FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[NothingButNESCAC]

Clearly I do not know how to work the quotes on this board!

@NothingButNESCAC thanks for another great season preview! Let me echo the sentiment that you guys should "go pro" at some venue like ESPN and the hope that you are grooming replacements.
A quick question- is the Patricia you mentioned on the Midd team any relation to the former Amherst Assistant Coach and present Patriots defensive coordinator? It is an unusual surname.

Not to our knowledge but we don't know for sure. Will try to figure that out for you.

[amh63]

Guys/ladies....there is a nice New England football game....d3....on tonight!  Poked around on D 3 Football.com.  MIT vs WPI at 7 tonight...video.  May catch a bit of the  Engineer Bowl...my label though I prefer the Nerd Bowl.  I do not qualify as a nerd...even with several grad degrees from MIT...not tech savy enough among other limitations.

Saw that Bates has put up its Pre-season Roster...Including the Class of 2019 players..way to go!
Bold move, IMO.  See that only 73 players listed.  Any comments here from the Bobcat fans.  Yes I am aware that it is the quality of the players.  Do expect a battle in Maine on the 26th.
Bowdoin also has its preseason roster up....no freshmen listed....59 players listed.  Bowdoin has had its Convocation...so school has started.  Any comments from Polar Bear fans?  I feel that Bates has won round one in the CBB.  I know, I have not mention Colby yet...being worn down presently keeping up with granddaughter in the house...heading up to Ithaca on Friday.  Hey, maybe a game in the area.  skipping the State Fair in Syracuse.

[fulbakdad]

sorry to disappoint, but those games are tomorrow night, not tonight.  Don't know why d3football has the wrong date on the front page!

[PolarCat]

amh63, I think we should start a petition to have your alma mater give you an Honorary Doctor of Nerdology at your next reunion.  I am sure they'll agree to do so if you agree to stroke a big enough check.

This year's Bates pre-season roster is similar to last year's in being under the 75 man limit.  Those with a negative outlook could say that there isn't enough competition for roster spots.  I prefer to think of it as the coaches not selling 50 HS seniors on the dream of playing college ball, knowing full well that half or more won't make the team.  (I will get some -K's for that comment from some Trinity dads, but that's okay).

Not sure how many 2019's Wells recruited (there was a mysterious post on their Twitter feed yesterday that they'd just secured a big addition - not sure if that was Tevin Montgomery or another transfer).  My guess is Wells is just playing some mind games, telling his players that they may not be assured of a roster slot.

As for Colby: their webmaster / SID is even less nerdy than you are, and their website is always a mess.  Maybe that will improve when they graduate from using DOS computers.

My son tells me he expects Bates to scrimmage the Mules in Waterville on Saturday September 19th.  I will post confirmation and scrimmage time when I have it.

Bates required all first years who are not varsity athletes to go on a freshman trip this year, which forced some changes to the normal schedule.  The ritual "Annual Testing Day" in the weight room was only for the '16's, '17's and '18's this year.  The '19's will be tested later.  A real shame as this is a great right of passage / bonding experience.

(BTW that loud noise we all heard at noon time wasn't a sonic boom from an asteroid.  It was the sound of 500,000 Patriots haters' heads simultaneously exploding when Judge Berman freed Brady.  Tonight's Pats / Giants game should be fun.)

[polbear73]

PolarCat: Thanks for the  post and I wish I could add more about Bowdoin; normally keeping things to the vest, the news out of Brunswick has been even more non-existent, if possible.  Aside from the Tevin Montgomery transfer, there has only been vague references to a small but quality filled recruiting class. Hints were made of a more geographically diverse class as well, but we won't know for sure until they post the roster, usually a few days before the opener.  I think your suspicion of mind games is accurate. 

[RetiredMule]

Polcat - sadly I do not even know if Colby has DOS yet.  The web design and updating has always been abysmal.  As to the point of freshman trips, Colby has had COOT (Colby Outdoor Orientation Trips) for about 25 years now.  The good and bad of them is that all incoming freshmen must go on them, or if they choose to skip they cannot participate in practices.  It is good for the kids because they meet a group of piers who don't play football, but they do miss two practices.  And they always miss the first padded practices.  This means that the kids leave in helmets and come back to full pads.  It really puts them behind the 8 ball in terms of learning systems and getting their feet wet.  Best thing I can recommend to those kids is to take their playbooks on the trip and ask the coaches what the install will be when they're gone.  Sucks to study on vacation; sucks worse to get your ass kicked repeatedly because you don't know what's going on.

