Defensive lineman Flo Orimolade '17, who suffered an Achilles tear in September, returned to action with the Calgary Stampeders. Orimolade finished with four tackles, including a sack, as the Stamps earned a 41-33 victory over the BC Lions.
A 3DownNation details his injury and return in a pregame story HERE.
BGA Take: Is there a more appropriate name for a website than 3DownNation? ;-)
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The Michigan Chronicle has a story headlined Cass Tech Graduates Head to MIT, Princeton and Dartmouth that features 6-foot-1, 180-pound defensive back Emory Jones, who arrives in Hanover in August. From the story (LINK):
Jones said his guidance counselor encouraged him to consider the long-term value of an Ivy League education. Cass Tech head football coach Marvin Rushing also helped him navigate recruiting and evaluate which university would support his development as both an athlete and student.
Their guidance pushed Jones to look beyond the excitement of an athletic offer and consider the education, financial support and professional opportunities attached to each school.
Jones said Cass Tech staff members told him he is the school’s first athlete to attend an Ivy League institution. He sees the distinction as an opportunity to establish a path for students coming behind him.
“It means a lot to build that kind of status and put a light on my school so that other kids can come after me and do the same thing,” Jones said.
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EXTRA POINT
The final total from yesterday's PGA Tour event in Cromwell, Conn.: 28,000-plus steps on That Certain Nittany Lion '16's counter. All that and no champion until the morning because darkness left Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland tied after 18 holes. We watched their dramatic 18th hole directly behind the pin among a loud, proud and hilarious group of Norwegians in the States for the World Cup.
We left here at 4:50 yesterday morning and arrived back here at 12:35 a.m. today. That's almost a 20-hour day, made even longer by a drenching rain late in the afternoons. I went from trying to find shade to avoid the heat as we walked the course to being bone-chillingly cold after getting soaked from head to toe. It was, to say the least, a memorable day.
Wide receiver Daniel Haughton, who continued to lead the Dartmouth football team as a captain after having his season ended last fall by injury after just two games, is a late addition to the Furman football team as a graduate transfer. (LINK)
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The complete list of FCS quarterbacks working the Manning Passing Academy this week:
Grayson Saunier – Dartmouth
Ean Rodrigue – Nicholls
Justin Lamson – Montana State
Jerry Kaminski – North Dakota
Nathan Hayes – North Dakota State
Chris Parson – Austin Peay
James Murphy – Brown
Braxton Thomas – North Carolina A&T
Andrew Body – Alabama State
Cash McCollum – Weber State
Kyle Lowe – SE Louisiana
This is interview with Saunier from last year's Manning Passing Academy with worth a look:
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The Analyst has a story under the headlined Perfect 10: Patriot League Additions Fuel a Power Shift in FCS Football suggesting that what was once considered the Ivy League's sister conference has strategically recovered from hard times to become one of the top leagues in the nation with the addition of Villanova, William & Mary and Richmond, and the emergence of Lehigh and Lafayette.
While increasing from seven to 10 football members in the last two years, the PL hasn’t just sought out adding any program to bolster the numbers, it’s added the right teams – bolstering with rivalry and quality academic institutions while not losing geographical continuity of the membership.
And . . .
That seven of the 10 teams have appeared in the playoffs since 2022 reflects how the league profile is strong. Enough so that the Patriot League is poised to be one of the deeper conferences in the FCS and have multiple playoff qualifiers regularly.
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Illinois' News-Gazette has a piece headlined Illini Legends, Lists & Lore: Edward Hall that details the arrival of the Dartmouth alum as the school's first director of athletics and third head football coach on this date in 1892. (LINK)
The story notes that after a successful run at Illinois, Hall stepped down to attend ...
Harvard University’s law school, earning an undergraduate Bachelor of Law degree. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1896 and briefly practiced law in Scranton, Pa. Two years later, he moved to Boston and became a partner at the firm of Powers, Hall & Jones. Hall served as vice president of the New England Telephone and Telegraph Company from 1913-1917. During World War I, he served as business director of the Student Army Training. . . . In 1919, Hall became vice president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in New York City. He retired in 1930 at the age of 60.
And . . .
