Former Dartmouth offensive lineman/tight end Jake Guidone '21, who helped UConn to the 2022 Myrtle Beach Bowl as the grad transfer starting center, is on a different kind of field these days. A smaller field.
From a story in The Sun (LINK):
Fresh off a bye week, the Walpole native is ready to get back to business, toeing the offensive line for the undefeated Massachusetts Pirates (3-0) of the Indoor Football League.
The team, which moved to Lowell in the offseason, plays host to the Iowa Barnstormers on Friday (7:05 p.m.) in what promises to be another action-packed arena football affair.
And . . .
A 6-foot-3, 315-pound lineman, Guidone certainly knows his way around the gridiron. He worked out with the Green Bay Packers in September after attending rookie minicamp with the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent this past season.
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Speaking of offensive linemen, Dartmouth will be honoring one at commencement this year. From The Dartmouth (LINK):
Former professional football player and assistant professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology John Urschel will receive a Doctor of Letters. Urschel, who previously played as a lineman for the Baltimore Ravens before transitioning to a career in academia, is the author of “Mind and Matter: A Life in Math and Football.”
Green Alert Take: Those who think you can't combine top-notch academics and major college football might be interested to know Urschel starred on the gridiron and in the classroom at Penn State after seriously considering Princeton. He earned his doctorate at MIT after earning the Campbell Trophy, known as the "academic Heisman," while playing for the Nittany Lions.
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Still on the topic of offensive linemen, Dartmouth's Ethan Sipe has added Old Dominion to his growing list of grad transfer offers.
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Back on the subject of academics and major college football, a friend of BGA shared a link to a story that shows a different side of the equation. The USA Today headline pretty much says it all: QB Shedeur Sanders attends first in-person lecture at Colorado after more than a year; Colorado quarterback has been doing coursework online instead. University life ain't what it used to be. (LINK)
From the story:
“It’s so different now man because most of the school is online,” Deion Sanders said. “Like, they go to classes and I’m like, 'You guys are missing the best part of college − to be on campus, to walk around and build the atmosphere and build relationships on campus with other students outside of football.' That’s the best part of it, but now you have so many kids, they’re just online. I don’t even know if Shedeur has partaken a class on campus in his college career.”
Green Alert Take: That's pretty hollow. Maybe, just maybe, if Coach Sanders went so far as to tell the players he wanted them to actually experience school in person they might have the experience he says they are missing.
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Have you been wondering – as I have – which Dartmouth basketball players did not vote to unionize? In a letter to the editor of The Dartmouth, 6-foot-6 forward Connor Christensen of Eden Prairie, Minn., explains why he thinks the union is a bad idea. From the letter (LINK):
I believe that the movement opposes the core values and traditions of Dartmouth athletics — the balance between a rich academic history and competitive athletics — and may lead to unintended consequences for athletes across the College.
And . . .
Ultimately, unions exist to protect people from being taken advantage of. I, however, do not feel exploited by Dartmouth. It is an honor to represent the College and attend an institution with world-class academics and prestige.
Christensen writes that he intends to continue as a member of the team.
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EXTRA POINT
I got this note in my email yesterday from web host Weebly. It's bittersweet:
bgafootball.com has expired
We wanted to let you know that bgafootball.com expired today and has been taken offline. Any connected site or email is no longer functional.
But if you want to get back online, you still have 29 more days to do so!
For what it's worth, the site was still up when I checked it just now. ;-)
