Monday, January 26, 2026

From The Senior Bowl

From a Pro Football Network story looking at offensive linemen in the Senior Bowl (LINK):
The only FCS representative in this positional group is Dartmouth’s Delby Lemieux. It’s safe to say that intelligence is probably a checked box.

Lemieux played left tackle for the Big Green, but he’s already preparing to work inside at the Senior Bowl due to a smaller frame and smaller arms. That was Grey Zabel, a year ago, from a small school, too.

I think his size means he’s a center-only prospect, but he’s certainly earned a step up in competition after allowing just six pressures in 271 pass-blocking reps this past season. It’ll be great to learn more about him in Mobile.

For the record, Lemieux is listed on his Dartmouth bio as 6-foot-4, 295 pounds. 

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This is from Dane Brugler in the New York Times (LINK):

A little bit of a surprise invite, Dartmouth’s Delby Lemieux played left tackle but will move inside to center at the next level. He has the foot quickness to hold up against better competition, but does he have the strength and recovery skills?

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From Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets On SI comes a piece headlined, Is Georgia Tech's transfer portal class being underrated nationally? that includes this (LINK):

The Yellow Jackets got three big commitments from Gavin Harris (New Mexico State), Spencer Mermans (Yale), and Chris Corbo (Dartmouth) and they all should fill the various roles that Georgia Tech expects from their tight ends under Brent Key.

Harris had 37 catches for 533 yards and 1 TD this year. He had the 8th-most receiving yards among tight ends in the FBS this season and he will add a different dimension to the Yellow Jackets' tight end room. For his career, Harris has 58 catches for 857 yards and four touchdowns while averaging 14.8 yards per catch. This past season, Pro Football Focus gave Harris a 61.3 overall grade in 715 snaps.  

Mermans was one of the top blocking tight ends in the FCS level, something that Georgia Tech covets. He was the second-highest graded player on the Yale offense per PFF, finishing with a 90.2 overall grade, including an 82.1 run blocking grade in 230 snaps. This is a nice addition for Georgia Tech and one that should help them have another great season on the ground.

Corbo finished with 45 catches for 516 yards and four touchdowns. In 2024, he finished with 32 catches for 315 yards and seven touchdowns. Expect him, Harris, and Mermans to be the top three tight ends in this rotation.

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EXTRA POINT
The final count on our Vermont hillside this morning is 10-11 inches of the lightest snow you can imagine. 

Sunday, January 25, 2026

Elsewhere

He's not included in the writeup, but a piece headlined Ranking all 2026 Senior Bowl Prospects projects former Dartmouth offensive tackle Delby Lemieux as a "round 6-7 prospect."

Find the full ranking of Senior Bowl players HERE.
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The University of South Dakota issued a release Friday headlined Football Announces Signings Of Transfer Athletes; Signed Transfers At South Dakota In Time For Spring Ball that includes this look at former Dartmouth quarterback Jackson Proctor '25 (LINK):
Jackson Proctor // QB // 6-2 // 210 // Kent, Wash. // Dartmouth College & Northern Illinois University
Spent his first four seasons at Dartmouth College (2021-24) with his collegiate debut coming at Princeton in 2022 ... played in 17 games for the Big Green with 617 yards and five touchdown passes ... spent time at Northern Illinois University but not during a football season.

Editor's Note: Uh, Proctor ran for 617 yards and five touchdowns in his Big Green career. He passed for 2,355 in a Dartmouth uniform, including 1,564 as a senior to go with 13 touchdowns.

While Proctor didn't spend much time with the NIU program, that's not actually correct, either. From a December story in the Northern Illinois school paper headlined NIU football transfer portal tracker: Who’s coming, who’s going? (LINK):

Proctor’s stint in DeKalb wasn’t a long one. Unable to officially join the team until after spring ball, the former Dartmouth transfer played in just one game for the Huskies — filling in for an injured Josh Holst in the season opener — before leaving the program for undisclosed reasons in September. Proctor will look to recreate the success he had at Dartmouth elsewhere for his final year of eligibility.

Proctor joins a South Dakota program that made it to the second round of the FCS playoffs before finishing 10-5 last fall. Proctor is one of just three quarterbacks on the spring 2026 spring roster. With the starter graduating, the most experienced returning QB is fellow redshirt senior Evan Cremascoli, who threw one pass last fall and has three completions in his career. Interestingly, he also transferred from Northern Illinois – before the 2024 season.

