The captains were chosen by their teammates and coaches as players that have made a positive impact on the team and will continue to benefit the program in a position of leadership.
Rapp, an offensive tackle, started in all 10 games for the Big Green last year, after battling several injuries that kept him sidelined for much of his freshman and sophomore years.
Rapp is a key player on the offensive line and won the Jake Crouthamel Award for most contributions to success in the team's offense.
Dete, a linebacker with 108 career tackles, also played in all 10 games last year.
Described as a player who "goes about his business almost unnoticed until the final stats are tabulated" by dartmouthsports.com, Dete will be starting at the position for the third consecutive year.
As a freshman, Dete won the Earl Hamilton Freshman Award, given for outstanding contribution to the varsity team by a freshman. The following year he collected the Doten Award, given to the sophomore who makes the largest contribution to the varsity squad.
Williams, one of the premier backs in the Ivy League, has seven career touchdowns, including three in last year's campaign. He was the Big Green's leading rusher last season, averaging 82.1 yards per game and totaling 657 yards on the ground, despite missing several games due to injury.
Each of the captains was honored by the recognition from their teammates.
"It feels great to know that you have peers on your team that want to vote for you and look up to you for leadership and abilities," Williams said. "I take it with both pride and responsibility."
"It's an incredible honor," Rapp said. "The prior captains left some pretty big shoes to fill, so it's also going to be a big responsibility to live up to."
All three players also stressed the magnitude of the responsibility of being one of the team's captains.
"There are a lot of responsibilities," Williams said. "It's most important to keep the team together, to be a network between coaches and the players, to make sure that everybody is in line. Also, it's important to make sure that it's an enjoyable experience in the locker room."
"I think we have a great team for next year," Dete said. "We had a really strong spring, and we're a much more cohesive team than before, and that will take us a long way. As the captain, it's on me and the other guys to keep us cohesive, keep us on the same page and keep everybody focused and committed to the same thing."
The captain is often an underrated part of a sports team, particularly in high school and college sports. Dartmouth's captains could play a large role in next year's campaign, and they all expressed optimism for Dartmouth's improvement after several years of losing seasons.
"For the team, we've kind of struggled in the past few years, but we've been a lot better than the record has shown," Dete said. "This year is the one for us to make a big jump in terms of wins and losses. Our goal is to win the Ivy League championship. We say that every year, but this year we really believe it. Nothing would be nicer."
Rapp had a more simplistic attitude about the season.
"I don't want to worry about the win-loss record," he said. "I just feel that we should have a goal to come out of every game totally happy and satisfied with how we played. If we can do that, we'll have a great season."
As for the team's strengths, all of the captains cited its unity.
"Our biggest strength is the cohesiveness that we have," Williams said. "We're all very close, and we've all grown closer together during these past couple of years. We know each other's strengths and weaknesses on the field, and that makes us a much stronger team."
Dete cited the team's newfound depth -- a product of Teevens' aggressive recruiting -- as an asset.
"Our depth this year is a huge advantage," he said. "We have a lot of guys at a lot of different positions who can all play, and even start. We might have a similar starting eleven to any other team, but the backups are what's going to make the difference this year."
The captains differed in opinion, however, about the team's biggest challenge this season.
"Our biggest challenge will be taking the momentum from a single win and keeping it going," said Rapp. "That's something we've never been able to do, and I think that ends up really affecting our record. We need to be able to gain momentum and get on a roll."
Dete, on the other hand, believed that the team's difficult schedule will be a challenge.
"We play [the University of New Hampshire], Yale and Penn towards the beginning of our season, and getting over those obstacles that early on will be tough," he said.
Williams, meanwhile, echoed the frustrations of Dartmouth football fans.
"Our biggest challenge will be putting it all out there on the field, and pulling out the win," he said. "These past couple years, we've been struggling with results at the end of the game, but we have been getting better. We have the potential to win games and the Ivies. We just need to make sure it gets done."
Dartmouth football begins its season against non-conference opponent Colgate on Sept. 20, in Hamilton, N.Y. The Big Green starts Ivy League play against the University of Pennsylvania on Oct. 4 in Philadelphia, Penn.
