While the rest of the college football world is playing today, Dartmouth has the day off. Preseason resumes tomorrow and BGA Overtime will be there and have a story later in the day. Click HERE to visit the site.
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So yup, after a spattering of games last week, this is officially Week One in NCAA football, and all three of Dartmouth’s opponents are in action:
Central Connecticut is at UConn at 2 p.m.
Fordham is at Boston College at 2 p.m.
New Hampshire is at North Carolina Central at 6 p.m.
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Dartmouth’s series of short video looks at position groups continues with wide receivers coach Mitchell Thompson and senior Daniel Haughton talking about their room. As was the case yesterday, BGA has worked up a lightly edited transcription of their remarks that follows the video.
🏈 @DartmouthFTBL Preseason Positional Preview: Wide Receivers#GoBigGreen | #TheWoods🌲 pic.twitter.com/nrkSAwtoj5
— Dartmouth Athletics (@dartmouthsports) August 29, 2025
Transcript:
Coach Mitchell Thompson:
I think we're really fortunate that we have Dan Haughton coming back (as a) senior captain. He certainly sets the tone for our group. With me getting here in May, kind of late, halfway through spring ball, I've been fortunate to work with Coach (Shane) Montgomery, and the offense has really kind of stepped up over that time that I've been here.
Wide Receiver Daniel Haughton:
We've grown a lot since the first day, learning the plays, bringing the young guys along, and just really going after the DBs and the rest of the defense. And that's a really good sight. You know not everything's going to be perfect, but the fact that we're competing, we're taking the effort to go after plays, block on the perimeter, that's really exciting.
Thompson:
As far as the group goes, we're going to have a lot of new faces out there on the field. Losing Paxton (Scott) and those guys from last year is huge for us, but we have Dan, Nick Lemon, and today we had Grayson O'Bara make a bunch of great plays. And then some young guys are popping up. Some of the sophomores are really stepping up, who we kind of saw at the end of the spring game. Our most improved player from the spring was James Elliott. He was out here today, much made a bunch of plays. It was fantastic to see. Then we have Ian Scott kind of in the slot, who's been operating really well there. Jonathan Nelson, who's going to be a junior, has been great for us too. I'm really excited about the first years who are coming in. (They have) a lot of talent, and they've got to develop, obviously get their heads in the playbook, but they've been fantastic for us so far.
Haughton:
I would say competent and violent.You know, you may not think of those two things as the same, but when you play confident, you play fast. You have to think that we're the best group on the field at all times, and that starts with practice. Winning every rep, winning every detail. We won't be the best group on the field if we don't dominate in practice, if we don't dominate in the film room, if we don't dominate in the cafeteria. It all matters. So I want us to be confident out on the field. If we're playing confident, we'll play fast. We'll make the big plays. We'll be able to beat the DBs that are across from us. And then I want us to be violent. Not many people think of wide receivers as violent, but I think that'll separate us. If we could be violent, if we could strike guys, if we can catch the ball aggressively, if we could make plays on the perimeter, I think we could be a good group.
Thompson:
Camp is the start of everything. I mean, it is the pinpoint that kind of tells you where you're going to be at the end of the season, I believe. So, from a culture standpoint, building that kind of growth of saying, ‘Hey, we want to (dominate).' It's no secret, right? You come to Dartmouth College, you want to be a champion. We won four of five, right? So, for us, it's creating a championship culture. It's creating that kind of energy, that effort, and everything we're looking for.
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The Philadelphia Inquirer has a story about Mickey Grace, the former Dartmouth defensive assistant who Buddy Teevens brought to Hanover as part of his push to help women find a place in college and pro football. From the story about the former Big Green assistant from the Philly area (LINK):
Grace is now entering her fourth year at UConn, which opens its season against Central Connecticut State on Saturday. She is considered the first woman to hold a coaching role in the FBS and has worked her way through from an offensive analyst and assistant wide receivers coach to an assistant defensive line coach and director of player development.
And . . .
Dartmouth felt like a place where she belonged and marked the first time in her career where coaching was her only job. The program has been pushing for female coaches, and Grace was the third woman to be hired full-time.
Find Grace’s UConn bio HERE.
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EXTRA POINT
The mountains in this part of the world aren’t as tall or dramatic as those we visited the past few weeks in Utah and Colorado, but what I saw on my hike early this cool, crisp morning was every bit as beautiful.
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| Click image for a closer look. |
