Interesting

It is a bit of an understatement to say that Ivy League football is not really known for its out-of-conference scheduling. That said, four Ivy games show up in an NCAA.com story headlined Top 25 nonconference games in the 2026 FCS season, and one of those happens to feature Dartmouth. From the story (LINK):

Week 3

• Dartmouth at Lehigh

• Harvard at New Hampshire 

The Ivy League enters the fray in Week 3 with Darmouth and Harvard facing some quality opponents. The Big Green didn't win a share of the Ivy last year, but are perennial contenders atop the conference. Harvard made the playoffs last year before a blowout loss in the first round. There's no better test for the two Ivy League contenders than Lehigh — last year's No. 5 seed — and a CAA-contending New Hampshire.

The other Ivy games mentioned:

Week 5
• Brown vs Rhode Island

Week 7
• Rhode Island at Yale

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Former Dartmouth defensive lineman Josiah Green '25, who signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after one year as a grad transfer at Duke, talks about flattening the Tampa Bay Rays' mascot at a baseball game (1:02), about playing at Dartmouth and choosing where to grad transfer (2:52), about wanting to get into real estate and open his own gym (5:28), about why Ivy League players are valued in the grad transfer pool (6:50), about his "freak tendencies (8:53), about always being underestimated (16:12), about draft day (16:56), about ending up in Tampa Bay (19:33) and a lot more. 

Here's Green laying out the Rays' mascot:

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A post shared by Matthew Hewitt | Buccaneers Content (@bucstracker)

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EXTRA POINT
I don't know about you, by I'm going to be glued to the TV today for an international sporting event. 

Yup, they are playing the final round of the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale on England’s northwest coast. Rooting hard for Sam Burns.

About the only thing that could make the day better is heavy rain and a stiff wind coming in off the Irish Sea as the leaders head for the back nine.

Anything else going on today?

Charting The Special Teams

Wrapping up a roster look for 2026, this chart shows the Dartmouth special teams. As was the case with the offensive and defensive charts, this is drawn from the 2025 roster and the official announcement of the incoming class. There could still be additions, possible departures and position changes to be announced. (Click the charge to enlarge it.)

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Another look at the Dartmouth alum who is biking ± 10,000 miles to every NFL stadium this summer. (LINK)

Bond's Extreme Journey - 10,000 miles | Extreme Networks

If I'm reading his "Track Live" correctly, Bond Almand IV has already been to Miami, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, New Orleans, Houston and Dallas. His next stops are Kansas City, Tennessee and Atlanta. Then it's on to Charlotte and up the east coast all the way to Foxboro before heading west.

Almand has already biked 1,800 miles, and is averaging 164.26 miles per day. He has 53 days remaining before arriving in Seattle.

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The Vikings Territory website has a post titled 5 Vikings UDFA Talents to Know Ahead of Training Camp. You know who one of the five is. There's nothing much new in the quick paragraph but if you are curious you can find it HERE.

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The McNeese State University website has a story about the school adding patches advertising a local Chevrolet dealer to every athletic uniform this year. From the story (LINK):

Beginning this season, Division I programs are permitted to feature up to two commercial sponsor patches on uniforms during the preseason and regular season.

Green Alert Take: Nothing against my favorite pizza restaurant, but I think it would be pretty cheesy to see a Ramunto's patch on Big Green unis some day in the future.

Green Alert Take II: Could it happen? I still remember a Dartmouth athletic department representative asking to have a Coca-Cola sign taken down during an event at Chase Field back when I worked at the college. It was a modest sign on the front of a concession stand letting patrons know where they could get a cold drink, but heaven forbid there be advertising at an Ivy League athletic contest. If you've been to a Dartmouth football, basketball or hockey game in recent years you know how far we've come since then.

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EXTRA POINT
Yes, you can waste a lot of time mindlessly watching YouTube. Heaven knows, I'm guilty of that.

But there's another side to the service. If there's something you want to build, need to fix, or want to learn, there's probably a video someone posted that can help.

I was reminded of that yesterday when I was changing out the blades on my electric tractor. That might be easy (for anyone but me) on a lawn mower you can turn on its side, but on a tractor I was lost until I got a few tips from YouTube. Likewise, several years ago when I had to disassemble the back of the tractor, replace the machine's four car-sized batteries, and wire up the new ones, the laptop was in the garage right next to me walking me through the process step-by-step to I didn't shortcircuit anything – or electrocute myself.

