Defensively Speaking

A reminder that BGA Overtime will have a notes column tonight and will have in-person coverage of tomorrow’s mid-preseason practice tomorrow night.

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The news for Isaiah Johnson this time around was a lot better than the last.

Cut by the Miami Dolphins last week after originally being listed as making the opening-day roster, the former Dartmouth corner was officially added to the team’s practice squad yesterday. (LINK)

Johnson, who graduated from Dartmouth and then played two seasons at Syracuse, spent last year on the Dolphins’ practice squad after signing with the team as an undrafted free agent.

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The latest quick position group overview from Dartmouth athletic communications has senior Dakota Quiñonez and coach Duane Brooks talking about the defensive line:

Once again, here’s a gently edited transcript prepared by BGA:

Defensive line coach Duane Brooks: People always graduate, right? I think my room is a little different than everybody else's, right? Every year we come up with somebody else to step up, right? We just have a standard we set and you have to reach that standard. And we do 98 percent of the time. 

So the leadership committee would be Joe O (Onuwabhagbe). Dakota and Jabari (Johnson), right? They're the oldest people, right? They run the room because they've earned that respect to run the room. Now, have they played a lot of snaps? No. Is this their year? Probably. So it's time for them to play, right? They get their due at the end of it.

Senior Dakota Quiñonez: (We’re) very young, right? We had a great front last year. Definitely something to live up to. But at the end of the day, we have will within our guys. We come out with very great intent in terms of being violent. That's the biggest thing about our group, and the other part willing to learn. That's the biggest, second thing in terms of our development as players. Everybody here has had some type of experience, so it's good to at least share that from the older to the younger people. We’re very tight, a very tight unit. I feel like that's the biggest thing within any position, but especially this position as defensive linemen. We go through a lot. And the whole thing is being a unit and being there for each other when it's bad, when it's down, because at the end of the day, we're the anchor. And as far as we're concerned, that's going to be what takes us to the next level through these practices. And we're just building up every single day.

I'll definitely say it's more , a hierarchy, right? I mean, we go from older to younger in the sense that the older has been through a good amount. With me being about You know, as old as I am, I'm able to give experience to the younger guys and through the juniors, the sophomores, and the freshmen. And that's just how we want to pass it off. Because, again, we're all a family. It's almost as if you have that older brother and that younger brother connection. The younger brother, who's trying to find his way to be as good as the older brother, and not only that, be even better for not only the team, but for himself.

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One of Brooks’ former star pupils helped the Calgary Stampeders improve to 8-3 in a 28-3  “Labour Day Classic” victory over the Edmonton Elks. From a story out of the True North (LINK):

Calgary’s D was particularly nasty in the second half, a habit that has grabbed some attention.

“We just have a renewed focus,” said defensive lineman Folarin Orimolade when asked what adjustments to strategy were made at the break. “From there we come in and step on people.”

Then he laughed. Because dominating is fun. Being a Stampeder right now is fun.

“We’re not re-inventing the wheel when we go in the locker room,” added Orimolade. “It’s just what we do.”

Here’s a postgame interview with “Flo." 

 

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The first in-season Top-25 by Stats Perform includes one Ivy League team and one nonconference Dartmouth opponent:

	Stats Perform	W-L	Pts	Prev
1	North Dakota State (53)	1-0	1,397	1
2	South Dakota State (2)	1-0	1,333	3
3	Montana State (1)	0-1	1,274	2
4	South Dakota	0-1	1,171	4
5	Tarleton State	2-0	1,164	10
6	Montana	0-0	1,027	7
7	Illinois State	0-1	961	6
8	UC Davis	1-0	958	8
9	Rhode Island	1-0	953	9
10	Idaho	0-1	879	12
11	Lehigh	1-0	745	14
12	UIW	1-1	730	5
13	Villanova	0-0	718	13
14	Southern Illinois	1-0	423	20
15	Jackson State	1-0	422	16
16	Abilene Christian	0-1	396	16
17	Tennessee Tech	1-0	371	21
18	Sacramento State	0-1	351	15
19	Northern Arizona	0-1	349	19
20	North Dakota	0-1	325	NR
21	Monmouth	1-0	323	22
22	Nicholls	1-1	265	NR
23	Mercer	0-1	229	11
24	Southern Utah	1-0	226	NR
25	Stephen F. Austin	0-1	146	23
	Dropped Out: Western Carolina (18); Stony Brook (24); Richmond (25)
	Others Receiving Votes (schools listed on two or more ballots) Austin Peay (1-0), 145; ETSU (1-0), 116; Harvard (0-0), 105; New Hampshire (1-0), 100; UT Martin (0-1), 93; Southeast Missouri (0-1), 71; Gardner-Webb (1-0), 54; Stony Brook (0-1), 54; Richmond (0-1, 0-1 Patriot), 53; Western Carolina (0-1), 45; Eastern Kentucky (0-1), 37: Chattanooga (0-1), 35: Tennessee State (1-0), 31: South Carolina State (1-0), 30; Presbyterian (1-0), 24; Youngstown State (1-0), 20; North Carolina Central (1-1), 11

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Weren’t tempted by that handmade Dartmouth key fob for $169 yesterday? How about a new “vintage” Dartmouth hand-stitched hat for that same low price of $169? ;-)

Better yet, for a mere $10 more – $179 for those mathematically challenged – you can buy this used Dartmouth hoodie. Find the listing HERE.

Or, if you are interested in spending a few more dollars, there’s a 1991 Dartmouth Ivy League championship ring for sale for $1,250 HERE.

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EXTRA POINT

Like Charlie Brown trying to kick that football, I got fooled again.

News reports yesterday suggested we would have a very good chance of seeing the Northern Lights in the wee hours this morning, so I dutifully dragged myself out of bed around 3 a.m. to take a look over our northern horizon. As has been the case seemingly each time I give it a shot, heavy cloud cover played the part of Lucy and yanked the ball away again. All I saw was what good old Charlie Brown kicked. Nothing.