For those who like to head down to Clint Frank Field to watch Yale's JV games, here is the schedule featuring three of the four games at Yale

Oct. 3 vs. Milford Academy, 1 p.m.
Oct. 17 vs. Brown, 1 p.m.
Oct. 31 vs. Bridgton Academy, noon
Nov. 19 at Harvard, 1 p.m.

Milford Academy historically has a decent number of players from Connecticut and this year is no different as Anthony Giaimo is a receiver from Milford, Andrew Greene is a linebacker from New Haven, Malik Lembrick is an offensive lineman from Bloomfield, Addison Moran is a linebacker from Old Saybrook, Pierre Narcisse is a quarterback from Old Saybrook and Jacob Richard is an offensive lineman from Weston. Bridgton Academy has not posted its roster yet.

Just call it retribution after the offense not only took it to the defense during Yale's spring game, but also dominated a red-zone drill during Thursday's practice.

At Saturday's scrimmage at Clint Frank Field, the defense clearly had the upper hand.

Counting sacks, there were 14 running plays for either no gain or negative yardage and by math, Yale's quarterbacks were just 15 for 41 passing.

"It was quite the opposite of the spring game," said Yale senior defensive end and captain Tom McCarthy. "In the spring game, the first team offense took it to the defense and today it is a role reversal. Coach (Tom) Williams is saying there are ebbs and flows in football. Some days the offense will outplay the defense and vice versa. Now it is up to the offense to respond and I am confident they will do that."

The irony is that McCarthy had to sit out both the spring game and the scrimmage. He had to take the spring semester off so he could return in the fall for a fifth season of eligibility. McCarthy was feeling some discomfort in his left Achilles tendon during the 7-on-7 portion of the scrimmage and had to watch when the offense began squaring off with the defense in the full-contact portion of the event (with the exception of tackling the quarterbacks).

"I was doing the 7 on 7s taking a pass drop as we were doing a zone blitz and I just felt a little twinge of my Achilles," McCarthy said. "Hopefully it is nothing too serious, I'll have it checked out.

"Not being able to go today is kind of frustrating. it's been sore the last few days but today I think I reaggravated it."

Fellow defensive end Matt Battaglia stole the show with two tackles, a tackle for a loss, a pass batted down at the line of scrimmage and team-high six tackles.

Battaglia was challenged by Williams and his position coach Doug Semones to make an impact after a poor performance in the spring game.

"I felt good," Battaglia said. "Coach Semones told me to be ready to go and put the best I had on tape. He has always said that and today I felt like I did that especially early on. I was pretty satisfied with how I played in the first half."

Freshmen defensive backs Chris Brady and Nick Okano each had interceptions while sophomore receiver Allen Harris led the offense with 4 catches for 42 yards.

The only touchdown came in the red-zone drills when Patrick Witt hooked up with Chris Smith on a 25-yard score. The best catch of the day came courtesy of freshman Deon Randall, making an impressive catch of a pass over the middle that was a little low and behind him.

The Yale team was addressed by former Bulldog stars Chuck Mercein (a member of the Green Bay Packers team which won Super Bowl II), Gary Fencik (a hard-hitting safety on the Chicago Bears' team which won Super Bowl XX), Mike McLeod (Yale's all-time leading rusher) and John Pagliaro, a two-time Ivy League MVP and father of the Yale senior linebacker of the same name.

With a week's worth of practices in the books, the Bulldogs will let the fur fly in an intrasquad scrimmage from 2-4 p.m. at Clint Frank Field (next to Yale Field) and it is open to the public.

When I spoke with Yale coach Tom Williams after Thursday's practice "giddy" was the word he used to describe his state of mind at the first portion of fall camp.

While the performance in the controlled scrimmage won't be weighed any more heavily than the other practices, Williams said he is always interested to see how players react "when the lights go on."

I asked him which positions are the most intriguing in his eyes. He mentioned the tight end/fullback/h-back hybrid spot. Chris Blohm is solidifying a spot at tight end while while Yale will probably not use multiple tight ends or even a tight end and fullback as often as in years past, it will be interesting to see how players like Shane Bannon, Boise State transfer Trevor Peterson, last year's starter Caleb Smith, Jordan Capellino and freshman Beau Palin perform tomorrow.

