Look And Listen

Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens appeared on the Ross Tucker podcast over the weekend. The most direct way to access the audio would be to CLICK HERE.

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There are still spots available in the Dartmouth Football Golf Classic as well as sponsorship opportunities. CLICK HERE for more information about playing or helping out.

Speaking of the Golf Classic, here's a video that came out of last year's event:

  

. . . And here's one of the pictures I snapped at the event last year:

 

Memorial Day

From the dedication of appropriately named Memorial Field in 1923:

Ready For Another Shot?

Could Dartmouth linebacker-turned-defensive tackle-turned-silver-medal shotputter-turned gold-medal shot putter Adam Nelson make another run at the Olympics?

Looks as if he might according to this STORY shared by a loyal reader.

Nelson, you may recall, posted 18 tackles as a senior on the 10-0 Ivy League champions of 1996. From a 2004 story on the '97 Big Green graduate:

"He started as a linebacker at Dartmouth, and when, as he says, his 'butt got bigger,' he was moved to defensive tackle."

From the 1994 Dartmouth football media guide:

"He holds the distinction as the first freshman to see varsity action after the Ivy League voted to allow freshmen to compete on the varsity football level in 1993." 

Nelson probably never became the football player he might have – he had something else on his plate – but he would have been an interesting prospect at the NFL Combine. Consider these numbers culled from various reports:

• "As a 17 year old before my senior year high school during football testing I benched 225 for 42 reps, max benched at 435 and squatted 225 for 85 reps. "

• Vertical 39.5 at Sydney Olympics

• Long jump: 10-7 but has done over 11 feet 

 

Posterized

The 2016 Dartmouth schedule poster is out. Click on this high-res shot to supersize:

Down Under

One of the real advantages of Dartmouth's quarter system for football players is the ability to be on campus in the fall, to be on campus for spring football . . . and to study abroad in the winter. Check out this video with a trio of Big Green defensive backs who spent their winter in Australia and New Zealand:

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Work has started on replacing the FieldTurf surface at Memorial Field. Here are a few snapshots I shot yesterday along with a quick video showing the beginning of the end for the "D" at the 50-yardline. Click the photos to enlarge them.

Couldn't help but shoot this one ;-)

Ahead Of The Curve

Patriots.com has a story under the headline, Tackling Tech: Can Tech Save NFL Training Camps? Interesting that in some regards, the college game has led the way, with Dartmouth on the cutting edge.

From the story:

(Virtual Reality) headsets provide the ability for endless reps that can mimic game-time situations for a signal caller without the risk of bodily contact.

Dartmouth was one of the first football teams in the country – pro or college – to get started with VR. Check out a San Diego Union-Tribune story from last spring detailing the Big Green's early entry into the field. From the story:

(Derek) Belch has fielded interest from dozens of teams at every level of football this spring, but so far, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Clemson, Auburn, Arkansas and Dartmouth are STRIVR Labs’ first official partners. As of mid-May, Belch said he’s also in serious talks with several NFL teams and expects to sign with a handful by this summer.

The Patriots story mentions "helmet telemetry." Dartmouth was part of a helmet telemetry study as far back as 2006. Check out a USA Today story from 2006 noting as much.

And the Patriots story includes this:

There were many muffled laughs by old-school football "purists" many months ago when Dartmouth College grabbed some headlines for using special, task-specific robots to star in routine and replicable drills for the college's football practices.

Now comes news that the owner of Pittsburgh Steelers, Dartmouth alum, is bringing some robots to his team with the support of Head Coach Mike Tomlin.

One small correction. While Dan Rooney is a Dartmouth alum, the team's "owner" is not.

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Headline for a story out of Penn State: Father's Advice Drives Penn State DC Brent Pry; The Nittany Lions' new defensive coordinator has capitalized on great advice from his dad, who is also a college football coach.

From the story (LINK):

It has often been noted that Penn State assistant Brent Pry is the son of a coach.

His dad’s best professional advice? Prepare to be fired.

The dad, Jim Pry, was Dartmouth's offensive coordinator in 2010 until he and the college "parted ways." See a story in The Dartmouth. Pry has been at Bethune-Cookman ever since.

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Calling it the game of the year, the Harvard Crimson newspaper takes a blow-by-blow look at last fall's game-for-the ages between Dartmouth and Harvard. (LINK) (Corrected ;-)

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Speaking of Harvard, a story about what might be the toughest and easiest schedules of the fall on the STATS site puts the Crimson's slate on one side of that ledger. Wanna guess which one? (LINK)

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A story out of Michigan State reports that former Spartan Larry Fowler, who coached freshman football and varsity wrestling at Dartmouth in1957, has died at age 83. (LINK) 

Williams, Gorman Honored

Two football players were among the honorees at the college's annual  Celebration of Excellence.

Quarterback Dalyn Williams was presented with the Alfred E. Watson Trophy as Dartmouth's outstanding male athlete of the year.

