Abare honored

Yale senior linebacker Bobby Abare was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season after recording 15 tackles, two sacks and returning a fumble 86 yards for the Bulldogs' only touchdown in a 12-10 loss at Fordham Saturday.

Abare leads the 3-2 Bulldogs with 48 tackles and is tied for the team lead with 5 1/2 tackles for losses and three interceptions.

Junior punter Tom Mante was named to the honor roll after averaging 45.4 yards per punt. Mante also had a 22-yard field goal and extra point. Mante is averaging 41.2 yards per punt with five punts of at least 50 yards and 14 of his 33 punts have landed inside the 20.

Updating an earlier report, I heard back from Mark Newton, the head football coach at The Menlo School. I had e-mailed Mark checking up on how serious the interest was of his star player Jerry Rice Jr., the son of the NFL's all-time leading receiver of the same name and he confirmed that Rice is still interested in Yale. It does appear as if Rice's intention is to play his college ball in the Pac-10 but he did make an unofficial visit to the Yale campus a couple weeks back.