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EXTRA POINT

I continue to receive periodic emails that appear to come from a long-ago BGA subscriber, as well as from the father of one of my former Little League players. I quickly realized the emails are actually spam using familiar, scraped addresses to try to “spoof” me into thinking they are legitimate.

When the emails first appeared, I contacted the former player’s father, who was understandably annoyed. He apologized repeatedly, but I assured him there was no need: I knew the messages were the work of a bad actor. I haven’t reached out to the former subscriber. Instead I simply ignore the junk emails that falsely claim to be from him.

But that has me wondering. Is someone using my address to spam others without my knowledge? I suppose it’s possible that recipients have recognized what’s happening—just as I did—and, like me with my former subscriber, haven’t bothered to touch base. I have absolutely no indication that it is happening, but if it is, you have my apologies.

Saturday, January 24, 2026

Add One

To the list of incoming Dartmouth recruits add the name Harlem Taylor, a 6-foot-3, 240-pound defensive lineman from Manchester, N.H., and Saint Paul's School. Per his social media, Taylor chose the Big Green over offers from Bentley, Amherst and Colby.

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The Green, Gold & Bold website has a piece headlined, Here are the top five offensive transfers for USF football (so far) that has grad transfer Dartmouth running back DJ Crowther ranked third among offensive players joining the University of South Florida team. From the story (LINK):

D.J Crowther, in 10 games for Dartmouth this season, had 929 rushing yards, averaging 4.9 yards per carry. Another senior who has one year of eligibility, but who should play a key role for the Bulls this season. Crowther is an elusive back from Sacramento and was a 3-star recruit in high school. Crowther is a fun running back to watch. He has an unorthodox upright stance similar to that of former Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty. He has great size at 5-foot-11 and 205 pounds. He's not scared of contact and will run through anybody.

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The Patriot Ledger has a piece about graduating Dartmouth senior offensive lineman Delby Lemieux being selected for the Senior Bowl HERE

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A Dartmouth social media post reminds us that while the Ivy League football season lasts just 10 weeks,  the preparation to be successful has already begun for the 2026 season.

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EXTRA POINT

Like other EV owners who know it's best practice, we seldom charge our electric cars above 80 percent. Normally, we'll go to a full 100 percent SOC (state of charge) only before a long trip. With the temperature plummeting and significant snow on the way, however, I set the car to 100 percent yesterday, and charged it all the way up last night.


If you've been hanging around this electronic precinct for a while, you know that our Ioniq 5 has the ability to port electricity back to our house. With a chance that the power could go out as a result of the impending storm, we thought it best to get the car fully charged and ready to go. At 100 percent SOC we can run most of our house for a few days and still have enough juice left in the car to get to a public charger to start the process all over again. Here's hoping it doesn't come to that. Stay warm and stay safe!

Friday, January 23, 2026

We Know That Guy

The Kent State football pages now has a bio of new running backs coach Braxton Chapman. Part of it reads this way (LINK):

Chapman comes to Kent State from Dartmouth, where he spent the 2024 season serving as the running backs coach before being promoted to special teams coordinator in 2025. He helped guide the Big Green to a share of the Ivy League Championship in 2024  while mentoring back-to-back First Team All-Ivy running backs. Under his leadership, Dartmouth’s special teams was in the top half of the Ivy League, with the punt unit finishing second in the conference and 28th nationally. Sophomore punter Luke Armistead earned 2nd team all-conference recognition.

If you go to the 2025 Dartmouth football roster and click on the coaching staff link, Chapman's name is no longer there. Soon enough, retiring defensive line coach Duane Brooks' name will vanish as well.

But here's the thing. Both did coach the 2025 Dartmouth football team, so that roster is not a true history of the team. The correct way to handle changes like that is to post a 2026 coaching roster with the replacement coaches, not to "disappear" them from the 2025 roster.

One other problem: With the unfortunate decision to stop producing media guides, the website is where most will to turn in the future for the history of Dartmouth football. Unless Chapman, Brooks and anyone else who will be removed is added back to the '25 roster when the 2026 staff is completed, the site will not be accurate. Ten years down the road, when someone is researching the '25 team or digging into the background of a former Dartmouth coach, the information will be missing or incomplete.

