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| Dartmouth football players salute their captain as safety Harrison Keith does an interview with Manchester TV station WMUR. |
HANOVER – Hanging up his lacrosse stick wasn’t any easier for Harrison Keith the second time around than it was the first.
That said, Dartmouth’s senior co-captain knew it was the right thing to do, both for the Big Green football team this fall, and for wherever his career might take him.
First, a little history lesson: The 6-foot, 205-pound safety started playing lacrosse in second grade and after a year away from the sport to acclimate to football at the college level, he joined the Dartmouth team as a sophomore. He ended up playing at midfield in every game of the Big Green’s surprising 8-5 campaign, even scoring the game-winning goal in a 13-11 victory over Bucknell in the 2025 season opener.
His first college lacrosse season in the books, he returned to the football field last fall and made the second All-Ivy League team after collecting 46 tackles and tying for the conference lead with four interceptions.
With an eye toward this season and what might come after, he reluctantly made the tough call last winter to give up lacrosse again and concentrate on his gridiron pursuits.
“I absolutely loved my time with the lacrosse team,” he said after football practice earlier this week. “It was an incredible experience and we had a great year. But then I had a pretty solid junior football season, to the point where I had the mindset of potentially playing football after Dartmouth.”
Various online services have started to drop his name as a potential small-school NFL draft pick. But having seen former Dartmouth teammates enjoy success as grad transfers at Colorado, Duke, Stanford, Virginia, Louisville, and elsewhere, Keith is leaning toward following their lead instead of declaring for the draft following this season.
Before then, of course, there’s the not-so-little matter of bringing the Ivy League championship back to Hanover. To that end, he knew he had to make a hard choice.
“Your body kind of takes a beating playing two college sports,” he explained, “and after the fall season, my body was pretty beat up. It’s a quick turnaround to the lacrosse season, so I decided it was probably best for the (football) team and for my goals in the long run to step away, get my body rested, and train.
Keith earned All-America honors for his play on the football field last fall, and he was recently named to the watchlist for the Shriners East-West Bowl. FCS Football Central has lauded him as the best coverage safety in the FCS and for having the top football IQ in the division coming into this season.
“The hype is cool and all, but I'm honestly going into this season with the same type of mindset as always,” he said. “This is the first year where I've come back after solidifying myself in terms of my play, but that hasn't changed my mindset in the film room or coming on the field. Again, being able to maybe play FBS football would be pretty cool and with the fifth year of eligibility, that’s kind of my goal after this season. But right now, my mind’s solely focused on this season.”
“I’m still super hard on myself. There are a couple of plays out here today I was pretty ticked about because I didn't do well enough. So yeah, the hype is cool, but honestly, Dartmouth has always been a team-first type of team. Now, especially as a leader and as a captain, that has to be my mindset. It’s how can I help? How can the defense help us win games?”
And he's confident those wins will come.
“I'm super excited,” he said. “We've got some great returning talent. We have some kids who didn't play last year who I'm really excited about. And we have new players who have been impressive the first few days.
“I think it's going to be a really, really good year. Maybe our fans don't know the names of some of the players yet, but they are going to pop out and really have great years helping us win games."
A COACH ON THE FIELD
With a new defensive coordinator and several other new coaches on that side of the ball, having a veteran presence like Keith as the quarterback of the defense is more important than ever, according to Sammy McCorkle.
“He’s that calming voice, that calming presence,” the head coach said. “He’s very mature and takes charge. Everybody back there is different, and he can reach everyone. He has the ability to connect with young guys and older guys, guys who have played a lot, and guys who haven’t played. He does a really good job of reaching out and touching those guys in a way that helps them to play their best.”
Beyond that, he’s just a very good football player, according to his coach.
“That’s why the Packers were here,” McCorkle said. “He’s showing up on a bunch of radars and deservedly so. I’m really excited for him going forward.”
THE GOOD AND THE BAD
To turn a phrase on its head, a practice earlier this week was the worst of times and the best of times in Keith’s view. And he’s glad of it.
“As defensive backs, it’s the same story every year,” he explained. “The goal is to limit the explosive plays. That's definitely a focal point for us. But today we saw the offense, unfortunately for us, have a couple of explosive plays.
“There's the small part of me that's a little bit happy just to see that from the offense. It's good to know that the guys on the other side of the field have the ability to take the top off the defense.”
The bottom line?
