FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Charlie]

MISERABLE: 1st and 2nd in Offense PPG 1st and 3rd in Defensive PPG, 2nd and 3rd in Offensive yards per game, 1st and 2nd in Defensive YPG, 2nd and 3rd in Rush YPG, 1st and 2nd in Defensive rushing YPG, 2nd and 4th in Offensive Passing YPG, Combined 12 sacks against versus 26 sacks for.

PURPLE POWERS: 7th and 10th Offensive PPG, 6th and 8th in Defensive PPG, 6th and 9th in Total Offense YPG, 7th and 10th in Offesnove Passing YPG

So I heard Williams RB Fishetti is out for season. Can someone explain the conflicting information on Medical red shirt. I first heard that once season started that if you were not on Medical red shirt you loose the season and it counts against eligibility. Then I heard if you have not played in 30 % of the games you are eligible for the medical red shirt.

I also heard that if you are freshman or Sophomore that get hurt in practice and does not play in games regardless of time of season are you eligible. I am surprised NESCAC dos not have the rules on display.

Still have not figured out quote system

We are roughly at mid point of season technically. Would this mean that he would be able to Medically red shirt. Who has the correct information and is this also any type of coaches decision ? 

[Nescacman]

Nescacman:
we've spoken to several HCOFs who recruited current LM student athletes.......




WE DOUBT IT

Lumber, don't underestimate the reach of NESCACMAN...several boardsters can verify our connectivity throughout the 'CAC...

No underestimation here NM. I say you didn't speak to several NESCAC Head Coaches about Amherst recruits.
I enjoy your stuff and your contributions to this board but sometimes you can get into a little BS. Just reining you in on this one.

100% incorrect Lumber but you can believe what you want to....our friend Mole can support us on this one...

[Nescacman]

Oops, my bad.  Sorry.

I'm not sure why you're apologizing, Cuz.  Everybody knows that teams ranked in a tie are listed alphabetically but it seems that knowing one' A,B,C's is not required for admission to Wesleyan.  Btw, which class at MC were you in, again
?

Wesleyan listed first in honor of John Wesley, the founder of the University...J before M...

Well, if you want to get technical.   Middhoops and I knew John Wesley as a well-liked chemistry and physics teacher from our high school days.  He was the same denomination as your guy, but probably of a different flock.   Impressive bit of name dropping there, N-man.  +K!

Not to get too nitpicky on our acclaimed Nescacman, but the University was clearly not founded by John Wesley (the famed theologian and leader of Methodism), as the man died 40 years before the school's founding. Rather, Wesleyan University was the first institution of higher education to be named in honor of John Wesley. I should know—I am his specter.

A real concern for Wes in the next three weeks is looking too far ahead. It could happen as early as this weekend, of course, but more likely would be coming out flat in one of the Little Three contests and dropping a game to a fired up rival who has nothing to lose. Wes has loads of talent, of course, but the league has known they are beatable since week 2. I worry that they look ahead to the Week 9 match up in Hartford and then lose a close one to Williams. But I am admittedly the eternal skeptic (a product of my own time in Middletown). So essentially the proverbial Yin to Nescacman's Yang.

I would love to see Wes run the table, win the Little Three, and get at least a share of the conference title, but I understand there to be intangible, psychological elements to athletic rivalries that tend to bridge gaps and level playing fields, and Wes has three rivalry games remaining on the schedule.

Ghost...appreciate the point and of course, we were just having some "name" fun...using Wilbur Fisk, who was among the original founders of Wes (and our first President), clearly would not have done the trick...

As far as Wes looking past the next few weeks towards the HS game in week #9, our primary concern is this week...Bowdoin has some dangerous weapons in Eden, Boel and Fahey (if back from injury) and they always seem to play us tough up there (not unlike playing at Middlebury)....we think Wes had their wake-up call against Middlebury and they come out firing on all cylinders like they have the last 3 weeks...

