FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[nescac1]

Another great article on Steve Hauschka, focusing primarily on his time at Middlebury:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/11066799/seattle-seahawks-kicker-steven-hauschka-long-road-middlebury-college-super-bowl-xlviii

[amh63]

Nescac1.....thanks for posting the story link.  I had pointed out to Vandy on another board the Amherst and Middlebury family link.  On this weekend when Williams holds it Alumni Reunions...I learned about the linkage in a reunion remark by the father who had his 50th this year.  I remember his father but do not remember him to be the height cited in the story.  Maybe because I was "taller" back then.

[meguloki]

Does anyone have a rundown on some of the new recruits that are coming into the NESCAC schools? What schools did well?  Any freshman have a chance at making some noise this year?

[amh63]

Meg....Welcome aboard
There are some posts wrt to recruits on earlier posts/pages.  However, it will be in the Fall when rosters are posted when one clearly finds out about the recruits for each school.
With respect to your basic question on any impact freshmen players.....always...around the league.

[Jonny Utah]

The Herald posted the rosters of the Agganis football game and there are a few NESCAC guys:

http://bostonherald.com/sports/high_school/high_school_insider/2014/06/football_agganis_football_rosters

(Actually there are a lot of D3 guys on this list, but I don't think all of them are playing football)

Ian Dickey Hamilton Wenham DB 6-0 170 Colby College
Kent Blaser St. John's Prep DL 6-0 280 Williams
Sean Lovett St. John's Prep OL 6-4 230 Bates
Brian Daly Marblehead WR 6-0 160 Bates
Matthew Kramich Lynnfield High DB 5-10 180 Tufts

There is also the Shriners game as well:

[nescac1]

Nice article on Taysean Scott, last year's top Eph first-year, who will be representing the U.S.A. in Kuwait this summer:

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-06-20/sports/bs-sp-taysean-scott-usa-football-0621-20140620_1_taysean-scott-football-field-kuwait

[NothingButNESCAC]

Post up this week that some of you might find interesting. Talks about summer camps and their relation to the recruiting process. Really drawn from personal experience so I understand if there are different feelings out there about camps.

http://nothingbutnescac.com/2014/07/08/football-recruiting-summer-camps/

On a separate note, very excited for the fall. It's not too far away.

[nescac1]

A name to keep an eye out on for Williams next year, Austin Lommen, a QB who transferred to the school from Boston College, where he was a walk-on who did not play.  Lommen was recruited out of high school by Harvard, BC, Iowa, and Stanford, although unclear if any of them offered him a spot beyond a preferred walk-on level.  He was a high school teammate of rising Eph senior Steven Kiesel, who was second on the Ephs in receptions last year.  Perhaps Lommen (if he wins the job, there are several other candidates) can provide a boost to Williams' anemic passing attack; it certainly helps that he would at least have chemistry with one receiver on the roster.  He should have at least three years of eligibility, although I'm not sure whether he enters Williams as a sophomore or junior since he is now several years out of high school.  Despite the loss of several good receivers, the Ephs have plenty of talented guys who can make plays in the passing attack in Kiesel, Darrias Sime, Alex Way and Lewis Hayes -- but they need the OL to provide more time to throw than last season, and a guy to emerge who can hit guys in stride deep down the field.  Between Lommen, the two returning QBs who started some games last season, and any incoming frosh, should be an interesting pre-season battle at the position. 

[amh63]

Been trying to upgrade my understanding of soccer...the other"football"..recently via friends, watching and reading about the World Cup games.  Alas, I remain in the group that includes my older brother that lives in Alabama and is a "Roll Tide" fan.
NothingButnescac....read your blog wrt to camps...enjoyed it enough to look up several conferece schools to see what camps are available.   Surprised to see that Amherst has the only contact football camp...overnIght and more than one day, etc.   Williams reports a speciality instruction daily type camp.  Did not look hard at the websites of others...truth be known and there seemed to be few other contact football camps in New England.  How does this compare with your sources?
Other than the football/sports rise at Wesleyan...I believe the conference battles will prove to be most interesting this Fall.
Several random thoughts and bits of info to consider before practice starts.
Wesleyan has initiated a major Capital Campaign.  Expect Sports to lead the way.  Would not be surprised to see some sort of permanent field lights be added to the football field soon....since both Williams and Amherst will have such lights this Fall.  The daughter of the offensive coordinator for the Cardinals...a Williams grad...has been added to the athletic staff.
The new Hamilton coach has installed new offensive and defensive coordinators.  Both were assistants for him at AU.  Assistants kept are ones that were involved with recruiting...including the former offensive coordinator.  Should be interesting times in Clinton.

[Trin9-0]

The Cards recruiting efforts are beginning to mirror or possibly surpass Trinity's "creative" approach to
NESCAC Recruiting.

They (Trinity) are still the program that totally empties the bucket and pushes the recruiting envelope the hardest.

...could the Bants be stretching things even further in their recruiting efforts?

It's a tough deal at Trinity when they bring a kid who looks like someone who will have impact on the program only to sit on the pine and sometimes leave the program as their recruiting arms race escalates further each year.

