That's A Surprise

Had a great chat with veteran offensive line coach Keith Clark at practice this a.m. Look for a story on the O-line on BGA Overtime tonight.

And now for some good stuff about one of Clark's protégés . . . 

Click this still from YouTube and advance to the 12:30 mark.

This Pro Football and Sports Network headline should get your attention:

NFL Analyst Predicts a 97th-Percentile Ivy League Sleeper Will Crash Day 2 of Draft | PFSN’s Football Debate Club; NFL analyst Ian Cummings predicts Dartmouth prospect Delby Lemieux could become a Day Two draft pick after elite athletic testing.

From the story (LINK):

At Boston College’s pro day, Lemieux posted a 5.02 40-yard dash, a 7.52 three-cone, and a 1.71 10-yard split, landing in the 97th percentile among offensive linemen. He covers ground easily, recalibrates his base with quickness, and plays with the kind of range that fits modern zone-heavy systems.

And more importantly:

In the immediate timeline, Lemieux profiles as athletic, position-versatile depth. In the right scheme, particularly one that leans on movement, angles, and leverage, there is a path for him to become an impact starter on the interior. A player who looked like a late-round flyer now has a measurable, trait-driven case to crash Day 2. 

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2026 Overlooked FCS Teams

Big Sky: Idaho State
CAA: Towson
Ivy: Dartmouth
MVFC: South Dakota
NEC: New Haven
OVC-Big South: Western Illinois
Patriot: Colgate
Pioneer: Dayton @UpdogSportsTalk
SoCon: East Tennessee State
Southland: Southeastern
UAC: West Georgia@CoachJoeDavis 📈

— FCS East🏈 (@FCS_East_CFB) April 15, 2026

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Princeton and Columbia can recruit in the fertile New Jersey area. Penn brings in talent from Philly and Pittsburgh, and points in between. Yale has had success recruiting Connecticut, and Brown always has a few good ones from Rhode Island. Ditto Harvard from Massachusetts.

Ever wonder why Dartmouth doesn't pull in more recruits from Northern New England? Go ahead and scroll down to the entries about Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont in this story headlined The highest-ranked high school recruit in the history of all 50 states. (LINK)

Green Alert Take: That's not to say there haven't been very solid players from these states. Dartmouth surely would love to have had defensive lineman Thor Griffith stay in-state instead of playing at Harvard and then Louisville. And Vermonter David Ball set the FCS record for career touchdown receptions at New Hampshire before Cooper Kupp broke it. Go back further and Maine native John Huard played six years in the NFL in the late '60s and early '70s before being elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

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EXTRA POINT
From the go-figure department: I have several pairs of sneakers from Allbirds, which is regularly promoted as producing the most comfortable sneakers on the market. So imagine my surprise learning the company that makes the footwear isn't just walking away from its sneaker business. It's running away from it.

That's right. Allbirds is transitioning from footwear to being an AI company. Find a story about that about-face HERE while I head off to see if they are having a clearance sale. ;-)

Missed This Last Fall

Received this email after yesterday's posting on Dartmouth's scoring leaders since 2000:

Your posting the scoring leaders today made me wonder about Owen Zalc’s career total. With a “paltry” 56 points in his junior season, he surpassed Dennis Durkin as Dartmouth’s leading kicking scorer (206-202 points). Not sure if you had mentioned this previously. With another seven points, he will surpass Al Marsters’ total and become the program’s second leading scorer behind Myles Lane, at an unreachable 307 points.