[Eagle322]

Bates required all first years who are not varsity athletes to go on a freshman trip this year, which forced some changes to the normal schedule.  The ritual "Annual Testing Day" in the weight room was only for the '16's, '17's and '18's this year.  The '19's will be tested later.  A real shame as this is a great right of passage / bonding experience.

Freshmen only missed that one lifting/testing session, possibly in favor of other orientation activities, but they did not go on the AESOP trips that the rest of the class goes on. This actually falls in line with the preference of the lifting coach who would rather see the FYs learn the lifting program over time rather than have them throwing weight up the first day of camp, with no regard for form and simply looking impress new teammates and coaches...

Can confirm they were on campus yesterday and are currently in the midst of their first live one-on-one sessions of the season. Keep an eye on the DL and DB's in the Bates 2019 class. They will need someone to step up at corner with very few on the roster and word out of Lewiston is there are some young studs in the defensive backfield who will see tons of time this year and have potential to be impact players.

[Pat Coleman]

sorry to disappoint, but those games are tomorrow night, not tonight.  Don't know why d3football has the wrong date on the front page!

We don't have the wrong date, fulbakdad. There are games tonight -- WPI-MIT isn't one of them.

[lumbercat]

Eagle 22
Believe your observations are right on. Bates recruiting class is heavily weighted toward DBs and LBs which is where they needed to fill some holes. Coach Harriman loves athletic linebackers in his defensive set and has had much success in occasionally going with undersized Lbs who can play. It's not always a beauty contest in the NESCAC.
The guy in the trenches running the Bates Defense is Chris Kempton. This is a guy who recruits and runs the Bates D. Usually undersized, the Bates defense will let opponents know they better strap it on game day. Kempton has done a fantastic job with the Bates defense and that will continue this year.

[Jonny Utah]

Eagle 22
Believe your observations are right on. Bates recruiting class is heavily weighted toward DBs and LBs which is where they needed to fill some holes. Coach Harriman loves athletic linebackers in his defensive set and has had much success in occasionally going with undersized Lbs who can play. It's not always a beauty contest in the NESCAC.
The guy in the trenches running the Bates Defense is Chris Kempton. This is a guy who recruits and runs the Bates D. Usually undersized, the Bates defense will let opponents know they better strap it on game day. Kempton has done a fantastic job with the Bates defense and that will continue this year.

I've been talking to few prep school kids recently, and have gotten the impression that these kids choose nescac schools, and not the other way around.  I met a kid who was at Tilton Academy in NH, who told me had had full rides to Holy Cross and another school, but that his dream was to go to Bates.  Now that might be rare, but I think a lot of these kids visit these schools and simply pick them rather than the other way around.

[PolarCat]

He's obviously a very intelligent young lad.  I look forward to seeing him in Garnet.   

[lumbercat]

Jonny-
I agree that in many cases the kids aspire to attend a certain NESCAC school. However I think that scenario is most prevalent in the New England prep school circuit where the faculty and coaching staffs at these schools make their students aware of the NESCAC and strongly encourage matriculation to the prestigious CAC. It's a feather in their cap when they "place" one of their kids at a Nescac  school. This networking connection has been in place for many years. This scenario has been in place forever at Amherst and Williams which are the Harvard and Yale of the Nescac.

However recruiting continues to be a very important aspect in building a successful NESCAC program, more important than ever. In recent years we see more recruits from California, Florida, Texas etc.....
I would bet that many of those kids never heard of the Nescac until they were recruited. Nescac coaches are traveling across the country attending camps and recruiting hard. If you don't recruit aggressively in today's Nescac you won't be successful.

[NewtoNescac]

For anyone interested in the status of Middlebury's Joe Early, Brunswick was one of the few opportunities that would have caused him to leave Middlebury. I was very happy to hear he was very happy with his new situation. He's a really good guy.

[polbear73]

Brunswick sends quite a few players to NESCAC, primarily Middlebury, Hamilton, Williams and Amherst.  I would imagine that Early's presence will enhance and continue that pipeline, particularly to Middlebury. 

[NED3Guy]

A few years ago I heard a NESCAC coach say that about 75% of the west coast kids playing at NESCAC schools were met for the first time while attending IVY camps...not sure how true it it, but that statement has always stuck in my mind as I see the make up of some of the NESCAC rosters in recent years.