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Apropos of nothing, FCS insider Sam Herder Xweeted this (LINK):

Interesting numbers after I cross-referenced my databases of 2025 FCS-to-FBS transfers, 2024 FCS All-Conference players, and FCS All-Conference players returning in 2025:

38% of 2025 FCS-to-FBS transfers were FCS All-Conference players - It's interesting how many players who aren't necessarily FCS standouts get signed by FBS schools

67% of 2024 FCS All-Conference players with eligibility remaining returned in 2025 - More FCS standouts returned than transferred to the FBS

Discuss among yourselves.

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After an outstanding season at Duke, former Harvard wide receiver Cooper Barkate is back in the transfer portal. Find a story HERE.

Lots of speculation Barkate is interested in following quarterback  Darian Mensah to Miami if that comes about. Barkate caught 72 passes for 1,106 yards and seven TDs for the Blue Devils last fall. (LINK)

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EXTRA POINT
You know the hassle you have each fall and spring when you have to change your clocks? I'm here to tell you that's nothing compared to what happens when you switch internet providers and you have internet TVs (including a "dumb" one that requires Chromecast), along with a cellphone, an iPod, an iPad, several laptops, a digital picture frame, a wi-fi extender and more. Now add in switching your landline (yes, they still exist) from a traditional phone company to VOIP and it's a lot. We have most of it working now, but I'm sure there are still surprises in store with our move from DSL to fiber. That said, I'm not going back.

Thursday, January 22, 2026

In The News

From a NewYork Jets.com story headlined Senior Bowl Preview | Prospects to Keep an Eye Out for in Mobile (LINK):

Who Are Some Under the Radar Prospects?

OL Delby Lemieux of Dartmouth, CB Charles Demmings of Stephen F. Austin and RB J'Mari Taylor of Virginia were mentioned by (Senior Bowl director Drew) Fabianich as potential under the radar prospects.

Named a postseason All-American by various outlets in 2025, Lemieux (6-4, 280) was part of an offensive line that allowed the fifth-fewest sacks per game (0.80) among FCS programs.

"Great athlete, moves well, adjust well in space, protects well," Fabianich said.

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Wyoming News has a story headlined Who have the Cowboys added, lost in the portal? noting that the Wyoming football team lost around 20 players from last fall's team and is adding about 20 for 2026. The story has brief capsules on the incoming players including a familiar name (LINK):

Thaddeus Gianaris, DL: Gianaris is a FCS Dartmouth transfer who had 55 tackles, nine tackles for loss and five sacks last fall. He has one year of eligibility remaining.

Interesting to see Gianaris, listed at 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds in his Dartmouth bio, categorized as a lineman. I suppose DL is a lot clearer than ER (edge rusher ;-).

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Missed this at New Year's. Dartmouth put out a quick video look at life on and around campus last summer and at the 38-second mark you can see Owen Zalc being hoisted on teammates' shoulders after his 51-yard field goal as time expired gave the Big Green a Homecoming win over Yale, 17-16.

 

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From a story picked up by MSN.com headlined What to know about Christen Press before USWNT retirement ceremony on Saturday (LINK):

Christen Press is one of the most decorated women's soccer players in U.S. history. She was born Dec. 29, 1988, in Los Angeles and is the daughter of Cody Press, a former Dartmouth football player, and Stacy Press.

Cody Press was a 6-1, 185 defensive back from Bethesda, Md., who captained the 1979 Dartmouth team.

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EXTRA POINT
As noted in this electronic precinct yesterday, the BGA World Headquarters joined the 21st century yesterday with the installation of fiber internet. For the record, yesterday's pre-installation download speed via DSL was 10.3 Mbps, and the upload speed was 0.94. When I checked earlier this morning, our download speed was a little over 100 Mbps, and our upload speed was just under 100 Mbps. Perhaps the most surprising thing is that, in addition to such a ridiculous improvement in speed, what we are paying for the internet (and phone) is dramatically lower than what we had been paying previously. Call it a win-win.

Wednesday, January 21, 2026

Briefly

Just a quick one today because the folks hooking us up with fiber internet will be here in a minute or two.

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From an SI story headlined, Top 10 FCS Prospects In The 2026 NFL Draft (Postseason Update); Who are the top FCS prospects in the 2026 NFL Draft class? (LINK):
The NCAA transfer portal has severely impacted the number of FCS prospects in this year’s class, with players like Jaden Craig, Jared Richardson, and Chris Corbo entering the portal and moving up to the FBS.
Corbo, of course, is the former Dartmouth tight end. Craig quarterbacked Harvard and Richardson was Penn's standout wide receiver.

