The Offense Coming Out Of Spring

Big Green Alert

HANOVER – Dartmouth’s Green-White spring game looked a little different this year.

Not just because both teams were on the same sideline or because of an adjustment in which units were wearing what color. Not even because of the offense-defense scoring system that surely confused a lot of onlookers if not the players themselves.

The most obvious difference for anyone who has watched the Big Green ring up three Ivy League titles in the past four seasons, wasn’t what they saw on the field. It was what they didn’t see.

For the first time since the latest championship run began, there wasn’t a second quarterback rotating in and steamrolling defenders for first downs and touchdowns.

Jackson Proctor, who will be behind center this fall, is more speedy and elusive than the running QBs Dartmouth has become famous for, but he’s not as overpowering as first Jared Gerbino and then Nick Howard. And even if he were, head coach Sammy McCorkle wouldn’t want the 205-pound senior plowing into would-be tacklers the way his predecesors did given there are a couple of unproven young quarterbacks behind him.

Bidding for the backup role in the spring were freshmen Woods Ray and Grayson Saunier, both listed at 6-foot-2, and 210 pounds, significantly less than the weight Gerbino and Howard carried.

If neither of those rising sophomores is the heir apparent to the running quarterback role, could that job fall to one of the incoming freshman QBs? Perhaps. Kyle Meier is listed at 225 pounds and ran for 2,339 yards and 36 touchdowns in 14 games as a high school senior. But keep in mind that for as effective as they became, both Gerbino and Howard needed a year in the weight room and in the system to make the transition to Division I running quarterback.

All that is by way of saying what those at Memorial Field saw earlier this month was a Dartmouth offense that looked different than what they have grown accustomed to since Gerbino came on the scene with a team-high seven rushing touchdowns in 2017.

McCorkle sounded confident earlier this week that offensive coordinator Kevin Daft has the right scheme and the right running talent to make sure the Big Green ground game doesn’t miss a beat this fall.

“A lot of the run plays we had for our quarterbacks the last few years were essentially almost running back plays,” McCorkle explained. “Obviously, the advantage you have with that is you have the extra guy in there. But Kevin does a good job with our offense and he’s got a very good stable of running backs  who are excited that we are going to be depending more on them now. They are taking ownership of that, and every one of them did a great job this spring.

“With the skilled runners we have back there I think we may not be as predictable as we’ve been in the past,” McCorkle went on, “although Gerbino and Howard were such good, tough runners that it didn’t matter if you knew they were coming because they were going to get those yards.

“We have running backs now who are versatile enough that we can move them around to different positions to give a different look when we need to. We’re not going to be the mirror image of what we’ve been in the past, but we’ll be more balanced and less predictable.”

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McCorkle did a pretty fair impression of his predecessor and mentor Buddy Teevens in a positional breakdown of the team coming out of the spring and heading into fall camp, offering up a laundry list of names. Given just how many names he mentioned, this look at Dartmouth coming out of the spring will be broken into two parts. 

Today we’ll take a look at what the coach had to say about the offense with the defense be on tap tomorrow.

Quarterback
McCorkle: “(Jackson) Proctor has shown what he can do throwing the ball and running with it. He’s a very good athlete and leader. He came out in the spring game and put a nice little drive together before a couple stinking penalties backed them up and we ended up having to punt the ball. We’re super excited about him.

“Woods and Grayson didn’t perform the way they wanted to in the scrimmage the week before (the Green-White) I’m sure, but that was their first time in that kind of game-situation scrimmage. I thought they both bounced back and performed well in the final scrimmage. They did a heckuva job stepping up.

“Both made some good plays and obviously still make some young decisions at times. But I think you could see big growth from the beginning of spring to the last weekend. It was tremendous for both of them.”

While Proctor is a lock to start in the fall, the battle to be the top backup is ongoing and McCorkle wasn’t ready to choose between them

“I think Woods did a good job with the mental aspect of it,” he said. “He makes good decisions. I think Grayson is still learning that part of it. The game is still a little fast for him but he is athletic with a little bit of Proctor in him as a runner. That's not Woods’ cup of tea but he can keep the defense honest with his legs. Arm strength-wise and athletically they both bring good attributes to that position for us.”

Running Back
Q Jones, DJ Crowther and Desmin Jackson head up the backfield that McCorkle is confident will give the Big Green a different – but just as potent – offensive attack this fall.

“It’s a very good stable,” he said. “Q is obviously the returning guy and DJ Crowther also has experience. I thought Desmin Jackson had a really, really good spring for us. He did a heckuva job of stepping up, and is another guy that can play a variety of positions if need be.

“Then I thought that Colin O'Garro and Chris Roper both improved dramatically from the season. Obviously, they're still freshmen, but I liked the confidence and the understanding they had of what we're doing offensively. They did a phenomenal job this spring.”

Wide Receiver
Paxton Scott is so accomplished that McCorkle didn’t need to spend any time detailing his abilities and instead focused on some of the younger receivers.

“Nick Lemon really came along this spring,” the coach said. “He is a vertical threat for sure, and has the ability to really stretch a defense. Ian Scott had a nice Green and White game with some big catches in the second half. You really were able to see him step up and be that threat. Jonny Nelson has shown he’s a very consistent, smart receiver. Jackson Gerard played last year and our expectation was for him take a leadership role this spring, which he’s done. He’s showed some toughness.

“The big thing in the wide receiver position is they stayed healthy across the board, which is something we haven’t had in I can’t remember how long. Those guys did a really good job.”

Tight End
This has been a positional strength for the Big Green over the past few years and despite losing Jace Henry to a grad transfer, McCorkle expects nothing less this fall. That’s thanks in part to a couple of returnees being joined by a junior who had been slowed by injury early in his career.

“Sean Ward had a great spring for us,” he said. “He really came along and did a phenomenal job. He's playing with confidence. With (Chris) Corbo and (Alex) Geraci we have two experienced guys with Sean as the third.

“With those three guys we’ll continue having the type of tight ends who not only can block at the line of scrimmage, but can run good routes and catch the ball. They can be that big wide receiver for you.”

Offensive Line
McCorkle: “Obviously we graduated a couple of guys there, but we have a lot of experience coming back (led by tackles Delby Lemieux and Konstantin Spork, guards Kyle Brown and Tristan Holmbeck and center Nick Marinaro, who combined for 32  of a possible 50 starts last year).

“I thought Vasean Washington did a good job of stepping up and showing he can be a regular up front for us. Max Wentz is another one. He had a heckuva spring for us.”

Tomorrow: A look at the defense and more.