Hanover
Isn’t No. 10 the quarterback? What happened to that great linebacker, No. 44? And No. 2 is still McManus, but now he’s playing on the other side of the ball?
Gone are all but one starter on Dartmouth’s defense and all but four on offense. The Big Green must replace standouts at quarterback, receiver, center, cornerback, linebacker, defensive end and defensive tackle. At least the punter, kicker and long-snapper all return.
So it’s going to be a long season for coach Buddy Teevens and his defending Ivy League co-champions, right?
Not necessarily, although no one’s predicting a repeat of last year’s 9-1 record.
As Dartmouth’s program has improved in recent years, depth has become a strength. Gone are the days when an injured starter might give way to a player whose skills were shaky. Now, the raw talent arriving each fall is every bit as good and often better than that of previous recruiting classes.
“As we have more success on the field, we have more success on the recruiting end,” Teevens said. “By philosophy, we play a lot of guys. … they just haven’t all had a lot of starts. We don’t feel like we’re an inexperienced team.”
Co-captain Dave Morrison, a starting offensive tackle, said last season’s backups could have started for many Ivy League squads, but were stuck behind some of the best players in recent Dartmouth history.
“Now that they’re gone, it’s time for guys who are just as good to take care of business,” Morrison said. “Emotions were high for weeks after the championship last year. But we know we need to set everything aside from the past in order to have that same feeling at the end of this season.”
Fans’ most pressing question is who will start at quarterback in place of departed star Dalyn Williams. The answer is junior Jack Heneghan, a 6-foot-4, 225-pound product of a small Northern California high school. Heneghan, the son of a former University of Pennsylvania football standout, exited spring practice behind sophomore Bruce Dixon IV, but he’s taken advantage of the latter’s hamstring injury to leapfrog him.
Heneghan appears confident, decisive and throws the ball fairly well and with a quick release. Compared to the elusive Williams, he seems like the prototypical pocket passer. Teevens, however, cautions against selling the new kid short on athletic ability. He also notes that Heneghan has been almost obsessive in his use of virtual-reality video study and that it shows.
“Dalyn was an exceptional athlete, but Jack is a very good athlete and he can run and carry the football,” Teevens said. “He’s got the ability to pick up the yards we need, but he’s also worked as hard as anyone I’ve ever had at that position. He scans the field and goes to four and sometimes even five (receiving) options.”
Morrison said Heneghan’s knowledge of the offense is better than that of Williams at a similar stage. The joke among the linemen is that they’re blocking for a computer.
“He’s making all the right decisions at all the right times,” Morrison said. “If you give him time, he’ll put the ball where it needs to be.”
Second on the signal-caller depth chart tonight is freshman Jake Pallotta, who’s had a great preseason and could put heat on Dixon once the latter is healthy. Pallotta’s had limited immersion in the playbook, but everything about his body language suggests an upbeat, determined leader, an area in which Dixon struggles.
At running back, veterans Ryder Stone, a junior, and Abrm McQuarters, a senior, figure to get first crack at the starting job, and sophomore Rashad Cooper has looked good in recent weeks. Vito Penza, a powerful sophomore, impressed early last season, but is out with a hamstring injury. Has a string of standout runners that stretches back to Kyle Bramble, Dominick Pierre and Nick Schwieger been snapped? Stay tuned.
At receiver, Houston Brown had 17 catches, four of them for touchdowns, as a junior last year and appears entrenched. Freshman Hunter Hagdorn is a highly-touted prospect who may see a lot of time. Juniors Charles Mack and Emory Thompson and sophomores Drew Hunnicutt and Emmanuel Soto could also be targets.
Tight end should eventually be a strength. Junior Cameron Skaff caught four touchdowns passes there last season but is sidelined for tonight by a concussion. Classmate Stephen Johnson was a freshman starter before a knee injury wiped out last fall. Freshman Tucker Spears is hurt at the moment but shows signs of playing early in his career.
The offensive line has returnees in senior tackle Morrison and guard Zach Davis, who started all 10 games at tackle last year before being moved inside. His old position should eventually be inherited by sophomore Matt Kaskey, but he’s currently concussed, so junior Ben Hagaman might be the temporary answer there.
Sophomore Patrick Kilcommons seems to be the leader in the battle to replace All-Ivy center Jacob Flores and the left guard position is manned by his twin, John Kilcommons.
