The Reviews Are In

Niko Lalos continues to get generally positive reviews in postmortems on the New York Giants season.

From an NJ.com story headlined Giants rookie report: Grading how Andrew Thomas, Xavier McKinney, others played in 2020 (LINK):

OLB Niko Lalos (undrafted): LeBron James tweeted about him. He got an interception. He got a fumble recovery. This is an undrafted linebacker from Dartmouth. Home run.

And then there is this longer look from SB Nation Big Blue View under the headline, Giants’ rookie report card: From Andrew Thomas to Niko Lalos. How did the rookies perform for the Giants? (LINK):

Lalos saw his first action in Week 12 against the Bengals. In that game, he recorded an interception, had a pressure, and helped hold up Drew Sample so Logan Ryan could force a fumble late in the fourth quarter. He did all of that in 9 defensive snaps. He followed that performance up by playing 26 snaps (most of the season) against the Seahawks where he secured a loose fumble. Lalos had 2 pressures on 33 pass-rushing plays. He doesn’t have any go-to moves yet, and he’s not overly athletic, but he’s not a total liability.

Relatively unknown Ivy League players typically don’t have big impacts - it’s a bit rarer, but the state of the Giants EDGE position allowed Lalos to compete, and he didn’t disappoint. He found himself in the right place at the right time, and he wasn’t bad at setting the edge. He’ll compete for a roster spot next year, but may ultimately end up on the practice squad. If he does make the roster, it’ll be because of his special teams’ upside.

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The local daily has a story under the headline, Dartmouth notebook: College holds steady on coaches’ futures; athletes secure transfers. There's nothing particularly new in the story but it includes mentions of Lalos, Matt Kaskey of the Carolina Panthers, grad transfer Drew Estrada and Jake Guidone, now in the transfer portal. It also reprises this from Athletic Director Harry Sheehy (LINK):

“We have not asked anyone to take any pay cuts,” Sheehy said in November. “I don’t know what’s ahead of us because there are quite a few places, including Penn, that has furloughed quite a few people; we have not gotten there yet. We already had problems at Dartmouth; nonetheless, throw the pandemic on top of it, I don’t think anyone knows what this is going to look like when we come out on the other side.” 

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Skull Sparks is an interestingly named service that says it "partners with college teams to improve digital and design strategy. We also promote digital, design and video opportunities to the largest network of college athletics creatives in America." This is from its Twitter account (LINK):

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Don Brown, the former Michigan defensive coordinator who got his start in college coaching at Dartmouth, appears to be headed to the Arizona Wildcats per this STORY.

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Former Penn defensive back Kevin Stefanski, a strong candidate for NFL coach of the year after leading the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs for the first time since 2002, has tested positive for COVID-19 and – barring a Sabanesque turn of events – will miss the team's wild-card game at Pittsburgh Sunday night. With two of his assistants also expected to miss the game Callie Brownson, the Stefanski's chief of staff, could play an even more important role this week.

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For those of you curious, now that the Heisman Trophy has been awarded to Alabama receiver DeVonta Smith, I'm free to reveal that my vote went to Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

Green Alert Take: In this most unusual college football season it seems totally unfair to punish Lawrence for missing two games because of COVID-19. That said, if the voting were after last weekend instead of before it, Smith may well have gotten my vote.

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EXTRA POINT
Mrs. BGA is receiving her first COVID-19 vaccine inoculation today at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, which is beginning to experience a surge of cases from the pandemic. While there are stories around the country about health care workers uncertain about whether to get the shots, Mrs. BGA never hesitated.