FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Nescacman]

Here's the roster for Bowdoin. The roster looks to include something like 85 players. A few members of the class of 2021 are returning for their final season of eligibility, including TE Bo Millett and QB Griff Stalcup . .

Thanks Silver...still some missing rosters....

As far as the Polars are concerned, after all of the hoopla on this board re: HCOF MC Hammer's Midwest recruiting prowess, we only count 4 players from the Midwest (about 5% of their roster)....

We like the soph QB Boel from Bergen Catholic and think he will the starter...a bit under-sized but he will give the Polars something they have lacked at the position...a playmaker who can take-off and run after the Polar OL pass protection breaks down...

Best name on the roster...Axel ("Tank") Romell from Sweden (of all places)...

[BigKat]

Awesome Nescacman- looking forward to your weekly picks, previews and rankings! Also, totally agree on your point re SID depts' lack of roster posting. Hopefully most of them are posted this week. Seems like the Ephs are always the worst offenders btw.

[Hawk196]

  So 6 days before kick off we get this bull**** notification....see below


Tailgating
Tailgating policies have just been confirmed by Tufts, and as of now gatherings before and after the games will not be permitted. These guidelines may evolve over the course of the season, and we will monitor those developments and communicate any changes in the University's policies.  As you know, the safety and health of spectators and players will be the priority of Tufts and the Athletic Dept in all considerations. You can view the information on Tufts' visitor guidelines at https://www.gotuftsjumbos.com/general_news/2021-22/spectator_guidelines The guidelines also state that masks are not required outdoors for vaccinated spectators, and those non-vaccinated are requested to wear masks outdoors when social distancing cannot be maintained.

We will also track the policies established by the other NESCAC colleges and will share appropriate information with families before each away game. 

Really, really disappointing! My wife is ______ she bought the "circus tent" for tailgating, had custom vinyl Tufts signs for it, butane burners, 100qt cooler and the feast she was planning and cooking....Chili, beef stew, home made calzones, pasta & meatballs, specialty drinks, etc.....

What a bunch of crap....

but get this, we can find a bar to gather 2 hours before kick off. You know enclosed, close proximity to each other, Other people (vaxxed or not??), possibly get the vid from a bar patron and bring it to the game with me OR outdoor in clean, crisp air with plenty of distance between tailgaters.....you know the people they insisted on being vaxxed

There will be a way whether at the aforementioned bar or off  campus near the stadium, this IS a ridiculous rule!!

Now to the trinity people....is there an area (non-campus) near the stadium where we can set up? Or is there a bar close by?

[Nescacman]

So 6 days before kick off we get this bull**** notification....see below


Tailgating
Tailgating policies have just been confirmed by Tufts, and as of now gatherings before and after the games will not be permitted. These guidelines may evolve over the course of the season, and we will monitor those developments and communicate any changes in the University's policies.  As you know, the safety and health of spectators and players will be the priority of Tufts and the Athletic Dept in all considerations. You can view the information on Tufts' visitor guidelines at https://www.gotuftsjumbos.com/general_news/2021-22/spectator_guidelines The guidelines also state that masks are not required outdoors for vaccinated spectators, and those non-vaccinated are requested to wear masks outdoors when social distancing cannot be maintained.

We will also track the policies established by the other NESCAC colleges and will share appropriate information with families before each away game. 

Really, really disappointing! My wife is ______ she bought the "circus tent" for tailgating, had custom vinyl Tufts signs for it, butane burners, 100qt cooler and the feast she was planning and cooking....Chili, beef stew, home made calzones, pasta & meatballs, specialty drinks, etc.....

What a bunch of crap....

but get this, we can find a bar to gather 2 hours before kick off. You know enclosed, close proximity to each other, Other people (vaxxed or not??), possibly get the vid from a bar patron and bring it to the game with me OR outdoor in clean, crisp air with plenty of distance between tailgaters.....you know the people they insisted on being vaxxed

There will be a way whether at the aforementioned bar or off  campus near the stadium, this IS a ridiculous rule!!

Now to the trinity people....is there an area (non-campus) near the stadium where we can set up? Or is there a bar close by?

Hawk, we would say the safest, closest location to Hartford State for tailgating in 2021 is probably Middletown...

Seriously, in our opinion, Hartford State, even in a non-COVID year, is by far the WORST tailgating spot in the NESCAC...Limited parking, hard to find, and too far from the field to have our half-time beverage/smoke and get back in time for the second half action to start...although the TURDUCKEN is always good...wish they would fix the TGing situation...