That sent me scrambling to update the Big Green's overall scoring leaders in the Ivy League era:

 Most Career Points In Ivy League Era

	Name	Years	TD	FG	PAT	2Pt	Pts
1	Owen Zalc ‘27	2023-	0	39	89	0	206
2	Dennis Durkin ’93	1990-92	0	36	94	1	204
	Nick Howard ’23	2019-22	34	0	0	0	204
4	Dave Regula ’98	1994-97	1	38	80	1	202
5	Foley Schmidt ’12	2008-11	0	33	87	0	186
6	Dominick Pierre ’14	2010-13	30	0	0	0	180
7	Connor Davis ’22	2018-21	0	19	113	0	170
8	Nick Schwieger ’12	2008-11	26	0	0	0	156
9	Alex Gakenheimer ’17	2013-16	0	19	84	0	141
10	Ted Perry ’74	1971-73	0	20	75	0	135
11	Tyler Lavin ’05	2001-04	0	28	49	0	133
12	John Short ’71	1968-70	22	0	0	0	132
	Ryder Stone ’18	2014-17	22	0	0	0	132
14	Craig Saltzgaber ’86	1983-85	0	25	56	0	131
15	Jon Aljancic ’97	1994-96	21	0	0	0	126
	Richard Weissman ’85	1982-84	21	0	0	0	126
	Jared Gerbino ’20	1960-62	21	0	0	0	126

Editor's Note: Thanks as always for the help!

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Spotted this on FootballScoop:

Dartmouth is hiring a Football Recruiting and Operations Coordinator. This full-time position is a great opportunity to be heavily involved in all aspects of recruiting and running a Division I football program. 

Find the official job posting out of Dartmouth HERE. 

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Upper Valley views. Big Green work.#GoBigGreen | #TheWoods pic.twitter.com/fb1ksmnfIn

— Dartmouth Football (@DartmouthFTBL) April 14, 2026

After seeing the above Xweet, I posted this on BGA Overtime last night:

Given pleasant weather at 6 a.m., the practice was held on Memorial Field where Zach Pierson, the Dartmouth program's manager of content services for football, put his camera to work and produced some epic photos.

These pictures were posted on the Dartmouth football Xwitter page as well as its Instagram page. 

Because a lot of Dartmouth fans do not visit those sites, the photos are reproduced here to help them get the viewership they deserve. Huge kudos to Zach for his work producing these images from the first full-pad practice of the spring. Click on the photos for a better look.

Click on the Xweet above to view the pictures. Or if you prefer, visit BGA Overtime to check out Zach's work, reposted with appreciation HERE.

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If you've been on campus over the past year-plus you've noticed Crosby Street, which runs in front of Buddy Teevens Stadium, has been closed. If you are curious about what is going on, the college has an update under the headline, Progress Continues on Dartmouth’s Energy Transition; The project has already laid 3.5 miles of hot and chilled water piping across campus. Find that update HERE.

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EXTRA POINT
Mrs. BGA and I were watching Jeopardy last evening when she noticed quite a show being put on in the sky over Mount Moosilauke.  This photo can't compare to Zach Pierson's images, but it should give you a pretty good indication of what we saw. With the sun at our backs, it is filtering through storm clouds and lighting up just one cloud in the east.

Click photo to enlarge.

You Guessed It

The San Diego Union-Tribune has a piece under the headline, Ranking the top 32 interior offensive linemen in the 2026 NFL draft, and if you've been following along you can probably guess why that is included here. From the column (LINK):

31. Delby Lemieux (Sr., Dartmouth, 6-5, 309)
Lemieux is an intriguing FCS/Ivy developmental bet with workable tools (9.30 RAS). He’s a two-time FCS All-American who was the first Dartmouth player invited to the Senior Bowl in more than 40 years. He held his own with interior reps, considering he’s only ever played left tackle for the Big Green. Projected: Round 7-PFA

Another outlet has a piece headlined 2026 NFL Draft high-upside sleepers that offers this explanation of the players it includes:

From small-school outliers to Power Four contributors returning from injury, sleepers in this exercise are generally projected to Day 3 (Rounds 4-7).

The column includes players from Georgia, Notre Dame, Michigan, Indiana, Georgia Tech and Arkansas among others. Among those others: Dartmouth.