On the defensive side, the loss of so many starters would seem to portend trouble, but the Big Green is better off than it looks on paper. The line rotated enough players last year that the likes of seniors Brandon Cooper and Zach Husain and junior Nick Tomkins got plenty of snaps. Senior Jeremiah Douchee seems to have finally overcome knee woes and could be an impact player.
The linebacking corps is highlighted by self-proclaimed “sack master” Folarin Orimolade, an edge rusher who had eight of them last fall. How he’ll do when opposing offenses key on him remains to be seen. A host of starting candidates are battling at the other slots, including Alex McCrory, Eric Meile, Jake Moen and Brian Fordon.
Orimolade “is one of the most explosive players I’ve ever seen,” said Morrison, who goes up against him almost daily in 1-on-1 drills. “He’s on the shorter side and that allows him to generate force from low to high. That’s difficult for an offensive lineman to resist, especially if he’s at all off-balance or if he’s not staying low to the ground himself.”
The defensive backfield is also in flux. Senior Danny McManus, the younger brother of former Dartmouth receivers Tim and Ryan, would seem locked in at one cornerback slot. Juniors Jarius Brown and Justin Porter are other starting candidates. Expect to see freshmen Micah Croom and Isiah Swann on the field at some point, perhaps sooner rather than later. Senior Charlie Miller is the strong safety, junior Collin Boit is the free safety and senior Lucas Bavaro is the nickleback.
Dartmouth ought to be set in the punting game if Ben Kepley, a four-year starter, can maintain his All-Ivy form and long snapper Graydon Peterson remains reliable. Field goals are another issue, however, as senior Alex Gakenheimer made only 4-of-11 such boots last fall after entering the campaign with a 15-of-18 mark in his career.
“I think our (kick) protection is a little stouter than it was and we’ve tried to accelerate the get-off time,” Teevens said, adding that junior David Smith has pushed Gakenheimer and that he wouldn’t hesitate to use the Canadian if early troubles arise. “We need to be consistently producing points there.”
Even if everything comes together at once during tonight’s game, victory could be elusive. UNH won the teams’ last clash, a 2014 contest in Durham, by a 52-19 score and is 18-0-2 during the teams’ last 20 meetings. Dartmouth’s last victory came at home in 1976.
UNH’s Pop Lacey, a true freshman cornerback, had 14 tackles during last week’s defeat of visiting Holy Cross. Senior running back Dalton Crossan carried 24 times for 199 yards and two touchdowns during that game, which followed the Wildcats’ 31-0 loss at San Diego State in their opener.
“They’re as good a team as we’ll face all season,” Teevens said.
Added Morrison: “Last year, we opened at Georgetown and handled them quite easily. At certain spots on our team, it didn’t really do anything for us. Granted, we’re going to be under fire against UNH, but I think that’s going to help us grow the fastest.”
Notes: Tonight’s game will be televised by Fox College Sports. … The Big Green will wear gray helmets and pants and black jerseys. … Attending a practice earlier this week was former Dartmouth defensive end Cody Fulleton, who’s back in school to finish the two terms he needs for graduation. Fulleton, a Seattle-area native, said he plans to eventually work for a construction firm there. He attended a minicamp with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks and said the team inquired about bringing him back as a practice player in August, but that he turned the offer down to finish his studies. … Steve Ward, the Big Green’s football equipment manager and a local high school basketball official, is expected back full time next week after missing the preseason with health issues. … The Mobile Virtual Player robotic tackling dummy continues to draw interest to Dartmouth. Developed by Teevens and the Thayer School of Engineering, the device brought camera crews from the Discovery Channel and the CBS Sports show Engineering the Perfect Season to practice this week. … Steven Thames, a first-year offensive quality control coach for Dartmouth, played defensive back for UNH the last time the two schools met in 2014. The Wildcats’ sixth-year defensive coordinator is former Big Green head coach John Lyons. … Pierre, a 2014 Dartmouth graduate, now works in Washington, D.C., for a technology staffing company. … Depth charts released by college teams in advance of games are notoriously inaccurate. Dartmouth has on occasion listed starters who haven’t practiced the week of a contest, but Teevens insisted it’s not purposeful. “We try not to be deceptive, but sometimes we are,” he said, smiling and looking away.