For 27 years, Hall also stayed involved with college athletics as a member of the national football rules committee, eventually replacing Walter Camp in 1906 as director of that governing body. After a rash of fatalities in 1905, the collegiate game came under fire from administrators and President Theodore Roosevelt. That hastened guidelines for proper conduct and the formation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Many revered Hall as the “savior” of the game.
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EXTRA POINT Tomorrow, That Certain Nittany Lion '16 and I will be going to the PGA's Travelers Championship near Hartford, Conn. Rather than posting up at one hole, TCNL'16 prefers to walk the course throughout the day, checking out different groups at all 18 holes. You may remember what happened at the tournament a year ago. Me? I'd rather forget it. (If you need a refresher, click HERE and scroll down.)
Keeping in mind the goal for TCNL'16 is always to see the first group off, and the last group in, it makes for an incredibly long day. It doesn't help that it starts and ends nearly 200 miles south of here and it's not an overnight trip. That being the case, I'll see you again Monday morning. ;-)
Buckle up because a few new names are coming your way. ;-)
Among a handful or so rising seniors announcing for Dartmouth recently is 6-foot-6, 210-pound quarterback Webber Marx of Concord (N.H.) St. Paul's School. Marx chose Dartmouth over Yale, Penn and Cornell, as well as offers from Syracuse, UConn, Toledo, Rhode Island, Holy Cross and Fordham.
Marx tore his ACL in his final game last fall and had the injury repaired on Dec. 11. He hails from Wellesley Mills, Mass., and is the son of a Princeton alum.
Hezekiah Davis, a 5-10, 185 running back from Tampa Jesuit High School, has chosen Dartmouth over offers from Harvard, Yale, Brown and Columbia as well as Coastal Carolina, Navy, Eastern Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Liberty, Richmond, Rhode Island, Holy Cross, Lafayette and The Citadel.
Oliver Costello, a 6-5, 285 offensive lineman who blocks for Marx at St. Paul's, picked Dartmouth over offers from Penn, Brown and New Haven. He's from Plymouth, Mass.
KJ Sims, a 6-3, 192 defensive end from Seckinger High School and Buford, Ga., is headed to Dartmouth after considering offers from Kennesaw State and Morehouse.
Announcing for Dartmouth earlier this spring was quarterback Richmond Saunier, brother of Big Green starting QB Grayson Saunier. (LINK)
Green Alert Take: See something about a Dartmouth commitment? Send a link along. And if you have corrections regarding players headed this way, let me know in the contact form off to the right.
Green Alert Take II: While the next recruiting class is starting to take shape, still no official announcement about the class that will be arriving in two months. Disappointing.
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EXTRA POINT Like many of you, more and more I've found myself tuning our "smart" TV to YouTube for highlights, news, entertainment, commentary and how-to-videos. But I've always been annoyed by clickbait thumbnails that tease me into videos that I wouldn't otherwise watch, and then fail to deliver on what the thumbnail promises.
Fortunately, YouTube has tapped into AI and for a lot of videos it now has an "Ask" button that allows viewers to get a pretty good summary of the video, or quiz the bot regarding the "tease" in the thumbnail. Don't tell YouTube but it might have outsmarted itself. As a result of that functionality I'm dodging a lot of YouTube videos – and the commercials that make the platform profitable – because I can get the answers I need without wasting time watching them.
Grayson Saunier didn't have the flashiest numbers in the Ivy League last year but per a story posted on the FCS Football Central On SI site, the Dartmouth quarterback is deserving of national attention this fall. The site has a piece headlined Summer Scouting: Top FCS QB Prospects To Watch In The 2027 NFL Draft, that features capsules on six quarterbacks and Saunier is one of the six.
HERO Sports continues its countdown to the season with the "best" player wearing the uniform bearing the number of the days until the first FCS game, and a seventh Ivy Leaguer (and eighth Dartmouth opponent) makes the cut. The outlet's chosen No. 64 is 6-foot-3, 290-pound Princeton offensive lineman Barrett Eddlemon.
