Yale Football Blog

Alston is a 5’10”, 185 lb. running back/ wide receiver from South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia.  Yale lists him as a RB, but in most of his footage he is lined up in the slot.  He is a dynamic athlete with the ball in his hands displaying great vision, cutback ability and the toughness to grind out additional yards after contact.  Alston has the speed to beat defenders to the edge and the balance to tiptoe along the sidelines for huge gains.  His size, speed and agility are reminiscent of Melvin Rouse and he has the potential to see time at RB, WR, PR or KR in his Freshman campaign.

Brian Abraham is a 6’4″, 205 lb. defensive back from Xaverian Brothers (Westwood, MA) and was named Defensive MVP of the Catholic Conference.  Abraham’s height and jumping ability make him very effective at disrupting passing lanes.  He has quick route recognition skills and the catch-up speed to rob receivers of a touchdown.  At the line of scrimmage, he displays the physicality to jam receivers and can lay the wood on ball carriers.  Yale needed size in the defensive backfield and Abraham certainly fits the bill.

In our first analysis of the Class of 2022, we will start with the 6 foot, 180 lb. receiver from The Groton School, Noah Aaron.  Aaron is a long strider with deceptive speed and the quickness to be effective on offense or special teams.  He has the toughness to make plays over the middle of the field and is not afraid to throw a block to spring his teammates.  With the ball in his hands, Aaron displays the patience and vision needed to gain extra yards after the catch.  Aaron’s immediate contribution could come at the punt returner position as Alessi’s graduation leaves a void at that spot.

Jason Alessi finishes Yale career as Ivy League football champion and National Champion in lacrosse.  Congrats to Coach Shay and the entire squad on a record breaking season!

Sixth round draft selection Foye Oluokun agreed to terms with the Atlanta Falcons this week.  Oluokun is expected to be a solid contributor on special teams and could provide relief at linebacker as well.

Matt Oplinger survived the Arizona Cardinals rookie mini camp and remains on the active roster.  Several NFL analysts believed that the Cardinals had found a gem in undrafted linebacker Mike Needham, however, the Cardinals cut Needham after mini camp and in doing so, improved Oplinger’s odds of making the 53 man roster.

It does not appear that Jaedan Graham or Copache Tyler were signed after their tryouts with the Raiders and Titans respectively.

#3 Yale Men’s Lacrosse beat UMass over the weekend and will face off against Loyola (MD) on Saturday at Hofstra in the second round of the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament.

We previously had 34 recruits featured on the “Recruiting Roundup” post and the new list shows 30 incoming freshmen next fall.  Nicholas Sligh, Kennedy Kosmalski, Matthew Tynes, and Henry Large were the four players not included in Yale’s official press release.  Sligh is headed to Stanford as a preferred walk-on and the others will likely attend Choate for a year as their Twitter pages still list them as Yale commits.  In the coming weeks we will post our observations of the highlight reels of each player.

Cornell beat Yale Men’s Lacrosse in the Ivy League Tournament 14-8, but Yale still managed to earn a #3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.  The Bulldogs will face off against UMass on Saturday at noon in the first round.

The Atlanta Falcons drafted Foye Oluokun in the 6th Round at #200 overall.  The Falcons are familiar with Yale athletes as Tommy McCarthy played there during the preseason of the 2011 NFL season.  Matt Oplinger was picked up as an undrafted free agent by the Arizona Cardinals following the draft.

Foye was not the highest draft pick for the Ivy League as Penn’s Justin Watson was selected in the 5th round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Yale Men’s Lacrosse defeated Harvard 16-8 on Saturday and remains the #1 ranked team in the nation.

It was a great day to be a Yale fan this past Saturday with fantastic weather, Ivy League Championship rings, a delicious BBQ, and a glimpse of Team 146.  There seemed to be a buzz around the Bowl that hadn’t been witnessed in years.

The defense showed that they are not rebuilding next season, but reloading with talent.  Reno has been able to build solid depth across the board with sustained stellar recruiting.  Several people commented on Tosan Agbeyegbe and Rodney Thomas’ play at safety, an area of particular concern given the graduation of All-Ivy caliber players at the two positions.  The defensive line should be the team’s strongest position despite the loss of Copache Tyler, Earl Chism and John Herubin.  We expect competition at linebacker to continue through the fall, but we were pleased with what we saw.

The offensive line seemed sluggish off the ball and had issues sustaining blocks.  Given the personnel changes and a new position coach, the growing pains are unavoidable.  Keep in mind that the defensive line has historically been more cohesive than the offensive line in Spring Ball over the years including last season.  We didn’t see much out of the top returning wideouts (several did not play), but their routes and timing with Rawlings will only improve over the summer and fall workouts.  Jimmy Check may have the potential to fill in for Rawlings in an emergency.  It would have been nice to see the Blue-White Game at the end of Spring Ball this year as it was evident that the offensive players still needed a few practices under their belt to go toe to toe with the defense.  On the other hand, the Bulldogs will have this week to clean up the mental mistakes and focus on an Ivy League repeat in the fall.

In other news, Yale Lacrosse defeated #2 Albany 14-6 yesterday.

Head out to the Yale Bowl this weekend to catch a glimpse of the core of next season’s squad.  The game will begin at 1 PM and will last until roughly 3 PM or so.  After the game, be sure to stick around for the Ivy League Championship Ring Ceremony and a Yale football BBQ.  The weather looks like it will be mostly cloudy with a high of 53.

The celebration of Tom Beckett’s career will take place on April 24th.

Former 49er, Al Netter, has become the next offensive line coach at Yale.  Netter started 52 games at Northwestern before entering the NFL and playing for 3 seasons under Coach Jim Harbaugh.  Netter followed Harbaugh to Michigan where he was a Graduate Assistant for the last two seasons.    As many have pointed out, Sterling Strother will be given a chance to move to left tackle with Cepalia getting snaps at center.

The Blue White Game is scheduled for April 21st at 1 PM.  There will be three additional practices after the Spring Game to allow the players to put the finishing touches on a successful offseason.

Oplinger dominated his Pro Day at Yale measuring 6’2″, 250 lbs, and running a 4.75 40 yard dash.  Seven NFL teams were in attendance and several scouts commented on his impressive work in the drills.  Foye Oluokun is reportedly drawing early interest from the Falcons, Broncos and 49ers after his eye-opening Pro Day performance.

Yale lacrosse is ranked #6 in the nation coming off a tough overtime loss to Bucknell over the weekend.