Getting our wireless printer working properly, freeing up a stuck glass globe over a ceiling fan light without breaking it, figuring out how to change the battery in a car key fob, or start the car when the battery is dead, getting a wireless keyboard to play nice with my computer, you name it, YouTube has walked me through it. Yes, it can be a time suck, but it can also be a huge help.

Charting The Defense

Following yesterday's look at the 2026 Dartmouth offense, today's chart lays out the Big Green defense for the coming season. As was the case with the offense, this is drawn from the 2025 roster and the official list of incoming recruits. Given that the 2026 roster has not yet been posted on the website, there are likely position changes still to be announced and possibly departures from the program yet to be revealed. (Click the chart to enlarge it.)

Special teams will be posted tomorrow.

* As always, the defensive lineman/defensive end distinction can be a gray area. Also, note that nickel is listed with the linebackers.

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Dual-threat quarterback Jack Cannon scored three touchdowns to help his county win the Monmouth-Ocean all-star game in New Jersey in his final game before reporting to camp in Hanover next month. Check out his highlights and postgame comments:

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From a FootballScoop story headlined, Georgia officials set to levy fines for high school kneepad violations, backed by NFHS (LINK):

(F)ootball pants must be worn as designed and in accordance with NFHS rules, and knee pads are required to be worn in their proper position covering the knee. ... Knee pads may not be tucked underneath the pants, rolled up, pulled up above the knee, cut, altered, or modified in any way.

Green Alert Take: Time will tell if Georgia has more success enforcing this rule than the NCAA has enjoyed when it took on the same issue. I'd say, good luck with that.

Green Alert Take II: Somewhere the late, great Dartmouth equipment manager Steve Ward is smiling and rooting hard for Georgia.

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EXTRA POINT
Our '84 VW Westfalia poptop camper went in for inspection yesterday and the news is surprising. Not only did it somehow pass, but the mechanic found and fixed the coolant issue that kept us from driving the bus to the VW bus jamboree last week.

Confidence in the old vehicle will have to build back slowly, because every new noise it makes is a concern, but it's great to have it back on the road.

Given that they were always underpowered and are prone to breaking down, some VW Vanagon owners eventually give up and replace their engines with transplants from passenger cars that someone discovered years ago not only fit neatly into the engine compartment at the back of the bus, but provide both dependability and a lot more power.

Here's a decal that we saw in the back window of one of the converted VWs that should tip you off as where the engines in these conversions come from:

Which reminds me. We've had several Subarus over the years and the saying before they went a little upscale used to be, "They run like (crap) . . . forever."

Charting The Offense

The Dartmouth roster has not yet been updated on the team's official website, so this chart is based on last year's roster and freshmen the website announced are headed this way. (Click the chart to enlarge it.)

The defensive chart will appear here tomorrow, and special teams on Saturday.

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On July 1 BGA showed the Minnesota Vikings' No. 62 jersey being worn by Dartmouth grad Delby Lemieux '26 that is available for purchase. (LINK) Now available is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' No. 96 jersey being worn by Josiah Green '25, who signed with the Bucs after one season as a grad transfer at Duke. (LINK)

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Speaking of Lemieux, this mention is from the latest posting on Minnesota's Purple Insider site under the heading Training camp preview: Offensive line – A deep dive into the trenches as we approach training camp (LINK):

The Dartmouth lineman played tackle in college but is expected to move to the interior in the NFL. He played almost 2,000 snaps and is considered a quality athlete but he will need to pass block inside better than in college in order to have a chance.

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Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets on SI has a piece headlined Buy Or Sell: Is Georgia Tech's TE Room Good Enough To Win The ACC? that includes this about grad transfer Chris Corbo '26 (LINK):

Chris Corbo is another impressive receiving tight end from Dartmouth, who will finally get a chance to show his ability in fall camp. Last season, he finished with 45 catches, 516 yards, and four touchdowns. Corbo will be another option Georgia Tech can use in different areas of the field, and he can use his ability in certain situations.

And . . .

They haven’t had a tight end room like this in the Brent Key era, and they will have something to say about the success of the 2026 iteration of the Yellow Jackets. 

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EXTRA POINT
We had a seriously orange-tinted sky earlier this week largely as a result of 184 wildfires burning in Ontario, but yesterday was much better, and we're on the lucky side this morning. Here's a look at the smoke forecast via NOAA's Global Systems Laboratory. The darker the color, the more intense the smoke. Find the full map HERE.