Here's the list of Ivy Leaguers and Big Green opponents recognized to date:
96: Yale DT Jaylin Tate 86: Cornell TE Ryder Kurtz 85: Columbia WR Titus Evans 79: Lehigh OL Aidan Palmer 77: Harvard OL Spencer Doan 75: Penn OL Luke Sacchetti 71: Harvard OL Thomas O'Brien 64: Princeton OL Barrett Eddlemon
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EXTRA POINT We had nine acres of land at our house on the shoulder of Moose Mountain. We have only six acres here, but there's a big difference. Our property at the last house was mostly wooded. Here on our Vermont hillside, our property is mostly open. I haven't measured it out, but I'd guestimate we have about two acres of lawn here, and four acres of field.
For the first half dozen years here I dutifully mowed all six acres with my small electric tractor. Given that the field part is uneven – filled with ruts and potholes that were no fun to hit with a tractor that has almost no suspension – it took hours to cut over a couple of days. When I finished it looked almost like a lawn, at least from a distance, but I finally decided the juice isn't worth the squeeze.
This year I am still mowing the two-acre lawn, but I called up a local with a real tractor to cut the field down. He did the first of two cuts earlier this week, and will do the second in late August. Our field doesn't look like a golf course anymore, but looks instead like what it was before this house was built. A field.
Not to bury the lede – which is the NCAA approving a five-for-five eligibility model for student-athletes – but you'll probably enjoy this more. It's a highlight video of incoming Dartmouth quarterback Jack Cannon, who won 2025 Jersey Sports Zoneman Trophy for leading Holmdel to its first section football title in New Jersey.
And now for the big story of the day. Chris Vannini of The Athletic summed it up thusly via Xwitter (LINK):
- Five years of eligibility, no redshirts or extensions
- Clock starts at 19 yrs old or college enrollment (whichever is earlier)
- Exemptions for pregnancy/military/mission
Direct from the NCAA under the headline Division I adopts age-based eligibility model (LINK):
The Division I Cabinet on Tuesday unanimously approved a sweeping overhaul of eligibility rules for student-athletes, permitting Division I student-athletes up to five years of eligibility if they enroll in college no later than the academic year after their 19th birthday. The new rule streamlines a significant portion of the Division I rule book by eliminating season-of-competition limits, sport-specific eligibility and redshirt rules, and eligibility extension waivers."
And . . .
The rule change will be effective for all prospects initially enrolling full time in college in fall 2027 or later.
For students enrolling full time in college for the first time in fall 2026 and current student-athletes with eligibility remaining after the 2025-26 academic year, Division I schools will apply the previous rules (allowing four seasons of competition within five years) or the age-based model, whichever results in the most favorable outcome for each individual.
Eager to lessen the chaos of the transfer portal era and court fights with players trying to extend their careers, the NCAA approved a new eligibility model for Division I athletes on Tuesday that will allow five seasons of competition over a five-year period that begins with their full-time enrollment or the academic year following their 19th birthday, whichever occurs first.
And . . .
The five-in-five language also is included in Senate legislation intended to address numerous concerns across college sports and comes after a wave of lawsuits from athletes seeking to extend their college careers and ability to earn money through revenue sharing and name, image and likeness deals. Still to be seen is whether the new rules will withstand legal scrutiny alongside the existing challenges.
Another Associated Press story under the headline The NCAA changed its eligibility rules. What does that mean for transfers, rosters and playing time? actually includes a quote from an assistant lacrosse coach at Dartmouth. From the story (LINK):
“I think it’s the NCAA’s way of keeping college sports as amateur as possible with the chaos that is the NIL era. It will be good for sports like lacrosse where post-grad and redshirt years are less common than in football,” said Kelsey Fee, an assistant women’s lacrosse coach at Dartmouth. “It will open up the portal to a new slew of craziness with kids looking to use their fifth year.”
Fee said she also thinks the shift will bring an excitement to recruiting that hasn’t been felt in recent years.
Green Alert Take: It's curious that an AP writer would chase down a quote from a random assistant coach in the Ivy League, which likely won't adopt the five-year eligibility rule unless the courts somehow get involved.
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During the spring I asked Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle for his thoughts on the five-for-five initiative. The Big Green has had one football player who I was told sat out the rest of one season specifically to maintain a potential redshirt, and both McCorkle and Buddy Teevens before him have said they promised to work with players under the old rule to enable them to have a final year as a grad transfer.
Here's what appeared on BGA Overtime during the spring when the five-for-five discussion was heating up:
The NCAA has been looking at – and may soon pass – an eligibility rules change that would allow players five years to play five seasons. The expectation is that would put an end to players petitioning and getting the OK to play after spending six or seven years in college.
