Hanover
So said coach Buddy Teevens on Wednesday after his team’s opening practice. The veteran bench boss made it clear, however, that junior Jack Heneghan is hot on Dixon’s heels in the race to replace standout Dalyn Williams, who exhausted his eligibility last fall.
“They were neck and neck in (spring practice), and they both opted to stay on campus to work out this summer,” said Teevens, whose team opens Sept. 17 against visiting New Hampshire. “It will be an open competition, but if I had to go right off the bat, then Bruce is a 1 and Jack is a 1½.”
Does the coach have a timetable for when he’ll name a starter?
“The sooner the better,” Teevens said. “That’s kind of the horse race right now, who’s going to separate himself with knowledge and execution?”
Williams, who starred for 3 seasons as Dartmouth’s starting signal-caller, signed with the NFL’s Chicago Bears during the summer, but was cut when a more experienced player came along. He has been adrift ever since.
“He signs with the Bears and he’s with them for two or three weeks and then they sign a guy who’s been in the league for a year,” Teevens said. “When they bumped him it was almost too late, because everyone else had their (training) camp lineups all set. If they hadn’t signed him, he would have had other opportunities, because there were teams who were interested in him.
“Now, you hang on and hope that maybe you get a phone call. He’s still working out and staying in shape but he’s also realistic enough that if it doesn’t work, he’s got a plan to come back and finish up his (degree requirements). So he could in fact be here this fall.”
Zooming and wobbling around the Memorial Field turf Wednesday were two prototypes and two fully manufactured models of the Mobile Virtual Player, the robotic tackling dummy developed by Teevens and Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering. A year ago, the first incarnations were underpowered and often broke down. At times, they gave off a burning smell and small chunks of the undercarriage would fall off.
Now, however, the MVPs’ new “Drive” models are manufactured by sports equipment firm Rogers Athletic and are a hit all over the country. The price tag is $8,000 per unit, but the NFL’s Los Angeles Rams, Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, Carolina Panthers, Oakland Raiders, San Francisco 49ers and Miami Dolphins are either already using or have placed orders for multiple dummies. The Rams’ MVPs had a recent star turn on the HBO training camp reality series Hard Knocks.
Notre Dame bought four dummies and showed them off in a social media post, drawing close to a million views and prompting Irish coach Brian Kelly to declare the MVPs to be “worth their weight in gold.”
Attending Wednesday’s practice was John Currier, listed on his LinkedIn page as the president and CEO of the Mobile Virtual Player corporation and a former Thayer School employee. Currier said a widespread rollout of the Drive model is expected in January.
That model “runs” the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds, only slightly slower than the best players. Wednesday, it experienced traction problems because of a fresh covering of rubber pellets recently deposited on the Memorial Field surface, but that problem should be solved once those pieces are packed down by use and rain.
“I’m living the dream,” a beaming Currier said. “Why would I want to wake up?”
Teevens said 25 of the current Drive versions were manufactured for use this fall and that the individual cost should drop as production is ramped up. The company is not yet turning a profit, he added.
“There are molds and forms and motors that drive the cost up in the first iteration, but there were still people interested in buying it,” he said. “I borrowed money from friends and family and at this point, I just want to pay them back.”
Preseason polls seem to be generally picking the Big Green to finish between third and fifth in the eight-team Ivy League after it shared last season’s title with Harvard and Pennsylvania. With all but one starter gone from the defense and substantial losses also occurring on the offensive side of the ball, such slotting doesn’t seem a surprise. That doesn’t mean Dartmouth’s players and coaches won’t be trying to prove the polls wrong, however.
“If you think you’ve arrived, that’s not the way life works,” Teevens said. “You always have something to prove. We hear about how we have a lot of young guys and inexperience and we need to prove we’re a good team.”
Said linebacker Folarin Orimolade: “We have lots of guys who played a lot, even though they didn’t start. If you played 50 percent of the snaps, then you know where to go and what to do.”
Orimolade’s Twitter handle is @FolarinTheGreat and a YouTube video compilation of his highlights describes him as the “Sack Master.” It’s now time for the 6-foot, 235-pound senior to prove he can put up numbers when he’s the focal point of opposing offenses.
“I don’t think it’s going to affect my production and it gives other guys a chance to make plays,” said Orimolade, who played through a torn hip labrum last fall and had surgery soon after finishing with eight sacks and first team All-Ivy accolades. “We have a lot of athleticism and natural instincts.”
Notes: Among Wednesday’s sideline observers was former starting tailback Rich Weissman, who played from 1982-84 and who is tied for seventh in career rushing touchdowns with 20. … Several players, including running back Ryder Stone, defensive lineman Davaron Stockman and long snapper Graydon Peterson were absent because they were attending the last day of summer session classes. … Dan Gorman, a Hanover High product and a recent Dartmouth graduate who was a Big Green receiver, is now working for a doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital while he studies for upcoming medical school exams. … Freshman lineman Ben Culmer, listed at 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds, dropped to the turf at the end of practice and needed help to reach a trainer’s motorized cart that was used to ferry him indoors. … Sophomore defensive lineman Jackson Perry watched from the stands. A Dartmouth news release said only that he is “not an active member of the football program,” but that he is expected to return to the team when classes start next month.