The Dartmouth football team officially ended spring practices with the Green-White scrimmage on Saturday morning, a two-hour session intended to show coaches and fans the squad's progress over the past three weeks.
The format, however, did not completely adhere to a standard football game, as the coaches attempted to minimize injury risks. All quarterbacks wore a red no-contact jersey, and special teams play, especially in the punting game, was very limited.
The team's performance on the field was impressive in some ways, but also left many questions unanswered -- issues that must be addressed if Dartmouth intends to have a successful 2009 campaign.
To have any hope of posting a winning record next year, the Big Green's quarterbacking must significantly improve. Hindering quarterback play Saturday was the absence of leading receiver Tim McManus '11 due to an injury, leaving all quarterbacks without their top receiving threat. Coaches also quickly called broken plays dead, leaving no room for improvisation and less time to look down the field.
The lack of downfield passing displayed this weekend is cause for concern. The vast majority of pass plays resulted in check-downs to the flats for smaller gains, allowing linebackers to more effectively gear toward stopping the run by crowding the box. Even though there was a slight breeze, too many deep attempts were wobbly and underthrown, erasing the potential for big plays through the air.
Projected first-team signal caller Alex Jenny '10 passed for 131 yards and two touchdowns on 13 of of 21 attempts, and backup Conner Kempe '12 threw a few sharp passes while exhibiting some elusiveness in the pocket.
The running game produced similarly middling results. The running backs still seemed to be getting used to the new packages installed over spring practices. Unlike last season, most running plays were counters or lead-draws called with the quarterback working from under center.
Rob Mitchelson '10 was most productive, carrying the ball 13 times for 67 yards and one touchdown. Nick Schwieger '12 also added a short touchdown dive, but perhaps the most impressive running back was T.J. Cameron '11, who showed good bursts of speed and elusiveness, rarely going down on first contact on his way to 43 yards on nine attempts.
The offensive line, while still very young and adjusting to a new position coach, has shown a lot of improvement throughout the spring. As a unit, the line got off the ball quickly and stayed on their blocks well, finishing to the whistle on every snap.
The offensive linemen still need to work on keeping their pad level lower. During the game, they lost leverage to the defensive linemen on a number of plays.
The line also could have done a better job on pass protection, as Big Green quarterbacks seldom had time to work through their full progressions.
The tight ends and wide receivers were up and down as well. Showing promise was tight end John Gallagher '12, who led all pass-catchers with six receptions for 85 yards. Gallagher will be instrumental as a check-down option next season while the offensive line and quarterbacks mature.
Niles Murphy '10 had a good showing as well, scoring a 13-yard touchdown late in the game with an acrobatic leap over the goal line. Murphy is going to have to use his impressive speed to establish himself as a consistent deep threat for the team this fall. Additionally, it will be important for the Dartmouth red-zone offense for either Will Deevy '11 or Mike Riley '12 to emerge as a productive outside wide receiver.
On the defensive side of the ball, most units looked solid.
"There was a big focus by coaches this spring on stopping the run," defensive tackle Tyler Green '11 said.
The defense, especially the second team, responded well to this challenge, successfully using stunts to come up with big stops in short-yardage run situations all game.
Coaches also kept play-calling simple, a tactic they plan to continue doing this throughout next season, making defensive assignments more straightforward so that the players won't get confused on the field, Green said.
"Simplifying the defensive assignments really allowed us to concentrate on reacting and playing more aggressively," Green said.
Furthermore, the defensive line did a good job of shooting their hands, letting them maintain control of the offensive linemen's shoulder pads.
Defensive ends Charles Bay '11 and Matt Oh '11 had standout performances in the spring game, constantly putting pressure on the quarterbacks and recording three sacks between the two of them. Defensive tackle Lane Shipley '11 tied Oh with a game-high seven tackles.
The linebackers and defensive backs executed well, supporting the run effectively and shutting down any deeper pass attempts. Linebacker Royce Egeolu '12 has a particularly impressive performance, reading plays well and shooting into the backfield to make several tackles around the line of scrimmage.
On an impressive side note, during the halftime strength and conditioning award ceremony, it was announced that Egeolu held the team record for squatting 650 pounds.
While the overall performance of the Big Green in the Green-White scrimmage was up and down, the team has a promising foundation of young players that will look to improve upon last year's disappointing record.