Get past this week and we can talk about the games against Amhurst and the Purple Cows...we will say this about those games (and we know you clearly understand this), those are games against Little 3 rivals with a Little 3 title on the line and Wesleyan will be pumped up to play Amhurst on their homecoming with a chance to avenge last year's bad loss and then play Williams at home in front of a large homecoming crowd with a Little 3 title on the line and a shot to face Hartford State for the league title...Dice (and Whales before him), being a Williams alum, always has Wes up for that game....we are 7-1 in our last 8 games against the Purple Cows and have won the last 4 times we've played them in Middletown...bottom-line, no chance we look past Amhurst and Williams IOHO...

#rollcards 

[lumbercat]

Nescacman:
we've spoken to several HCOFs who recruited current LM student athletes.......




WE DOUBT IT

Lumber, don't underestimate the reach of NESCACMAN...several boardsters can verify our connectivity throughout the 'CAC...

No underestimation here NM. I say you didn't speak to several NESCAC Head Coaches about Amherst recruits.
I enjoy your stuff and your contributions to this board but sometimes you can get into a little BS. Just reining you in on this one.

100% incorrect Lumber but you can believe what you want to....our friend Mole can support us on this one...

I don't doubt that Mole would back you up on it but I still have it in the BS file.
Have a good weekend in Maine- go easy on the Black and White. Look forward to your prognostications.

[muleshoe]

Looking ahead to Saturday's slate, I think the GOTW will be in Clinton, where my Mules haven't won since 2015 

I was impressed with Colby's fast start in the 2nd half last week vs. Amherst, but the offense looked lackluster for most of the day and the defense was very much "bend but don't break"... Special teams was the big difference in my opinion with great punt returns from Nipon and solid kicking from Carr.

The Continentals will no doubt be riding high after knocking off Williams. Are they on the upswing, or are things spiraling in Williamstown?

[SpringSt7]

Nope - internet working fine, thanks for asking.   As with any team, if your team sucks there just isn't much interest - and my team sucks as does Williams!

Ditto on this front - unless anyone is interested on 1000 words each week about uninspired skill position play, trying to figure out why the OL can't block, and crooning over TJ Rothmann for the 78th time, I think we will be hiding over here until the d3hoops preseason top 25 comes out...only 4 weeks until Worcester St...

As an aside, the league title race is shaping to be potentially fascinating. Trinity vs. Wesleyan will be fascinating Week 9 and while both teams are miserable, they both have to navigate emotional and intense Williams and Amherst games in the weeks before that. Advantage Trinity as they get to play that game at the Coop and don't have to play all 3 in 3 straight weeks. Will be fun regardless

Spring old friend, we appreciate your sentiment...as far as "both teams are miserable", we assume you are referring to the Lord Mammoths and the Purple Cows, not Wes and Hartford State...

Correct, poor pronoun usage on my behalf. Appreciate the statistical comparisons between the two from Mole just to double check

[nescac1]

I'll be the latest Williams person to chime in by saying yes, of course, less enthusiastic to chat about this team than a winning team.  Of course - who isn't!  Also, I feel like Williams fans had a lot of emotional energy invested in last year's team led by Maimaron, Stola, Rothmann and the other fifth-year seniors, which came through in historic fashion and completed the 0-8 to 9-0 program turnaround.  Would I have rather had that team go 8-1 and this year's team 7-2 than how it played out?
Definitely not!  Personally, I'm even less invested with a loaded hoops team starting play in a few weeks.  All that being said, the Amherst-Williams game will still feel enormous and maybe even more stakes than usual since both will looking for a win to salvage a very rough season. 

