Wednesday, April 18, 2018

With The NFL Draft Looming . . .

Here's a look at Dartmouth players drafted since the start of formal Ivy League play in 1956:

1963 LB Don McKinnon, New York Giants, 11th round
1963  LB Don McKinnon, Boston Patriots (AFL), 10th round
1963 QB Bill King, New York Jets (AFL) 8th round
1968 DB Gordie Rule, Green Bay Packers, 11th round
1971 DB Willie Bogan, Baltimore Colts, 8th round
1976 WR Tom Fleming, Cleveland Browns, 17th round
1976 LB Reggie Williams, Cincinnati Bengals, 3rd round
1978 DE Gregg Robinson, New York Jets, 6th round
1998 LB Zack Walz, Arizona Cardinals, 6th round
2004 TE Casey Cramer, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 7th round

Ironically, perhaps the three best NFL careers by Dartmouth players (apart from that of Reggie Williams) in the Ivy League era, were free agent pickups.

Quarterback Jeff Kemp '81 played 11 years in the NFL. Fellow QB Jay Fiedler '94 also had an 11-year run and placekicker Nick Lowery stuck around for 18 years.
Speaking of the NFL, 6-foot-6, 299-pound Jerry Tillery, the Notre Dame defensive tackle who took a last-minute recruiting trip to Dartmouth before enrolling early at South Bend, considered entering the draft this spring before deciding to return for his senior season with the fighting Irish. (LINK) Given his predilection for travel, he would have fit in nicely at Dartmouth. From the story:
He’s already logged study abroad programs in South Africa and Ireland. He did spring break in Germany. There are the Hawaii trips. He went to Canada during Easter weekend. Next month he’ll do a two-week business program in Japan.
Les Lawrence, who worked with the Dartmouth football program between stints as a head coach at a number of Upper Valley high schools, is stepping down as coach at nearby Mascoma Valley Regional High School as he approaches retirement after 40 years as a teacher. The local daily has a story HERE.