Spring Practice Ends with Green-White Game; Captains Named

2019 football captains Isiah Swann and Jack Traynor

Isiah Swann (left) and Jack Traynor chat with Robert L. Blackman Head Coach Buddy Teevens

Photo by: Bruce Wood

Spring Practice Ends with Green-White Game; Captains Named

5/4/2019 9:57:00 PM | Football

Swann and Traynor get the nod from their teammates

By: Bruce Wood, Big Green Alert

HANOVER, N.H. — Starting quarterback Derek Kyler completed 16-of-17 passes, but a Dartmouth defense many expect to be every bit as stingy as it was last year allowed just one touchdown and three Connor Davis field goals in a low-scoring Green-White scrimmage Saturday morning.

Kyler's 38-yard TD strike down the middle to Drew Estrada was the only completion of more than 12 yards on the day, and the Big Green's longest run in 41 attempts was just 13 yards as defensive coordinator Don Dobes' bend-don't-break unit picked up right where it left off in November.

To be fair, quick whistles in the non-tackling affair meant no broken tackles for long gains and the absence of co-starting quarterback Jared Gerbino — still recovering from illness — handicapped the offense, which also was breaking in four new offensive linemen.

Despite the dearth of explosive plays, coach Buddy Teevens liked what he saw of Kyler, who played with composure and confidence gained last fall in his first season as the starter.

"I would say that's probably the best he's played all spring," said Teevens. "He was comfortable. He's not a real emotional guy, one way or another. He just kind of gets out and does his job. I thought he made some timely throws, he was accurate and threw the ball away when necessary."

Having Gerbino out, the coach added, put added focus on Kyler and his solid play "inspires confidence in the guys around him. You know he can do some things, too. He ran the football."

Freshman Zack Bair led the ground game with 34 yards on six carries while Kyler gained 34 yards on six runs before lost yardage was deducted.

"(Offensive line coach Keith Clark) did a great job with the guys up front," said Teevens. "There were seams against a pretty good defensive front, especially in that first half. In the latter portion, we started throwing the ball a little bit more.

"One thing I'd like is to get the ball down the field a little bit more. We didn't throw it long and it's hard to (string together) 12- or 14-play drives."

On the minus side, the Big Green were whistled for a whopping seven penalties in the first half and two more in the third and final quarter.

"Defensively we've just got to be disciplined," Teevens said. "We were a little bit flat coming out and the focus was not great. Some of the younger defensive linemen … jumped off. And then the offensive linemen in critical situation jumped offsides. We can't have that."

Teevens freely admitted he encouraged the officials to call a couple of the penalties to keep drives going and give his offense a few extra chances.

That wasn't the only bending of the rules in a scrimmage that saw most drives start at the minus 35 or 40 but several in the latter stages start on the plus side of the field.

Teevens only smiled when asked if junior quarterback Jake Pallotta's seven-yard pass to tight end Joe Kramer on a first-down play was a touchdown, or if the officials whistled the play dead. Either way, he trotted Davis out one play later not to kick a PAT, but to boot a 37-yard field goal.

Pallotta finished 11-for-16 for 60 yards with two throwaways. Jake Allen, the Florida transfer who saw his season end prematurely last fall with a hand injury, completed 11-of-21 throws for 60 yards.

Estrada led the receivers with five catches for 60 yards including the long touchdown, which saw him wrestle the ball away from Hunter Hagdorn when the two receivers mistakenly ended up next to each other as the ball was coming down. Hagdorn, Ethan Maenza, Masaki Aerts and Dakari Falconer each caught four passes while Kramer and R.J. Brandon each caught three.

Davis hit the upright on a 43-yard field goal attempt and then striped kicks from 47, 39 and 37 yards before missing from 50 at the end. Davis Brief averaged 38.0 yards on six punts, a number that would have been higher but for a pair of 29-yarders that he dropped inside the 20.

All-in-all, Teevens seemed pleased with what he saw but most happy about what he didn't see – anybody get hurt. "The biggest thing," he said, "was the guys came away healthy."

TWO CAPTAINS NAMED
Two-time unanimous All-Ivy League linebacker Jack Traynor, a fifth-year senior next fall, was re-elected a captain for the 2019 season and will be joined this year by All-American safety Isiah Swann.

According to Teevens, 20 players received votes in the first ballot for captain and a Saturday morning re-vote to see if a third candidate would emerge confirmed that the two defensive stalwarts would share the responsibility.

Teevens applauded the results of the ballot and, while it's unusual not to have a captain on the offensive side, said, "I'm not concerned about it. With the number of guys who were voted for, we have leadership within the offense."

To that end, he also revealed his leadership group of seniors (Gerbino, Hagdorn, running back Caylin Parker and lineman Zach Sammartino on offense, and lineman David Chalmers, defensive back D.J. Avery and lineman Jackson Perry on defense).

"You have one, two or three captains," said Teevens, "but with more than 120 kids, there's got to be much more (leadership) and we have it. It's a shame I can"t name them all (captains)."

That's a theme echoed by Traynor, who isn't concerned about the lack of an official offensive captain.

"We don't have just two leaders on this team," he said. "We have countless leaders on this team. We have so many guys who have played a lot of snaps who know how to lead these guys on the offensive end. There's so many of those guys and they know without having that C on the chest they're going to be given that burden of kind of getting the offense where it needs to be. It doesn't need to be explicitly stated. They know they're still leading the team, too."

CAPTAIN COMMENTS
Traynor on he and Swann being voted captains: "You hope you have the support of the guys, because both of us care so much about every one of these guys on the team. To have that be reaffirmed or whatever you want to say, just feels really good. To know that they really trust in us to lead them is good."

Swann: "Traynor is going to act surprised, but you see the C on his chest from last year. I know, we all knew (he would be captain again). For me it was a bit of a surprise, just to have that respect from my teammates. It means the world to me. It really does. I still can't believe it. If you had told me four years ago I would have been captain of this football team I would've never believed that. I'm just kind of a quiet guy. A lead-by-example type guy."

Swann on following the lead of Traynor, who has already been a Big Green captain: "I'm just basically going to follow in (his) footsteps. Whatever he does, I'm going to try to do. Get my speeches up a little bit. Hopefully he can teach me some things on how to rah-rah the guys."

Traynor, smiling, on Swann: "He acts like he's going to need a lot of help, but he knows that (with) what he did on the field last year it's not going to be an issue for him to get the respect from a lot of these guys. And I think that's the main hurdle you've got to cross. Everyone's got to respect where you come from and you can't respect anyone's football game any more than Isiah Swann's. The way he comes in, day in and day out he provides an excellent example for all these guys to keep getting better."

MOST IMPROVED PLAYERS OF SPRING AS SELECTED BY THE COACHES
Safety - Niko Mermigas
Corner - Darren Stanley
Defensive Line - T.J. Simpson, Jordan McGriff
Linebacker - Mick Reese
Quarterback - Jake Allen
Running Back - Dakari Falconer
Wide Receiver - Masaki Aerts
Tight End - Robbie Mangas
Offensive Line - John Paul Flores
Specialist - Connor Davis
Strength and Conditioning - Isaiah Johnson