Three Of A Kind

From a story out of Lafayette, La.:

For years, the Saunier name has been a familiar one at Lafayette High School.

This fall, senior quarterback Richmond Saunier is adding another chapter to the family's football legacy while preparing for his future at Dartmouth.

Saunier is the third brother to serve as Lafayette's starting quarterback, following older brothers Xan and Grayson. Grayson, a former Super 16 selection, now starts at quarterback for Dartmouth, where Richmond will continue both his academic and athletic career after committing to the Ivy League program in May.

Find the full story about the future Big Green quarterback, the current Dartmouth QB, and their older brother who chose to play college baseball, HERE. 

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In this video, Georgia Tech-bound tight end Chris Corbo '26 talks about how being on the scout team as a Dartmouth freshman aided his development, about how his Ivy League education prepared him for his MBA studies at Tech, about the different pace of life in The Woods compared to Atlanta, and how Dartmouth got him ready for his grad transfer experience in the ACC. 

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Following up on yesterday's note about Dartmouth opponents on the initial watchlist for the Payton Award as the top offensive player in the FCS, today the Analyst has its first watchlist for the Buchanan Award to the top defensive player in the FCS. (LINK)

Among the 30 players named to the Buchanan list are two from the Ivy League, and another Dartmouth will face early in the season:

• DB Abu Kamara, Yale

• DB Demien Henderson, Harvard

• DB Nick Peltekian, Lehigh

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EXTRA POINT
I listened to a 1A public radio program yesterday titled, How cities and states are fighting subscription traps. The intro began this way:

The average American spends $219 every month on subscriptions. That's more than $2,600 a year. Subscriptions mean predictable profits for companies. That is unless you cancel. Enter subscription traps. That's when companies make it easy for customers to sign up but difficult to cancel. Some also use deceptive tactics that automatically enroll customers into a subscription after a free trial ends without making the terms clear. In recent years, cities and states have moved to crack down on subscription traps.

That hit home for me. Not because I have fallen into subscription traps – I haven't – but because I almost created one a few years ago.

I used to start signing people up for BGA Premium each year on July 1. As a shoestring operation, I had to do the behind-the-scenes stuff manually, and that was always a massive headache. I thought I had a solution when I found a "subscription" functionality – only to discover to my horror a couple of days after turning it on that it would automatically renew each year.

When I realized renewals were automatic, I went back in and removed the "subscription" button. I'm sure that cost me a lot of readers, but at least I knew there wasn't anyone paying for BGA without realizing it. In the final analysis, converting to a donation model for BGA Overtime a couple of years ago probably wasn't the best business decision I ever made, but at least I can sleep at night. ;-)

Naming Names X 2

Three Dartmouth players are included on the NFL Draft Diamonds 2026-2027 Small School Prospect Watch List. The Big Green players (LINK):

QB Grayson Saunier
S Harrison Keith
K Owen Zalc

Other Ivy Leaguers named:

Brown
DE/LB Ike Odimegwu
QB James Murphy
FS Miles Brophy

Columbia
TE Braden Dougherty
WR Titus Evans

Cornell
CB Braylon Howard
OT Dylan Page
DB Johnny Williamson
TE Ryder Kurtz
WR Samuel Musungu

Harvard
FS Jack Donahoe
TE Seamus Gilmartin
LB Sean Line
OT Spencer Doan
OG Thomas O'Brien
RB/KR Xaviah Bascon

Penn
CB Devin Malloy
CB/RS Jayden Drayton
OG Luke Sacchetti
OLB Raashed Hall
LS Zach Darche

Princeton
OG Barrett Eddlemon
P Brady Clark
LB Chase Christopher
CB Evan Haynie
OG Justin Selbert
OT Oyintare Porbeni
LB Torian Roberts

Yale
FS Abu Kamara
CB Brandon Webster
DT Jaylin Tate
LB Phoenix Grant
OG Quinton Lewis
DE Zairion Jackson-Bass

Players from Dartmouth's nonconference schedule mentioned:

Lehigh
DB DJ Brown
DB Jackson Dowd
DT Jadin Nelson
RB Luke Yoder
S Nick Peltekian

