after transferring from Clemson to Yale but transfers aren't always that successful.

Dartmouth discovered that several years before Buddy Teevens returned to Hanover when a potential Big Ten starter struggled after transferring to Dartmouth, eventually leaving the program during the season.

Towson, which will visit Dartmouth on Oct. 15, 2016, learned the same lesson a year ago when Kevin Olsen, a onetime top-100 recruit who had transferred  from the Miami Hurricanes, was dismissed from the Tiger program before ever playing a game. (LINK)

Turns out Towson is giving it another shot with the addition of Morgan Mahalak, a four-star recruit who redshirted one year at Oregon and ran the scout team last fall. Mahalak was the nation's fifth-ranked dual-threat quarterback as a senior according to Oregon Live.  (LINK)

Looking Ahead

With the regular-decision recruiting class unofficial but now pretty much identified, this is the way the Dartmouth offense appears to shape up for next fall. Check out the defense tomorrow. The key word: unofficial ;-)

Click to enlarge.
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The Dartmouth Review has a lengthy look back at the 2015 Big Green football season with a quick glimpse ahead. The story includes this quote from Coach Buddy Teevens:

“People look at us and say, ‘Wow Dartmouth is a number one school in football and number one in terms of graduation rate. Man, it’s an Ivy institution with world class intellects and the football team is in that group while playing pretty physical and successful football. That’s where we’d like to be. We’ve got a number of engineers and pre-med kids with high 3.0’s, with 3.5’s, 3.6’s, 3.7’s in GPA. Our team GPA has been over 3.0 for the past 11 years. I want great players who are intellectuals at all times and great guy at all times. When people see my players, my kids, they say ‘Oh he’s in my class. Pretty cool dude.’ If you expect excellence and you preach and prod that and encourage that, you get what you ask for. I think that’s where we are right now.”

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The Dartmouth writes about the fact that there will not be a snow sculpture on The Green for Winter Carnival this year. From the story:

“The main factor obviously was weather — the Green is greener now, there’s not really any snow,” chair of the Winter Carnival Council Harrison Perkins ’18 said. “The second factor was a lack of student support in building the actual sculpture in the past few years.”

Green Alert Take: Sorry, but I'm not buying the lack of snow argument. That has never stopped the sculpture before. In the past snow has been trucked in and that was a possibility this year. We live less than eight miles from campus and there's plenty of snow here. Around Dartmouth they like to say, "Lest the old traditions fail." They failed.

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The beauty of having a DVR hooked up to your TV is the ability to zip through commercials. We didn't do that during the Super Bowl but I freely admit we started to think about it. You may disagree but here on the shoulder of Moose Mountain there was agreement that this was easily the least entertaining group of Super Bowl commercials in recent memory. The other advantage of a DVR? The ability to zip through overblown halftime shows. Thanks to the fast forward button while we didn't hear one note of halftime music we didn't miss a snap. 

Super Sunday

Happy Super Bowl Day ;-)

Harvey Frommer, who does some teaching at Dartmouth, has a new book When It Was Just A Game: Remembering The First Super Bowl.

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With a handful of graduating Dartmouth seniors having NFL dreams one site I came across has a Dartmouth player pegged for one of today's Super Bowl teams.

That would be DraftSite, which sees the Denver Broncos using their sixth-round selection to choose Dartmouth defensive tackle AJ Zuttah with the 219th overall pick. (LINK) It's as speculative as speculative can be, but on this Sunday it's fun stuff.

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Speaking of the draft, another site called Pro Player Insiders posted its NFL Draft Small School Position Rankings prior to last season. Here are Ivy League players mentioned by school. Where they make the top rankings their rank is listed. Otherwise they are the "Others to watch."

DARTMOUTH
No. 5 DT AJ Zuttah
QB Dalyn Williams
LB Will McNamara
LB Zach Slafsky
CB Vernon Harris

(Notably missing is Cody Fulleton, who is deserving of being on the list.)

