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We are just five days away from kickoff at the Yale Bowl Saturday at 1:30 PM EDT versus Colgate.  As the YDN reported last week, the Bulldogs will be without their returning All-Ivy defenders Copache Tyler and Spencer Rymiszewski.

The game can be seen live on One World Sports or the Ivy League Digital Network.

Colgate is coming off a 9-5 season and was picked to repeat as Patriot League Champion this year.  Yale will need to put pressure up front on an experienced Raiders offensive line to slow down QB Jake Melville and RB James Holland.  On offense, getting blockers on LB Kyle Diener and DE Pat Afriyie will be crucial to opening the running lanes.

The defending Patriot League Champion, Colgate, dropped its first game on Friday versus Syracuse.  Despite starting the game with an early lead after Jake Melville’s touchdown toss to Owen Rockett, the Orange scored 33 unanswered points and gained 554 yards on the day.  Colgate’s front seven did show promise as aside from a big 49 yard play, they limited Syracuse to just 68 yards on 34 rushes.  Colgate’s front seven includes three all-league performers from a year ago, so Yale’s O-linemen will have their hands full in Week 1.  Syracuse constantly found soft spots in Colgate’s secondary and surely this film will give Reno a rough blueprint for aerial success.

Yale has won the last nine season openers including last year’s wild 29-28 finish over Colgate.  The keys to this game will be punching holes in Colgate’s defensive front seven and preventing Melville and company from starting as quickly as they did against the Orange.

We did not attend the closed scrimmage on Saturday, but would love to hear your thoughts on the current position battles.

Brown is returning 15 starters from last year’s squad, so the upcoming closed scrimmage on Saturday at the Yale Bowl should give our team a great opportunity to compete against a veteran unit and put the finishing touches on a fantastic preseason.  The scrimmage should help answer some of these lingering questions:

Will the scrimmage solidify one QB as the starter or will Reno opt to have the contenders compete for another two weeks?

Can the offense get off to a more productive start than in the Blue-White scrimmage?

Will Coach Vashel get more creative in his defensive play calling duties?

Will Coach Conlin expand the playbook this season?

How will Salter, Rich and Harris all be utilized effectively at RB?

Can we manhandle opponents at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball?

Feel free to comment and discuss these questions below.  Yale just announced that the scrimmage will be closed to the public, so the majority of our questions will remain unanswered until kickoff on September 17th.

Our first opponent, Colgate, is gearing up for its opener vs. Syracuse on Friday evening.

 

Camp Day #6 is officially in the books.  Be sure to checkout the official Yale Football Twitter page for the occasional video highlights: https://twitter.com/Yale_Football

The Yale-Brown scrimmage will be played at the Yale Bowl on Labor Day weekend this year, but the date/time is still TBD.

Incoming Freshman RB Andrew Grinde apparently left Yale prior to the start of camp for unknown reasons.  With the talent returning at RB for the Bulldogs, even a stellar Freshman RB would find himself four slots deep on the depth chart.  Whatever the true reason is for Grinde’s departure, we’re hoping we see Grinde on the field next season!

Tyler Varga confirmed through various media outlets that his decision to retire was due to health concerns.  We can’t blame a fellow Eli for using his brain power to preserve his mind while he still can.

Yale’s first opponent, Colgate, will kick off the season at Syracuse on September 2nd.  We’ll have an in-depth breakdown of their squad in the days following that contest.

 

 

The first practice of camp will be held this Friday.  The quest for the 2016 Ivy League Championship is almost here!  Yale had 85 players stay in New Haven this offseason which is very high compared to pre-Reno classes, so let’s hope the dedication in strength and conditioning leads to more wins this fall.  The Ivy League announced the following TV schedule for Yale games:

Saturday, September 17

Colgate at Yale, 1:30 pm

OneWorld Sports

Saturday, October 1

Lehigh at Yale, 1:30 pm

OneWorld Sports

Friday, October 21

Penn at Yale, 7 pm

NBCSN

Friday, October 28

Yale at Columbia, 7 pm

NBCSN

Saturday, November 19	Yale at Harvard, 12:30 pm	CNBC

Here is a list of the early commits to Yale for next season:

Jordan Carey-5-11,190- LB/RB-Florissant, MO (Hazelwood Central)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3323154/jordan-carey

 

Christian Sampleton-6-3,230-TE/DE-La Grange Park, IL (Nazareth Academy)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3003899/christian-sampleton

