Friday, July 29, 2022

Where They Are (Not) From

With Columbia getting onboard and finally posting its freshman football class I spent a little time yesterday working over the geographic breakdown of incoming players around the league. That will go up tomorrow.

Today we offer a list of where incoming players are not coming from. ;-)

(Before we go any further, a clarification. To avoid confusion surrounding prep schools, for this exercise the players' hometowns are used, not the location where they may have gone to a boarding school.)

That understood, here are the states that are not represented among the 210 or so players headed to the Ancient Eight this fall:

Arizona
Arkansas
Idaho
Kentucky
Maine
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
North Dakota
Oregon
South Dakota
Vermont
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Green Alert Take: Some states were pretty much slam dunks to make the list like the three from Northern New England, the Dakotas and Wyoming. The really surprising states might be Arizona, Oregon and Wisconsin.

As usual, Dartmouth did not have a player from New Hampshire but can you guess which other two Ivies did not have a player from their own states? Interestingly, there were a good number of Ivy recruits from their respective states but they didn't stay home for school. (Answer is just above the Extra Point.)

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Speaking of recruits, Dartmouth football's series of freshman graphics continues with Sean Williams, a 5-foot-11, 180-pound defensive back from Battleground Academy and Nolensville, Tenn. Williams, by the way, was coached at BGA (gotta love that) by former Dartmouth (and Princeton) secondary coach Adam Hollis.


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Oct. 15 Dartmouth opponent New Hampshire was for many years a fixture in the NCAA playoffs, but the Wildcats have gone just 13-20 over their last three full seasons and they aren't expected to be a factor in the powerhouse Colonial Athletic Association race this fall if the CAA poll is any indication. New Hampshire was chosen ninth in the 13-team superconference.

Here's the full poll with points and (first-place votes):

1. Villanova, 270 (16)
2. Delaware, 235 (7)
3. Rhode Island, 224
4. Richmond, 219
5. William & Mary, 206 (2)
6. Elon,191 (1)
7. Stony Brook, 151
8. Maine, 134
9. New Hampshire, 117
10. Monmouth, 105
11. Towson, 81
12. Albany, 64
13. Hampton, 31

Dartmouth ended a 13-game losing streak against its intrastate rival (and a 0-18-2 schneid) by knocking off the Wildcats in 2016 on Memorial Field by a 22-21 score. Last fall the Big Green won for the second time in a row in the series, 38-21, in Durham. This year's game will be in Hanover and will be the first with former UNH quarterback Ricky Santos as the CAA team's head coach.

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Dartmouth grad transfer Jake Guidone gets a mention in a story about the opening of the UConn camp that also mentions transfers coming in from Alabama, Texas, Missouri, Kentucky, UTEP, Boise State and Old Dominion. The Huskies also have newcomers from Colorado, Miami, Penn State and Florida International. (LINK)

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John Paul Flores, another Big Green grad transfer, gets this mention in a Virginia story (LINK):

Expect Jestus Johnson, Ty Furnish and Dartmouth transfer John Paul Flores to factor in the center position battle.

Green Alert Take: Interesting that Flores, like Guidone at UConn, is getting a look at center for his new FBS program after playing elsewhere on the line at Dartmouth.

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A Tweet regarding the Traumatic Brain Injury Research Collaboration between the Ivy League and the Big 10:

Green Alert Take: It gets the point across, but that has to be one of the worst logos I've ever seen. Here's another look:


To learn more about the important work of the TBI Research Collaboration CLICK HERE.

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Did you spend any time with the Most Wins Major College Football History thing on BGA Daily yesterday? If you didn't, your assignment is to go back and watch it. I did and noticed something I missed the first time around.

Because the title has to do with "major college" Ivy League teams are not credited with wins after the IA-IAA split in 1981.

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Answer to question above: Harvard and Yale, which have had pretty good success recruiting Massachusetts and Connecticut, do not have any incoming recruits from their home states this fall.

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EXTRA POINT
After a picture from my morning hike appeared in this space earlier this week I got a question about the trail, so here's a little more info.

The trailhead is just under two miles up the dirt road from our house. It's a modest little mountain with the peak at just 1,822 feet and only about 500-600 feet of elevation gain on my three-mile loop. At this time of year I'll spend about 40-45 minutes on it before sitting down to work on BGA Daily unless it's one of those days when I run all but the steepest uphills.

I haven't kept a log but I'd estimate I've been going up it about 250-275 times a year, using microspikes and occasionally snowshoes in the winter. 

One night last winter I brought a strong flashlight to the peak and from an overlook aimed it in the direction of our house so Mrs. BGA could let me know when I got home exactly where the eastern overlook is. This is the mountain as seen this morning from the end of our driveway. My hike starts just over the ridge on the right side of this photo, reaches the top and loops to the right on this side of the mountain.

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