COLUMBIA
Toba Akinleye

CORNELL
CB Jarrod Watson-Lewis
OG Zach Wilk

HARVARD
No. 1 C Anthony Fabriano (7th round)
No. 4 TE Ben Braunecker
No. 5 OT Cole Toner
OT Adam Redman
TB Paul Stanton, Jr.

PENN
TE Ryan O'Malley

PRINCETON
No. 2 WR Seth DeValve
No. 3 FS Anthony Gaffney
OT Britt Colcolough
TB DiAndre Atwater
RS Dre Nelson

YALE
QB Morgan Roberts
SS Cole Champion

Enjoy the commercials ;-)

Simply Beautiful

Here's a guarantee. If you have a soft spot for Dartmouth you are going to share a link to this video with someone else. It's that beautiful. My goodness what you can do with a drone and some ridiculously amazing scenery!

(By the way, if I'm recruiting for Dartmouth, I'm going to make sure potential Dartmouth students and student-athletes see it.)



Have a nice weekend!

Signing Week ;-)

Signing Day photos continue trickling in. Again, thanks to all for sharing . . .

Linebacker Andrew Lemkuil

Defensive Back Isiah Swann

Here's an unofficial look at the Dartmouth recruiting class identified through Twitter, the recruiting sites newspapers and via emails. (Corrections and additions invited.)

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
Caylin Parker, 6-0, 205, Belle Chasse, La./Belle Chasse

WIDE RECEIVER
 
Tyler Addison, 6-1, 185, Destrehan, La./Destrehan
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
Connor Rempel, 6-4, 215, West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional
Tucker Spears, 6-5, 225, Dakota Dune, SD/Bishop Heelan/Avon Old Farms

OFFENSIVE LINE

Ben Culmer, 6-5, 300, McLean, Va./Langley
John Lass, 6-5, 280, Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East
* Anders Peterson 6-6, 265, Leesburg, Va./Tuscarora
* Tanner Aiono, 6-5, 305, San Diego, Calif./Frances Parker

DEFENSIVE LINE
Jordan McGriff, 6-2, 300, Willingboro, N.J./Hun
Niko Lalos, 6-5, 239, Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary's
Seith Simmer, 6-4, 250, Kennesaw, Ga./Harrison
Tamerick Simpson, 6-3, 225, Miami, Fla./Berkshire/Miami Central

LINEBACKER 
Nigel Alexander, 6-2, 225, Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips
Ross Andreasik, 6-2, 210 Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West
Colton Forster, 6-3, 235, Napa, Calif./Napa
Arthur Kaslow, 6-3, 225, Calabasas, Calif./Calabasas
Andrew Lemkuil, 6-3, 210, West Hartford, Conn./Kingswood-Oxford
 
DEFENSIVE BACK 
DJ Avery, 5-6, 180, Douglasville, Ga./Douglas
Micah Croom, 6-2, 190, La Mirada, Calif./La Mirada
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

* Will enter as freshman this fall after two-year LDS mission

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A story in the Napa Valley Register about linebacker Colton Forster "signing" with Dartmouth included this disappointing news:

Forster, unfortunately, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee last week at Vintage during a basketball Big Game. He is still awaiting more results from an MRI and to hear from his orthopedist, but expects to redshirt next fall.

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Not sure whether it was reporter error or a head coach at a prominent prep school making the mistake is uncertain, but quotes like this from an NJ.com story bring a grimace (italics are mine):

"Over the past two years, Jordan McGriff dedicated himself in the weight room and completely transformed his body. He is one of the most athletic linemen in the state. His work ethic in the classroom earned him the right to attend Dartmouth University. I think he could make an impact in the Ivy League right away."

Of course, that's not as hard to read as something else I came across digging up recruiting information. For the first time ever, I saw someone refer to, "The University of Dartmouth."

n case you are wondering how much people pay attention to recruiting at this level, Signing Day "hits" on BGA Daily were the highest since . . . last Signing Day. There were roughly five times as many hits as on a normal Wednesday during the offseason.

