News Out Of That 'Other' Durham

A grad transfer from Dartmouth is among four Ivy Leaguers who get a mention in a story headlined Ranking all 19 Duke football transfers by projected 2026 impact posted by Duke Blue Devils on SI. From the story (LINK):

13. DL Dakota Quiñonez

Quiñonez is another graduate transfer who comes to Duke after spending his entire career at Dartmouth. He tallied 21 tackles and a sack throughout his time with the Big Green. The defensive front seven will be one of the Blue Devils' best aspects next season, and Quiñonez is likely towards the bottom of the depth chart.

Two Ivy League transfers expected to be lower on the depth chart:

• 19. QB Blaine Hipa (Princeton)
• 16. RB Wilhelm Daal (Yale)

And the highest rated Ivy League transfer:

2. WR Jared Richardson
I'd be surprised if, come the 2026 season's end, Richardson wasn't the Blue Devils' leading receiver. Richardson comes over from Penn, where he had a breakout season in 2025, leading the Ivy League in receptions (80) and receiving touchdowns (12), and finished second in receiving yards (1,033), being named a First Team FCS Football Central All-American. At 6'2", 215 pounds, he should be Eget's top target.

Reading the story down, it was interesting to see that even a school like Duke is party to the transfer madness. Consider:

Ranked No. 8 among the incoming players in Durham is safety Patrick Smith-Young Smith-Young, who spent two seasons at North Texas, then one at Old Dominion, then another back at North Texas, before landing at Duke.

No. 7 is running back CJ Campbell, who was at Florida State for three seasons, then spent one at Florida Atlantic and last year at Rutgers before arriving at Duke.

The most peripatetic incoming transfer is corner Dylan Flowers, ranked at No. 5. He began his college career with two years at Southern Utah. Then came a season at BYU. Next it was a junior college year at College of the Canyons. Last year he was at Western Kentucky. That makes Duke his fifth collegiate stop.

Green Alert Take: When a school like Duke is playing the game that way it's yet another reason to appreciate Ivy League and Patriot League football. 

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No Dartmouth game is mentioned  but two annual Ivy League contests are included in this video:

Green Alert Take – Of course Harvard-Yale is included. It's a little surprising that The Game doesn't come in any higher than at No. 4, just one spot ahead of the Ram-Crusader Cup between Fordham-Holy Cross, and one spot below The Rivalry between Lehigh and Lafayette. I get The Rivalry being where it is, but the Ram-Crusader Cup? Have you heard of it?

Green Alert Take II – Penn-Princeton coming in at No. 10 is bizarre. That's always an absolutely huge game – in basketball. I'd argue that both Penn and Princeton consider Dartmouth a bigger rival. And certainly, Princeton-Yale and Princeton-Harvard are both bigger games for the Tigers. The video isn't wrong in thinking Penn-Princeton has what it takes to be a big rivalry game, but not even the Ivy League shifting the contest to the final Saturday of the season has been able to really move the needle.

In case you were wondering, here are the top-10 rivalries per the video:

1. North Dakota State-South Dakota State (The Dakota Marker)

2. Montana-Montana State (Brawl of the Wild)

3. Lafayette-Lehigh (The Rivalry)

4. Harvard-Yale (The Game)

5. Fordham-Holy Cross (Ram-Crusader Cup)

6. Southeast Missouri-Southern Illinois (War for the Wheel)

7. Richmond-William & Mary (Capital Cup)

8. South Dakota-South Dakota State (South Dakota Showdown)

9. The Citadel-Furman

10. Penn-Princeton

11. UC Davis-Sacramento State (Causeway Classic)

12. Nicholls-Southeastern Louisiana (Riverbell Classic)

Green Alert Take: What? The season-ending Tussle between Dartmouth and Brown didn't make it? ;-) 

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EXTRA POINT
The good news? We have plenty of yummy blackberries these days. The bad news? Blackberry plants are seriously invasive, and we have them growing like crazy where they shouldn't be. The worst news? Blackberry thorns are no joke. None of that is news to me, but if I needed a reminder I got one yesterday when I got to work cutting, clearing and pulling up thorny blackberry canes that have invaded the landscaping around our house. I'll be back at it today and I'm here to tell you it's a pain. Literally.