No one thing has accounted for such a discouraging season this year: huge personnel and coaching losses in just one offseason, in particular a four-year starting QB around who the entire offense was built; underperformance by certain key players (maybe a bit relaxed coming off 9-0); lack of depth at certain positions (in part due to the fact that, yes, Williams brings in a lot fewer players per year - through no fault of Raymond! - than many of its peers, and this will be far more apparent next year when a huge senior class graduates); some questionable coaching moves; and plenty of bad luck after a year where Williams (like any undefeated team) had most of the breaks go its way (losing a starting QB, even one who was playing only so-so, as well as by far the best offensive skill position player who was having a dominant year, is not easy for any program, and the Tufts game could well have gone differently but for a 10-point swing on one fluky play). 

I will say for both Amherst and Williams fans, a down year, or even a down few years, is easier to get over consider that Trinity, Williams, Middlebury and Amherst - Trinity of course above all, but the others have had plenty of great seasons - have combined to dominate NESCAC football since basically 1990.  The 1990s were Williams' decade, with Trinity great in the early 90s and Amherst in the last 90s.  Since 2000, Williams has four solo championships, one shared championship, and four second-place finishes, notwithstanding the unmitigated disaster that was the Kelton era.  Amherst has four solo championships, two shared championships, and three second-place finishes.  Midd, two solo, one shared, and two second.  For all we hear about Wesleyan this year and every year, Wesleyan has one three-way tie for first, and finished second twice.  A lot of pressure on the Cards to bring home the title this year when their senior class is beyond loaded with 3-4 players, and most of those guys are not gonna be back next year. 

As for the future, there is no reason Williams can't return to the top half of the league fairly quickly (Amherst probably too, but I know less about the state of that program so won't comment).  Raymond is a heck of a football coach, this ain't Kelton 2.o.
The Ephs have among the best if not the best football traditions in the league (the Walk, Biggest Little Game, long history of sustained winning, great local fan base), arguably the best football facilities, the biggest endowment, and yes, Charlie, they do win most of the recruiting battles with other NESCAC schools, so long as admissions plays ball.  Williams will fairly soon be investing in an entirely new fieldhouse and other updated athletic facilities which, when it finally happens (long overdue) can only help.  This year the Ephs have a very nice bunch, already, of recruited players, many of whom turned down multiple NESCAC (and other prestigious) offers.  Raymond has a history of playing frosh early which hopefully will attract a few elite prospects like the Maimaron class who can help right away.

I definitely worry about admissions constraints but it's not like that is something new for Williams and perhaps this year's struggles will at least put some pressure on admissions to allow for more than 17-20 recruits per class, which is just not going to cut it, depth-wise; this incoming recruiting class is critical and the Ephs need help right away especially at the skill positions.  The other issue is that the Ephs have had a few too many high profile defections from the program in recent years, especially with so little margin for error on the roster.  A starting LT (as a frosh) and a top-tier LB recruit both left for D1 schools (only one to play football), and one of the top QBs on the roster also left the program, among a few others.  Hopefully these are just isolated cases, when you are bringing in 17, 18 guys, you can ill afford to lose any after just a year or two. 

[Charlie]

I'll be the latest Williams person to chime in by saying yes, of course, less enthusiastic to chat about this team than a winning team.  Of course - who isn't!  Also, I feel like Williams fans had a lot of emotional energy invested in last year's team led by Maimaron, Stola, Rothmann and the other fifth-year seniors, which came through in historic fashion and completed the 0-8 to 9-0 program turnaround.  Would I have rather had that team go 8-1 and this year's team 7-2 than how it played out?
Definitely not!  Personally, I'm even less invested with a loaded hoops team starting play in a few weeks.  All that being said, the Amherst-Williams game will still feel enormous and maybe even more stakes than usual since both will looking for a win to salvage a very rough season. 