The fourth and fifth receiving position is another spot worth watching. Highly-touted freshman Deon Randall has been impressive as have classmates Brandis Yarrington, Cameron Sandquist and Jackson Liguori have looked good in the three practices I have attended. Sophomores Allen Harris (who started one game as a freshman) and John Runk have made some solid catches during the first week of practice. Senior Jordan Forney, junior Gio Christodoulou and sophomore Chris Smith figure to be used together quite often this year to give quarterback Patrick Witt plenty of options.

Alex Thomas and Mordecai Cargill figure to handle a bulk of the work at tailback this season although freshman Elijah Thomas might be the most noticeable freshman in the days I have been at Yale's practices. He is following the path of Cargill who was so impressive in the early stages of fall camp as a freshman that the coaches had little choice but work him into the tailback rotation. The offensive line starters are Jake Koury at center, Mike McInerney and Gabe Fernandez at guards with Jeff Fell and John Pedersen at tackles. The offensive line depth has taken a bit of as former starter Nate Blair (knee) and promising prospects Luke Hartwig (ankle) and Justin Hymes (torn pec) are expected to be sidelined today as will tight end/h-back Mark Kaczor (back). The recovery process for Blair and Kaczor could be long-term ones while h-back/tight end Jordan Jefferson has been dealing with blood clotting issues which have put his football career in serious jeapordy.

At quarterback, Witt is the unquestioned No. 1 guy but I have been extremely impressed with freshman Henry Furman, who is pushing senior Brook Hart for the No. 2 spot. I will say that this group of freshmen quarterbacks have looked better and more ready for varsity time than last year's group did at this point of the fall camp.

Defensively, ends Tom McCarthy and Sean Williams return as starters. Chris Dooley and Jake Stoller are currently running a little bit ahead of a deep pool of tackles but they are being pushed by Joe Young and Reed Spiller among others.

Jordan Haynes will man the middle linebacker in the 4-3 joined by starters Will McHale at weak-side LB and Jesse Reising at the strong-side spot. Brian Leffler, a highly-touted prospect coming out of high school who received last interest from the FBS teams before reaffirming his commitment to Yale, always seems to make plays from sideline to sideline when I am at practice and after missing his entire freshman season with a knee injury, he looks ready to go and there will be some serious competition to make the two-deep spot at linebacker.

In the secondary, Geoff Dunham and converted cornerback Adam Money are the starters at safety while Drew Baldwin and Chris Stanley are running with the first team at cornerback. Stanley, who has made remarkable strides in the last year according to Williams, is being pushed by sophomore Kurt Stottlemyer while Collin Bibb, who is dealing with some injuries, is another corner who figures into the rotation. The wild cards could be how quick a bevy of talented freshman corners emerge with Chris Brady, Max Napolitano and Nick Okano seeing plenty of work during practice.

Williams said there won't be much work on the kicking game tomorrow so getting a grasp on the leaders in the field goal and punting departments will have to wait for a week.

Having endured the first six days of fall camp where from dawn to dusk their lives involve football, football and more football, the members of the Yale football team were thrilled to have a chance to sit in Stadium Court at the Connecticut Tennis Center on Wednesday night to cheer on Caroline Wozniacki.

"It is awesome," said senior fullback Shane Bannon, among the more enthusiastic of Wozniacki's supports. "We have been in the grind, we are in the middle of camp right now. From 7 o'clock in the morning to 10 at night, there is nothing but football with meetings and this is really the first real break we had as a team. It is really awesome to do something different and it was great to come watch her play."

It took some schedule shifting to make Wednesday night's appearance happen as the team had originally planned to come over on Tuesday which is when Wozniacki was supposed to play. But with her needed to stay in Montreal when rain postponed the semifinals and finals to Monday, her match was shifted to Wednesday night.

After being told on Tuesday that a prior engagement would keep them from being at the tournament on Wednesday, I found out that the red tape had been lifted when I ran into Yale football coach Tom Williams' secretary Corky Kennedy as we were both headed into the doubles mstch featuring Yale rising sophomore Marc Powers and Hopkins School star Nolan Paige.

