There will be more on BGA from today's Ivy League football press conference tomorrow, but for now, here are head coach Sammy McCorkle's opening comments (which thankfully were a little more specific than most):
Sammy McCorkle :
I’m excited. We’re 10 days away. Ten days away. It seemed like a long time ago when the season ended, but it's here. And I tell you what, our guys have done a phenomenal job ever since the season ended last year.
Just the commitment they've made to this program and to each other. I think that's the most important thing. That's one of our core values - accountability. Our guys hold each other accountable and they hold themselves accountable.
We’ve got a good mix. We're going to have a good mix of experienced players coming back from last year, and we're going to have a good mix of guys who, it'll be their first opportunities to to go out there and perform. It's exciting.
I think that'll be the biggest thing for us going into preseasons, to find out what that mix is going to be about and who's going to be part of that mix. We bring back a number of seniors. We have 26 seniors on our roster, one of the bigger bigger ones we've had in the last couple years.
I'm really impressed, regardless of their status or their playing time they've had over their years here, all 26 guys are completely committed to this program. They know what our standards are. They know what our core values are, and those guys bring it every single day.
Probably between 60 and 70 percent of our roster has had some type of game-time experience in the past, which helps. That's important, especially in this league. It's all about experience.
Our guys do a very good job of helping each other, developing each other, mentoring each other. Guys that have played a lot in the past have done a really good job during last season, then in the off-season and preparing ourselves for preseason of getting our guys ready to perform. And having expectation across the board.
Offensively, we return our starting quarterback, Grayson Saunier, one of our team captains. We're really excited to have him back.
We've got a number of guys who are going to have to step up and play for us on the offensive side of the ball. But we also have a number of guys who make plays and who've made plays for us in the past.
Defensively, you've got two young men on here today (safety Harrison Keith and defensive lineman Joshua Johns) that are great leaders, great football players. They're going to be two guys that are going to help lead a defense that I'm excited about.
Special teams-wise, we bring back every specialist – our starting kicker, our starting punter, and our starting long snapper.
I think the biggest thing in preseason is going to be an opportunity to find out the most important. Find out what it the identity of our football team is. That's going to be huge. They're the ones that are going to decide. They're going to decide what we're going to be about. And I look forward to getting started up in about 10 days.
Posted by the Ivy League this morning in advance of today's football media day. Follow along starting at 11 a.m. (12:10 if you want to hear only Sammy McCorkle and the Dartmouth players) HERE.
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Given that Ivy League coaches are notorious for not mentioning player names during the virtual media day proceedings, this listing of 2026 All-Ivy League players returning and lost might be of some help as you listen to the coaches. Nota bene: Players listed as returning have remaining Ivy League eligibility, but one or more may have moved on. If there are fifth-year players returning they are not included on this list.
BROWN
First Team Returning
None
First Team Lost
None
Second Team Returning
RB Matt Childs
WR Trevor Foley
QB James Murphy
DL Ike Odimegwu
Second Team Lost
WR Ty Pezza
DB Elias Archie
Honorable Mention Returning
TE Levi Linowes
DL Jack Middleton
Honorable Mention Lost
LB John Perdue
COLUMBIA
First Team Returning
None
First Team Lost
None
Second Team Returning
P Tommy Sleeman
Second Team Lost
OL Noah Jordan
DL Justin Townsend
Honorable Mention Returning
TE Levi Linowes
DL Jack Middleton
Honorable Mention Lost
OL Mark Chapman
LB Jack Smiechowski
CORNELL
First Team Returning
None
First Team Lost
None
Second Team Returning
TE Ryder Kurtz
Second Team Lost
DB Damon Barnes
DL James Reinbold
LB Ben Sahakian
Honorable Mention Returning
None
Honorable Mention Lost
OL Kevin Ma
DARTMOUTH
First Team Returning
None
First Team Lost
