Monday, January 16, 2017

QB Bonanza

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, what's to come is flattering of FCS information leader STATS, which has a posting under the headline, Wealth of QBs returning to FCS leaders. The STATS story notes that:
"The only Top 20 team that is losing its starting quarterback is No. 7 Jacksonville State - Eli Jenkins, a 3 1/2-year starter. It's an incredible amount of returning quarterbacks at football's most important position."
As it turns out the situation in the Ivy League is pretty similar. If reports about Harvard senior Joe Viviano and Princeton senior Chad Kanoff getting medical redshirt seasons are correct, every quarterback who led his team in passing last year returns – with the notable exception of Penn's Alex Torgersen (who has been invited to the East-West Shrine Game).

Here are the stats for the leading quarterbacks returning for each Ivy League team (again, including likely fifth-year seniors):

Brown
• Thomas Linta, 1,074 passing  yards, 6 TDs, 9 interceptions

Columbia
• Anders Hill, 1,651 yards, 10 TDs, 8 interceptions

Cornell
• Dalton Banks, 2,514 yards, 18 TDs, 14 interceptions

Dartmouth
• Jack Heneghan, 2,725 yards, 11 TDs, 14 interceptions

Harvard
• Joe Viviano, 2,013 yards, 15 TDs, 8 interceptions

Penn
• Michael Collins, 17 yards, 0 TDs, 0 interceptions

Princeton
• Chad Kanoff, 1,741 yards, 6 TDs, 6 interceptions
• John Lovett 582 yards, 10 TDs, 2 interceptions

Yale
• Kurt Rawlings 754 yards, 5 TDs, 3 interceptions
• Tre Moore 551 yards, 2 TDs, 3 interceptions
• Rafe Chapple, 185 yards, 1 TD, 5 interceptions

And what's the situation with Dartmouth's nonconference opponents?

Stetson returns its three leading quarterbacks:
• Gavin DeFilippo 1,272 yards, 9 TDs, 8 interceptions
• Nick Andreas 618 yards, 5 TDs, 5 interceptions
• Cole Martin 326 yards, 1 TD, 0 interceptions

Holy Cross is bringing back Peter Pujals, hurt last year against Dartmouth, for a fifth year. (Click HERE for video confirmation on that from coach Tom Gilmore). The Crusaders also returns both players who stepped in for Pujals:
• Peter Pujals 1,110 yards, 10 TDs, 5 interceptions
• Geoff Wade 1,184 yards, 7 TDs, 3 interceptions
• Blaise Bell 348 yards, 1 TD, 4 interceptions

Sacred Heart loses record-setting RJ Noel and will have a new starter:
• Kevin Duke 229 yards, 2 TDs, 1 interception
Lest the old traditions fail: The Dartmouth follows up on news that there will be no snow sculpture in the middle of the Green this year. From The D:
The Winter Carnival Council announced in an email to campus on Friday afternoon that this year’s Carnival will focus on events other than the traditional snow sculpture on the Green.
As reasons for its decision, the Council cited limited snowfall, declining student participation and a lack of student leadership to plan this year’s sculpture.recruits 2017.
Green Alert Take: The "limited snowfall" excuse is just that. While the snow has been melting, there's a reason why Memorial Field had to be cleared at the end of last week to show it off for the recruiting weekend. For what it's worth, there's plenty of snow here on Moose Mountain, 7 1/2-miles from campus. If they've been able to continue the tradition with little more than shavings from Thompson Arena in the past they absolutely could have managed with the snow left in town and/or a few truckloads of the white stuff from up here. I'm not even a Dartmouth grad and this makes me sad.
Speaking of traditions, the official NCAA website has a story under the headline, Some of the best college hockey traditions that leads off with a video of tennis balls being launched onto the Thompson Arena ice after Dartmouth's first goal against Princeton. While the "tradition" may be entertaining to the fans, there's a reason why Dartmouth Athletic Director Harry Sheehy has asked that the practice be stopped. (LINK)

Green Alert Take: It has to be maddening in Alumni Gym that an official NCAA posting labels something Dartmouth is trying to end one of the "best" traditions.