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Boston.com writes about Bob Cordy, a starting guard on the nationally ranked 1970 Ivy League championship team, retiring from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

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When the NCAA Football Rules Committee meets next week replay/targeting will be on the agenda according to an NCAA release. Speaking of which, don't be surprised if the Ivy League implements replay in football before long. It's already in use in basketball and ice hockey. The committee will also discuss the possible use of computers and tablets on the sidelines according to the release.

Safety First Features Buddy Teevens

The video is from the SafeKids website.

(Thanks to BGA-Indiana Division for sharing the link.)

Signing Day Wrap

While future Ivy Leaguers were taking part in Signing Day events yesterday the three non-conference opponents Dartmouth will face next fall were actually signing players.

The Big Green opens the season Sept. 17 at home against New Hampshire, which announced its new class HERE.

The next week Dartmouth will be at Holy Cross, which announced its fourth scholarship class HERE.

On Oct. 15 first-time opponent Towson will invade Memorial Field. The Tiger class is listed HERE.

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An Inside Higher Ed story about Princeton's decision to relax the no-transfer rule that has been in place since 1990 includes this explanation, which ends with an eye-raising thought (italics are mine):

In the strategic plan, Princeton linked the resumption of transfer admissions to diversity goals. "Experience at other universities shows that transfer programs can provide a vehicle to attract students with diverse backgrounds and experiences, such as qualified military veterans and students from low-income backgrounds, including some who might begin their careers at community colleges," the plan says.

That may not be the only motivation. Princeton alumni have for years complained that the university's ban on transfer admissions has hurt athletic programs, as other Ivy institutions have admitted outstanding athletes as transfers.

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The NCAA writes about Gail Koziara Boudreaux '82, the three-time Ivy League women's basketball player of the year once known as the all-time leading scorer (1,933 points, 21.7 career ppg) and rebounder (1,635 rebounds, 18.4 career rpg) in Dartmouth history, but becoming better known as the mother of emerging basketball star Evan Boudreaux '19.

An All-America in the shot put, Boudreaux has been called one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in American Business” by Fortune magazine and one of the ``100 Most Powerful Women in the World’’ by Forbes.

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Jack Riley '44, who in 1960  led the U.S. Olympic hockey team to its first gold medal and twice was named as the NCAA Coach of the Year during a 36-year run at West Point, has died at 95. Find a story about a true Dartmouth legend HERE.

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Defensive Back DJ Avery

And finally, one more picture and a huge thank you to those who shared photos and links to photos and news clips yesterday. It was a l-o-n-g day finding and posting pictures and hopefully it was fun for everyone to get a glimpse of the incoming group. Lots of green cake, too ;-)

Taking The Cake

Wide Receiver Drew Estrada, lower right.

Screen grab of defensive back Micah Croom from Whittier Daily News

Winding Down

It's been a l-o-n-g day here on the shoulder of Moose Mountain. Any more pics out there? If you have a photo or link to send along, CLICK HERE and it will address an email to me with the subject SigningDay. Then just include the link or photo. Thanks!

Linebacker Ross Andreasik

More From Twitter

Wide Receiver Zach Hawkins

Linebacker Colton Forster

Three More Pix

Tight End Connor Rempel

Snapper Grant Jaffe

Running Back Jordan Argilagos

Stand Tall

Quarterback Jared Gerbino

Another Signing Day Celebration

Screen grab from Twitter:

Tamerick "TJ" Simpson

A New Name

Got 'em ;-)

Running back Cay Parker

The mystery back referred to in a post this morning is Cay Parker, a 6-foot, 205-pounder from Belle Chasse HS in Belle Chasse, La. Check out his highlights:



If that doesn't load, here's the direct LINK.