TE Chris Corbo
RB D.J. Crowther
OL Delby Lemieux
LB Teddy Thaddeus Gianaris
S Sean Williams
DL Dakota Quiñonez
Second Team Returning
QB Grayson Saunier
S Harrison Keith
P Luke Armistead
Second Team Lost
OL Konstantin Spörk
OL Max Wentz
LB Zyion Freer-Brown
Honorable Mention Returning
None
Honorable Mention Lost
None
HARVARD
First Team Returning
OL Spencer Doan
OL Thomas O’Brien
LB Sean Line
K Kieran Corr
First Team Lost
QB Jaden Craig
DB Ty Bartrum
DL Alex DeGrieck
Second Team Returning
RB Xaviah Bascon
WR Brady Blackburn
LB Damien Henderson
Second Team Lost
None
Honorable Mention Returning
RB DJ Gordon
TE Seamus Gilmartin
Honorable Mention Lost
OL Aidan Kilstrom
OL Derek Osman
PENN
First Team Returning
None
First Team Lost
QB Liam O’Brien
OL Betinho Olivieri
WR Bisi Owens
WR Jared Richardson
DL Carter Janki
LB John Lista
RS Julien Stokes
Second Team Returning
RS Jayden Drayton
K Mason Walters
Second Team Lost
LB Kadari Machen
Honorable Mention Returning
RB Donte West
DB Ty Cortes
Honorable Mention Lost
P Santiago Sturla
PRINCETON
First Team Returning
P Brady Clark
First Team Lost
None
Second Team Returning
OL Barrett Eddlemon
OL Justin Selbert
DB Torian Roberts
Second Team Lost
LB Marco Scarano
Honorable Mention Returning
WR Josh Robinson
LB Chase Christopher
DB Evan Haynie
Honorable Mention Lost
DB Nasir Hill
YALE
First Team Returning
DB Abu Kamara, Yale
DL Ezekiel Larry
DB Brandon Webster
First Team Lost
OL Michael Bennett
OL Leo Bluhm
WR Nico Brown
RB Josh Pitsenberger
LB Inumidun Ayo-Durojaiye
Second Team Returning
DL Zairion Jackson-Bass
Second Team Lost
None
Honorable Mention Returning
OL Quinton Lewis
LB Phoenix Grant
DB Jaylin Tate
Honorable Mention Lost
None
Green Alert Take: This is one of those times when I really regret not having a proofreader. There's a good chance I transposed a name or two. If I did, let me know and I'll fix it. Either way, this should give you a good idea of which front-line players were lost, and which are returning.
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EXTRA POINT When we lived on the shoulder of Moose Mountain I never tired of the views we had looking down at the valley. We're not quite as high up here at our Vermont hillside home but the views are still special. I think this morning was the first time I've seen clouds bisecting the White Mountains this way.
A reminder that the Ivy League football media day will be streamed tomorrow on X (or as I like to call it Xwitter) starting at 11 a.m. HERE.
The Dartmouth segment will feature Jack Ford interviewing head coach Sammy McCorkle, safety Harrison Keith and defensive end Joshua Johnson.
The full schedule:
Welcome (11-11:10 a.m.) Brown (11:10-11:30) Columbia (11:30-11:50) Cornell (11:50 a.m.-12:10) Dartmouth (12:10-12:30) Harvard (12:30-12:50) Penn (12:50-1:10) Princeton (1:10-1:30) Yale (1:30-1:50)
Green Alert Take: Here's hoping we can all get Xwitter live going.
Green Alert Take II: As someone whose last name begins near the end of the alphabet, I always appreciated teachers who would occasionally reverse the order when calling out names for various reasons. It would be just fine on occasion if the Ivy League some years went from Yale to Princeton, Penn, Harvard, Dartmouth, Cornell, Columbia and Brown. ;-)
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Here's some good news for you, and some bad news.
The good:
If your TV provider is Comcast, Xfinity, Cox, DIRECTV or a long list of others (including YouTubeTV, which we have), you do not have to subscribe to ESPN+ this year to watch Ivy League football. All of those providers include ESPN Unlimited in their offerings. Per the network (LINK):
"Unlimited subscribers have access to all ESPN networks and ESPN+, with sports like NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, tennis and golf majors, WWE, SEC, ACC, and Big 12 football and basketball, postseason coverage from the NFL, NBA, WNBA, NHL, MLB, College Football Playoff, and more, as well as studio shows like SportsCenter, First Take, and College GameDay."
So what's the bad news, you ask?
Unless there's something I'm missing, you need to have the ESPN app on your smart TV. And I can promise you, if you've had an ESPN+ or Disney account in the past, or the email address/username for your TV provider account is different than for your old account, you may have to jump through all kinds of hoops to get the streaming app to work. I managed it a few days ago but I have to admit it took a lot of help from ChatGPT and a lot of patience.