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This was posted by Brown:

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Seeing Brown's video sent me surfing the net for a good look at Dartmouth's Graham Indoor Practice facility,  the first of its kind in the Ivy League – a year-round, hard-sided building instead of a bubble. Here's a video showing the Dartmouth facility and talking about the advantages it offers Big Green coaches and athletes:


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Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza famously decommitted from Yale. Dartmouth is one of the schools that recruited an offensive lineman from Miami who entered the transfer portal after the national championship game. From On3 (LINK):
Miami Hurricanes offensive lineman Nino Francavilla plans to enter the Transfer Portal, per On3's Hayes Fawcett. He has primarily worked on the interior of the offensive line and the center position.

Nino Francavilla played his high school football at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut, though he is a native of Toronto. A member of the Class of 2024, Francavilla was a three-star recruit. He was the 1,988th- ranked player and the 175th-ranked interior offensive lineman in that recruiting cycle. Coming out of high school, he would choose to go to Miami over several Ivy League offers, including from Penn, Dartmouth, and Columbia.

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EXTRA POINT
When at first you don't succeed . . .

The local news last night showed photographs of a second night of Northern Lights in the Vermont sky. I have no idea if that was rolling around in my head, but for some reason I awoke at 1:30 this morning, and when I did, I decided to grab my camera and give it another shot. I'm glad I did.

Again, I fiddled with the digital camera's manual settings until I had it set where it needed to be and I was surprised by the results.

Once again, with the naked eye you could see light in the northern sky and a hint of color. The camera told the full story. Here is a shot I snapped while spending more than an hour at the window:

Click to enlarge this full-resolution shot.

This low-res shot shot sometime later (earlier ;-) showed a little of the "curtaining."

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

How About That!

Check out where a graduating Dartmouth offensive lineman is visiting as he looks for his grad transfer destination:

 Find a brief mention in a Cleveland.com story HERE.

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Washington also gets a mention in a Bleacher Report story headlined 2026 Impact CFB Transfer Targets Who Can Still Move This Offseason. Others named in the story are players from Ole Miss, Colorado, Duke, a few other schools and . . . wait for it . . . Yale (wide receiver Nico Brown).

From the story (LINK):

If you want a bit of a sleeper name that's not a stranger to the big-time programs out there, another Ivy League athlete is set to make a large leap on the gridiron in 2026.

Vasean Washington, a 6'5", 290-pound athletic offensive lineman who played at Dartmouth, is looking for a new home to play his final season, much like Yale's Nico Brown.

One of the schools definitely in the mix is the Ohio State Buckeyes, who need offensive line reinforcements.

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And speaking of offensive linemen, we now know who graduating Dartmouth tackle Delby Lemieux will play for the National team in the Senior Bowl on Jan. 31. Coaching the National team's offensive line will be Mike McCarthy of the Cincinnati Bengals and Darnell Stapleton of the Commanders. Find the full National team roster HERE.

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A Stats Perform story headlined Craig Haley’s Never-Too-Early FCS Top 25 Rankings and Outlook for the 2026 Season has Yale slotted at No. 23, along with this outlook for the Ivy League (LINK):

Yale landed the Ivy League’s first-ever automatic bid to the playoffs, then came from 28 points down to beat Youngstown State 43-42 in the first round. The return of QB Dante Reno and safety Abu Kamara, the league’s 2025 defensive player of the year, warrants the Bulldogs being favored over fellow playoff qualifier Harvard (there’s also this little thing called a four-game winning streak in their heated rivalry). But the Crimson will have an experienced lineup despite QB Jaden Craig’s departure, including RB Xaviah Bascon, WR Brady Blackburn, LB Sean Line (2025 leading tackler) and DB Damien Henderson. Penn had quite the coaching hire in luring New Hampshire royalty Rick Santos away from the CAA program.