If passed, the rule would allow Ivy Leaguers to play four full years, get their degree, and then play a final season at the FBS level should that possibility be offered. Currently, Ivy players have to play no more than four games in one of their seasons to recover that year elsewhere. Increasingly, that has forced players and coaches around the Ivy League to have difficult discussions about limiting playing time for players hoping to eventually grad transfer.
McCorkle gives the potential rules change a solid thumbs up.
"It would help us because we couldn't have to make those tough decisions," he said. "We don't have to worry about messing the kid up by playing him more than four games and costing him that year.
"But the part you worry about is, OK, now you give them five years, is it going to be six next? It's like the playoffs. You start off letting 12 teams in, then it's 16 and what next? But hey, I think it would be great for us, for sure."
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EXTRA POINT On our recent road trip to the Outer Banks, Charleston and Savannah, Mrs. BGA and I played the license plate game. You know the one. How many different state plates can you find?
Two thoughts occurred as we played the game.
First, it is astonishing how many different plates one state can have. Florida, I'm looking at you. It turns out the Sunshine State has 100 or more plates, and that made the game much, much more difficult. You'd think you found a missing state only to discover it was yet another version of the Florida plate. (LINK to different Florida plates.)
The second thought: License plate frames from dealers or those celebrating colleges or causes have gotten bigger and more intrusive, so much so that a lot of them obscure the state name entirely. That doesn't help playing our game, and you would have to think it isn't appreciated by state troopers trying to "run" the plate of a moving vehicle. Speaking of which, the plates had to be on a moving vehicle to count in our game.
So there you have it, my rant on license plates.
What's that? You are wondering how the game finished, are you?
We ended up seeing 47 states and the District of Columbia. The missing states: Hawaii, Nevada and North Dakota.
For the longest time we were also missing Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming. Interestingly we collected Idaho and Oregon within about five minutes of each other on one of our last days on the road. Wyoming was the last state we added, although I have to take Mrs. BGA's word for it because I didn't see that one.
Last month BGA informed you that Richmond Saunier, a rising high school senior quarterback and younger brother of Dartmouth starter Grayson Saunier, has announced his commitment to Dartmouth over interest from Princeton and Cornell among others. (LINK) Today, a brief get-to-know interview with the Big Green commit from Lafayette, La.
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And speaking of the Saunier boys, Dartmouth head coach Sammy McCorkle said last month that while Grayson was limited during spring ball, he was still slated to take part in the Manning Passing Academy for the second time.
With Manning camp starting on Thursday, the National Football Foundation has a story under the headline, Manning Family Celebrates 30 Years of Growing the Game (LINK).
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On the subject of football camps, the Sammy McCorkle camp will hold its second one-day session tomorrow. Here's the camp schedule for this year:
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Most college camps have essentially become showcases for the attendees, and beyond a good attitude, they should bring something else. Dartmouth tight ends coach Kevin Daft frequently posts advice for recruits on his Xwitter account and a few days ago added this:
πππΎπππππ: Get an Updated Transcript from your Counselor and Save a Screenshot on your Phone, so you have it when a College Coach asks for it.
A writer for The Sporting News makes the case for Dartmouth alum Ben Rice to be an all-star this summer after getting off to a strong start as a slugging first baseman for the Yankees. (LINK)
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EXTRA POINT I was lucky to twice cover the Masters but That Certain Nittany Lion '16 – who went to the collegiate nationals as a member of the Penn State Club Golf Team – hasn't yet set foot on the hallowed Augusta National grounds. Each year he tosses his name into the lottery to buy tickets, and each year disappointment follows.
He was visiting last weekend and while we were watching the U.S. Open together he informed me the deadline for entering the Masters ticket lottery was that night. I dutifully signed onto the Masters.com site and tried to toss my name into the ring to double our chances of landing tickets. Notice the word tried.
You've read here before about the frustration we have because the database many online retailers use will not accept our street address as legitimate. The educated assumption is that is because there is no U.S. mail delivery on our part of the road.
We'll fill in all the information to make a purchase, click to complete a transaction and get an error message informing us that the address is wrong. In many instances it will instead offer our same street address – but in the adjacent town. That sounds like it would be simple, but clicking that address has led to lost packages and important mail when the other town does not forward mail to our PO box.