"She was gracious and kind to come over and talk to our guys (during a rain delay in the 2009 Pilot Pen) and as a result, our guys have followed her all year and they talk about her in the offices," Williams said. "It is a great connection.

"We felt like we have adopted her as a professional tennis player and hopefully she has adopted Yale as her university of choice."

Judging by her comments in the video I put together, I would say that is the case.

I thought it was interesting that there were three pockets of Yale players, two were in the second level of seats in the lower section of seats while about 20-30 were in the section closer to the court.

Williams claimed no responsibility in the seating assignments.

"That was not my decision, that was kind of social darwinism," Williams said with a laugh.

Bannon was among those in the prime seats and offered a further explanation.

"The true fans are down below," Bannon said. "We were all down (below) getting real rowdy, having a great time. The guys up top, they were kind of along for the ride. We actually had seats up top but we all moved down."

Bannon said there has been talk of heading to New York to see Wozniacki play in the U.S. Open. Whether that can be done in the middle of fall camp or when school starts, that remains to be seen.

Yale will be back in its all football, all the time mode as the afternoon practices continue. Saturday's intrasquad scrimmage which begins at 2 p.m. at Clint Frank Field next to Yale Field will give an indication of how the first week of camp has been proceeding and who is moving up the depth chart.

Word is that the Yale football team has a previous engagement for Wednesday night and will not be in attendance at Caroline Wozniacki's opening match.

The Bulldogs, who met Wozniacki when the world's second-ranked women's tennis player accepted an invitation to come over and speak to the Yale players during the 2009 Pilot Pen Tennis tournament.

The entire Yale squad was planning to be at the Connecticut Tennis Center when Wozniacki played her first match on Tuesday but with rain delaying play in Montreal and forcing Wozniacki to play both the semifinals and finals on Monday, her first match was pushed back to Wednesday. Yale will try to make it over for one of Wozniacki's other matches assuming the two-time defending women's singles champion at the Pilot Pen continues to move on.

For those interested, Register photojournalist Peter Hzivdak was granted on the field access by Yale football coach Tom Williams to get footage for the first day of practice and here's the video package he put together.

The opening day of the fall camp is complete and here are some of my impressions and notes.

First, I noticed that seniors Jesse Reising and Chris Stanley, who come into the season with 14 career tackles between them, practiced with the first team at linebacker and cornerback respectively and both looked very solid.

Eight offensive linemen who started at least two games last season are back but the starting unit on first consisted of tackles John Pedersen and Jeff Fell, guards Gabe Fernandez and Mike McInerney and center Jake Koury. Fell is the only one of the five who didn't see time as a starter in 2009 but it is at left guard where there figures to be the most competition with McInerney being pushed by converted tight end Alex Birks and Alex Golubiewski, who started six games last season.

Quarterback Henry Furman, running back Elijah Thomas and receivers Deon Randall and Jackson Ligouri were among the freshmen who stood out in the 7 on 7 and 11 and 11 drills. Furman threw a sweet 40-yard pass to Chris Smith and then on the next play, connection on a long sideline out - considered to be the toughest throw to make for a quarterback. Ligouri made a sweet over the shoulder catch of a deep ball thrown by Dez Duron.

Although there were no pads and supposedly no contact, there were a few minor collisions. Tempers flared when Reising gave fullback Shane Bannon a hard two-handed push as Bannon neared the sideline. Reising and Bannon rolled around for about 10-15 seconds but it wasn't much of a flare up.

The biggest news could be that Southington's Matt Kelleher opted not to take advantage of a fifth year of eligibility because his troublesome surgically-repaired knee was causing him discomfort. Austin Pulsipher will now become the long snapper. In previous entries I mentioned that receiver Chris Morris and fullback Josh Kozel would not be returning and that defensive lineman Pat Moran and receiver Peter Balsam would be taking this season off but were both planning to return as seniors for 2011 season. I can now report that defensive back Bedford Booth and receiver Lars Knudsen are no longer with the team. Offensive lineman David Bollweg also
stopped playing but he will be a student manager.

"Like Coach (Williams) said (when he addressed the team at the end of practice), we are light years ahead of where we were last year," senior defensive end and captain Tom McCarthy said. "Guys are flying around, we are lot more comfortable with the system, a lot more guys with experience and young guys are flying around too."