The Timothy Wright Ellis 1955 Memorial Award, "given to a man showing extracurricular and scholastic drive, spirit, loyalty and amiability . . .  nominated and voted on by the captains of the men’s teams," went to wide receiver Daniel Gorman. (LINK).

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I was looking around the bookstore a couple of days ago trying to find preseason football magazines (so I could sneak scans of the Ivy League predictions without buying the mags) but I came up empty. It's part of the price we pay for being a little, um, remote around here.

Fortunately, sharp eyes from a more centrally located area found the Sporting News issue. An email shared the venerable magazine's Ivy League prediction. It goes like this:

1. Penn
2. Harvard
3. Yale
4. Dartmouth
5. Brown 
6. Princeton
7. Columbia
8. Cornell

Green Alert Take: This is about how I expect most prognosticators will go. That said, I think there will be a lot of pundits who pick Dartmouth ahead of Yale, and Princeton ahead of Brown.

Sporting News predictions for Dartmouth's non-conference opponents:

• New Hampshire was picked fourth in the CAA.
• Towson was picked sixth in the same powerhouse conference.
• Holy Cross was chosen third in the Patriot League.

(Thanks for sharing ;-)

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Do you ever wonder How Quarterbacks Are Made? A recent MMQB piece on the Sports Illustrated site does a terrific job at sorting through quarterback demographics. Good reading HERE.

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As long as we're at it, have you ever wondered what the deal is with the IMG Academy starting up, "America's Most Talented High School Football Team?" Here's the story:

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Duke coach David Cutliffe found an interesting way to have walk-on defensive end Danny Doyle learn that he is being awarded a scholarship. Check out the quick video HERE.

Big Greenipedia

I don't know who got this started or who updates it but as is often the case, Wikipedia is a pretty fair one-stop shopping place for a general overview of the 2015 Dartmouth championship football season. Click the graphic below to enlarge it (and then click it again) or, better yet, just visit the page HERE.

You can check out a page for each Dartmouth team from 2011 on. There is even a link to the 1925 National Championship team.

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Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh to young campers and their families as quoted in the Detroit Free Press:

 “There’s a lot of people attacking football these days, talking about it being too rough of a sport or too tough. I feel like there’s a real prejudice against football at all levels. But there’s just a misconception about football. ... Football’s never been safer than it is now with the rule changes and technique changes.”

Most Improved

At halftime of the spring game Dartmouth's most improved players were announced. They were:

Quarterback: Bruce Dixon IV

Wide Receiver: Drew Hunnicutt

Tight End: Cam Poole

Running Back: Miles Smith

Offensive Line: John Kilcommons

Defensive Line: Mike Warren

Linebacker: Jack Traynor

Strength & Conditioning: (Linebacker) Jake Moen

Defensive Back: Justin Porter

Safety/Nickel: Nick Peart

Specialist: (Punter) John Katzman

Click graphic to enlarge.

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The Dartmouth has a story about Dartmouth's use of Championship Analytics. Running backs coach Chad Nice explains that the information provided by the company, "allows us to make data-driven decisions and not (purely) emotional (ones). It makes sure everyone is on the same page."

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Work on replacing the FieldTurf surface at Memorial Field is slated to begin Wednesday. 

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Check out the New York Times for a look at a true Dartmouth original, distance runner/poet/filmmaker Alexi Pappas '12, who will run for Greece in the Summer Olympics.

MVP At Home

You would think, with all the posts about the MVP in this electric precinct, that at some point the home page for the Mobile Virtual Player would have been posted. But no . . .

So HERE IT IS.

By the way, it didn't take the MVP folks long to get Mike Tomlin and the Steelers on the page ;-)

Catching Up With . . .

Click to enlarge.

From the Whatever Happened To department, former Dartmouth quarterback Brian Stretch was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California on March 30 of this year. From his bio on the U.S. Department of Justice page:

Between 1986 and 1988, Brian was a teacher and coach at St. Ignatius College Preparatory. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Georgetown University Law Center.

CLICK HERE to read his full bio, and CLICK HERE for a picture of Stretch, then acting U.S. Attorney, with Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Stretch was one of three brothers from San Francisco to play for the Big Green. Tim '88 was a wide receiver and Colin '91, was a defensive back.

MVP = More Valuable Press

The Mobile Virtual Player hit the practice field during a Pittsburgh Steelers minicamp. Said Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin of the remote-controlled tackling dummy developed at Dartmouth:

“It’s an awesome piece of football technology. I am always interested in ways to utilize technology in terms of teaching football. We are excited to get a close look at it.

“The applications we are quickly finding are endless. It never gets tired. It runs at an appropriate football speed. All of the position groups are getting an opportunity to use it.

CLICK HERE to read the story and watch the video.

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How widespread has news of the MVP and Coach Buddy Teevens' non-tackling movement become? Check out a story from Australia's Sydney Morning Herald HERE.