I always thought that there are many recruits who fail at Trinity who could have a fine career at other NESCAC schools.

There might be kids sitting in dorms at Trinity who could be playing at a number of other NESCAC schools......too bad for some of the kids......maybe they "over recruit"

These are some pretty strong views regarding Trinity's recruiting policies Lumbercat.  Are you insinuating foul play on the part of the Bantam coaching staff/athletic department or is it your belief that the Trinity admissions department is accepting students who are unqualified to attend Trin?

Regarding your comments on over-recruiting, I agree that there probably are players who don't end up on the Bantam roster who could play at other NESCAC schools (we used to joke that the Trinity intramural champs would beat Hamilton and Bates). However, with 75 player roster limits there's more than enough talent to go around the NESCAC.   

Should Trinity not recruit great players because they already have other great players? If the coaches think a kid can play and handle the academics then they'll recruit them. After a student athlete decides where to attend, it's up to them to put themselves in a position to succeed. Having attended and spoken at many Trin recruiting dinners, I know that nothing is promised to recruits. They are told up front that if they come to Trinity they may not play right away, or at all.

But they also tell recruits that every Trinity football player since 2000 who has put in four years of hard work on the field and in the classroom has left the program with, at least, one NESCAC championship ring.

[banfan]

I was surprised at Lumbercats post too.

A little strong. A little left unsaid.

Amherst always seems to have good teams and sends the occasional baseball player to the pros. Don't hear a lot about their recruiting.

[frank uible]

In Jim Ostendarp's term as HFC Amherst sent four of its football players to the NFL - in no particular order Scott, Fugett, Clancy and Swift.

[FourMoreYears]

I was surprised at Lumbercats post too.

A little strong. A little left unsaid.

Amherst always seems to have good teams and sends the occasional baseball player to the pros. Don't hear a lot about their recruiting.

Due to the success of Trinity's football program, it is natural there will be some that question the role that admissions plays in the process.  Perhaps I can offer an objective observation as a parent who has one child that benefited from a tip/slot at Trinity (non-football sport) and another child that benefited from a tip/slot at Bowdoin (football):

The admissions standards at Trinity are lower than at Bowdoin.  I'm not passing judgment on this ... nor would I want Trinity to tighten their standards nor more than I would want Bowdoin to loosen their standards.  They are two different schools ... two most excellent schools in their own way.  I am equally proud of both my kids for gaining acceptance to the school of their choosing.  They just chose different schools for different reasons.  My Trinity son probably would not have gotten into Bowdoin if he had wanted to go there.  My Bowdoin son would have gotten into Trinity but he probably wouldn't have earned as much playing time on the gridiron due to the relative strengths of the teams.  Life's a great balancing act folks ...

It is my opinion that Trinity has an advantage in the arena of football recruiting over Bowdoin (besides the very obvious fact that they have  strong tradition of winning whereas Bowdoin does not) because their potential pool is larger due to lower admissions standards.  That's not a bashing of Trinity at all, I just believe it to be a fact of life.  Trinity has nothing to apologize for ... it's not like they are some second-rate academic school. 

Hopefully all of this makes sense, and comes across the way it is intended: observations from a dad who has kids at both schools and couldn't be more proud of that.

[amh63]

FourMoreYears....well said...I find your comments both honest and straight forward!  Plus K.
I have mentioned here over the years of close classmates/friends that have children that have gone to different conference schools...I.e.  Amherst, Trinity, Tufts, Bowdoin, etc.  Some were bitter initially that Amherst could not find a place for their sons but in the long road in life, it all worked out. It often comes down to realizing that our children are different.  A late Amherst President, an alum, put it best when he related stories about his children's college experiences.  College heads find it best to send their children elsewhere.  He told the story that after one child's excelling, he had another that found that his sophomore year was the best two years of his college years.
It should be noted again that Amherst and Trinity this decade have found brothers playing against each other on the football field.  First, there were the Bunker brothers...both RB stars and captains.  This season will find the Ragone brothers starring on the offensive side again. They will be joined by the Spears brothers.  The older Spears is a defensive talent at Amherst, while the FY Spears at Trinity will play WR.  Amherst and Trinity are different schools in both atmosphere and location but have the common history of fine football programs.

[Trin9-0]

FourMore, I couldn't agree with you more. All the NESCAC schools offer a tremendous education and different strengths and weaknesses. Any recruit choosing between one or the other should focus on deciding which is the right fit for them.

I think most reasonable people would understand that Trinity has an advantage in occasionally being able to recruit athletes who may not be accepted at some NESCAC schools. However, they also find themselves at a disadvantage when rival schools tout their relative superiority regarding academic reputation. Additionally, the NESCAC schools with endowments much larger than Trinity's can offer more competitive financial aid packages to prospective students.

I questioned whether Lumbercat was insinuating foul play on the part of Trinity or if he was merely stating the obvious that different schools have different admissions standards. To me, his sentiment indicated he believes the former.

It would be unjust to assume Trinity's dominance of the NESCAC the past 12 years was due to illegal recruiting practices.