No one thing has accounted for such a discouraging season this year: huge personnel and coaching losses in just one offseason, in particular a four-year starting QB around who the entire offense was built; underperformance by certain key players (maybe a bit relaxed coming off 9-0); lack of depth at certain positions (in part due to the fact that, yes, Williams brings in a lot fewer players per year - through no fault of Raymond! - than many of its peers, and this will be far more apparent next year when a huge senior class graduates); some questionable coaching moves; and plenty of bad luck after a year where Williams (like any undefeated team) had most of the breaks go its way (losing a starting QB, even one who was playing only so-so, as well as by far the best offensive skill position player who was having a dominant year, is not easy for any program, and the Tufts game could well have gone differently but for a 10-point swing on one fluky play). 

I will say for both Amherst and Williams fans, a down year, or even a down few years, is easier to get over consider that Trinity, Williams, Middlebury and Amherst - Trinity of course above all, but the others have had plenty of great seasons - have combined to dominate NESCAC football since basically 1990.  The 1990s were Williams' decade, with Trinity great in the early 90s and Amherst in the last 90s.  Since 2000, Williams has four solo championships, one shared championship, and four second-place finishes, notwithstanding the unmitigated disaster that was the Kelton era.  Amherst has four solo championships, two shared championships, and three second-place finishes.  Midd, two solo, one shared, and two second.  For all we hear about Wesleyan this year and every year, Wesleyan has one three-way tie for first, and finished second twice.  A lot of pressure on the Cards to bring home the title this year when their senior class is beyond loaded with 3-4 players, and most of those guys are not gonna be back next year. 

As for the future, there is no reason Williams can't return to the top half of the league fairly quickly (Amherst probably too, but I know less about the state of that program so won't comment).  Raymond is a heck of a football coach, this ain't Kelton 2.o.
The Ephs have among the best if not the best football traditions in the league (the Walk, Biggest Little Game, long history of sustained winning, great local fan base), arguably the best football facilities, the biggest endowment, and yes, Charlie, they do win most of the recruiting battles with other NESCAC schools, so long as admissions plays ball.  Williams will fairly soon be investing in an entirely new fieldhouse and other updated athletic facilities which, when it finally happens (long overdue) can only help.  This year the Ephs have a very nice bunch, already, of recruited players, many of whom turned down multiple NESCAC (and other prestigious) offers.  Raymond has a history of playing frosh early which hopefully will attract a few elite prospects like the Maimaron class who can help right away.

I definitely worry about admissions constraints but it's not like that is something new for Williams and perhaps this year's struggles will at least put some pressure on admissions to allow for more than 17-20 recruits per class, which is just not going to cut it, depth-wise; this incoming recruiting class is critical and the Ephs need help right away especially at the skill positions.  The other issue is that the Ephs have had a few too many high profile defections from the program in recent years, especially with so little margin for error on the roster.  A starting LT (as a frosh) and a top-tier LB recruit both left for D1 schools (only one to play football), and one of the top QBs on the roster also left the program, among a few others.  Hopefully these are just isolated cases, when you are bringing in 17, 18 guys, you can ill afford to lose any after just a year or two.

Well said I think you hit the on all points. Admissions and football must work together because the low numbers to not allow for misses in recruiting. I think getting RB back next year will help provided they give him the medical red shirt waiting for clrification from others on that or anyone on this board.

I dont think all hope is lost but definitely in rebuild mode.

[nescac1]

Fischetti is only a sophomore so regardless of red-shirt status he will have at least two years of eligibility remaining.  Hopefully he is 100 percent next year because, man, the special teams and offense both got a lot worse without him and the offense wasn't that dynamic to begin with. 

To follow up on my last post, here is the list public Williams recruits to date, including other NESCAC schools they have been offered by (per their own Twitter accounts).  I'm sure plenty of other schools were interested as well ... so it's not like Williams can't quickly bring in good recruits, even while having a down year.  The question is how many more will they be permitted to add, and how fast can some of them make an impact?  Assuming no attrition -- and you know there will be at least SOME -- Williams needs 23 frosh just to get to a pre-season roster of 75.  Anything less than that (and ideally something more like 25-27) would be a real problem, I'd say. 