Fall camp starts with a 2 p.m. practice tomorrow with the players on the 2010 Yale football team set to report today so I figured I would do a position by position breakdown as a way to prepare for the start of camp.

Quarterback: Patrick Witt, who started six games, and Brook Hart, who started four times, both return but Yale coach Tom Williams made it clear that this is Witt's job now. Hart will still play a valuable role since none of the younger quarterbacks took advantage of Hart's absence from spring drills while playing baseball to move up the depth chart.
Tailback: While the graduated Jordan Farrell led the Bulldogs with five starts, returnees Alex Thomas (286 yards) and Mordecai Cargill (236 yards) finished as the Bulldogs' top two rushers. Both have earned praise from Williams for their offseason conditioning work and after two seasons where Yale has tried and failed to establish the running game, it will be worth watching whether Thomas and Cargill can make Yale's running game flourish.
Receivers: Even without Peter Balsam (33 catches for 321 yards) who is taking the season off, this is clearly a position of strength with Jordan Forney (3o receptions in 2009) back for his senior season and speedsters Gio Christodoulou and Chris Smith returning after injury-shortened seasons. The trio was impressive during the spring highlighted by a breakout performance for the Yale passing game. Allen Harris is also back while Deon Randall is the most hyped prospect in the incoming freshman class so Witt will have plenty of options on the outside.
Fullback/H-Back/Tight End: I grouped them together because all indications are that Yale will line up in three-receiver sets more often than not meaning that the Bulldogs will use either a fullback or a tight end/h-back. Leading receiver John Sheffield is a huge loss, a security blanket in the middle of the field who made countless huge plays. Williams has been touting tight end Chris Blohm as a pro prospect almost from the day he took the job while Boise State transfer Trevor Peterson was a highly-recruited prospect coming out of high school. Caleb Smith at tight end and Shane Bannon at fullback are bruising blockers while rising sophomore Jordan Jefferson is an intriguing prospect at either tight end or h-back and fullback Jordan Capellino pushed for playing time as a freshman at fullback.
Offensive line: No position has been more under the gun in the last two years than the front five. Yale's 2.7 yards per carry average just won't get it done and much of the struggles in the running game can be traced back to subpar performance from the line. The good news is that eight players who started on the offensive line are back with Cory Palmer the only starter lost to graduation. Jake Koury has All-Ivy potential at center but can he stay healthy? Alex Golubiewski, Nate Blair, Nathan Burow, Gabe Fernandez, Jeff Marrs, John Pedersen and Mike McInerney all started multiple games in 2009. Alex Birks, Roy Collins and Carter Deutsch all moved over to the line from other positions and recruiting lineman was a major priority in the incoming freshman class so it will be interesting to see which five get the call for the Sept. 18 season opener against Georgetown.

Defensive line: Another position of strength even without Pat Moran, who is taking the season off to get his banged up shoulder back to 100 percent and work on his dad's political campaign. Williams flirted with the idea of moving captain Tom McCarthy to tight end but has opted to keep him on the defensive side of the ball. McCarthy was second on the team with six tackles for losses and tied for the team lead with three sacks. Joe Young (24 tackles, two sacks) is another returning starter. Sophomore Chris Dooley was one of the stars of the spring and could be primed for a breakout season while junior Jake Stoller was a heralded recruit who has been slowed by shoulder issues. He apparently is completely healthy and could also make an impact. Reed Spiller, Nick Daffin and Charles Holmes figure to push for significant playing time while Matt Kelleher, a standout long snapper, is hoping to see more time on the defensive line during his final season with the Bulldogs. Matt Phelan and Cliff Foreman could also push to playing time as Yale switches from a 3-4 to a 4-3.
Linebackers: No position was hit harder by graduation with the loss of the top two tacklers (Paul Rice and Tim Handlon) along with big-time hitter Travis Henry. Sophomore Will McHale, former starting defensive end Sean Williams and Jordan Haynes figure to be first in line for starting spots although senior Dan Walsh, sophomore Brian Leffler (a highly-rated recruit who missed his entire freshman season with a knee injury), Nick Schneider and Wes Moyer are among those who could push the projected starters while John Pagliaro and Ryan Falbo are former safeties who moved to linebacker to provide depth.
Cornerbacks: All-Ivy corner Adam Money moved to safety which is a sign that the Yale coaches like what they have at corner. Drew Baldwin, still just a junior, is an experienced corner while the development of rising sophomores Kurt Stottlemyer and Russell Perkins allowed Money to move to safety. If I were a betting man, I would say this in the position where a freshman could make an immediate impact especially since Yale's core of incoming freshmen include a host of cornerback prospects.
Safeties: Geoff Dunham, who is Yale's top returning tackler, and Money could give Yale one of the top safety tandems in the Ivy League. Marcus Wallace started four games at strong safety for an injured Larry Abare and special teams standout John Powers is a big hitter.
Special teams: Tom Mante graduated with nearly every punting record and leaves big shoes to fill with Philippe Panico, who punted well for the JV squad as a freshman, the early leader. Alex Barnes took over for Mante on the mid-range field goal attempts late in the season, figures to be the top guy on field goals and extra points heading into camp. With the return of Christodoulou and Smith as well as Money (who led the team in both kickoff and punt return yardage) to go with a core of speedy freshmen, there won't be a lack of candidates to return kicks and punts.