[VoodooDoc]

Nescacman you have been giving too much credit to Lumbercat's insight into Bowdoin when he seems to have some grudge against Coach Hammer.  At Allegheny and at Wabash, he was very successful in recruiting players from not only nearby, i.e., the Midwest, but from the Sunbelt as well.  He had several All Conference Players from Florida, and Arizona, and an All American from Arizona.  I counted the number of players on the Bowdoin roster from the Midwest and the Sunbelt that have been recruited in this and last year by the current staff are 11.  The key of course is, whether they come from New England, Sweden, or elsewhere , can they make an impact.  At Allegheny, Coach Hammer recruited a wide receiver from Miami who was slightly undersized, but ran a 4.2 forty and had great hands.  An inch taller and he would have been playing in the SEC or ACC and was looked at by several CFL teams.  In Division 3, a couple of high impact players on a team can make a big difference.

[Nescacman]

Nescacman you have been giving too much credit to Lumbercat's insight into Bowdoin when he seems to have some grudge against Coach Hammer.  At Allegheny and at Wabash, he was very successful in recruiting players from not only nearby, i.e., the Midwest, but from the Sunbelt as well.  He had several All Conference Players from Florida, and Arizona, and an All American from Arizona.  I counted the number of players on the Bowdoin roster from the Midwest and the Sunbelt that have been recruited in this and last year by the current staff are 11.  The key of course is, whether they come from New England, Sweden, or elsewhere , can they make an impact.  At Allegheny, Coach Hammer recruited a wide receiver from Miami who was slightly undersized, but ran a 4.2 forty and had great hands.  An inch taller and he would have been playing in the SEC or ACC and was looked at by several CFL teams.  In Division 3, a couple of high impact players on a team can make a big difference.

We hear ya Voodoo...of course Bowdoin is NOTHING like Wabash or Allegheny so we are all completely comparing apples and oranges...Bowdoin has destroyed other HCOF coaching careers and we see no reason why it will be any different this time around...we're from Missouri big-time on this one...btw, sometimes we are tongue-in-cheek!!!

[bantamweight]

Any preseason previews out there?

[Hawk196]

Possible location for Trinity tailgate. Using google maps I see a montessori school on Broad st. across from the football field/tennis cts. With it being a Saturday I wonder if this would be a good location to set up. Thoughts??

[The Mole]

On the D3 Football podcast released today, Pat put Greg Thomas "on the spot" and asked him to pick the winners of each NESCAC opener. His picks were as follows:

Amherst over Bates
Wesleyan over Colby
Hamilton over Bowdoin
Trinity over Tufts
Middlebury over Williams

Not a preview, but good to get some publicity. Keep an eye on The Noontime Sports Podcast (Matt Noonan). Wheaton (MA) grad who does a great job covering New England Sports. He interviewed Dice a week or two ago and gives a lot of coverage to NESCAC CCC NEWMAC MASCAC and ECFC teams with interviews and commentary. He will certainly be putting something out this week.

here is a link to his site: https://noontimesports.com/

Game Week, gotta love it

Any preseason previews out there?

[jumpshot]

EPHS #1 U.S. News rankings 15th consecutive year, combined with 22 of 24 Directors' Cups. Comments to me by several of my Amherst friends regarding the mammoths' disarray are similar to the remarks expressed here recently by amH63 and JEFFFAN seeking change that is overdue.

[amh63]

Got a BIG smile (on my face presently!  Today...prez Biddy of Amherst announced to everyone that this will be her last year as Prez.  She will return to teach after a sabbatical year.  Note that Amherst is near the end of its campaign for Money...620plus million.  Trustee chairman announced that Amherst has presently a 3.7 Billion working endownment.  Williams and Amherst both have the largest endowments in the Nescac...both in the top 40 of colleges /universities as of fy2020.  Biddy's tenure as prez will be the longest in 50 years.
Now back to sports...football.  Not much going on publicly...though improvements to facilities continuing and coach hiring has stopped.  Fingers crossed wrt to Homecoming rules to tailgating, weather..traveling weather...etc.

[nescac1]

A fair amount of news in the first Williams College Football show of the year:

Offense seems, as expected, loaded at skill positions ... Maimaron back at QB of course and Vaughn and Nicholas at TB, as expected.  WR has some turnover but I think a lot of talent, starting with Frank Stola, of course.  Justin Nelson is not back, but veterans Paul Harshbarger, Michael DeGasperis, Ethan McCullough and Will Loffredo will provide a ton of veteran depth.  DeGasperis and Loffredo both last played as frosh in 2018 but could be be interesting players.  DGasperis was very productive as s first-year and Loffredo is just a huge physical presence and looked to me like he could be a big-time player in the mold of Amherst's star receiver from last year before he got injured very early in his first year.  Lots of rust to shake off, of course.  Not a tremendously speedy group, but along with big and talented tight ends Spiezio and Burke, the Ephs will be be able to put a huge group of receiving targets out there (counting Stola who while not big can beat anyone one-on-one for jump balls) that could be very hard to match up against especially for teams with smaller DBs. 

