Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Semones and Yarrington complete Yale's class

The Yale football program's incoming freshman class has been finalized now that receiver/defensive back Brandis Yarrington and quarterback Jake Semones have been officially admitted in the recruiting band spots that the Bulldogs had available.

Yale had previously announced a 26-member recruiting class including transfers Trevor Peterson and Greg Carlsen from Boise State and Florida respectively.

With Yarrington, a two-way star at Pioneer High in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Semones, the son of Yale linebackers coach Doug Semones who played in 2009 at Loomis Chaffee, in the fold Yale will continue its pursuit of prospects in the Class of 2015.

Here is the Yale football Class of 2014 although my understanding is that Carlsen may only have three years of eligibility remaining. That was what he told me when I interviewed him a few months back because he participated in club baseball at Florida.

Kyle Aberton, DB Cottonwood HS Holladay, Utah
Chris Brady, DB Don Bosco HS Wayne, N.J.
George "Kolu" Buck, DE Punahou School Kaneole, Hawaii
Greg Carlsen, P Boone HS Orlando, Fla.
Keith Coty, TE La Miranda HS La Miranda, Calif.
Alex Flanders, WR/P Hand HS Madison
Henry Furman, QB Lincoln HS Portland, Ore.
Wes Gavin, OL Parker HS San Diego
Michael Leunen, TE Westview HS Portland, Ore.
Jackson Ligouri, WR Harvard-Westlake School Pacific Palisades, Calif.
Max Napolitano, DB Oaks Christian School Camarillo, Calif.
Obinna Nwakeze, DL/OL Rye (N.Y.) Country Day New Rochelle, N.Y.
Nick Okano, DB Harvard-Westlake School Los Angeles
John Oppenheimer, OL Sacred Heart HS Menlo Park, Calif.
Beau Palin, HB/TE/FB, Phillips Andover (Mass.) Mequon, Wis.
Trevor Peterson, TE El Dorado HS Camino, Calif.
Deon Randall, WR/RB Parker HS San Diego
Cameron Sandquist, WR Loomis Chaffee Redmond, Wash.
Jake Semones, QB Loomis Chaffee Woodbridge
Grant Stanley, DE San Joaquin Memorial HS Fresno, Calif.
James Talerico, OL Pope John Paul II HS Boca Raton, Fla.
Kerr Taubler, QB Bullard HS Fresno, Calif.
Elijah Thomas, RB Gates Chili HS Rochester, N.Y.
Cliff Van Meter, RB Jesuit HS Metairie, La.
Kyle White, OL Pequannock Township HS Pompton Plains, N.J.
John Whitelaw, QB Hinsdale Central HS Hinsdale, Ill.
Kyle Wittenauer, TE/LS St. Christopher's School Richmond, Va.
Brandis Yarrington, WR/DB Pioneer HS Ann Arbor, Mich.

Don Bosco tops MSG Varsity countdown

MSG Varsity's "Greatest Moments of the 2009-10 Season" will air on Friday at 7 p.m. Topping the list of the top 20 accomplishments in the New York, New Jersey and Fairfield County area covered by MSG Varsity is Don Bosco Prep's third consecutive Non-Public Group IV New Jersey state championship.

Yale incoming freshman Chris Brady had six tackles and an interception in the Ramsey, N.J. school's 35-15 win over St. Peter's Prep in the Dec. 5 championship game.

Brady led a Don Bosco team which was the No. 1 ranked team in the final USA Today national high school football poll with six interceptions and was fifth on the team with 56 tackles.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Yale on YES returns

Yale will have three consecutive games televised on the YES Network for the third straight season.

"Yale on YES" will feature the Yale's home games against Fordham on Oct. 16, Penn on Oct. 23 and Columbia on Oct. 30. All three games will begin at noon.

Chris Shearn will handle the play by play while Ross Tucker and former Yale defensive back Jack Ford will provide color commentary.

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Hart not drafted

The Major League Baseball draft just concluded and Brook Hart was not among the 1,525 players taken.

That is very good news for the Yale football team since there would have been a potentially gaping hole behind Patrick Witt at the quarterback position had Hart chosen to pursue to professional baseball career rather than play his senior season at Yale.

Hart joined the Yale baseball program for the first time as a junior and while his numbers (3-3, 6.33 ERA and 53 hits in 41 2/3 innings) weren't impressive, tall lefty pitchers who average nearly a strikeout per inning and have a 38/14 strikeout/walk ratio tend to draw interest from MLB scouts.

Hart missed spring drills with the football team and Witt seems to have taken hold of the No. 1 QB position but things could have gotten a bit dicey had something happened to Witt and Hart wasn't around.

Even if Witt assumes the starting role, the Yale coaching staff can feel pretty good about having a veteran reserve like Hart who has started nine games in the last two seasons and owns program records for completion percentage in a season (62.1 in 2008) and in a career (61.2).

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Versus broadcasting "The Game"

Versus secured the rights for three Ivy League football games including the Nov. 20 Yale/Harvard contest. The Nov. 6 Penn/Princeton and Nov. 13 Brown/Dartmouth games will also be carried by Versus.

Thursday, June 03, 2010

Recruiting list is out

Yale officially posted its incoming freshman class which includes a pair of transfers. The only new name on there is Hand wide receiver/punter Alex Flanders, the son of Yale defensive backs coach Rick Flanders. Flanders caught the eye of Yale football coach Tom Williams at last year's Yale football camp. He asked Mike Sanford, who was the Bulldogs' recruiting coordinator at the time, who that receiver was catching passes all over the field and Sanford told him it was Flanders' son.

Not on the list are Jake Semones and Brandis Yarrington, two players that the Bulldogs were hoping to slot into particular bands but look for them to be officially added to the recruiting list within a week or a week and a half once the Yale admissions department gives them clearance.

Cliff Van Meter, a member of last year's class, was included in this one. Van Meter suffered a serious head injury in a fall and was encouraged to withdraw from school. He has been readmitted and that is why he is considered to be a part of the Class of 2014.

The Yale staff has been focusing on the Class of 2015. The annual football camp at Yale has been split into two portions. From June 22-25 will be the team portion of the camp with Yale inviting West Haven, Fairfield Prep, Amity, Ansonia, Hand and Hopkins. They are pretty good choices considering the teams have won a combined 39 state titles since 1976.

On June 26-27 will be the regular camp and the number of "recruitable kids" slated to come to the camp has almost tripled from last year and now stands at 141 according to Williams. It is impossible to overstate the importance of recruiting camps, major football powers have thrived in enticing the nation's top prospects to attend their camps and in the Ivy League it is also an invaluable tool for both the athletes and coaches.