“Now, I hate that it was against us,” Keith said. “But it's a good sign for them, and it pushes us. When you get beat, you know how that hurts, and it's ingrained in your mind, so you don't let that happen come game day.”
CULTURALLY SPEAKING
As the second week of camp winds down, the co-captain is liking where the team is, both on the field and in the locker room.
“Coach Mac has always stressed the importance of the young guys and the old guys getting to know each other really, really fast,” said Keith. “I think that's a shock to a lot of new guys. I have friends on other college football teams, and not everyone knows everyone. We have like 100 guys, and three days in, a lot of us already know every guy on the team.
“Dartmouth football has always prided itself on being tight-knit and having a great culture. I'm super excited because I think this group is starting to come together pretty quickly.”
THE PRESEASON POLL
Dartmouth was chosen third in the Ivy League media poll behind Yale and Harvard. And Keith, for one, couldn’t be happier about that.
“I absolutely love where they picked us,” he said. “I think in my four years here, and I even remember looking at those rankings when I was in high school, and maybe once Dartmouth was picked first. Even coming off a great year and winning four out of the last six Ivy League championships, that's still been the case.
“I think being picked where we were gives us a little bit of respect, but it also puts a little chip on our shoulder and something to prove.”
ON THE DEFENSIVE STAFF CHANGEOVER
After years of consistency in the ranks, Dartmouth has a new defensive coordinator in Jordan Belfiori, a new D-line coach in Q Jones, a new corners coach in Adam McGuire, and a new defensive quality control specialist in Noah Reilly.
Keith liked what he saw of the defensive staff in the spring, and nothing has changed heading into 2026.
“Coach Mac brought in a lot of coaches that have the same core values that the past coaches have had,” he said. “So there hasn't been a drop-off in the sense of what their expectations are and kind of how we run things around here, which is great.
“Some stuff with our defense has stayed the same, some is different. I guess there's a little bit of a learning curve for us on the new stuff.”
HOW WAS THURSDAY PRACTICE?
Sammy McCorkle: “I liked the physicality. I thought in the run game the offensive line really came off the ball. Now the defense has to clean that up.
“We had good competition. We had a good talk last night about there being a lot of guys across the board competing for jobs and for playing time. That’s a good thing about being a ‘green’ team, a young team. You’ve got a lot of guys who are competing and you are starting to see some guys with that little fire in them. We’ve got to have everybody that way.”
ANYONE CATCH YOUR EYE?
McCorkle: “(Chris) Roper. I though he had some nice runs today. He was on fire. Our guy Will Stahl (like Keith, a former lacrosse player) had a couple of catches. It’s good to see him step up and make some plays.
“Defensively, Niquis Ratcliff made some plays. He was physical on the perimeter.”
MAKING PLAYS
Plays, players and notable goings on that earned a notation in one onlooker's notebook Thursday included tailback Myles Craddock making himself small to squirt through the middle of the line during team period … No’Koi Maddox with a pass breakup on a home run throw down the middle … Roper getting the edge around left end and turning on the jets upfield … KJ Edwards jumping a route and having clear sailing to the end zone if he could have made the pick … Charlie Peters finding Santino Cicarella on the left sideline and the offensive side going crazy cheering … Ratcliff, Cameron Best-Alston and Jorden Barnes shutting the pass game down in red zone drills and Gavin King coming through with a “tackle” on a run from the plus-eight.
In pass skeleton at the other end, Steve Simpkins drops back to bat a pass in the air and Trey McFadden picks it off in the end zone … Jaden Cummings finds Will Stahl with a back-shoulder pass the retired lacrosse player catches as he slides to the ground … Grayson Saunier hooks up with Ian Scott in the back corner of the end zone as a d-back fans on a bat-down try … Saunier and Scott do it again and the receiver holds on despite being mugged by the secondary, eliciting a huge cheer from the offense.
In the final team period, Ratcliff wraps up a running back at the line … Gergely Hudak and Jackson Ashford combine to register a tackle for loss … Noah Trigueros finds Luke Rives in stride down a middle seam … Cummings hits Stahl again down the left sideline … during the “young guys” period at the end, Blake Betette goes high and catching a pass from Jack Cannon as he tumbles over backward.
ON TAP
The second stretch of back-to-back-to-back practices finishes Friday. Saturday is scheduled to be given over to a day at local recreation area Storrs Pond, and the team will be back on the field Sunday. The first of two preseason scrimmages is slated for Wednesday.