Hanover
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Virginian suffered a blow to one side of his head during a routine spring practice drill and hasn’t been quite right since. Dartmouth players don’t tackle each other during practices, but powerful contact still occurs at times, especially during blocking drills such as the one in which Skaff was injured.
“The (concussion) symptoms were delayed by about a day,” said Skaff, who declined to discuss them in detail. “It was a little bit difficult to focus in class during the spring, but my grades were still good.”
Skaff said he went full speed for the Big Green’s first six practices this fall before his symptoms returned. He’s been at every workout since, trying to get back to normal, and only last week conceded that he wouldn’t return to action. On Monday, Skaff met with head coach Buddy Teevens and told him he wouldn’t seek a fifth season of Ivy League eligibility based on medical absence.
“It’s hard to come to terms with, but it’s the right thing to do for the long term,” said Skaff, who’s a double major in government and quantitative social sciences.
Skaff turned down a scholarship offer to play at NCAA Football Championship Subdivision power James Madison and appeared in 19 of 20 Dartmouth games his sophomore and junior seasons. During his sophomore campaign, he caught 11 passes for 97 yards and tied for the team lead in touchdown receptions with four. He received the Big Green’s Jake Crouthamel Award as the sophomore or junior offensive player who contributed the most to the success of the team.
Teevens said he’s impressed with Skaff’s determination and that he aches for a competitor whose career essentially ended in one play. However, he knows his player is making the correct choice.
“I’m glad he came to the conclusion he did, because I would have told him not to play anymore,” said Teevens, whose team is 7-2 overall and 4-2 in league play. “He’s still not out of the situation yet, and the frustrating part is no one’s exactly sure how it will play out. But he’s going to use his head a lot longer than he’ll use his body.”
Dartmouth and Princeton have played some significant games in recent years. In 2013, the Big Green derailed the visiting Tigers’ hopes for an outright Ivy title with a performance that memorably ended in a thick snowfall. Two years later, Dartmouth won again at Memorial Field and earned a share of its first Ancient Eight crown since 1996.
Last year’s score was 38-21 for Princeton, and the Tigers finished 8-2 overall and 6-1 in the Ivies and shared the league championship. Dartmouth ended at 4-6, 1-6.
Princeton currently is 5-4 overall and 2-4 in Ivy play. Dartmouth can earn a share of the title if it can win today and Yale (8-1, 5-1) loses visiting Harvard (5-4, 3-3). Last season, a Bulldogs squad with only two victories won in Allston, Mass., to deny the Crimson its fourth consecutive league title. A crowd as large as 50,000 is expected at the Yale Bowl, where the hosts can claim their first outright Ivy championship in 37 years.
Princeton won five of its first six games this season but has lost its last three. Senior quarterback Chad Kanoff threw for 454 yards and four touchdowns against visiting Yale last weekend and, with another big day, could exit with several program and league passing records. He’s completed 72.2 percent of his passes, and the Tigers’ season record is 66.5, set by Dallas Cowboys coach Jason Garrett.
Charlie Voelker leads Princeton with 560 rushing yards, and Jasper Horsted has caught 80 passes for 1,057 yards and 12 touchdowns. By comparison, Dartmouth’s leading receiver, Hunter Hagdorn, has 39 receptions for 473 yards and five touchdowns.
Dartmouth football games have been nationally televised numerous times in recent years, and the program has gotten plenty of video publicity because of its involvement with the creation and marketing of the Mobile Virtual Player robotic tackling dummy. Now, add the Food Network to the list of channels featuring the Big Green.
Gesine Bullock-Prado, the wife of former Dartmouth football player Ray Prado and the sister of movie actress Sandra Bullock, is hosting a Food Network show called Baked in Vermont that debuts on Dec. 2. She and her husband, a 1989 Dartmouth graduate and a movie and television storyboard artist, entertained Teevens and others during a recent show taping at their Upper Valley home.
A former movie executive and attorney, Bullock-Prado cooked for Teevens, his wife, Kirsten, and senior players Skaff, Davaron Stockman, Brock Bacon and Charles Mack.
“It was Hollywood, with big lights and people setting things up and all,” said Buddy Teevens, who enjoyed a main course of pork pie and a dessert cake with a ‘D’ inside it that was revealed when the cake was cut open. “It was outstanding, five-star quality. It reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner at home; the food kept coming.”
Notes: Saturday’s weather forecasts indicate about a 50 percent chance for rain and temperatures around 40 degrees. … According to Skaff’s online Dartmouth biography, his father, Dave, was a 1,000-point scorer for George Mason basketball and later played professionally overseas. Cameron’s grandfather, Frank Skaff, played for the 1935 Brooklyn Dodgers and 1943 Philadelphia Athletics and was the 1965 interim manager of the Detroit Tigers. … Dartmouth senior kicker David Smith said he has not yet decided whether he’ll seek to return for a fifth season next fall. The Canadian missed his freshman campaign with a toe injury. … Next season’s schedule has Dartmouth playing consecutive games at Princeton and Cornell on Nov. 3 and Nov. 10, during the eighth and ninth weeks. That’s 1,220 miles of round-trip driving from Hanover. … Dartmouth students are in a reading period for final exams this week. The tests stretch from Friday to next Tuesday, with Saturday off. … The Tigers have a sophomore receiver named Tiger Bech. … Former Dartmouth long snapper John Hanna, a 2013 graduate, is in his first year of medical school at Tufts. … Jerry Pierce, a standout linebacker and 1981 Dartmouth graduate, owns a government relations company in Washington, D.C. He advises the Trump administration on government operations reform and solutions for problems in America’s inner cities. … Yale punter and kicker Alex Galland, a junior, played in the university’s hockey and basketball pep band during his first two seasons on campus. This fall, he plays trumpet in his football uniform during the national anthem before gridiron games, then boots for the Bulldogs afterward.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.