From the story (LINK):

C Delby Lemieux, Dartmouth
Lemieux is a high-IQ technician who impressed scouts by transitioning from left tackle to center during the 2026 Senior Bowl. Standing 6’4” and 305 pounds, the three-time All-Ivy selection earned an elite 84.6 overall PFF grade in 2025, allowing only one sack. 

At his pro day, he registered a 5.02-second 40-yard dash and a 1.71-second ten-yard split. His technical proficiency in zone-blocking schemes makes him an ideal candidate for teams seeking an athletic, cerebral center.

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For years Patriot League followers have said the league needed to relax its ban on redshirting if it wanted to be a player on the FCS scene. Although Lehigh put the lie to that need last year, newcomer Villanova is looking to test the limits not just of the Patriot League, but of the NCAA, in what might be an even more dramatic way. The Wildcats are petitioning the NCAA to bring back quarterback Pat McQuaide, who is looking for a sixth year in college football. Per a story posted by Philadelphia Sports Now (LINK), here's McQuaide's football journey that the NCAA will be considering:

2021 – Kent State (redshirt)
2022 – Mississippi Gulf Coast (junior college)
2023 – Nicholls State
2024 – Nicholls State 
2025 – Villanova (grad transfer)
2026 – Villanova? (second-year grad transfer?)

Green Alert Take: Comprised of academically competitive schools, the Patriot League began life as like-minded, non-scholarship sister conference to the Ivy League. The Patriot League's addition of scholarships represented a significant change of direction, and should Villanova's petition succeed and the Wildcats have a sixth-year QB, it would represent another.

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A final day of annual leaders since 2000 updated by BGA:

Dartmouth Scoring Leaders Since 2000

Year	Name	TD	PAT	2Pt	FG	Pts
2000	Matt DeLellis ’02	8	0	0	0	48
2001	Matt DeLellis ’02	7	0	0	0	42
2002	Tyler Lavin ’05	0	18	0	12	54
2003	Tyler Lavin ’05	0	16	0	12	52
2004	Bob Murphy ’05	5	0	0	0	30
2005	Ryan Fuselier ’06	5	2	0	0	32
2006	Andrew Kempler ’08	0	16	0	7	37
2007	Andrew Kempler ’08	0	36	0	3	45
2008	Foley Schmidt ’12	0	12	0	9	39
2009	Foley Schmidt ’12	0	19	0	6	37
2010	Nick Schwieger ’12	14	0	0	0	84
2011	Nick Schwieger ’12	10	0	0	0	60
2012	Dominick Pierre ’14	9	0	0	0	54
2013	Dominick Pierre ’14	13	0	0	0	78
2014	Alex Gakenheimer ’17	0	37	0	12	73
2015	Ryder Stone ’18	9	0	0	0	54
2016	David Smith ’18	0	23	0	7	44
2017	David Smith ’18	0	30	0	10	60
2018	Connor Davis ’22	0	40	0	6	58
2019	Connor Davis ’22	0	43	0	6	61
2021	Nick Howard ’23	15	0	0	0	90
2022	Nick Howard ’23	9	0	0	0	54
2023	Owen Zalc ’27	0	25	0	17	76
2024	Owen Zalc ‘27	0	35	0	13	74
2025	Grayson Saunier ‘27	11	0	2	0	70

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EXTRA POINT
Several years ago in this space I mentioned my "Michelin Man" jacket. I call it that, I wrote, because "When I have it on it looks a little like I pulled the pin to inflate it with a CO2 cylinder like you would with a life vest on an airplane."

It was cold enough this year that I wore my absurdly large MMJ a lot, including one evening walking Griff the Wonder Dog last week. I even debated wearing it to a Dartmouth football practice before a cooler head prevailed. (Mine)

Forget the return of the robin, or the first crocus popping up in front of the Nugget Theater. The true sign of spring arriving is this: Yesterday afternoon my Michelin Man Jacket was officially relegated to the cedar closet in our basement.