Looks as if he picked running back at Dartmouth over playing linebacker at UTEP.

The UTEP SB Nation site has a mention HERE.

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Running Back Jordan Argilagos

TV Time On Signing Day

Safety Ryan Roegge

Wide Receiver Brandon Hester

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In case you were wondering – although you weren't – BGA Daily went over 5,000 total posts this morning ;-)

Three Snapshots

A few more pics from various sources. They are slow coming in this year. A little help?

If you have a photo or link to send along, CLICK HERE and it will address an email to me with the subject SigningDay. Then just include the link or photo. Thanks!

Offensive Lineman John Lass

Defensive Lineman Seth Simmer

Linebacker Nigel Alexander

All Smiles

A few Signing Day screen grabs:

Wide Receiver Hunter Hagdorn

Quarterback Cole Douglas

Kicker/Punter Davis Brief

First Signing PIcs In!

Tight End Tucker Spears

Defensive Lineman Niko Lalos

If you have a photo or link to send along, CLICK HERE and it will address an email to me with the subject SigningDay. Then just include the link or photo. Thanks!

Signing Day Brings Another Into Fold

It's National Signing Day, which doesn't really mean as much to Ivy League hopefuls as it does to others because the Ivy doesn't recognize the Letter of Intent. That said, it means a lot to everyone else, which is why most Ivy prospects have now committed, including a new one for these pages:

Andrew Lemkuil of Kingswood Oxford School of West Hartford, Conn., had options at Bryant, Fordham and elsewhere but had decided on Dartmouth per Twitter. The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Lemkuil played outside linebacker and wide receiver at Kingswood Oxford, captaining the team as a senior and making the All-New England first team as well as first team All-FAA. He helped the Wyverns win the New England prep school championship. (LINK)

Here's his senior highlight film:



(If that takes a while to load, find the a direct link to the video HERE.)

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I'll be posting photos during the day from the various signing celebrations. As has been the case for the past few years, you are welcome to send along photos and I'll try to post one from every incoming Dartmouth player I can.

If you have a photo or link to send along, CLICK HERE and it will address an email to me with the subject SigningDay. Then just include the link or photo. Thanks!

(Scroll down THIS LINK to see a selection of photos from last year's Signing Day for incoming Dartmouth freshmen.)

Here's the recruiting list I have worked up. Apologies for wrong positions, heights and weights. As noted I've got at least one more name in the works that I'm trying to confirm and there could be a couple of others. There is also at least one walk-on who has been widely reported as a recruit.

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
DJ Avery, 5-6, 180, Douglasville, Ga./Douglas
(And one more I'm trying to

WIDE RECEIVER
 
Tyler Addison, 6-1, 185, Destrehan, La./Destrehan
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
Connor Rempel, 6-4, 215, West Long Branch, N.J./Shore Regional
Tucker Spears, 6-5, 225, Dakota Dune, SD/Bishop Heelan/Avon Old Farms

OFFENSIVE LINE
 
Ben Culmer, 6-5, 300, McLean, Va./Langley
John Lass, 6-5, 280, Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill East

DEFENSIVE LINE
Jordan McGriff, 6-2, 300, Willingboro, N.J./Hun
Niko Lalos, 6-5, 239, Akron, Ohio/St. Vincent-St. Mary's
Seith Simmer, 6-4, 250, Kennesaw, Ga./Harrison
Tamerick Simpson, 6-3, 225, Miami, Fla./Berkshire/Miami Central

LINEBACKER 
Nigel Alexander, 6-2, 225, Orlando, Fla./Dr. Phillips
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
Andrew Lemkuil, 6-3, 210, West Hartford, Conn./Kingswood-Oxford

DEFENSIVE BACK 
Micah Croom, 6-2, 190, La Mirada, Calif./La Mirada
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

Still One More Redux

Twitter confirms the commitment of Tyler Addison, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound wide receiver from Destrehan, La., and Destrehan High School. He chose Dartmouth over offers from Army, Columbia, Cornell, Penn, Princeton, Nicholls State, Louisiana-Monroe and Kent State according to Rivals.