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A HERO Sports piece headlined Biggest Surprises & Disappointments Of The 2025 FCS Season has Yale finishing as one of the five "biggest surprises" after starting the 2025 season unranked and finishing 15th in the national poll. From the story (LINK):

Yale did not receive preseason votes in the national media poll, and it was voted No. 3 in the preseason Ivy League poll. The Bulldogs went on to finish 8-2 in the regular season, winning the Ivy League with a 45-28 victory over rival Harvard. That clinched the Ivy’s first-ever auto-bid into the FCS playoffs. It was looking like a rough debut for the conference. Harvard was getting destroyed by Villanova in a 52-7 loss. Meanwhile, Yale trailed at No. 15 seed Youngstown State 42-14 midway through the third quarter. But then the comeback of all comebacks occurred. The Bulldogs came storming back, taking a 43-42 lead late in the fourth to win it, generating tremendous social media attention. The next week, Yale went out to the No. 2 seed and eventual national champs Montana State. The Bulldogs had a performance that drew even more national respect, giving MSU some trouble before losing 21-13.

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EXTRA POINT
It was all over the news. The Northern Lights were going to be visible for half the country last night, so I charged my little-used digital camera and kept my fingers crossed.
Given that it feels as if it's overcast all winter in these parts, every time the Northern Lights are expected to be visible cloud cover ruins everything. Ah, but when I went outside last night after the national championship game, the sky was crystal clear. Stars were out. Excelsior!
I couldn't see any color in the northern sky, but everything I have read said cameras can pick up the colors when the naked eye can't, so grabbed my tripod and something to perch the camera on in the snow. Snap, snap, snap. Nothing.
I went inside and Googled the best shutter speed, aperture and ISO, reset the camera and went back into the cold. Snap, snap, snap. Nothing.
I have That Certain Dartmouth '14's old iPhone SE sans SIM card that I use as a voice recorder when I do interviews and brought it outside. Snap, snap, snap. Nothing. So I went inside and Googled how to shoot the Northern Lights on an old iPhone. As recommended I downloaded a new app, and set all the parameters as instructed. Snap, snap, snap. Nothing.
By now it was about 1:30 a.m., and peak for the Northern Lights was supposed to be 2 or so. I grabbed the digital camera and went to another part of our property only to find the view of the northern sky was better where I'd started the night. 
Making the night even more frustrating, our part-time neighbor's house is about 150 yards to the north, and he has a motion-activated security light that kept coming on when I was shooting with a long exposure. I'd guess fully half of the shots I took were ruined.
A little after 2 a.m., frustrated and tired, I gave up and called it a night. But before turning in, I grabbed the digital camera and grabbed a few Hail Mary shots from an upstairs window that faces north.
I'm pretty sure my yell when I saw the photo below woke Mrs. BGA. But it might have.
Yes, it's a terrible picture. It's too soft and dark but there's actually some color that's visible in the high-res version. Not curtains of color, but real, honest-to-goodness color – on my monitor at least.

I can see the color best if I focus on the top of the picture. ;-)

Monday, January 19, 2026

For The Record

Here's a list of Dartmouth's Ivy League championship football teams, with the coach, Ivy League, and overall records. Outright championship seasons are in bold.



Ivy

OA

1958

Bob Blackman

6-1

7-2

1962

Bob Blackman

7-0

9-0

1963

Bob Blackman

5-2

7-2

1965

Bob Blackman

7-0

9-0

1966

Bob Blackman

6-1

7-2

1969

Bob Blackman

6-1

8-1

1970

Bob Blackman

7-0

9-0

1971

Jake Crouthamel

6-1

8-1

1972

Jake Crouthamel

5-1-1

7-2-1

1973

Jake Crouthamel

6-1

6-3

1978

Joe Yukica

6-1

6-3

1981

Joe Yukica

6-1

6-4

1982

Joe Yukica

5-2

5-5

1990

Buddy Teevens

6-1

7-2-1

1991

Buddy Teevens

6-0-1

7-2-1

1992

John Lyons

6-1

8-2

1996

John Lyons

7-0

10-0

2015

Buddy Teevens

6-1

9-1

2019

Buddy Teevens

6-1

9-1

2021

Buddy Teevens

6-1

9-1

2023

Sammy McCorkle

5-2

6-4

2024

Sammy McCorkle

5-2

8-2


Ivy League football titles overall and outright:


OA

Solo

Dartmouth

22

9

Harvard

20

8

Yale

19

8

Penn

18

13

Princeton

13

4

Brown

4

1

Cornell

3

0

Columbia

2

0


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EXTRA POINT
Why does it always seem as if we get a message that a package has arrived at our post office box on days when the post office is closed?