The annual Ivy League football conference call ended a little more than an hour ago. There's not a ton of news to report but here's what I perceived as the highlights of the call.

Al Bagnoli, coach of defending champion Penn, had a great line when asked if he had any reaction to the Quakers being picked second.

"They (past media panels) haven’t been right, not sure it was a bad thing," Bagnoli said.

On a significantly more somber note, Bagnoli addressed the suicide of Owen Thomas, a defensive end who would have been one of the Quakers captains this season. Thomas took his own life in late April rocking the close-knit Penn campus and in particular the football squad.

Bagnoli said he has been encouraged by the way his players have reacted to the tragedy thus far.

"It's gone better than I possibly than I could have imagined," Bagnoli said. "They have done everytihng we have asked them. They have been focused and been diligent on the task at hand. Our seniors have done a great job and we are cautiously opt we can put it behind us."

Harvard coach Tim Murphy said that Kevin Murphy, who is set to replace three-time All-Ivy selection James Williams at left tackle, could "be better pro prospect than James Williams, as good an offensive line we’ve had since Matt Birk."

Murphy also said former LSU quarterback Andrew Hatch has been cleared to play for Harvard by the NCAA a week and a half ago.

New Princeton coach Bob Surace spoke about the transition after leaving the Cincinnati Bengals after nine years as an assistant coach to take over at his alma mater.

"I couldn't ask for better communication, any time there is change there is this anxiousness from the coaches and players for us to set standards and them to meet those standards," Surace said. "I couldn’t say enough positive stuff about the players on our roster."

As for Yale, head coach Tom Williams was asked about his decision to go for a fake punt on 4th and 22 from Yale's own 25 late in the season finale against Harvard. The failure to convert on the gamble led to Harvard scoring the winning touchdown.

Williams likened those who opposed the move as being people who put their money in a money market rather than the more risky proposition of investing in the stock market and he will do whatever is "necessary to win the games."

He also said that not only is Patrick Witt the starting quarterback heading into camp but it is "his position to lose."

Also on the call was Jim Maconaghy, the Ivy League's coordinator of officials. Maconaghy said that since this is the year two of a two-year cycle, there aren't too many new rules for the upcoming season. However, next year the NCAA is looking to add a couple of rules worth noting. First, it is passes officials will be able to award unsportsmanlike/taunting penalties from the spot of the foul meaning that if a player dials up his Deion Sanders impersonation en route to the end zone, a score can be nullified and the 15-yard penalty can be assessed from the spot that the officials deemed that the hot dogging began. Maconaghy inferred that it would be unusual to wipe out a TD to enforce the rule but that option could be available.

The second new proposal is that televisions would be allowed in the coaches boxes in the press box. Bear in mind both are on the schedule to be added beginning in the 2011 season.

Finishing up, in case you missed it in my previous entry, here is the Ivy League poll.