These Hudl highlights don't always load so if that didn't work for you, try THIS LINK.

Yet Another

Twitter (and this time Instagram) report Connor Remple, a 6-foot-4, 215-pound tight end/outside linebacker from West Long Branch, N.J., and Shore Regional HS as choosing Dartmouth. (Interestingly, his Twitter is protected – a very good idea if you ask me – but his bio picture lists him as a Dartmouth football commit.)

Check out his highlights:



If that doesn't work for you, CLICK HERE to go straight to his highlights.

Still One More

(If the video doesn't show, CLICK HERE.)

Darryl "DJ" Avery, listed by 247Sports as a 5-foot-6, 180-pound running back from Douglas County HS in Douglasville, Ga., has channeled his inner Lebron James by Tweeting, "Blessed to say I will be taking my talents to play D1 football at Dartmouth!!" (LINK)

According to MaxPreps Avery ran for 449 yards last fall, averaging 7.5 yards per carry. He earned a spot on the all-region 3-AAAAAA team first team for defense and second team for offense.

Dartmouth Lands A Big One

(If that doesn't work for you, the link to the Hudl video is HERE.)

His Twitter account indicates that Dartmouth has landed a big-time California talent in 6-foot-2, 190-pound defensive back Micah Croom of La Mirada High School.

Croom, once a Utah commit, has a photo of himself with Illinois head coach Bill Cubit from his official visit and another pic from his recruiting trip to Hawaii. Various services list him as also having offers from Colorado, Indiana, Air Force and . . . Penn.

Both Rivals and 247Sports call him a three-star recruit. 

Hang In There

Appointment this morning. Check back a little later than usual for today's post.

And Another

That tease last week about someone who the bread crumbs seemed to be leading to has been confirmed with 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive lineman Ben Culmer of Langley High School and McLean, Va., listing himself on Twitter as committing to Dartmouth. Although he's one of the less-active Twitterers and hasn't posted an actual Tweet since October, "Dartmouth Football Commit," is what it now says under his profile picture.

Find Culmer's Hudl highlights HERE.

If my numbers are right, that's 25 names that have been posted here for the next class. There should be five more – give-or-take – in the class. Any or all of those should pop up by the end of the day Wednesday, that emerging holiday known as National Signing Day.

Feel free to email names, numbers and links if you'd like to make my life a little easier over the next few days ;-)

One New, One Confirmed, One Out

Twitter breaks the news of a new recruit headed this way and confirms another who had sounded as if he were coming, while the Casper Star Tribune delivers the news of the one who got away.

The new name is Nigel Alexander, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound (or 6-1, 220 or even 5-11 depending on which service you believe) linebacker from Dr. Phillips High School and Orlando, Fla. Find his Twitter announcement HERE.

His Hudl highlight video lists him with 94 tackles including eight sacks and 20 tackles for loss overall. He also had two pass breakups and one blocked kick.

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Bits and pieces on Twitter had suggested that Seth Simmer, a 6-4, 250-pound defensive lineman/tight end from Harrison High School and Kennesaw, Ga., was Dartmouth-bound and now he's made it official HERE.

Simmer was chosen by the coaches to the all-region team 4-AAAAAA first team both as a defensive end and as a tight end. (LINK).

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Various news and notes had connected 6-2, 220 running back Theo Dawson of Jackson, Wyo., with Dartmouth, and following his progress from afar he looked like an exciting prospect.

While northern New England seems like a pretty good fit for a kid from the Rockies, it turns out he decided home state Wyoming is the best fit and that's where he'll be headed after a two-year LDS mission. Dawson ran for a state-record 489 yards and five touchdowns in the state quarterfinals this year and 2,440 yards and 29 touchdowns overall. Find a story about the big back and his commitment HERE.