A Different Perspective

Editor's Note: Off on a freelance interview in southern Vermont again today. I won't be back until mid-to-late afternoon so if there are updates, they'll have to wait. If you run Safari as your browser and you don't see last night's story on Green Alert premium, clear your cache and reload. If you forgot your password I'll get it to you tonight.

Dartmouth kicked off spring practice on a breezy but beautiful Tuesday. This is the way last night's report on Big Green Alert premium began:

HANOVER – The shocker was seeing Dartmouth head coach Buddy Teevens in the Memorial Field home stands about six or eight rows up for a few minutes during the first of the Big Green’s 12 spring practices Tuesday.

With new offensive coordinator Jim Pry running quarterback drills, Teevens was free to wander around Memorial Field observing not just how the offensive drills went under Pry but also how defensive drills proceeded under Don Dobes, the new coordinator on that side of the ball.

“You can see more,” admitted Teevens, who has been very hands on with the quarterbacks in his first five years back at Dartmouth. “To be able to watch and see the guy that's dragging his butt, the guy that's breaking his assignment, the guy that's dropping the ball, missing the pickup, overthrowing the ball? I'm a notetaker. I've got three pages of notes. Pluses and minuses.”

While you’d expect a few coordinator-withdrawal pains at least at the start, Teevens didn’t seem out of sorts about the change.

“One of the big things I think is the comfort level I have with the coordinators,” he explained. “They are savvy guys. They've been around. I trust them, what they do and how they do it."

The report went on to detail comings and goings in the program, updated injury situations and position changes, and included Teevens' take on the early quarterback depth chart.

Not that you would ever put much faith in what a blogger writes, would you?

Speaking of bloggers, the Brown Bear blogger has lists of what he projects as the top offensive and top defensive players in the Ivy League next fall. Dartmouth has someone on each side of the ball, which might not be something for a Penn or Harvard to crow about, but is worth noting.

Sophomore Nick Schwieger is one of two tailbacks mentioned (the other is Penn's Lyle Marsh) while sophomore corner Shawn Abuhoff gets a nod on the other side of the ball. It's easy to quibble with selections for stories like this, but it's hard to argue with either of the Dartmouth players mentioned.

The Cornell football home page has a story under the headline, Cornell Football Coaching Staff Has Experience Second To None.

The Daily Pennsylvanian has a story about picking a new Quaker mascot. From the story:

While the mascot is known for roaming the sidelines at football and basketball gamesn the Quaker appears for a host of other sports, such as volleyball in the fall or baseball and women’s lacrosse come spring.

Additionally, the Quaker often makes appearances at weddings, parties and even the occasional business meeting.

Sounds pretty cool. I wonder if the Big Green mascot does things like that? Oh, I forgot. There isn't one.

Bucknell University has a new president from Stanford who supposedly was a member of the Toby Gerhart for Heisman" Facebook group, but that's not why he's mentioned here. Rather it is the first comment after the story about John C. Bravman that should bring a smile to your face. It says:

"Dr. Bravman To borrow from a centuries old reference to a school to our north, Bucknell "is a small university but there are those of us who love it."