The D Catches Up With Vernon Harris

The Dartmouth catches up with former Big Green corner Vernon Harris, who signed with the Kansas City Chiefs. Among other things, Harris shares his reaction to earning a contract, how Dartmouth prepared him for his bid at the NFL and his plans for finishing his education. (LINK)

The D also writes about head football coach Buddy Teevens testifying before congress along with Karen Kinzle Zegel, mother of onetime running back Patrick Risha '06, who tragically took his own life. (LINK)

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Campus Insiders takes a look at the 2016 Patriot League, including Dartmouth opponent Holy Cross. While CI picks the Crusaders to finish fourth in the conference, it lists quarterback Peter Pujals and receiver Brendan Flaherty as the second- and third-best players in the league. (LINK)

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An entity called SideBySideVideo offers short videos on YouTube and one purports to compare Harvard and Dartmouth as schools. It's not exactly nuanced but you can check it out HERE.

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Find another update on the stadium construction going on across the state at the University of New Hampshire HERE. A late addition to the project is a 30x50 video board.

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Just came across this with Jay Fiedler, former Dartmouth and NFL quarterback:

https://t.co/18DCI5D2eC Tonight & every Tues nite (7-9pm) this Spring in LI. Work w/ @JayFiedler on your FB skills pic.twitter.com/AMnrbwnJjW

— PrimeTime Football (@primetimecamps) April 19, 2016

Getting A Shot

(Click photo to enlarge.)

Hailin' Dalyn

Back in the Upper Valley after a week-plus on the road (and rails ;-).

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Chicago's own Don Dobes, the Dartmouth defensive coordinator, stands with former Big Green quarterback Dalyn Williams at the Bears' minicamp. (Photo from Twitter)

By most accounts, Dalyn Williams followed a solid tryout with the Pittsburgh Steelers with a terrific minicamp with the Chicago Bears. Unfortunately, when the Bears released the names of the three undrafted players they signed, Williams wasn't one of them. From the Bears' camp report posted by ESPN:

Rookie minicamp ran smoothly. That’s due in part to tryout quarterbacks Sean Goldrich (New Hampshire) and Dalyn Williams (Dartmouth). When the rookie-camp quarterbacks struggle to complete fundamental passes (which often happens at this camp), the whole workout is bogged down. Goldrich and Williams had enough zip and accuracy on their passes for the coaching staff to get a good look at the receivers, tight ends and tailbacks. “We minimize the total install for the quarterbacks,” (coach John) Fox said. “It’s not like we give them our whole playbook. We just see how they can take it from the meeting room on to the field. I thought they did a good job.”

Green Alert Take: Reading that, the idea is growing that rookie minicamp quarterbacks are like a lot of catchers in low minor league baseball. Even if you have don't necessarily think you are interested in investing in them, you can't play without 'em. That's something a local high school product explained to me after he played a year of rookie ball as a catcher and was released.

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Dartmouth football players look after their own. Former linebacker Justin Cottrell '08, now has running back Dominick Pierre '14 and linebacker Eric Wickham '15 – a member of last fall's Ivy League championship team – working with him at Talener technology staffing, in Washington, D.C. Cottrell is listed as the firm's regional vice president with Pierre and Wickham listed as relationship managers.

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Just a couple more pictures from my quick trip to Yellowstone and visit with That Certain '14-turned-ranger. Click to enlarge:

A couple of elk visit the travertine terrace at Mammoth Hot Springs.

A herd of bison passes nonchalantly through the center of Mammoth village.

Pidermann Honored

Former Dartmouth captain Peter Pidermann '10 (center) is inducted into the Belen Jesuit HS Hall of Fame. Pidermann started a Belen-Dartmouth connection that saw Diego Fernandez-Soto '12, Anthony DiBlasi '12 and Frankie Hernandez'16 follow him to Hanover. The Miami prep is one of the top producers of Ivy League football talent. In Pidermann's senior season the school had more alums in the Ivies than any school in the country.

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Greetings from Union Station in Chicago where I am awaiting the 9:30 p.m. Lake Shore Limited back to New England ;-)

BT In DC

CLICK HERE for the Associated Press story on Dartmouth football coach Buddy Teevens testifying before a congressional subcommittee about how the Big Green practices tackling without ever tackling each other.

To watch and listen to Teevens' comments on video, CLICK HERE to go directly to his testimony.

Teevens' printed statement is available HERE. And it's kind of interesting to check out his Truth in Testimony Witness Disclosure Requirement HERE.

Teevens, right, at the hearings

Teevens with Representative John Carney of Delaware, left, and Nick Lowery, his former teammates at Dartmouth.

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Here's the spring football video via the Dartmouth football office:

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CLICK THROUGH photos from the Chicago Bears minicamp and you'll find a couple of former Dartmouth quarterback Dalyn Williams. What were the chances the Bears would bring in 64 players and the only two quarterbacks would be Williams and New Hampshire's Sean Goldrich?

