In The News

A CBSsports.com posting:

Here's how the capsule of one of the eight players started:

Zach Sammartino, OG, Dartmouth 

Sammartino, a First-Team All-Ivy pick in 2019, was a one-man wrecking ball for the league-champion Big Green at right guard. He plays with a low, methodical style that allows him to stay balanced in pass protection and when executing combination blocks for the run game. 

Find the full piece HERE.

•

A Gatorsports follow on the story posted here yesterday about Dartmouth kicker Connor Davis includes a photo:

Find the story HERE.

•

Here's a screen grab of a story in The Athletic:

That's former record-setting Dartmouth quarterback and captain Mark Johnson '90 during his days with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Here's an excerpt from the story:

When he went to camp in the strike-shortened 1995 season, (Pirates manager Jim) Leyland took a liking to him.

“Jim never talked about baseball to him, he always talked football,” said Donnelly, whose kids went to school with me in Steubenville, Ohio. “Jim was a quarterback in Perrysburg. He was pretty good. He’d come in and walk by Mark’s locker and Jim would pretend like he’s getting a snap and throwing. Mark would laugh his ass off.”

Johnson, a first baseman/pitcher who teamed with first-round draft pick Mike Remlinger to lead Dartmouth baseball to the NCAAs, graduated as the Big Green's then leader in career passing yards with 4,413. He threw 25 touchdown passes. His son Trevor is a senior outfielder for Dartmouth.

Find The Athletic story HERE. (Subscription required)

•

Speaking of multi-sport athletes, Dartmouth has a pretty good one on its radar. The Des Moines Register writes of rising senior Marcus Morgan (LINK):

He's the Register's No. 5 in-state 2021 basketball prospect, with interest from Northern Iowa and Loyola-Chicago. He's the Register's No. 10 in-state football prospect, with offers from Iowa State, Northern Iowa and Dartmouth. He's a Power Five baseball prospect, with offers from Iowa and Penn State.

•

Back on the subject of eligibility for Ivy League's spring athletes, this was included in a teaser for a story in New Jersey's The Trentonian (LINK):

(A)n AP source reports, “Over 90 Ivy League senior spring-sports athletes have entered the portal in the last month.”

Green Alert Take: That is not included in the story and while I can't find the original AP source, it has to be disturbing to Ivy League coaches

•

On the subject of COVID-19, Andrew Boselli, a 6-foot-5, 231-pound offensive lineman at Florida State writes about his recovery from the illness HERE. From a story that reminds us young people, including big, strong football players, are not immune:

A day after my test – an unpleasant process in and of itself – I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a bus. … I promise, even if you’re young and healthy, you do not want this virus.

•

Remember those specialized Vicis helmets Dartmouth had for a bunch of its players the last couple of years in the continuing effort to reduce concussions? Vicis "collapsed" in early winter and now has been sold. A company that once raised more than $85 million went for $2.85 million, but there's still hope that the innovation will continue. From a release (LINK):

“Under new ownership from Innovatus Capital Partners, Vicis and our assets will form a new company in order to fulfill our mission of protecting athletes of all ages,” a message reads on Vicis’ website. “Together, we will continue to apply our passion and expertise in engineering, medicine, and sport to elevate the game for this season and many to come.”

•

There's nothing Ivy League-related in this but a state-by-state listing of where every running back drafted by the NFL in the past 10 years played high school football is revealing if not at all surprising. Consider that Utah has more drafted backs than the three northern New England states combined. That’s right. Utah had one.

The top three states? Yup. Florida with 40, Texas with 28 and California with 25.

It's Saturday and there are no games on TV. Go ahead and waste some time on the story and chart HERE.

•

And finally, Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Penn and Yale have joined more than 200 schools in producing athletic backgrounds for your next Zoom conference. It probably won't be long before Dartmouth and the rest of the Ivies join in.

Again, with plenty of time on your hands you might be curious to see what pictures each of the schools chose. Find them HERE:

Brown
ColumbiaCornell
Penn
Yale

If you are curious how to apply the background in Zoom, here are the instructions courtesy of a Certain University in Happy Valley (LINK):

1. Save desired picture
2. Click on the up arrow next to the camera in the bottom right corner of the screen while in a meeting.
3. Click “Choose Virtual Background”
4. Click the + button to the right of choose virtual background.
5. Select your favorite
6. Enjoy!

Green Alert Take: If I'm picking four pictures from Dartmouth athletics I think they would be Memorial Field, Thompson Arena, Red Rolfe Field and The Skiway. How about you?

•

EXTRA POINT
I've been predicting for a couple of weeks now that this would be the week I'd have to mow the lawn for the first time.

While there has been a definite "greening up," that has slowed a bit. The last two mornings and three of the past four we've awoken to what looks like powdered sugar on the lawn. The light snow has melted each time by noon or so, but I think that electric tractor we got at mid-summer last year will stay plugged in for at least another week.

•

Editor's Note: A heartfelt thank you to the friends of BGA Daily who clicked on the donate button up there on the right. That's one way you can help me keep BGA Daily going. Here's another: If you see something of interest for posting on this site, drop me an email with a link. Three of the pieces I included today (the story on Zach Sammartino, the Mark Johnson story and the Vicis story) were shared by readers. Trust me, it takes a lot of internet surfing and clicking to keep BGA Daily going and interesting and your help is appreciated. As I've said before, I give it the old college try but I can't find 'em all ;-)

Stay safe and have a great weekend.