Rising temperatures and students coming out of hibernation signal another Spring in Hanover. For the Big Green football team, that means the start of Spring training.
As the team looks toward the Fall, Dartmouth's players and coaches are working hard preparing for the upcoming season.
This Saturday the team will host its annual Spring game an intra-squad scrimmage in which coaches and fans can catch a glimpse of what the team will look like come Fall.
During every offseason, the football team logs considerable hours preparing for its next year of play. But given the subpar performance that Big Green football had last season notching only two wins the team hopes to be heading in a new direction, according to head coach Buddy Teevens.
Since the beginning of the term, the team has been participating in non-padded practices that include simple drills, weight-lifting and running exercises. Although the goal of the early practices was largely to get players back into the football routine, the team is now into practicing in full pads, Teevens said. These practices give the team an opportunity to tackle, scrimmage and participate in contact drills.
Unlike other conferences, the Ivy League only allows intra-squad scrimmaging in the Spring. Although the team will not have the opportunity to compete against other teams, practicing with and against teammates has benefits. The players will be able to learn from each other and get a sense of how their teammates play from both sides of the field, Teevens added.
The team also welcomes the addition of new offensive and defensive coordinators. Teevens said he hopes they will help the team progress and create substantial changes on both sides of the ball. Offensive coordinator Jim Pry will look to add more firepower the Big Green's offense, after the team finished seventh in the Ivy League in total offense last year. Don Dobes, who will take over the responsibility of defensive coordinator, will look to improve the Big Green's defense after finishing last in the League in total defense.
Besides the addition of new coordinators, the team will soon incorporate a gifted group of players in the Class of 2014. Headlining the class is Cole Marcoux '14, a 6'5" and 234-pound quarterback from The Fieldston School in New York City, N.Y. Marcoux was tabbed as a U.S. Army All-American high school quarterback and won the Fox Sports Net's reality show, "The Ride."
Teevens said Marcoux is not the only talented player joining the team in the Fall.
"[There are a] variety of [talented] guys on both sides of the football," he said.
The Big Green will return all but 15 players from last year's relatively young roster. Dartmouth will enter the Fall season with a group of rising sophomores and juniors that has seen extensive playing time and knows how to work well together. The team is also maturing and will enter the season more experienced than the squad that took the field in the Fall.
Teevens said he believes that next year's team will be strong and athletic, adding that he is excited about the progress the team has made during its Spring practices and is optimistic about the Fall season.
"[There is a] great deal of energy and enthusiasm, great progress in strength in the offseason and a number of young guys who were doing off-campus programs are back and working together," he said. "[The team is] maturing physically."
The team will showcase the progress it has made since the Fall season in this weekend's Spring game at 10 a.m. on May 1st at Memorial Field in Hanover.