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Wrapping up a quick visit to Sister BGA at her her place 9,000 feet up in the Rockies and hopping the train East tonight in Denver. WiFi is supposed to be available after Chicago so it will be radio silence until then. Home Monday afternoon.

Down, Set, Action?

Greetings from Dillon, Colo., where a flight delay led to a 1:30 a.m. arrival.

Today's posting, courtesy of a link shared by a loyal reader, comes from a website called Ivy Coach, which had this "takeout":

The story of Dartmouth’s pioneering head football coach is the kind of story feature films are based on.

Find the full Ivy Coach posting HERE.

Green Alert Take: Who is your choice to play Buddy Teevens? How about Daniel Craig? And with "elevator" wheels R2-D2 could play the MVP although it's been suggested a corn-fed Roomba might be a better choice.

Now We Can Tell You . . . Teevens To Testify In DC

I heard about this likelihood a while back but was sworn to secrecy lest it fall apart. From a Dartmouth release:

Robert L. Blackman Head Football Coach Buddy Teevens ’79 will testify before the Congressional Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations at a hearing entitled “Concussions in Youth Sports: Evaluating Prevention and Research” on Friday, May 13. The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. and can be seen live on the Committee’s YouTube page.

Find the full release HERE.

A Dream Come True

One of the pleasures of doing BGA is getting to know the coaches and staff in a much different way than when I was the beat writer covering the team for the newspaper. Always helpful, always with a smile is football equipment manager Steve Ward, grandson of legendary Dartmouth coach Tom Dent, a proud Marine veteran and one-heckuva golfer.

Thanks to the incredible generosity of a member of the Dartmouth family, Steve just had a chance recently to play a round at Augusta National and here he is on the famed Hogan Bridge.

Steve shot a fine 75 and says he'll remember every one of those shots forever and I believe him. Trust me when I tell you he was about as excited about his Augusta National dream as you would ever believe.

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A loyal reader has shared a few more thoughts on the Green-White. As was the case with the observations posted Saturday night, they are opinions and yours may differ ;-)

I believe that we would have learned a lot more if we had tackled in this game. (I get it and believe in the philosophy but this game might be the exception.)

• (Wide receiver) Joe Cook looked very good.
• (Bruce) Dixon looks like he is leading the QB race.
• O-line decent, good job at center by Kilcommons.
• Defense flying around lead by d-line.
• Special teams solid across the board.

Chilling Out (Literally) At Yellowstone

Something I learned on my first morning at Yellowstone: No matter how badly you need to get to the bathroom upon waking, you can hold it when you hear snuffling directly outside your tent, zip up the rain fly and go eye-to-eye with a 1,400-pound bison. You can see a couple more across the road if you look closely.

Actually, there were no fewer than 20 of the animals – some with frolicking calves – within 90 feet of my tent this morning, and I heard them before I saw them. I'm telling you, some of them were so c-l-o-s-e I could hear them breathing and they were in no hurry to move on.



There were a bunch of elk visiting the site before I called it a night and crawled into my sleeping bag – parka and hooded sweatshirt still on ;-)



The mercury got down to the low 20s last night and I awoke to snow on the tent. Brrr.

In case you were wondering, we left State College, Pa., early Saturday morning and got to Mammoth Hot Springs by 1 p.m. Monday. I don't know if That Certain '14-turned-ranger actually shed a tear when she first saw the mountains but I'm here to tell you she was seriously excited after a winter spent in the Everglades.

Here until Thursday, then to Colorado to visit That Certain Sister and then the train back home from Denver. More when I can . . .

Flores, Williams Get Mentions

Overnight in Glendive, Mont., after an 830-mile drive from Wisconsin Dells. About 400 miles left to Mammoth Hot Springs ;-)

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Jacob Flores is compared to the Packers' (and Cornell's) JC Tretter in a story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

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Dalyn Williams is one of three "rookie minicamp" quarterbacks with the Steelers and Pittsburgh247 looks briefly at the trio.

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Now off to Yellowstone with That Certain Dartmouth '14 who can't wait to start her second season rangering at the first national park.

Heading West

On the road to Yellowstone with That Certain Dartmouth '14. Will post when possible.

Congraduations (Couldn't Help Myself)

Greetings from Happy Valley, where we are celebrating graduation weekend for That Certain Nittany Lion and the end of college bills!

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A few NFL notes today starting here in the Keystone State.

Steelers Depot has a story under the headline, QB Dalyn Williams The Steelers Most Promising Tryout Player. (LINK) From the story:

One tryout name seemed to stand above the rest and he’ll get his opportunity to show that intrigue this weekend: Dartmouth QB Dalyn Williams. I was far from the first to hear his name. Many well-respected people in the draft community pegged him as a sleeper in his class.

The former Big Green quarterback has at least two other tryouts set.

