Friday, May 05, 2023

Striping It On the Fairway And The Gridiron

Dartmouth has not had a placekicker for spring practice but it has two coming in this fall. Here's the kicker (pun intended): The longest in-game field goal by an incoming freshman was likely booted by a recruit for another sport.

That's right. Ian Davis, a Dartmouth golf recruit from Carbondale High School in Illinois, has a 57-yarder to his credit. As he notes on Twitter, he tacked on an extra step or two for the kick, but 57 yards is 57 yards even if you start at the other guy's 20. Check the kick out:

Davis' "signing" to play golf was covered by a local TV station in a story HERE that starts this way (italics are mine):

Carbondale High School Senior Ian Davis is headed to New Hampshire to be a member of the Big Green in the Fall. Davis is Ivy League bound. He signed his National Letter of Intent on Thursday to play golf and possibly football at Dartmouth next year. 

Davis was the special team's captain for the Terriers football team this year. He also kicked a school record 57-yard field goal against Mascoutah in October. 

The Southern Illinoisan had a profile of the talented athlete showing he was capable at the high school level of combining his two sports in a single season. From the story (LINK):

Ian Davis is enjoying a great start to his senior season as a student-athlete. Through three golf meets this fall, he has already earned medalist honors twice, averaging about a one-under-par 71 for 18 holes.

He hasn't been too shabby on the gridiron either, booting a pair of field goals in Carbondale's season-opening loss at home to Murphysboro on Friday.

Davis was good from 37 and 43 yards out, making him one of the best, if not the best placekicker in the region.

Although he isn't playing soccer this fall, he did play all three fall sports as an underclassman and scored double-digit goals both as a freshman and sophomore.

Davis, whose father is a Dartmouth grad, was a standout soccer player at Carbondale High before giving football a shot. On the links he set a regional record when he carded a 65. From a look at the Carbondale team last August (LINK):

(C)ollege-level kicker Ian Davis, who can hit field goals from plus 40 yards out consistently, will be a key offensive cog. Davis will play football and golf at the college level next year.

Green Alert Take: Dartmouth famously had a soccer player/placekicker years ago and had a skier/kicker coach Buddy Teevens nicknamed a "skicker" several seasons back. Golfer/kicker might be the least-demanding double but only time will tell if Davis intends to give the gridiron a shot because he's clearly a golf recruit.

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The website Financial has a somewhat random story headlined Dependable Players Who Made a Difference, both on and off the field: Reggie Williams, Jay Fiedler, Dennis Durkin and Dartmouth’s Top College Football Stars. (LINK)

In addition to the players in the headline, the story mentions Murry Bowden (mistakenly correcting his name to Murray), Casey Cramer and Niko Lalos. It writes that "Williams was a shoo-in for the Dartmouth Hall of Fame," which of course doesn't exist. Williams is a member of the Wearers of the Green, but that isn't a hall of fame.

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Giants Wire has a story headlined Ex-Giants shined during 2023 XFL regular season that includes Niko Lalos among the more than two dozen onetime Giants who played in the spring league. Find the entry HERE.

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Spending a little time around the program this week was former Ivy League defensive player of the year Flo Oriomlade '17,  who became the highest-paid defensive end in the Canadian Football League when he moved over from the Calgary Stampeders to the Toronto Argos in the offseason. Here he is with Dartmouth strength and conditioning coach Spencer Brown:

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A Dartmouth Tweet notes that fewer than 15 percent of chairback seats for the 2023 football games at Memorial Field are still available "at early bird pricing."

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Dartmouth's 2023 opener at preseason Top-20 New Hampshire will be a serious test. How serious? HERO Sports has a column pegging UNH as the second most-likely FCS team to pull off a win over an FBS team next fall. The Wildcats will try to do just that when they visit Central Michigan one week before playing host to the Big Green. 

Interestingly, Holy Cross – which has back-to-back wins over FBS teams – is ranked as having the fourth-best chance for another FBS upset when it faces 2024 Dartmouth opponent Army. (LINK)

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EXTRA POINT
Tomorrow is Green Up Day in Vermont. Mrs. BGA, Griff the Wonder Dog and I are headed out shortly to do our part a day early so two of the three of us can make it to Memorial Field tomorrow. By the way, it always brings a smile to my face when I think of our late and cantankerous neighbor on the shoulder of Moose Mountain who once famously said to us, "Budweiser is the litterer's beer of choice."

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