Ethan Shames, 6'3, 280 C, Avon Old Farms (Amherst, Wesleyan)
Austin Bongo, 6'3, 215 ATH, Hull H.S. (Colby)
Will Robke, 6'3, 285 OL/DL, Barnstable (Wesleyan, Midd)
Brady Carroll, 6'2 185 QB/ATH, Sandwich (Midd)
Brian Ingram, 6'3, 290 OL/DL, Hun School (Midd)
Drew Renzella, 6'2, 200 QB, Williston (Hamilton)
Jack Barber, 6'5, 240 DE, Darien (Tufts, Colby, Bowdoin)
Christian Reavis, 6'1, 200 LB, Deerfield (Midd)
Nate Dlugos, 6'2 180 ATH, Greensburg Central Catholic (older brother plays for Amherst)
Jack Kennedy, 5'9 185, WR Cheshire Academy (Midd)
Nathan Rodi, 6' 210 RB/LB, Pittsford (NY)
Leonardo Maiulolo, 5'8 165 P/K, Saint Francis (CA) (Colby)

[Charlie]

Fischetti is only a sophomore so regardless of red-shirt status he will have at least two years of eligibility remaining.  Hopefully he is 100 percent next year because, man, the special teams and offense both got a lot worse without him and the offense wasn't that dynamic to begin with. 

To follow up on my last post, here is the list public Williams recruits to date, including other NESCAC schools they have been offered by (per their own Twitter accounts).  I'm sure plenty of other schools were interested as well ... so it's not like Williams can't quickly bring in good recruits, even while having a down year.  The question is how many more will they be permitted to add, and how fast can some of them make an impact?  Assuming no attrition -- and you know there will be at least SOME -- Williams needs 23 frosh just to get to a pre-season roster of 75.  Anything less than that (and ideally something more like 25-27) would be a real problem, I'd say. 

Ethan Shames, 6'3, 280 C, Avon Old Farms (Amherst, Wesleyan)
Austin Bongo, 6'3, 215 ATH, Hull H.S. (Colby)
Will Robke, 6'3, 285 OL/DL, Barnstable (Wesleyan, Midd)
Brady Carroll, 6'2 185 QB/ATH, Sandwich (Midd)
Brian Ingram, 6'3, 290 OL/DL, Hun School (Midd)
Drew Renzella, 6'2, 200 QB, Williston (Hamilton)
Jack Barber, 6'5, 240 DE, Darien (Tufts, Colby, Bowdoin)
Christian Reavis, 6'1, 200 LB, Deerfield (Midd)
Nate Dlugos, 6'2 180 ATH, Greensburg Central Catholic (older brother plays for Amherst)
Jack Kennedy, 5'9 185, WR Cheshire Academy (Midd)
Nathan Rodi, 6' 210 RB/LB, Pittsford (NY)
Leonardo Maiulolo, 5'8 165 P/K, Saint Francis (CA) (Colby)

I know of one QB on that roster who could do well but do not know how immediate. Someday we will find out exactly how many shall we say below standard players Williams is allowed to admit because 75 still is low in comparison to the other top teams, How many Band C Players are allowed or Coaches picks

[nescac1]

I THINK (could be totally wrong) that total number of TIPS are standard across the league?  Something like 12 for football, maybe 16, I can't recall.  Or at least there is not a dramatic difference (obviously each school has different bands so a "C" band guy at Williams/Amherst/Bowdoin may be a "B" band guy elsewhere).  But Williams is clearly getting fewer depth guys (who of course sometimes can develop into top players).  Williams brought in a total of 37 frosh the last two years.  When some schools are bringing in as many as 30 in a SINGLE year, that's a pretty dramatic disparity.  This next class just HAS to be sizeable.  With (at least) 13 guys already locked in before November, there is no reason it can't be - if admissions permits it. 