And then it took a little more patience – despite being able to a little ESPN+ late in the week – to get it going again.
Last night I saw the New Hampshire-Massachusetts Little League game was on ESPN+ and when I clicked through I was brought to a "sign up" screen yet again. But wait! I'd already signed in, right?
I eventually got it working again by signing in on my laptop and then relaying an activation code to the TV that confirmed I already had an active account. Per AI, I've been told that shouldn't be an issue going forward barring app updates, but we'll see.
Green Alert Take: This is excellent news for Ivy League football fans like me who would subscribe to ESPN+ for the football season, make three monthly payments, and then quit the service. But all I can say is good luck getting it going. And you probably don't want to ask ME for help. ;-)
Green Alert Take II: Here's a confession. While scrolling through ESPN+ I actually watched the kids portion of the Slippery Stairs competition and found it kind of fun.
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Former Dartmouth captain Daniel Haughton '26, was presented with the program's Manners Makyth Man Award after his senior season was cut short last fall with a ruptured Achilles. He showed again why he was a fitting recipient of my favorite Dartmouth postseason award during his interview with someone who did not even realize he had grad transferred to Furman:
A few excerpts from the interview:
Haughton: Last year I was so just obsessed with having a big year, my senior year, with trying to go to the league or trying to go to the portal and get to go somewhere big and get paid. I kind of lost sight of what the true meaning is, and that's just playing the sport that you've been playing your whole life, that you love to play.
On the impact of his injury:
Haughton It spooked a lot of coaches and other programs were like, we like your tape, but you're coming off an Achilles and that's going to be tough for us to really manage giving you an offer or giving you any sort of money, especially when you're coming off that injury. So for me the portal was really slow for a while. I had some tough moments in it.
I really thought I wasn't going to be able to play anywhere else. Probably thought my career was just going to be done with the injury, just not getting the interest that I wanted. But later down the line Furman and then Charleston Southern both reached out.
They're both in South Carolina. I'm from North Carolina, so they're closer to home.
On going to Furman:
Haughton: I'm pretty happy to be back down south. I know it gets really hot, but I was fed up with the cold of at Dartmouth. I couldn't deal with it anymore. So I'm happy to be down south.
On Ivy League football:
Haughton: It's really good football, honestly. Every team, top to bottom, has great players. The guys get after it. It's a little bit underrated. Speaking to my new teammates, they're like, "How is it? What is it like?" And I'm like, just because it's Ivy League and they're smart players, smart guys, don't think that it's sweet. The football there is really good.
He also speaks glowingly of book recommended by former teammate Sean Williams that has helped him overcome doubt: The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey.
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Speaking of wide receivers, a current Ivy League WR was the "Best No. 19" In HERO's countdown to the FCS opener. From the site (LINK):
The best returning No. 19 is Harvard WR Brady Blackburn -2026 Junior -6’0” 180 lbs -2025: 38 catches, 732 yards, 5 TDs, 19.3 AVG/C -2025 All-Ivy League 2nd Team
Ivy Leaguers honored as the best player wearing their number to date:
96: Yale DT Jaylin Tate 86: Cornell TE Ryder Kurtz 85: Columbia WR Titus Evans 77: Harvard OL Spencer Doan 75: Penn OL Luke Sacchetti 71: Harvard OL Thomas O'Brien 64: Princeton OL Barrett Eddlemon 37: Penn S Ty Cortes 35: Harvard LB Sean Line 29: Harvard K Kieran Corr 27: Princeton CB Evan Haynie 24: Dartmouth S Harrison Keith 19: Harvard WR Brady Blackburn
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EXTRA POINT Yesterday was the annual West Newbury Summer Festival and now that it's over and Mrs. BGA has wrapped up her responsibilities with the event, we'll be able to celebrate our anniversary with our annual dinner on the water tonight, one day late. ;-)
The theme of this year's festival was "Red, White and Blue: Celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary.”
A couple of pics:
And because what would a parade in a Hallmark-type locale be without an old red pickup truck?
The parade route is maybe a little over a quarter mile long and at the end the floats and marchers turn around and come by again. Locals like to say of the parade, "It's so nice, you see it twice."
