Author: Moderator

Paul Rice ’10 has decided to follow former Yale Coach Joe Conlin to Fordham.  We wish Coach Rice great success in the future (except when they play the Elis) and thank him for his years of dedication to the Yale football community.

It looks as though Phil Trautwein will become the next offensive line coach.  Trautwein played offensive tackle in the NFL for the Rams, Browns, Saints and Chargers.  This would be a spectacular hire for Reno.  No other Ivy League offensive line coach has credentials that are even in the same ballpark as Trautwein’s.

Rumor has it that turf will finally be installed at the Bowl this offseason!

The Yale community lost a great one today with the passing of Carmen Cozza.  Cozza’s incredible Yale career began in 1963 and just four years later, Cozza would lead the Bulldogs to their first of ten conference championships under his reign.  Cozza compiled a record of 179-119-5 while at Yale with 135 of those victories against Ivy League foes.  In more recent memory, Cozza teamed up with Ron Vaccaro to become the voices of Yale football on weekly WELI broadcasts.  His passion for Yale and intimate knowledge of the game were truly inspirational to all of us.

If you have any heart warming or funny Carm Cozza stories, please share them in the comments section below.

Offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Joe Conlin has decided to accept the head coaching position at Fordham University.  Conlin began at Yale in 2013 as the offensive line coach and was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2014.  It’s expected that Kevin Cahill will become the next offensive coordinator, but that still leaves an opening at the offensive line coaching position.  Look for the Bulldogs to snag a seasoned offensive line coach to lead the big men in the 2018 campaign.

Here are the commits we have heard about so far:

Reid Nickerson, 6’4” 210 lbs, S/LB, Friendswood HS, Friendswood, TX

Nick Gargiulo, 6’5” 270 lbs, DT/OL, Somers HS, Lincolndale, NY

Shane Frommer, 5’11” 192 lbs, RB/LB, King Philip Regional, Wrentham, MA

Brian Abraham, 6’4” 190 lbs, WR/S, Xaverian Brothers, Westwood, MA

Jaylan Sandifer, 6’4″ 194 lbs, WR, Choate, Wallingford, CT

Noah Pope, 6’1″ 205 lbs, LB, Choate, Wallingford, CT

Nick Henkel, 6’5″ 185 lbs, QB, Brunswick HS, Greenwich, CT

Nick Tibbetts, 6′2″ 230 lbs, LS, Montville HS, Montville, CT

Dathan Hickey, 6′2″ 180 lbs, RB/CB, Bristol Central HS, Bristol, CT

Brett Gerber, 6′4″ 220 lbs, LB, Manatee HS, Bradenton, FL

Tate Goodyear, 6’4″ 275 lbs, OL, Sycamore HS, Cincinnati, OH

Trenton Charles, 5’9″ 165 lbs, RB, Scotlandville Magnet, Baton Rouge, LA

Griffin O’Connor, 6’3″ 200 lbs, QB, Edison HS, Huntington Beach, CA

Josh De St Jean, 6’5″ 270 lbs, DT, La Lumiere, La Porte, IN

Jaylan Granberry, 5’10” 180 lbs, S, Pearl Cohn, Nashville, TN

Seun Omonije, 6’0″ 181 lbs, WR, St. Marks, Dallas, TX

Isaiah Dunham, 6’2″ 195 lbs, WR/DB, Reitz, Evansville, IN

Cubby Schuller, 6’6″ 265 lbs, OL/DL, Bernards HS, Bernardsville, NJ

Sebastian Bruno, 6’4″ 235 lbs, DE, Olympic Heights, Boca Raton, FL

Elliott McElwain, 6’0″ 215 lbs, RB, Hewitt-Trussville, Trussville, AL

Osorachukwu Ifesinachukwu, 6’2″ 215 lbs, OLB, Vandegrift, Austin, TX

Ajay Culhane, 6’0″ 185 lbs, K, Oaks Christian, Westlake Village, CA

Noah Aaron, 6’1″ 170 lbs, WR/DB, Groton, Groton, MA

Adam Raine, 6’4” 260 lbs, DL, Berkshire, Sheffield, MA

Kennedy Kosmalski, 6’0” 180 lbs, DB, McHenry, McHenry, IL

Conor Smith, 6′5″ 260 lbs, OL, Red Bank Catholic, Red Bank, NJ

Jack Biestek, 6’3″ 205 lbs, WR, Cardinal Gibbons, Raleigh, NC

Miles Oldacre, 5’10” 185lbs, S, Klein Oak, Spring, TX

Kyle Ellis, 6’0″ 182 lbs, DB/WR, Greater Altanta Christian, Norcross, GA

Henry Large, 6’0″ 210 lbs, LB, St. Albans, Washington, DC

Nicholas Sligh, 6‘3” 310 lbs, OL, Clarke Central, Athens, GA

Spencer Alston, 5’10” 185 lbs, RB/WR, South Lakes, Reston, VA

Garry Raymond, 6′6″ 238 lbs, TE, Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado Springs, CO