Fortunately, some businesses will allow us to use the post office box where we get our mail. Unfortunately, the Masters lottery states – in no uncertain terms – the address used to apply for tickets mustbe where we actually live. What to do in this case?
As it turned out, when the Masters entry form for the lottery returned an error, it offered the chance to use our correct street address – in that next town. Figuring the odds are against getting picked anyway, I went ahead, said that address was correct, and hit enter.
In the unlikely event my entry gets pulled, I'll keep my fingers crossed that everything is done by email rather than the U.S. mail, but you can bet I'll be sure to stop by the post office in the next town to forewarn them that something very, very important could be coming my way, albeit with the wrong town.
Getting the ducats by email would be the ticket, so to speak, but even that doesn't guarantee anything. It turns out another fellow has my exact email address, but with a number or symbol after, it, and you'd be amazed how often I get some kind of invoice intended for him, not me. I can't imagine winning the chance to buy tickets and the other guy getting an email intended for me.
But as I've said, the odds are against it ever getting that far. ;-)
Missed this while we were away but former Dartmouth wide receiver and captain Daniel Haughton, whose season was ended prematurely by injury early last fall, reported last month on Xwitter that he received grad transfer offers from Furman and Charleston Southern.
The winner of the Dartmouth program's Manners Makyth Man Award, Haughton has video of his rehab progress on his social media account HERE.
Learn more about Haughton and how he dealt with his injury in a story written by Justin Lafleur HERE.
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Another wide receiver who had his final season of Ivy League eligibility cut short by injury last fall has timely advice for current and future Ivy League players.
Yale grad Mason Shipp, who chaired the Ivy League Student Athlete Advisory Committee and was instrumental in helping clear the way for the Ivy League to participate in the NCAA Division I Football Championship, has posted a video titled, How Ivy League Football Players Should Spend Their Summers:
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And finally, exams are behind Dartmouth students and the weather is glorious, so there's no better time than now to be happy in Hanover. Keep an eye out for cameos by college president Sian Bielock.
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EXTRA POINT Had something else planned for this space today, but then the sky cleared a bit yesterday and this "panorama" shot shows the double-rainbow that happened over our field.
The rainbow lasted for upwards of 15 minutes ,and even when the full arc faded, the southern end was incredibly bright. Here's what it looked like over New Hampshire's Piermont Mountain.
Dartmouth has announced four new members of the Board of Trustees, and two are former Big Green athletes.
Added to the board will be Peter Roby '79, former co-captain of the basketball team who served as Dartmouth's interim athletic director from February ot 2021 until June of 2022. And Holden Spaht '96, former captain of the men's tennis team and a key supporter of Dartmouth Peak Performance.
The chair of the board is former soccer goalie Gregg Lemkau '91.
Find a story about the new member of the board HERE.
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For most of us, what we earn (or in some cases we don't earn ;-) is private. Not so with professional athletes.
The OverTheCap website has contract terms for Packers center Delby Lemieux '26 (LINK), Bucs defensive tackle Josiah Green '25 (LINK), Browns corner Tyron Herring '23 (LINK), and former Dolphins corner Isaiah Johnson '22 (LINK).
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Speaking of former Dartmouth players in the pros, pass rusher Flo Orimolade '17 is nearing a return to the Calgary Stampeders after suffering an Achilles tear last September. Per 3DownNation, Flo was "full go" at practice last week and could make his return this Saturday when the Stamps play at the BC Lions.
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Ohio State has "offered" an unrated safety holding a Dartmouth offer, but probably not because they think he's going to be a Big Ten standout. Or even an Ivy League standout.
Nope. They offered Jordan Darren Djila because he's a Tennessee high school teammate and good friend of a fellow Canadian import who just happens to be the Buckeyes' top running back target. Their "chess move" is a hardly transparent ploy to improve their chances of landing tailback Gabriel Georges Tchuisseu. (LINK)
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EXTRA POINT It's the Summer Solstice, the longest day and shortest night of the year. I don't know about you, but I enjoy the push to this day, but it's always a little bittersweet finally reaching it because in the back of my mind I know it signals days starting to get shorter again.
