April 3 – Spring Preview
BGA – Spring football for defending Ivy League champion Dartmouth will be a little different this year.
The Big Green has had an enviable run of battle-tested quarterbacks with Dalyn Williams ’16 starting for three years, Jack Heneghan ’18 for two, and then Derek Kyler ’21 for three years. Although he wasn’t the leading passer, the torch was then passed to quarterback Nick Howard ’23, who was the Big Green’s leading rusher in 2021, had seven starts behind center in ’22 and seven more in ’23.
With Howard graduate transferring to Butler and 2022 passing leader Dylan Cadwallader ’23 opting to graduate instead of return as a fifth-year senior, Jackson Proctor ’25 is not just the only quarterback on the roster who has started a game, but he’s the only one to have thrown a pass in a college game.
“Having one experienced quarterback is better than having none,” head coach Sammy McCorkle cracked with a laugh in the run-up to spring football. “He’s taken a lot of snaps and been in a lot of games. It feels like he’s been around a long time.”
Proctor started one contest in 2022 and the final two games last fall, finishing as the Big Green’s leading passer with 716 yards through the air. He had four touchdowns to go with three interceptions, completed an absurd 74.49 percent of his throws and ran for 168 yards and one touchdown with 103 of those yards – including a 78-yard touchdown jaunt – coming in the finale at Brown.
In his Dartmouth career Proctor has completed 85-of-116 passes (73.3 percent) for 791 yards and five touchdowns with three interceptions. He’s run 25 times for 265 yards (10.6 yards per carry) with one touchdown.
By most accounts, Proctor was in a tight head-to-head battle with Cadwallader to be the starter last year, and he comes into the spring as the clear choice not only to be QB1, but to mentor sophomores Woods Ray and Grayson Saunier, who will be competing for the backup role.
“We’re excited about Grayson and Woods,” McCorkle said. “They’ve had a year with us and we are confident they can perform. But starting now they have to show us they can do it under the lights.
“It will be a good competition between two good players. It will make them better and it’s helpful for us and for them to have Jackson as their big brother.”
SCHEDULE CHANGE
The news broke this winter but the on-again, off-again contest against Army slated for this fall was a victim of the Cadets having to rework their schedule as new members of the American Athletic Conference. Replacing Army on the Dartmouth schedule is Merrimack, which the Big Green will play on Sept. 28.
Merrimack moved up to the FCS level in 2019 and wrapped up the required four-year transition to Division I after the 2022 season.
“I know there’s some disappointment from fans excited about the Army game,” said McCorkle. “That’s understandable. We were fortunate to be able to schedule Merrimack. It’s always nice to have a game in your region and give your fans a chance to see you play.”
NEW COACHES
With the start of spring football wide receivers coach Dan Hebert and running backs coach Braxton Chapman – who already have been involved in mat drills – will finally have a chance to see their charges with a ball in their hands.
Hebert comes to Hanover after two years as a graduate assistant at Kentucky. He was on staff at Central Connecticut, his alma mater, for five years. Chapman spent last season at Coastal Carolina after a year as a quality control assistant at Northern Illinois.
“They bring a lot of energy,” said McCorkle. “You could see it during (mat) drills and with the way they have been running around.
“They are bright guys who have done a good job of learning our system from Kevin (Daft, offensive coordinator) and (defensive coordinator) Don Dobes, and the other coaches. You can see just how good they are at teaching. I’m excited to have them with us. They came highly recommended and have fit right in.”
Hebert steps in for David Shula ’81, who spent six seasons working with the Big Green wide receivers. Chapman takes over for Danny O’Dea, who has been in the program for 10 years and coached running backs since 2018.
O'Dea will now serve as recruiting director and as a former head coach at Hun School of Princeton, Cheshire Academy and Lawrenceville School, he has a wealth of knowledge and understanding about the fertile prep school scene that will benefit Dartmouth in his new role.
A final addition joining the Big Green staff this week is Erin Brennan, the latest woman to work in the Dartmouth program. A former soccer player at Alabama’s Spring Hill College, she will serve as recruiting and operations coordinator for the Green. She has been an assistant to the athletic director at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans and came to attention at the Manning Passing Academy.
“She comes from (graduating wide receiver) Jarmone Sutherland’s school,” said McCorkle. “She’ll take a little off Danny O’Dea’s plate and allow him to do more of what he’s really good at.”
With secondary coach Aashon Larkins – hired only last summer – in his first spring with the Big Green, nickels/special teams coach Joe Castellitto in just his second, tight ends/assistant head coach Wendy Laurent in his third and McCorkle in his first as the official head coach, the Dartmouth staff has had a significant makeover after years of stability.
But compared to a year ago, when the condition of late coach Buddy Teevens forced the Big Green to “adjust and improvise” on the fly, there’s a more settled feeling around the program this time around.
“The big thing is there was so much uncertainty last year,” said McCorkle. “This year we’ve had a chance to prepare. And we’ve been through it once now, so we’ve had a chance to see what worked and what we might want to change.”
As it turns out, they aren’t changing much.
McCorkle said they did add several more days of mat drills under the watchful eye of Spencer Brown, the strength and conditioning coach, and trainer Ben Schuler and his staff. “We were strategic about the load we put on the guys and the distances they were running,” McCorkle said. “We wanted to make sure we’re ready for spring, but we’re doing things the right way.”
Once again the spring practice slate will see Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday practices for the first two weeks, a week without practice while the coaches focus on recruiting, and then two more weeks of Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday sessions, culminating with the Green-White scrimmage on May 4.
“Taking a week off gives the players a chance to regroup and heal up if they need it, both physically and mentally,” said McCorkle. “We put a lot on them and will continue to do that to enable us to get to the next level.”
Before the week off, of course, there will be two weeks of practice and McCorkle, his reconfigured staff and 85 players are ready to go.
“It’s great to be back,” the coach said. “There’s a lot of energy. We’re all excited to get out there and get back at it.”