Matthew Tynes, 6′1″ 166 lbs, CB, St. Mark’s, Wilmington, DE

Here are the Yalies that were honored by the Ivy League:

Zane Dudek-Rookie of the Year (unanimous)

Jon Bezney-1st Team All Ivy OL

Karl Marback-1st Team All Ivy OL

Zane Dudek-1st Team All Ivy RB (unanimous)

Jaeden Graham-1st Team All Ivy TE

John Herubin-1st Team All Ivy DL

Matthew Oplinger-1st Team All Ivy LB (unanimous)

Hayden Carlson-1st Team All Ivy DB

Spencer Rymiszewski-1st Team All Ivy DB

Anders Huizenga-2nd Team All Ivy OL

Sterling Strother-2nd Team All Ivy OL

Christopher Williams-Lopez-2nd Team All Ivy WR

Charles Callender-2nd Team All Ivy DL

Kyle Mullen-2nd Team All Ivy DL

Foyesade Oluokun-2nd Team All Ivy LB

Alex Galland-2nd Team All Ivy Punter

Dieter Eiselen-HM All Ivy OL

Kurt Rawlings-HM All Ivy QB

Deshawn Salter-HM All Ivy RB

Malcolm Dixon-HM All Ivy DB

Jason Alessi-HM All Ivy DB

 

 

Rookie of the Year: Zane Dudek

Offensive Lineman of the Year: Jon Bezney

Receiver/TE of the Year: Christopher Williams-Lopez

QB/RB of the Year: Kurt Rawlings

Defensive Lineman of the Year: Kyle Mullen

Linebacker of the Year: Matthew Oplinger

Defensive Back of the Year: Hayden Carlson

Special Teams Player of the Year: Andrew Johnson

MVP: Kurt Rawlings

Coach of the Year: Tony Reno

The Bulldogs dominated the Crimson 24-3 on Saturday to claim the outright Ivy League Championship.

Harvard came out in the first quarter with a solid offensive game plan to spread the field and get the ball in Shelton-Mosley’s hands as often as possible.  The Crimson were able to march into Yale territory before our defense stiffened and held them to just a field goal.  That would be Harvard’s lone score of the afternoon.

Harvard’s defense found a way to slow Dudek, but committing the resources to stop Dudek left the Harvard secondary vulnerable.  Rawlings threw a few shaky passes early in the contest, but was able to settle down and finished the day an efficient 18/27 for 177 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception.  In comparison, Harvard’s two quarterbacks threw for a meager 138 yards combined, 0 touchdowns and 2 interceptions.  Shohfi, Drwal, Siragusa and Williams-Lopez had clutch performances at the receiver position.  Shohfi’s 46 yard reception followed by his spectacular touchdown grab were easily the offensive highlights of the game.  The offensive line was fantastic in pass protection giving Rawlings just enough time to deliver strikes.  Harvard would only sack Rawlings twice in the contest.

The muddy conditions of the field turned the game into a defensive chess match.  Harvard QB Jake Smith caused two turnovers on option plays with his wild pitches at the worst moments.  One of the fumbles was picked up by Malcolm Dixon and returned 19 yards for a touchdown.  Hunter Roman fell on the second fumble to set up Yale in Crimson territory.  The Bulldog defense battered Smith for three quarters, before Tim Murphy decided to yank Smith for his Senior QB Joe Viviano.  Viviano’s first series would end in a turnover on downs, his second series would end with a Carlson interception and his third series would end in a Henson interception.  It was a senior sack affair on Saturday.  Oplinger topped off his stellar career with another two sacks, Herubin added one and a half sacks, Oluokun and Carlson each had one sack and Chism finished with half a sack.  Awodiran was all over the field and will be a cornerstone of the linebackers next season.  This was truly a team effort on defense with too many contributors to list them all.  This Yale defense will go down in history as one of the greatest in the conference.

Kyle Mullen has been elected captain of next year’s squad.  We will be posting our post-season awards and a look ahead to the future in the coming days.

For God, For Country and For Yale

2017 Ivy League Champions

The Game is just days away and Harvard is the final obstacle in the quest for an outright title.  Expect the Harvard squad that beat Dartmouth and Columbia to show up at The Bowl on Saturday.  You can watch the game on CNBC or the Ivy League Network at 12:30 PM ET on Saturday.

