Well Done

A great friend of BGA sent along a link to a video from the February National Letter of Intent signing ceremony for football at Houston's The Kinkaid School – also his alma mater – that will be of interest to Dartmouth football followers:

At the 9:50 mark Cornell-bound defensive end Ezekiel Evans offers a touching tribute to his late brother Ernest '16, a quarterback while at Dartmouth. Said the graduating high school senior of Ernest, who died of complications from a brain injury in April of last year (LINK):

My brother was my role model. He was charismatic, cool, passionate and funny. He pushed me to be great and to achieve whatever goals I set. Both before his incident, and after, he showed uncanny character and resilience, giving me more push to drive myself. I dedicate what I do to him and to the rest of my family. 

Cayman Duncan, an offensive lineman who committed to Dartmouth, speaks at the 11:30 mark and Evans' dad can be heard on more than one occasion chanting, "Big Green."

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Dartmouth recruiting is apparently seriously active in Cincinnati. The Enquirer has a story under the headline Top 22 Greater Cincinnati football recruits from Class of 2022 and that group plus "Five on the cusp," includes no fewer than five high school juniors listed as being on Dartmouth's radar. (LINK)

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After a year lost to injury and the pandemic former Ivy League defensive player of the year Flo Orimolade '17 is healthy and ready to get back on the field with the Calgary Stampeders. But he's going to have to wait a little longer than usual.

The Canadian Football League has announced that instead of opening up in the middle of June and running through (American) Thanksgiving as per usual, the league will begin a 14-game season on August 5, finishing with the Grey Cup on December 12 in Hamilton, Ontario.

Find Flo's Calgary bio HERE.

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Dartmouth coach Buddy Teevens and the Ivy League have been pioneers in the push to make football safer and the NCAA continues to come around per a Sports Illustrated story headlined, Significant Changes Coming to Fall Camps After February Concussion Study. (LINK)

From the story:

Committee members are considering a reduction of full-padded camp practices (from 21 to eight), the complete abolishment of collision exercises (such as the “Oklahoma” drill) and limiting a team to two scrimmages per camp (lowered from three and a half).

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A statement on the verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial from Peter Roby '79, Dartmouth's interim director of athletics and recreation, can be found HERE.

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A headline from an AP story reminds us of the impact of changes the new transfer rules are having in college athletics: Syracuse coach Hillsman has 11 players enter transfer portal. (LINK)

Green Alert Take: Before long it's going to be like major league baseball. You will root for the uniform, not who is wearing it.

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EXTRA POINT

Our VW bus this morning

From the Go Figure Department: We had planned to drop the '84 VW Westfalia camper at our "bus whisperer" up near Lake Champlain last Friday but given that we were in the midst of a late-season snowstorm and the vehicle is not exactly nimble in good weather, we decided to hold off.

We rescheduled the trip north to drop off the VW to today and, wouldn't you know it, we awoke to several inches of new snow, an icy driveway blown clear by the wind, and reports of numerous accidents between here and Burlington. With more snow expected at higher elevations, we've now re-rescheduled for tomorrow, when the mercury is supposed to hit 55 degrees and snow is a lot less likely ;-)

By the way, my little red Honda Fit can pick up WBZ radio out of Boston on our Vermont hillside and on the short drive back from my hike yesterday the announcer reported it was 67 degrees down that way. I couldn't believe it, given how cold it was on the trail. When I got home I checked the thermometer here and it was 38 degrees. (It was 24 degrees when I sat down at the keyboard this morning.)

Trust me, I'm not complaining. WBZ also has "Traffic on the 3's" and I couldn't help but feel a little smug yesterday as the announcer warned everyone about the huge tieups and lengthy delays on highways all around Boston. On my drive from here to the trailhead, then to our little post office and finally back home, I did not see a single tieup. In fact, I did not see another car. Not one. ;-)