Time to catch up

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.