IVY LEAGUE POLL
First-place votes in parenthesis
1. Harvard (10) 128
2. Penn (6) 124
3. Brown 95
4. Yale (1) 83
5. Columbia 61
6. Princeton 55
7. Dartmouth 39
8. Cornell 27

As I previously mentioned, if you put Cornell seventh and Dartmouth eighth, you will have the poll I submitted.

The Yale football team was picked to finish fourth in the Ivy League preseason poll.
The Bulldogs, coming off a 4-6 season in Tom Williams’ first season as Yale’s head coach, received one of the 17 first-place votes and finished with 83 points.

Harvard received 10 first-place votes and topped the poll with 128 points. Defending league champion Penn was second with 124 points and six No. 1 votes followed by Brown, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, Dartmouth and Cornell.

Yale reports for fall camp on Aug. 19 and will hold its first practice on Aug. 20. The Bulldogs will host Union in a scrimmage on Sept. 4 and open the season on Sept. 18 with a home game against Georgetown.

For the sake of full disclosure, I was one of the 17 members of the media to vote on the poll but cast my first-place vote for Harvard. As a matter of fact, with the exception of having Cornell seventh and Dartmouth eighth, my poll was exactly as the final balloting.

IVY LEAGUE POLL
First-place votes in parenthesis
1. Harvard (10) 128
2. Penn (6) 124
3. Brown 95
4. Yale (1) 83
5. Columbia 61
6. Princeton 55
7. Dartmouth 39
8. Cornell 27

LAWRIE SIGNED BY EAGLES
Former Yale tight end Nate Lawrie was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles Lawrie spent time on the Eagles practice squad in 2004. Lawrie spent time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New Orleans Saints and Cincinnati Bengals.

With the Ivy League coaches conference call on Tuesday and Yale football coach Tom Williams joining Southern Connecticut's Rich Cavanaugh and New Haven's Peter Rossomando Wednesday from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce Sports Council's second annual "Chalk Talk – College Football in New Haven" event, there will be some upcoming stories on the 2010 Bulldogs.

I figured I would get things rolling with a few updates.

First, defensive lineman Pat Moran is planning to take the 2010 season off. The decision was caused by not only by his troublesome shoulder but also the chance to work on his dad's politicial campaign.

Jim Moran has been the representative in Virginia's 8th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1991 and is up for reelection.

Pat Moran had 24 tackles including three for losses and two quarterbacks as a junior. He is planning to return for the 2011 season.

Next, Yale will scrimmage Union for the second straight season. There was some talk of the date needing to be changed because Union had freshmen orientation that day but Williams said that Union is planning to come up for the Sept. 4 scrimmage without the freshmen.

Finally, there are a few position changes of note. Some of this is old news which I reported in the spring but Roy Collins and Alex Birks, who saw time at tight end, will be playing offensive tackle and offensive guard respectively. Sean Williams is moving from defensive end to linebacker and perhaps the biggest news of all is that captain Tom McCarthy is staying put. The original plan was for McCarthy to move from the defensive to tight end but the Yale staff was encouraged enough by the performance of the returning tight ends during spring camp that McCarthy will remain on the defensive line. Williams said that McCarthy could see some time at tight end in certain packages. McCarthy, who was listed at 243 pounds last season, is currently checking in at 260 pounds.

Williams said that he is expecting all of the players to take part in fall camp. The players will report on Aug. 19 and the first day of camp is Aug. 20.

The second annual "Chalk Talk - College Football in New Haven" will be held on Wednesday beginning at 5:30 p.m. at the Wicked Wolf Tavern (144 Temple Street, New Haven). The event will feature Yale football coach Tom Williams, New Haven coach Peter Rossomando and Southern Connecticut's Rich Cavanaugh as they preview the upcoming season. Tickers for the two-hour event are $10 for Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce members and $20 for non-members.

Flipping through the channels, I noticed that ESPNU was rebroadcasting some of the high school football games it aired last year.

I just caught the last few minutes of the Oaks Christian/Skyline game. Oaks Christian senior defensive back Max Napolitano, who will be among the talented group of incoming freshmen, had five tackles and an interception with 49 seconds to play to secure Oak Christian's three-point win. It was the first loss for Skyline of Sammamish, Washington since 2006.

The game will be shown again at midnight on ESPNU. Napolitano is in the white No. 31 jersey.