Merrimack
DT Bryce Ricks

Monmouth
DT Brendan Bigos
DT Bryce Rooks
WR Gavin Nelson
P Luke Schabel
CB Zachary Ricci

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Named to the Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-America Team (LINK)

First team
TE Ryder Kurtz, Cornell 
DB Abu Kamara, Yale
RB Luke Yoder, Lehigh

Second Team
DB – Damien Henderson, Harvard
OL Aidan Palmer, Lehigh
DB – Jaeden Jones, Monmouth

Third Team
WR – Samuel Musungu, Cornell
TE – Seamus Gilmartin, Harvard
OL – Thomas O’Brien, Harvard
DL – Ike Odimegwu, Brown
LB – Sean Line, Harvard
DB – Nick Peltekian, Lehigh

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This fall Dartmouth will face two players on the preseason watchlist for the Walter Payton Award, presented to the national offensive player of the year in FCS college football. Selected were (LINK):

• Yale quarterback Dante Reno
• Lehigh running back Luke Yoder

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Sorting through some old photos the other day I came across one that appeared on BGA years ago but disappeared due to user error. (Mine ;-)

It was posted so far back that I thought it worth sharing again. It's a shot of telegram now buried deep in the files at Dartmouth:

For Ivy League newbies who may not know the back story, here's what BGA culled from the SI Vault the first time this was posted:

(W)hen Dartmouth was awarded the Lambert Trophy as the best team in the East, Penn State coach Joe Paterno felt obliged to register a tongue-in-cheek protest. Paterno suggested-through the press-that Dartmouth and Penn State play each other to determine which was really the top Eastern team. Responded Blackman, "Of course, Coach Paterno knows that under Ivy League rules we're not allowed to play in a postseason game, but if we were allowed to play a postseason contest, I would prefer to play a team that had a better record," a dig at the Nittany Lions' 7-3.

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EXTRA POINT
I've probably mentioned this before, but it's like fingernails on a chalkboard (remember those things?) when I see things like this in The Athletic:

Two points. First, you would never write about the Big Green's first game at Lehigh, "Dartmouth are opening the Ivy League season Saturday." The writer is trying too hard.

And second, if you want to sound like one of the cool kids and write, "England are (unmistakably) through," in your headline, two sentences into the story you have to write, "In essence: Are England in trouble?" Not, "In essence: Is England in trouble?" At least be consistent.

Fingernails. Chalkboard.

Another one from someone at The Athletic trying to be like the cool kids:

I have one request. Please stop.

And The Starting QBs Will Be . . . Or May Be?

An SB Nation story headlined Projecting Every FCS Starting QB for 2026 includes this (LINK):

Dartmouth: Grayson Saunier – Saunier comes into his senior season at Dartmouth with 2,676 career passing yards, 644 rushing yards and 33 touchdowns. He was a second-team All-Ivy League selection last season.

The article has a paragraph on each of it's projected Ivy League starters:

Brown: James Murphy
Columbia: Chase Goodwin
Cornell: Garrett Bass-Sulpizio
Harvard: Dante Torre
Penn: Karson Siqueiros-Lasky
Princeton: Weston Smith
Yale: Dante Reno

Green Alert Take: Like Saunier, Reno and Murphy are sure things and someone will have to really step up to replace Goodwin or Bass-Sulpizio. Harvard, Penn and Princeton could be anybody's guess.

As for the nonconference quarterbacks Dartmouth will face, Lehigh's is a lock and Monmouth's h may be as well. Here's what the SB story has to say about those two:

Lehigh: Hayden Johnson – Johnson took the Mountain Hawks to their first ever top eight seed in school history last year as a sophomore. The first-team All-Patriot League signal-caller is completing passes at a 64% clip on his career.

Monmouth: Frankie Weaver – The Hawks found their guy when star Derek Robertson went down last year. Frankie Weaver stepped in and stepped up as a redshirt freshman, throwing for 1,355 yards and 14 TDs coming off the bench. Now Robertson is gone and the keys to the offense get handed over to Weaver for good.

The third nonconference opponent has an interesting option behind center, to be sure:

Merrimack: A.J. Hairston Jr. – The ex-UMass signal caller threw for nearly 1,000 yards as a redshirt freshman with the Minutemen last year. He'll likely be the one to take the reins at Merrimack now after Ayden Pereira left the team.

