HANOVER – On days when a Dartmouth football practice went particularly well and someone made an outstanding play in the final minute – or even sometimes two minutes – Buddy Teevens would sometimes blow the whistle to end the practice.
The players would cheer lustily, not because they were being cut much a break, but rather because they knew they had put together the kind of practice Teevens wanted to see.
Sammy McCorkle likewise values every last second of every practice, so when Jackson Cheatham made a diving interception Sunday afternoon and the current head coach made like his predecessor and blew the whistle, it really meant something.
“I thought it was good energy today,” McCorkle said. “Really good energy. Guys came out read to get after it. This was a shorter practice with shorter reps, but the guys came out here today and maximized all the reps we had.
“We talked about that last night. We need more of a sense of urgency. You can’t come out thinking you can just turn it on. It’s got to be consistent once we’re out here. We’ve got to be full-throttle. We’ve got to be in fifth gear, and I thought they were in fifth gear all day today.”
Which is why the whistle to end practice sounded before the scoreboard was all zeroes when Cheatham made his play.
Or didn’t.
“It was a way to end on a good note,” said McCorkle in a conspiratorial tone. “It, uh, might have hit the ground. But hey, I’m a defensive guy, so we’ll git it to him. It’s fun and an exciting way to finish with good energy.”
PRACTICE IN THE STADIUM
Although the Big Green opener will be on the real grass of Lehigh’s Goodman Stadium, the Sunday afternoon practice was on the Buddy Teevens Stadium artificial turf. That was for a couple of reasons.
“It rained last night and a little this morning and we want to preserve Blackman, not only for us but for the soccer teams. So we didn’t want to tear it up.
“But we also want to practice in the heat. It’s beautiful out but it’s probably 10 degrees hotter out, here on the run. The more heat we can get, the better it is for our guys to get adjusted to what it’s going to be like down in Pennsylvania.”
SCRIMMAGE 2 ON TAP
While Sunday’s session was in the stadium, the Big Green will return to Blackman Monday afternoon for the second and last intrasquad scrimmage of the preseason. At least that’s the plan.
“We’re going to try to be over there,” McCorkle said. “If Blackman’s good to go, we want to have a game situation on grass.”
Where last week’s action was largely situational scrimmaging, the plan this time is different.
“We’re going to play it out as if it’s a game,” McCorkle explained. “We’ll start off with a kickoff and kickoff return, do some punt operation, but then try to play as close to a game as we possibly can.”
Except for one thing. Make that eight things.
While the final scrimmage of the preseason usually has officials, this one will not, for an interesting reason.
“It’s Labor Day,” McCorkle said. “We couldn’t get ‘em.”
Seriously?
“Yup,” he said. “We’ll get them over here for another practice.”
One more note on the second scrimmage. Not all that long ago, it was held on the Saturday one week before the opening game. In recent years, it was held 10 days before the first game.
This year, the scrimmage is earlier still.
“We wanted to make it a little earlier to make sure if we have any bumps and bruises, we can get those games back,” McCorkle explained. “It’s different now with the recovery aspect and how many snaps you have in practice and things like that.
“We don’t want to have 100, 110, or 120 snaps too close to the season. We want to make sure our guys get their legs back under them. We work them hard the first couple of weeks and then kind of throttle back and pick and choose when we pick it up.”
TWO QUESTIONS
McCorkle could have punted, but instead, he fielded two questions sprung on him without advance warning regarding the current state of the Big Green. The first:
What is the team’s deepest “room” at this point?
McCorkle’s immediate answer was running backs. “We have a lot of depth there right now, knock-on-wood,” he said. “I’d also say wide-outs and we haven’t been able to say that in, uh, ever? I also think we have depth at tight end.
“Defensively, it could be our D-line. We’ve got a couple guys who are starting to really figure it out. They’ve still got a ways to go, but can have a pretty good rotation there. So that’s why I would say defensively.”
Not counting the offensive line, which is a too-easy question, which room has the most to prove?
Interestingly, McCorkle went with one of his answers for the deepest room.
“Probably wide receivers,” he said, thinking for a bit. “Yeah, wide receivers. We’ve got some talented guys in that room competing for time. But they’ve got to go out there and show they can make plays. That group, if they can do it, will really help us. They have the ability to play at a high level, but they have to do it on a consistent basis.”
NAMING NAMES
McCorkle: (Colin) O’Garro. He ran the ball really well. He did a real good job today. Defensively, I thought Matisse Brosseau made some plays up front running after the football. Matt Boydell was running around Bucknell there. Cheatham had a couple of nice plays, and No’Koi made some good plays in pass skel.
“Across the board, we had guys playing today. They just have to be more consistent.”
Plays, players, and notable goings-on that earned a notation in one onlooker's notebook included Blake Betette with a nice breakup at the goal line in a red zone period … Aidan Abercrombie with a pair of TDs in the same period … Ian Scott with a juggling grab in the back of the end zone during pass skill … Luke Rives, who is having a good camp, using his speed to get deep for a long pass during team period and the offensive sideline greeting the play with an extended, Luuuuuke …Jaden Cummings with excellent ball handling making it look as if he handed the ball off to a runner going right and then taking off around left end all by himself … Cheatham with his diving “interception” at the end.
ON TAP
Monday’s scrimmage is set for 1 p.m. on Blackman, but will be moved into the stadium if necessary.
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| Sunday at Buddy Teevens Stadium. BGA photo |