Harvard enters the contest at 5-4 overall and 3-3 in league play with losses to Cornell, Princeton and Penn.  The Harvard offense struggled in each of those conference losses averaging just over 12 points per game.  The quarterback position has been an area of concern for the Crimson as Murphy started Viviano last week and pulled him late in the game in favor of Freshman Jake Smith.  Smith leads Harvard in passing this season with 88 completions for 1071 yards, but also tossed 9 interceptions and only 5 touchdowns.  Viviano has struggled since the middle of last season throwing just 3 touchdowns this fall.  Fortunately for the Harvard quarterbacks, they are loaded with talent at the running back and wide receiver positions.  RB Charlie Booker has run for a net of 733 yards on 141 rushes, while Freshman RB Aaron Shampklin has racked up 326 yards.  Booker is fast and hard to bring down on initial contact.  Harvard’s offense is dangerous when Booker starts tiring out defenders and opens up the passing lanes.  WR Justice Shelton-Mosley is one of the most talented receivers in the league and by far the best returner.  His fellow wide receivers Adam Scott and Henry Taylor are both speed demons that can torch defenses.  Harvard always seems to have a solid tight end and Senior Ryan Antonellis fills that role this year.

Aside from a disaster against Princeton, Harvard’s defense has been strong all season.  Senior LB and Captain Luke Hutton has racked up a whopping 73 tackles.  Senior Safety Tanner Lee leads the secondary with 50 tackles and 3 interceptions.  Our offensive line will have to figure out how to block the Crimson’s defensive front featuring playmakers such as Stone Hart and DJ Bailey.  Hart and Bailey both have 4 sacks on the season, although Bailey did not play last week against Penn.  DT Richie Ryan has been a force all season amassing 39 tackles and 3 sacks.  Senior LB Alex White leads all Crimson defenders with 4.5 sacks.

Kick and punt coverage this week will be vital to securing a victory as Shelton-Mosley poses a larger threat than Princeton’s Tiger Bech.

Keys to Victory:

• Force Harvard to throw the ball early
• Make Murphy second guess himself
• Put aside the emotions from last week and focus on this game
• Pick apart the Crimson secondary
• Limit missed tackles on special teams

With the four point win over Princeton on Saturday, Yale clinched at least a share of the Ivy League Championship.  This was a rivalry game for the ages featuring two potent offenses firing on all cylinders.

Coming into the contest, we had a feeling Kanoff was going to have a big game, but no one thought he would put up over 450 passing yards on the top defense.  Princeton WR Tiger Bech caught 6 passes for 175 yards, WR Jesper Horsted caught 6 passes for 128 yards and WR Stephen Carlson added another 74 yards receiving.  Despite the yardage, Kanoff’s completion percentage was a low 56% as the Yale defense affected his rhythm and Princeton wideouts dropped a few balls.   We bottled up Princeton’s running game by limiting Volker to just 29 yards.  Everything seemed to go wrong for our defense during the first half.  The pass rush was not generating enough pressure, the defensive backs were yards behind Princeton receivers, and tackling was downright atrocious.  TE Jaeden Graham’s 58 yard touchdown reception and Princeton’s fumble on their opening drive of the second half shifted the momentum in favor of the Bulldogs.

After the Princeton fumble, Rawlings threw a perfect 33 yard touchdown pass to Senior WR Ross Drwal to put the Elis within a field goal of the Tigers.  From that point on, the offense leaned on the bruisers up front to pave holes for Dudek and burn time off the clock.  Dudek was a workhorse running for 180 yards on 35 carries.  Rouse carried the ball twice for 26 yards including an electric 21 yard dash.  After the 24-7 start to the game, Rawlings went on to complete 15 of his next 16 passes to finish up 26 for 34 for 304 yards and two touchdowns.  Graham led the team in receiving yards with 87 followed by Williams-Lopez with 73.

The Bulldogs did not sack Kanoff once during the game, but Oplinger’s pressure on Princeton’s final offensive play caused an errant pass that wound up in Oluokun’s hands.  Oplinger finished the day with 10 total tackles followed by Hayden Carlson who had 8 tackles and two very important pass breakups.

Galland was perfect on extra points, but missed a tough 44 yard field goal in crunch time.  Kick coverage was poor once again and Princeton’s Tiger Bech had multiple opportunities to return kicks for touchdowns.

Congratulations to Yale players, coaches and parents on the championship run!

There’s just one more goal to accomplish: Beat Harvard!