 

Blake Hill-6-1,220-MLB-Milford, MA (Milford)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3214126/blake-hill

 

Noah Pope-6-2,205-OLB-Collierville, TN (St. George’s)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2921391/noah-pope

 

John Dean-6-2,225-LB/RB-Wrentham, MA (Choate)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2516243/john-dean

 

Jacob Hinish-6-3,282-OL-Pittsburgh, PA (Central Catholic)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/5427458/jake-hinish

 

Donovan Slater-6-3,285-OL-Pittsburgh, PA (Central Catholic)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3013738/donovan-slater

 

Jimmy Check-6-4,195-QB-Fairfax, VA (Paul VI)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3611870/jimmy-check

 

D. Major Roman-6-5, 202-DE/TE-New London, CT (New London)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3120974/d-major-roman

 

Thomas Vissman-6-0, 210-RB/S-Pittsburgh, PA (Upper St. Clair)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/4231168/thomas-vissman

 

Ethan Campbell-6-4, 214-MLB- Cincinnati, OH (La Salle)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3901995/ethan-campbell

 

Micah Awodiran-6-1, 215-LB-Chicago, IL (Marist)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2681270/micah-awodiran

 

Patrick Conte-6-5, 225-QB-Fairfield, CT (Fairfield Prep)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3206262/patrick-conte

 

Walker Lott-6-2, 222-QB-Alabaster, AL (Choate)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/1540261/walker-lott

 

JJ Howland-6-6, 230-TE- Fiskdale, MA (Choate)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/2324491/john-howland

 

Brandon Peterson-6-3, 250-DE- San Antonio, TX (Alamo Heights)

http://www.hudl.com/athlete/3349554/brandon-peterson

 

Let us know who we are missing!

 

The Colts shifted Tyler Varga to the reserve/retired list on Tuesday effectively ending the NFL career of the former Yale RB.  Was the writing on the wall that Varga would not make the cuts or did he simply not want to put his brain through another training camp slugfest?  He suffered a serious concussion last season and then publicly stated in the offseason that he refused the team doctor’s recommendations, so this may have also ruffled some feathers in the front office.

We are under two months to kickoff at the Yale Bowl vs. Colgate (51 days to be exact).  Colgate will have one game under their belt before playing the Bulldogs as they suit up on September 2nd against Syracuse.  Colgate finished 9-5 last season and made it all the way to the quarterfinals of the FCS Playoffs, so this will be a tough matchup to start the season.  The Penn and Columbia contests are now slated for Friday evenings and we are hopeful that they will be broadcast on NBC Sports once again.

Under Armour unveiled the new Yale football uniforms last week.

.. And the new @Yale football uniforms/cleats unveiled tonight by @UnderArmour pic.twitter.com/pR7cuZjW9S

— Hannah Storm (@HannahStormESPN) July 22, 2016

As you’ll notice, there are only minor modifications to the classic uniform, but it is a welcome refresh.  On a side note, is that Tyler Varga modeling the new look?

Speaking of Varga, he is in a tough battle for the backup running back spot behind Frank Gore in Indy.  Varga will have to compete against rookie Josh Ferguson, Robert Turbin, and Jordan Todman (UCONN) to stay on the roster this season.  Varga will likely have to beat out two of those potential backups just to secure a spot on the 53 man roster.

Some readers were confused if Emil Johnson was still in charge of the strength and conditioning program after Yale’s announcement in April that consultant Tom Newman was brought in to overhaul the program.  We confirmed from a source that Emil is no longer working directly with the football squad.  I know some of the players had to bummed over the change, but let’s see how this season unfolds in terms of player conditioning and injuries before criticizing Reno.

Here are our picks for the upcoming Ivy football season:

Harvard

Penn

Yale

Columbia

Dartmouth

Brown

Princeton

Cornell

Abu Daramy and Walker Lott did not appear on the official recruiting list released by Yale, while Sean Kissel (DE) and Devin Moore (DE) were both added to the roster.  Some supporters have suggested Daramy may not have had the grades to get in, but we can neither confirm nor deny the rumors.  Yale can always utilize talented pass rushers like Kissel and Moore, but at the same time, it is disappointing to see that one of the freak athletes of the recruiting class will not be playing for Yale next fall.

The Yale reunion season has come and passed.  The weather held up nicely for most of the weekend and apparently several attendance records were shattered across various classes.