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Packers News writes about former Dartmouth offensive lineman Jacob Flores, who was flying under the radar among the large group of Big Green pro hopefuls before a terrific workout led him to become one of two former teammates to sign an undrafted free agent contract after the draft. From the site:

Flores (6-3, 300) played left tackle as a junior but moved to center as a senior. At his campus pro day he ran the 40 in 5.25 seconds, did 22 bench-press reps, and had a 26-inch vertical jump and 8-3 broad jump.

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The other undrafted free agent to win a contract was corner Vernon Harris, who gets a mention in Chiefs Digest. It reports that he has "4.49 speed" in the 40.

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A reminder that tomorrow's BGA Premium report on the Green-White scrimmage will be "crowd sourced." For the first time, I'm out of town and will be relying on you to share your observations. If you email them this way, I'll collect 'em, gently edit them up and post them (without attribution so you can be candid). If this idea works the way I hope, you'll get some different voices from different perspectives that paint a different picture of the Big Green than you'd usually get. As for that editing bit, it's mostly about making sure no one has to cringe when they read the report.

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Also for the first time, BGA Daily (which you are reading now ;-) will go pretty quiet over the next week or so. Apart from a day or two here or there, that hasn't happened before over the last 11 years, including family vacations. But this is different. Let me explain.

That Certain Dartmouth '14-turned-park ranger wrapped up her winter working in the Everglades last week and drove up to Pennsylvania for her brother's graduation. She starts back at Yellowstone Tuesday morning . . . and that's a 1,950-mile drive from here. Coming on top of the trip from the Everglades that's some seriously grueling windshield time.

To help her out I'm hopping in the car with her and will split the driving to the iconic park (although the bet here is I do the majority of the time behind the wheel ;-). We figure to be on the road each day by 5 and driving until dark, which doesn't leave much time for digging up items for this site.

I'll spend several days in Yellowstone where I won't have WiFi, and then fly to Denver to spend a day-and-a-half with Sister BGA at her condo in the Rockies, where I will.

As some of you know, given a choice, I'll almost always pick trains over planes for travel and so I'm taking Amtrak back home starting next Saturday night. There's supposed to be WiFi on the leg from Chicago eastward so radio silence could end on that Sunday.

Now, there is a chance that I'll grab a little WiFi sometime along the drive west the next three days but I can't make any promises. If you spot anything of interest and can share a link it would make it easier for me to post something from a rest area or wherever I can steal a signal without losing too much time.

And with that, to steal a line from the White House correspondents dinner . . .

"BW out."

Nearing Its Star Turn

Sorry about the links. Getting them to work on this platform is beyond an English major's ability ;-)

Dartmouth senior Kyle Bramble gets a nice mention in the Louisville Courier Journal for earning National Football Foundation recognition for his performance on the field and in the classroom. The former running back who returned to action twice after tearing ACLs is finishing a five-year engineering program in four years.

Joe Moglia Redux

The website Inc. has a story under the headline: How a Kid from New York Beat Stuttering, Made Millions on Wall Street, and Became a Successful College Football Coach.

The story, of course, is about Coastal Carolina coach Joe Moglia, whose final football job before becoming a titan of Wall Street, was as a defensive coach at Dartmouth under Joe Yukica.

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That Connecticut high school linebacker who had Dartmouth among his possible schools along with some of the nation's best? No surprise there. Ben Mason announced last night he's going to be a Michigan Wolverine. Find a story HERE.

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If pro football was the Michigan commit's goal that alone shouldn't have ruled out Dartmouth, according to Big Green coach Buddy Teevens. No fewer than eight members of last fall's 9-1 Ivy League championship team have signed with NFL squads, are headed to minicamps or have earned a CFL tryout, reason enough for pro hopefuls to consider Dartmouth according to Teevens. From last night's BGA Premium:

“We talk a lot about the fact that I want guys to have the dream of playing in the NFL," Teevens said. "I am not shy about asking guys if that’s their dream, and I’m not shy about promoting it. 

“It’s inspiring to the younger guys on our team and also to recruits. It’s something we talk about. This is a Division I football program and we want them to achieve at the highest level.” 

While the odds are against most of the Dartmouth players making an NFL roster, Teevens is confident they will acquit themselves well and at the very least give it a good shot. 

“I believe in guys that make plays,” he said. “You look at some of those guys and people will say they are not big enough, they’re not fast enough or they are not strong enough. Well, they want it more than guys that may be a little bit bigger or faster or stronger. That makes a big difference. I will go with guys like that any time.” 

For the record, center Jacob Flores has signed with the Packers and corner Vernon Harris with the Chiefs. Quarterback Dalyn Williams, receiver Ryan McManus, defensive back Troy Donahue and defensive linemen AJ Zuttah and Cody Fulleton are all getting a chance to prove themselves in front of NFL teams, and Chai Reece has survived the first cut of a CFL combine.

