Scouting Penn
Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field is unveiled.
HANOVER (Oct. 4 BGA) – So far this young season Dartmouth has beaten one opponent missing both its preseason All-America quarterback and 1,000-yard tailback (Fordham), and a second team playing absent its preseason All-America kick returner/wide receiver (Merrimack).
That’s a lot of missing talent at quarterback, running back and wide receiver.
There will be star power at all three positions to contend with when Dartmouth (2-0) opens Ivy League play against Penn Saturday at newly dedicated Buddy Teevens Stadium at Memorial Field.
“They’ve got a lot of weapons,” Dartmouth coach Sammy McCorkle said of the 1-1 Quakers. “You’ve got to be very disciplined and you’ve got to make sure you take care of your assignments because if you make a mistake they'll make you pay for it.”
Penn, which had undefeated and FBS-bound Delaware on the ropes before a touchdown with 1:44 left allowed the Blue Hens to escape with a 29-22 win two weeks ago, is led by record-setting quarterback Aidan Sayin. Twice selected to the All-Ivy honorable mention team, the 6-foot-2 Sayin completed 29-of-41 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns in a 27-17 win over Colgate last week. Along the way, he broke the school record for completions, which now sits at 665.
The older brother of Ohio State freshman Julian Sayin – widely regarded as the No. 1 high school quarterback in the country last year – Sayin is completing 66.7 percent of his throws this fall with five touchdowns and two interceptions.
“He’s got a lot of experience,” said McCorkle. “He knows their offense and is very relaxed and composed at that position. Nothing’s new to him.”
Sayin threw for 357 yards (36-of-55) with two touchdowns and no interceptions last year in Penn’s 23-20 overtime loss to Dartmouth at Franklin Field. In the Quakers’ last visit to Hanover in 2022 he was 25-of-38 for 204 yards and one touchdown without an interception as he helped his team to a 23-17 two-overtime win. Although he would take over the starting position later in the season, he did not play against the Big Green in his freshman season.
When Sayin is handing the ball off it’s almost always to the 5-foot-10, 205-pound sophomore tailback Malachi Hosley, voted the Ivy League Rookie of the Year last fall when he was a finalist for the FCS Freshman of the Year honor. Hosley ran for 176 yards on 26 carries at Delaware and is averaging 153.5 yards per game after collecting 131 last week. He’s averaging an impressive 7.1 yards per carry. His number has been called for 43 of the 46 rushing attempts by a Penn running back.
Although he may not be quite as elusive at Merrimack tailback Jermaine Corbett, who had 137 yards against Dartmouth last week, Hosley is a lot bigger and might be better running inside.
“He’s fast and he’s physical,” McCorkle said. “He’s quick and and the thing is he’ll do a good job breaking tackles, and that makes it even harder.”
The final piece of the Penn skill-position triad is Jared Richardson, the 6-2, 215 wide receiver who plays even bigger. He was chose to the All-Ivy first team last year after catching 67 passes for 788 yards and eight touchdowns. He’s caught 11 balls for 194 yards and two touchdowns this season, with a long of 58.
“He’s a big athlete,” said McCorkle of Richardson, who had 17 catches for 191 yards last year against Yale. “He’s a physical player and does a good job of getting separation. He creates mismatches and you’ve got to be aware where he is at all times. He’s going to get his catches but you don’t want him to make the big plays because he’s really good at the deep ball.”
While Hosley has dominated at running back, Richardson has hardly been Sayin’s only target. Speedy 5-7 receiver Julien Stokes has come up big with 14 catches for 70.5 yards per game. Last week no fewer than eight players were on the receiving end of Sayin passes.
The Penn offense operates behind an offensive line that lost three starters and has sophomores projected to start just their third career games at right guard and right tackle.
Defensively, Penn has held opponents to 90.0 yards per game on the ground. The pass defense is surrendering 269.0 yards and 61.5 percent completions with four touchdowns allowed and one interception.
Notably gone from last year’s team is nose tackle Joey Slackman, a grad transfer at Florida. The strength of the defense is at linebacker where starters Jack Fairman and John Lista are back, although Lista missed last week’s game. Also absent against Colgate was returning defensive end starter Paul Jennings. Both are listed as starters on the two-deep this week (for whatever that’s worth).
Returning safety Shiloh Means leads the defense with 14 tackles, followed by Fairman with 13 and undersized junior linebacker Kadari Machen with 11. Julian Talley is back at free safety, giving Penn returning starters at both of the deep positions on defense. (Talley may miss the first half after a targeting call last week.)
Worth watching will be the play of the Penn corners, both sophomores in their first season as starters.
Although the Quakers don’t have as much star power as they have some years on the defensive side, McCorkle isn’t fooled.
“They’ve got physical guys up front who do a good job of taking care of their gaps,” he said. “Their linebacker crew plays fast and they do a good job of getting off blocks. And their secondary is very talented. They have the ability to come in to help on the run and at the same time, they can match up man-to-man.”
Sam Smith is 3-of-5 on field goals for Penn with a long of just 36 yards while Albert Jang is averaging 40.3 yards per punt.
McCorkle knows the Big Green is in for a struggle against a team whose reputation for playing hard-nosed, smash-mouth football is similar to Dartmouth’s.
“Every game we play against Penn, it’s a battle,” he said. “It’s like that every season. They’re a very talented team. A very physical team.”
While Dartmouth may have a little extra incentive wanting to win on the day of the rededication of the stadium, that’s more of a talking point than anything else McCorkle’s view.
“Our guys obviously understand it’s a special day,” he said. “We’re going to appreciate that and it’s a huge part of the day. But when the whistle blows, our guys are going to be ready to play. And that's what Coach T would want our guys to do.
“Penn is going to want to beat us. We want to beat them. It's pretty simple.”