The offensive line is more of a question mark after losing a lot of talent (Zapf, Subjinski, and Pruss).  The offensive linemen mentioned were Pat Watson, John Freeman, Xander Utecht, John Rooney and Tallon Garelli.  Watson and Freeman definitely need to stay healthy this year.  Interestingly, Rooney is being moved to guard so I imagine a young guy will be starting at center.  The Ephs have brought in some really interesting G/C types over the past few years, so I imagine it may fall to an underclassman. 

Three guys are fighting for the HB role vacated by Kyle Horihan, who is a beast and who will be tough to replace (assuming the Ephs utilize an HB as much given how stacked they are at TE and in the backfield).  Horihan is training to be a Navy Seal, which is not remotely surprising given the way he played on the field, just an absolute bad-ass. 

Defensively, three of the DB starters are guys who started part or all of last year, Wax and Giandomenico at CB and Michalik at CB.  A few veterans are battling for the last safety spot.  The Ephs will have a very small group of DBs (all five guys mentioned are 5'11 and below) so big receivers like Girard and Simco may cause problems.  The Ephs haven't had an all-league CB in I think something like a decade, maybe this will be the year to break that streak with a pair of tested vets, but it hasn't traditionally been a position of major strength for the Ephs. 

LB is clearly the strength of the team with all-leaguers Wesner and Rothmann along with Coleston Smith and Ed Manzella all returning.  Just a fantastic starting unit and there should be really good depth behind them based on some of the recruits over the past few years.  DL hasn't really had a major impact guy in awhile, Ian Devine could well be that guy this year, but besides him it does seem like a bunch of guys in contention for playing time. 

Special teams should be a real strength with Stola (presumably) returning as the primary punt returner and Andrew Schreibstein returning as punter.  Sounds like frosh Ivan Shuran will be the place kicker, he must be quite good because Schreibstein was better than solid in that role. 

Overall, the Ephs clearly have an unbelievable group of offensive skill guys and linebackers, and a solid veteran defensive backfield, plus should have great special teams.  The only real question marks are up front on both sides of the ball, where they are some key vacancies to fill and some guys shifting around and where maybe we see some young guys get a shot.  If the Ephs can control the line of scrimmage reasonably well on both sides, they should be very well positioned with all the talent elsewhere. 

[Charlie]

I heard from a crrent player at Williams that they are going to forgo the Tailgating rules in effect. This will bode well for the big game against Middlebury

[lumbercat]

Nescacman you have been giving too much credit to Lumbercat's insight into Bowdoin when he seems to have some grudge against Coach Hammer.  At Allegheny and at Wabash, he was very successful in recruiting players from not only nearby, i.e., the Midwest, but from the Sunbelt as well.  He had several All Conference Players from Florida, and Arizona, and an All American from Arizona.  I counted the number of players on the Bowdoin roster from the Midwest and the Sunbelt that have been recruited in this and last year by the current staff are 11.  The key of course is, whether they come from New England, Sweden, or elsewhere , can they make an impact.  At Allegheny, Coach Hammer recruited a wide receiver from Miami who was slightly undersized, but ran a 4.2 forty and had great hands.  An inch taller and he would have been playing in the SEC or ACC and was looked at by several CFL teams.  In Division 3, a couple of high impact players on a team can make a big difference.

Voodoo doctor-

If you insist on continuing to operate on the assumption that recruiting at Wabash and Allegheny is the same as Bowdoin you're delusional. Its apples and oranges as Nescacman says.

Bowdoin admission rate is something like 12%. Admission rate at Allegheny and Wabash are 63% and 65%.

Do you think recruiting is the same at Notre Dame, Duke or Stanford as it is at Central Florida or Louisiana Lafayette?

[Nescacman]

On the D3 Football podcast released today, Pat put Greg Thomas "on the spot" and asked him to pick the winners of each NESCAC opener. His picks were as follows:

Amherst over Bates
Wesleyan over Colby
Hamilton over Bowdoin
Trinity over Tufts
Middlebury over Williams

Not a preview, but good to get some publicity. Keep an eye on The Noontime Sports Podcast (Matt Noonan). Wheaton (MA) grad who does a great job covering New England Sports. He interviewed Dice a week or two ago and gives a lot of coverage to NESCAC CCC NEWMAC MASCAC and ECFC teams with interviews and commentary. He will certainly be putting something out this week.

here is a link to his site: https://noontimesports.com/

Game Week, gotta love it

Any preseason previews out there?

Some really bold picks there by "Greg Thomas"....really going out on a limb....

We continue to believe Noontime is an overrated, hack, NARP who has no clue....if you don't know what a NARP is, Google it....