Recruits Officially Announced

Dartmouth has released its list of incoming football recruits and video highlights HERE. The list is the same as has been posted earlier on BGA Daily with a couple of walk-ons added and a few hometowns corrected.

Student-Athlete	Pos	Ht	Wt	Hometown	High School/Previous
Tyler Addison	DB	6-0	185	New Orleans, La.	Destrehan
Tanner Aiono	OL	6-6	300	Bonita, Calif.	Francis Parker
Nigel Alexander	LB	6-1	215	Orlando, Fla.	Dr. Phillips
Ross Andreasik	LB	6-1	205	Glen Ellyn, Ill.	Glenbard West
Jordan Argilagos	RB	5-10	175	Lawrenceville, Ga.	Wesleyan School
D.J. Avery	DB	5-10	160	Douglasville, Ga.	Douglas County
Davis Brief	K/P	6-1	180	Warwick, N.Y.	Warwick Valley Central
Micah Croom	DB	6-2	195	Cerritos, Calif.	La Mirada
Ben Culmer	OL	6-5	300	Vienna, Va.	Langley
Hamilton Day	OL	6-7	240	Shadyside, Md.	DeMatha Catholic
Justin Douglas	QB	6-1	195	Irmo, S.C.	Dutch Fork
Drew Estrada	WR	5-11	180	Argyle, Texas	Argyle
Colton Forster	LB	6-3	215	Napa, Calif.	Napa
Jared Gerbino	QB	6-4	220	Rush, N.Y.	Rush Henrietta
Michael Gordon	DB	6-1	170	Tampa, Fla.	Choate Rosemary Hall (Conn.)
Hunter Hagdorn	WR	6-0	175	Manvel, Texas	Manvel
Zachary Hawkins	WR	6-1	195	Rockville, Md.	The Bullis School
Brandon Hester	WR	5-11	180	El Cajon, Calif.	Christian
Grant Jaffe	LS	6-4	220	Laguna Hills, Calif.	Santa Margarita Catholic
Arthur Kaslow	LB	6-2	220	Calabasas, Calif.	Calabasas
Mason Koch	RB	5-9	205	Coralville, Iowa	West
Niko Lalos	DE	6-4	240	Copley, Ohio	St. Vincent-St. Mary
John Lass	OL	6-5	280	Cherry Hill, N.J.	Cherry Hill East
Andrew Lemkuil	LB	6-2	200	West Hartford, Conn.	Kingswood-Oxford Wyverns
Jordan McGriff	DT	6-2	325	Willingboro, N.J.	Hun School
Matthew Norton, Jr.	K/P	5-11	190	Sullivan’s Island, S.C.	Porter-Gaud
Jake Pallotta	QB	6-1	190	Canton, Ohio	Jackson
Caylin Parker	RB	6-0	200	Belle Chasse, La.	Belle Chasse
Anders Peterson	OL	6-5	250	Leesburg, Va.	Tuscarora
Connor Rempel	TE	6-4	210	Monmouth Beach, N.J.	Shore Regional
Ryan Roegge	DB	6-2	200	Marietta, Ga.	George Walton Comprehensive
Seth Simmer	DT	6-3	250	Powder Springs, Ga.	Harrison
Tamerick Simpson	DE	6-3	215	Tampa, Fla.	Berkshire Prep
Tucker Spears	TE	6-4	235	Dakota Dunes, S.D.	Avons Old Farms (Conn.)
Isiah Swann	DB	6-0	185	Queen Creek, Ariz.	Chandler

What You Need To Know

The emails were flying around yesterday asking about the difference between being an undrafted free agent and getting a tryout or attending a minicamp without a contract. Fortunately, a loyal reader was doing some Googling and shared a link that does a pretty good job of explaining it. Check out the story on NJ.com.

In short, an undrafted free agent who signs a contract gets a small signing bonus but nothing else in the contract is guaranteed unless the players makes the team each ensuing year of the contract.

An undrafted player who comes to a minicamp without a contract will receive food, lodging and a small per diem with hopes of being one of the few who after two or three days gets a contract offer.

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STATS adds a little more explanation along with a listing of FCS free agents HERE.

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The Boston Globe writes about four Harvard players headed to NFL camps while mentioning Dartmouth's Jacob Flores signing with the Packers, Vernon Harris with the Chiefs and Dalyn Williams earning tryouts. In all, eight Dartmouth players will have been in pro camps this spring.

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Dartmouth's In Town Again
(Editor's note: This first appeared on BGA Premium.)
The Friends of Dartmouth Football has announced the sixth annual Dartmouth’s In Town Again series featuring Buddy Teevens visiting nine cities from coast to coast between May 9 and May 26.

While he’s the head ball coach, Teevens makes sure the meet-and-greet is about more than a game.

“Certainly, a lot of folks want to hear about football but whether it’s LA, San Francisco, Dallas or Houston it’s a good opportunity to talk about the school,” he said. “People love the institution. It’s a chance to tell them all the good things that go on. Bad press gains the most attention, but there’s a lot of good things that are happening.