And one more projected starter of interest:

South Dakota: Jackson Proctor – Proctor comes in after not playing last season at Northern Illinois and is in a QB battle to see who takes over for Aidan Bouman. He's most known for his success at Dartmouth where he threw for 2,355 yards and accounted for 23 scores over three seasons.

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The Boston Globe has a story behind its paywall headlined Meet Bedford's Ryan Paganetti, a former NFL coach bringing analytics from the headset to the masses. From the story about the onetime walk-on Dartmouth running back in the Class of 2014 whose career was derailed by injury (LINK):

Ryan Paganetti is no longer coaching on an NFL sideline; he’s switched to media and consulting, using his public posts (and recent podcast appearances) to share NFL analytics and decision-making insights.

If you don't have access to the Globe, Paganetti's website has all the details HERE.

You can hear an interview with Paganetti in the podcast linked below. The intro begins this way:

He is a Dartmouth grad. He's cooked up some unbelievable special sauce that got him hired. His NFL research is strategy. Game management tendencies got him hired by the Eagles, Jaguars Raiders. He was on the headset for that Eagles team that won the Super Bowl. 

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The Harvard Crimson had a column a couple of weeks ago under the headline NCAA Ratifies Age-Based Eligibility Guidelines, Reshaping Postgraduate Opportunities for Harvard’s Athletes (LINK) and the Daily Pennsylvanian has one today headlined The NCAA eligibility change levels the playing field for the Ivy League (LINK). Both argue that the five-for-five rule will benefit Ivy League athletes even if they can't participate in the Ivies for five years.

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Click HERE for Dartmouth 's bio of the 6-foot-6, 235-pound Nate Isler, who was a junior in the spring.

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EXTRA POINT

Click photos for a closer look.

Even with our '84 VW poptop camper left at home because of mechanical concerns, we had a wonderful weekend tent camping at the annual West River Westies bus meetup in southern Vermont. Because there river was running low the tubing wasn't what we hoped, but the water was warm, so there was that.

Not sure the official bus count but it was probably right around the usual 100 or so. Most were from around the northeast, although our closest neighbors were from Virginia and Montreal.

In addition to tubing, the weekend included a pot luck supper, a raffle of all kinds of VW and camping paraphernalia, campfire sing-alongs, interesting smells (think about it), and a lot of technical talk about these treasured antiques that you can be absolutely sure went completely over my head.

Linebacker U Adds Two

Two rising high school senior  linebackers headed north for their college careers . . .

Odin Erickson is a 6-foot-2, 222-pound player out of Louisa County High School in Mineral, Va. He chose Dartmouth over offers from Marshall, East Carolina, Lehigh, East Tennessee, Georgetown, Citadel, Towson, Campbell, Howard, Wagner, Wofford and Hampton.

Bobby Wakefield is a 6-2, 220 player from Charlotte Country Day. Wakefield has camped and visited around the Ivy League and reports an offer from Davidson.

Here's the list BGA has compiled to date:

OL Oliver Costello, 6-5, 285, St. Paul's School/Plymouth, Mass.
RB Hezekiah Davis, 5-10, 185, Tampa Jesuit HS/Tampa, Fla.
LB Odin Erickson, 6-2, 222, Louis County HS/Mineral, Va.
DB Rowan Martin, 6-1, 180, Williston-Northampton School/East Longmeadow, Mass.
QB Webber Marx, 6-6, 210, St. Paul's School/Wellesley Mills, Mass
OL Henry Reagan, 6-3, 275, New Canaan HS/New Canaan, Conn.
QB Richmond Saunier, 6-2, 195, Lafayette HS/Lafayette, La.
DE  KJ Sims, 6-3, 192, Seckinger HS/Buford, Ga.
OL Brysen Terry, 6-6, 325, Webster Schroeder HS/Webster, N.Y.
LB Bobby Wakefield, 6-2, 220, Charlotte Country Day/Charlotte, N.C.

As always, additions and corrections are encouraged via the contact box over to the right. 

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EXTRA POINT
BGA is going dark for the next two days as we head off to the VW Westfalia event in southern Vermont we nicknamed "Vanagon-palooza." There will be upwards of 100 VW campers probably ranging from the early '60s to the new electric VW Buzz. With no wifi at the campground updating the site is impossible.

Unfortunately, our 1984 VW Vanagon will not be making the trip. Given our concerns about how it is running right now, we're opted to tent camp this year. It's hugely disappointing but such is life with a 42-year-old vehicle.