You can access the video and read the accompanying story HERE.
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Speaking of Swann, even though I forgot to post a link and reminder to his interview on the BF Show on 94 ESPN Thursday, host Brett Franklin was kind enough to share the sound file. Here's a lightly edited transcription of Isiah's remarks:On the delayed start to his senior season because of injury:
Obviously it was a little frustrating. I was healthy all through preseason and then the week before the first game I tweaked my hamstring. I probably could've played those first two games but the coaches were like, it's out of conference, we need you for the in-conference games. I was like, Cool. I took the two weeks off and then I came back to play Penn. And then during practice I fell in a one-on-one rep and sprained my knee. Just going through that was really frustrating but after those three games I got back for Yale. I was still working through some pain a little bit, but you’ve just got to work through it and experiment with what you can and can’t do. And then as the season progressed it just got better and better and before you knew it I was back in the thick of things.
On where the Ivy League-clinching interception in the end zone at the end of the Brown game fits on his highlight reel and whether hearing Franklin's call of the play brought goose bumps:
Absolutely. You can’t write it any better than what happened. That’s obviously No. 1. That sealed the championship. That was always the goal my four years at Dartmouth. To end it that way on an interception, I just couldn’t draw it up any better. I’ll remember that forever.
On Niko Mermigas having a little fun by reminding Franklin after the game that he tipped the ball:
He definitely did the work. (Swann laughs.)
On the final day of the Draft:
It was kind of crazy. I was talking to about 13 or 14 teams before the Draft. When rounds 6 and 7 came around they all kind of ghosted to me. No one was talking to me. After the Draft I was sitting for around 45 minutes watching everybody else get signed. I was a little nervous but then the Bengals called. They offered me a contract and I was just so relieved that I had an opportunity to make an NFL roster. I was definitely relieved, very happy and very glad it all worked out.
On the role the 2018 Princeton game played in setting the stage for what happened last year:
That loss definitely hurt junior year. I think they were scoring something crazy like 60 or 70 points a game and to hold them to 14 and still lose the game definitely stung. (Editor's note: Princeton had been averaging 50.7 ppg.) I know it stung for everybody. We were definitely hurt after that loss. We just kind of carried that feeling throughout the offseason and during this season. We knew what we had to do in 2019 in order to win the championship. So that Yankee Stadium game – in my whole career I’ve never seen our team collectively have that much energy and enthusiasm and just will to win as in that game. Princeton is obviously a good team. They are always top three and winning championships, but we really dialed in at Yankee Stadium and got it done.
On trading a home game last fall for the game at Yankee Stadium:
I don’t think losing a home game was that big of a deal because Yankee Stadium is such a big venue. People from all over were coming. I think we had a really good turnout compared to Princeton. It didn’t really feel any different.
On the coming transition to the NFL defensive schemes:
Obviously going from college to the NFL there's a lot more stuff you have to internalize. Formation recognition is huge because that is going to determine what coverages are on each side, where in college it’s just like, we are going to run this play no matter what they line up in. For the Bengals if they line up this way, we are running this. If they line up with two backs, we are running this. If they line up empty we are running this. So there’s just a lot more variation with the plays.
On whether team chemistry played a big role in Dartmouth's defensive success the past two seasons:
Definitely. I think the cohesiveness. A lot of the starters from our junior team were back for our senior year. So we had chemistry. We know how we all play. We know how we all fit. If I had to say what really was the key, our defensive line was so nasty. I mean we had Niko Lalos on there. Jackson Perry. Our defensive line, no matter who was in there, was always getting to the quarterback, always putting up pressure, always stopping the run. I think that allowed Coach Dobes and Coach Mac to put us in some very favorable coverages where you could drop seven or eight guys and still get pressure with four. I think that’s what made it unique.
On his journey from green freshman to NFL signee:
When I first came to Dartmouth I was just a regular recruit. I didn’t have any stars or anything; Maybe I had two. I don’t know. I got offered. I came up and through camp I was at the bottom of the depth chart here as a freshman. But you still take every day as if you are going to start. You are going to play. I went into camp and I took every one-on-one rep, every team rep one at a time and tried not to make any mistakes. Just do your job every play and be prepared. That’s what I did. A bunch of our senior guys ended up getting hurt that year; We had a ton of injuries that year, unfortunately. But I got to play. I think it was the fourth or fifth game and I ended up getting the start. All that I did in training camp I guess paid off because I was prepared and I was making plays. It all took off from there.
On his mindset preparing to report to the Bengals, whenever the call comes:
You’ve just to do everything that you would do at camp. Obviously you are going as hard as you can in camp, but at these times when nobody’s around you’ve really got to push yourself and make sure you are doing what you would do at camp. For me, it’s building relationships with coaches, getting into the playbook. I don’t have anything to do so I can study for hours on the playbook and get the plays down to make it instinctual. That will just make me going out on the field and actually doing it 10 times easier. That’s what I’m focused on.
Will whether at some point he'll be singing the Dartmouth Alma Mater with Bengals owner Mike Brown '57, a two-year letterwinner at quarterback for the Big Green:
If we have an opportunity to do so we will get that done.
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Speaking of Swann, his other alma mater – Arizona's Chandler High School – has had no fewer than 21 players who have been offered by four-year schools since mid-March. Every Ivy League school except Cornell and Princeton has made an offer to a Chandler player with four different players gaining Ivy League offers. (LINK)
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Defensive back Micah Croom, whose career never quite took off at Dartmouth, is going to give it a shot at USC as a grad transfer per his Twitter account. (LINK) Croom, who comes from Cerritos, Calif., appeared in nine games in a Big Green uniform with seven tackles. He was not on the team last fall.
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ESPN headline: NCAA's Mark Emmert says fall sports likely a no-go if campuses aren't open. (LINK)
From the story:
"All of the commissioners and every president that I've talked to is in clear agreement: If you don't have students on campus, you don't have student-athletes on campus," Emmert said. "That doesn't mean [the school] has to be up and running in the full normal model, but you have to treat the health and well-being of the athletes at least as much as the regular students. ... If a school doesn't reopen, then they're not going to be playing sports. It's really that simple."And . . .
"I suspect that people are going to have to make decisions sometime in June," Emmert said. "Maybe by the Fourth of July."And . . .
"Just because there's some regulation that's been lifted doesn't mean that automatically means you should immediately put 105,000 fans in a football stadium," Emmert said. "I think that the proper thing to do and the sensible thing to do is a phased approach. It's plausible to me that early in the season, let's just stick with football, you see a very limited fan access, but by later in the season, as things develop, hopefully in a very positive way, you all of sudden can see larger fan bases attending."Green Alert Take: You don't hear or read much about this but given that schools like Quinnipiac started playing hockey exhibitions as early as Oct. 6 last fall and Duke played its first basketball exhibition on Oct. 26, at the very least the start of the winter sports seasons may be in almost as much jeopardy as football.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer has a look at what life is like these days for Penn athletic director Grace Calhoun, chair of the NCAA Division I council, a member of the NCAA Division I board of directors, chair of the Ivy League’s committee on administration and oh by the way, mother of four children ranging from junior in high school down to kindergartner. (LINK)A Brown grad with a PhD from Florida, Calhoun was an associate AD at Dartmouth from 2002-05 when husband Jason was the head golf professional at Hanover Country Club.
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EXTRA POINTOne of our daffodils this morning, May 9, 2020. Our tulips are MIA:
And the windshield of our beloved 1984 VW Westfalia Vanagon, which we never, ever, ever run in snow:
And the view from our front porch:
The final tally is in the 4-5 inch range.