“Certainly, I’ll be talking about our program and what we did last year. The fun thing is, there were six games televised nationally so people saw a lot of them. Winning a championship is refreshing for people who have been supportive and who have been waiting a long time for that. It’s also a chance to  talk about some of our young guys.”

And it’s a chance to continue to spread the no-tackling-in-practice gospel.

“There’s a lot of conversation about concussive head injury nationally so we can let people know what we do and how it started,” Teevens said. “There’s a lot of curiosity about it. We’re getting a lot of calls from a lot of different people about it and what it means to our players. We’re just doing a very, very good job keeping people healthy.”

From a Friend’s Group Mailing:Coach Teevens will once again travel to several cities to meet with loyal supporters of Dartmouth Football.  He will talk about spring practice, this year's recruiting class, program updates and a "what-to-look-for" preview of the upcoming season.

All are welcome and we hope you can join us if we are coming to your area.  Please see below for details and kindly RSVP so that the hosts can plan ahead. Each is event is $35 and all proceeds directly support the Friends of Dartmouth Football.

Monday, May 9 - Boston, MA
Reception at Clery's (113 Dartmouth Street, Boston, MA) from 6:00-8:00pm. To RSVP, please Click Here. 
Hosted by the Friends of Football.

Tuesday, May 10 - Summit, NJ
Reception at Canoe Brook Country Club (1108 Morris Turnpike, Summit, NJ) from 6:00-8:00pm. To RSVP, please Click Here.
Hosted by Ish McLaughlin '88.

Wednesday, May 11 - New York, NY
Reception at The Liberty (29 W 35th St, New York, NY) from 6:30-8:30pm. To RSVP, please Click Here. 
Hosted by the Friends of Football.

Thursday, May 12 - Greenwich, CT
Reception at Innis Arden Golf Club (120 Tomac Ave., Old Greenwich, CT) from 6:00-8:00pm. To RSVP, please Click Here.
Hosted by Ryan Spayde '94.

Saturday, May 14 - Los Angeles, CA
Reception at Bel-Air Bay Club (16801 Pacific Coast Hwy, Pacific Palisades, CA) from 2:00-5:00pm. To RSVP, pleaseClick Here.
Hosted by Tim Meier '91 and Dennis Durkin '93.

Sunday, May 15 - Palo Alto, CA
Reception at the home of Peter & Anne Anderson P'18 (2080 Tasso St, Palo Alto, CA) from 5:00-7:00pm. To RSVP, pleaseClick Here. 
Hosted by Peter & Anne Anderson P'18.

Tuesday, May 17 - Houston, TX
Reception at the home of Geoff Bracken '81 (606 West Friar Tuck Lane, Houston, TX) from 6:00-8:00pm. To RSVP, pleaseClick Here. 
Hosted by Shelley and Geoff Bracken '81.

Wednesday, May 18 - Dallas, TXReception at the home of Fraser Marcus '76 (4254 Ridge Road, Dallas, TX) from 6:00-8:00pm. To RSVP, please Click Here.
Hosted by Fraser Marcus '76.

Thursday, May 26 - Fort Lauderdale, FLReception at Shula's Hotel & Golf Club (6842 Main St, Miami Lakes, FL 33014) from 6:00-8:00pm. To RSVP, please Click Here. 

Hosted by Dave Shula '81.

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A Dartmouth football program video:

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Check BGA Premium tonight for coverage of spring practice No. 10.

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And finally, for those of you who have been following along, it has been a crazy morning here on the shoulder of Moose Mountain. There's a painter upstairs blaring heavy metal while he works on two bathrooms. The tile guy is outside my office door working in the kitchen and playing what I think is flamenco music. A plumber is here working on our well. And the assessor just came through with a clipboard taking notes on everything we've been having done over these past seven months. Oh yeah, the stone people are coming tomorrow to install a countertop in the master bath. It's getting a little crazy. I take that back. It has been a little crazy. OK, a lot crazy. ;-)

More NFL/CFL

Stopped by the football office and here's what we know at this point, with the newer information at the top . . .

* Defensive back Andrew Donahue will attend the Denver Broncos minicamp.

* Receiver/returner Ryan McManus will take part in a New England Patriots minicamp.

* Corner Chai Reece has survived the first round of cuts at the CFL Free Agent Camp.

* Defensive lineman AJ Zuttah has been invited to three mini-camps, including the Tennessee Titans and Atlanta Falcons. (The third might be the Houston Texans.)

* Quarterback Dalyn Williams will work out for the Cincinnati Bengals as well as the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears.

* As reported earlier, corner Vernon Harris has signed with the Kansas City Chiefs.

* Center Jacob Flores has earned a contract with the Green Bay Packers.

* Defensive end Cody Fulleton will go to minicamp with the Seattle Seahawks.

More news as it becomes available.