[Charlie]

I THINK (could be totally wrong) that total number of TIPS are standard across the league?  Something like 12 for football, maybe 16, I can't recall.  Or at least there is not a dramatic difference (obviously each school has different bands so a "C" band guy at Williams/Amherst/Bowdoin may be a "B" band guy elsewhere).  But Williams is clearly getting fewer depth guys (who of course sometimes can develop into top players).  Williams brought in a total of 37 frosh the last two years.  When some schools are bringing in as many as 30 in a SINGLE year, that's a pretty dramatic disparity.  This next class just HAS to be sizeable.  With (at least) 13 guys already locked in before November, there is no reason it can't be - if admissions permits it.

Problem and this is an off season question we constantly ask is that without Spring practices , JV Ball , Pre season games or non league games will any of these kids get experience. So they get thrown right in the fire. This makes recruitment even more important to be accurate on your picks.

[Nescacman]

I THINK (could be totally wrong) that total number of TIPS are standard across the league?  Something like 12 for football, maybe 16, I can't recall.  Or at least there is not a dramatic difference (obviously each school has different bands so a "C" band guy at Williams/Amherst/Bowdoin may be a "B" band guy elsewhere).  But Williams is clearly getting fewer depth guys (who of course sometimes can develop into top players).  Williams brought in a total of 37 frosh the last two years.  When some schools are bringing in as many as 30 in a SINGLE year, that's a pretty dramatic disparity.  This next class just HAS to be sizeable.  With (at least) 13 guys already locked in before November, there is no reason it can't be - if admissions permits it.

Problem and this is an off season question we constantly ask is that without Spring practices , JV Ball , Pre season games or non league games will any of these kids get experience. So they get thrown right in the fire. This makes recruitment even more important to be accurate on your picks.

Charlie, some NESCAC schools DO play JV games....

[Charlie]

I THINK (could be totally wrong) that total number of TIPS are standard across the league?  Something like 12 for football, maybe 16, I can't recall.  Or at least there is not a dramatic difference (obviously each school has different bands so a "C" band guy at Williams/Amherst/Bowdoin may be a "B" band guy elsewhere).  But Williams is clearly getting fewer depth guys (who of course sometimes can develop into top players).  Williams brought in a total of 37 frosh the last two years.  When some schools are bringing in as many as 30 in a SINGLE year, that's a pretty dramatic disparity.  This next class just HAS to be sizeable.  With (at least) 13 guys already locked in before November, there is no reason it can't be - if admissions permits it.

Problem and this is an off season question we constantly ask is that without Spring practices , JV Ball , Pre season games or non league games will any of these kids get experience. So they get thrown right in the fire. This makes recruitment even more important to be accurate on your picks.

Charlie, some NESCAC schools DO play JV games....

I am only aware of Wesleyan do uyou know of others ?

[Nescacman]

I THINK (could be totally wrong) that total number of TIPS are standard across the league?  Something like 12 for football, maybe 16, I can't recall.  Or at least there is not a dramatic difference (obviously each school has different bands so a "C" band guy at Williams/Amherst/Bowdoin may be a "B" band guy elsewhere).  But Williams is clearly getting fewer depth guys (who of course sometimes can develop into top players).  Williams brought in a total of 37 frosh the last two years.  When some schools are bringing in as many as 30 in a SINGLE year, that's a pretty dramatic disparity.  This next class just HAS to be sizeable.  With (at least) 13 guys already locked in before November, there is no reason it can't be - if admissions permits it.

Problem and this is an off season question we constantly ask is that without Spring practices , JV Ball , Pre season games or non league games will any of these kids get experience. So they get thrown right in the fire. This makes recruitment even more important to be accurate on your picks.

Charlie, some NESCAC schools DO play JV games....

I am only aware of Wesleyan do uyou know of others ?

Surprisingly, that's all that matters to us....hahaha

It's Friday and that means NESCACMAN picks coming later today...we might surprise some people with our picks this week....don't get too excited Bowdoin fans...