HANOVER – It was a glorious Saturday morning with cotton ball clouds dancing on a Columbia Carolina blue sky. The dew was burning off the perfectly manicured kelly-green grass, and the air was so crisp and clear you could almost taste it. So why were two-dozen or so Dartmouth football players missing from practice, and what did that mean for the session? The first is easy. It’s Sophomore Summer exam period. Testing that began on Friday ends on Tuesday so it was books over ball. As for what the absence meant for the program, we’ll let head coach Sammy McCorkle handle that one. “Our players have done a very good job of letting us know their schedules,” he said, “and our staff has done a very good job understanding who may be late, who may not be here, or who has to leave early. So we're prepared when we come out here, and there are no surprises.” Practicing without at least a key contributors has its challenges, but it also has an up side per the head coach. “When guys aren’t...

Matt Kaskey shares a few thoughts after practice. HANOVER – The Dartmouth roster this fall has 29 players who stand at least 6-foot-4. Put them in cleats, helmets and shoulder pads and they look even bigger.    That may be so, but the fellow offering tips to the linemen during practice and addressing the team at the 50-yard line after practice earlier this week fit right in, even without shoulder pads, and with a silly pork pie hat on his head instead of a helmet. That fellow happened to be Matt Kaskey ’19, Dartmouth’s former All-Ivy offensive lineman who spent two seasons yo-yoing between the Carolina Panthers’ practice squad and active roster, had two offseason looks with the Los Angeles Rams, and another with the Los Angeles Chargers, and started on the Birmingham Stallions spring football championship team. With his playing career behind him, Kaskey will be studying at Dartmouth’s Tuck School, and he was on the field this week tutoring linemen and offering a pro perspect...