Flores To Packers

Jacob Flores, Dartmouth's 6-foot-4, 290-pound center, has signed a contract with the Green Bay Packers and will report to their minicamp this weekend.

Thanks and keep 'em coming!

Fulleton Getting His Shot

Add Cody Fulleton to the list of former Dartmouth players who will be getting a look from an NFL team.

The 6-foot-2, 285-pound defensive end who opened eyes at the Dartmouth Pro Day with 38 reps in the bench press (41 if you include three that were disallowed) will be attending his hometown Seattle Seahawks mini-camp Friday through Sunday.

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A STATS story reports that the FCS surpassed its recent average of 18 draftees this year with 20 selections.

The story includes this on one of the Ivy League's two selections:

MR. SURPRISE

Few projections had Princeton tight end Seth DeValve getting selected in the draft. Not only did he get drafted, but the Cleveland Browns scooped him up in the fourth round with the 138th overall pick.

That's the earliest selection for a Princeton player in the modern draft era.

He battled injuries each of the past two seasons. After playing in only two games in 2014, he withdrew from Princeton to regain his senior season, and then returned last fall to catch 33 passes for 337 yards and a touchdown in only six games.

But DeValve posted strong numbers at Princeton's pro day last month and wound up giving the Ivy League program a draft selection for the third time in the last four years.

The other Ivy draftee was Harvard offensive lineman Cole Toner, chosen by the Cardinals in the fifth round.

Proving it's never too early to start talking about next year, STATS goes on to cite the CBS Sports' early positional rankings for next year and two Ivy Leaguers figure among the top 10 players nationally at their positions – including FBS players:

• Cornell's Chris Fraser is ranked sixth among punters.
• Harvard wide receiver Anthony Firkser is ranked seventh at fullback.

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Michigan, Wisconsin, Pitt, Cal, Syracuse, Duke, Kansas, UConn.

Dartmouth is in heady company in the chase for Connecticut linebacker Ben Mason, who will announce his decision tomorrow. Dartmouth is not the only Ivy on his list, however. Harvard, Penn and Columbia are also among the 19 schools who have "offered" the two-time all-state selection from Newtown. Find the story HERE (and thanks for the link).

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It certainly didn't take new Dartmouth men's basketball coach David McLaughlin long to haul in his first recruit. Introduced just Wednesday, McLaughlin landed New Jersey sniper Brendan Barry a day later. Barry averaged 25.7 points last winter while making the all-state first team. Find the story HERE.

NFL News

Eagle eyes have uncovered a little news about two Dartmouth seniors chasing their pro football dreams. (Thanks for the help ;-)

• Corner Vernon Harris has signed with the Kansas City Chiefs.

• Quarterback Dalyn Williams will have tryouts with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears.

More to come when it comes this way . . .

Disappointing Draft

OK, here's how it works. When the NFL draft comes around, add up the number of Ivy League players being labeled potential draft picks, divide the total by that sum and in a good year add one. By that definition this was a good year.

Chosen from the Ancient Eight this year were 6-foot-4, 245-pound Princeton receiver Seth Devalve by the Browns in the fourth round (138th overall) and 6-5, 306 Harvard offensive tackle Cole Toner, chosen in the fifth round by the Cardinals.

That's it.

Devalve wasn't  highly regarded on the pre-draft sites, in part because his 33 receptions for 337 yards and one touchdown last fall left him out of the Ivy League top 10 in each of those categories. (His numbers suffered because of injuries that cost him the better part of four games.)

No word yet on the Dartmouth pro hopefuls, but four other Ivy products have agreed to free agent deals so far according to internet reports:

Harvard
Adam Redmonds, OT, Colts
Anthony Fabiano OG, Ravens
Ben Braunecker TE, Bears

Penn
Ryan O’Malley TE, Raiders

Expect news to break before long about Dartmouth players signing or agreeing to tryouts.

Now, to put things in perspective, here's a partial list of schools not exactly known for football that have already had players agree to free agent deals:

Ferris State
Wingate
Gannon
Cumberlands
Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Shepard
Sioux Falls
Michigan Tech
Nassau
Mars Hill
Campbell
Incarnate Word
Kutztown
Wisconsin-Stevens Point
Wisconsin-Oshkosh
Ruston
Wesley

Go figure.

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Dartmouth baseball swept Harvard yesterday in Massachusetts and closes out the regular Ivy League season with a doubleheader against the Crimson in Hanover that has been postponed until Tuesday. With a sweep the Big Green will grab the Red Rolfe (north division) title over Yale. A split would mean a playoff with the Bulldogs and a double-dip would see Yale take the title. Dartmouth has won the Rolfe for eight years running.

Dartmouth softball, meanwhile, dropped two games at Harvard yesterday to fall a game behind the Crimson with two games left between the rivals. They also will play Tuesday in Hanover with Dartmouth needing a sweep to win the north and Harvard needing just one win to clinch.