Junior pro day called off; Peterson not returning

Yale was supposed to have a junior pro day with quarterback Patrick Witt, running back Alex Thomas, linebacker Jordan Haynes and defensive linemen Jake Stoller and Pat Moran expect to go through many of the same drills as Tom McCarthy, Chris Blohm, Shane Bannon, Adam Money and Sean Williams did in front of scouts last week. However, the NFL has been sending out notification that juniors can not work out for NFL scouts during the lockout so the event was called off.

In some other news, Trevor Peterson has quit the team. Peterson, a tight end who transferred from Boise State last year, will remain enrolled at Yale. Peterson saw time on the junior varsity squad in his first year at Yale.

"He hung up his cleats," Yale coach Tom Williams said. "It was a disappointment, we expected big things from him. I guess he lost his desire to play college football."

Yale is still in the running to get former Duke defensive lineman Tevin Hood. Hood, who played in four games as a freshman non-scholarship player at Duke, was considering going to Arizona but he appears now to want to enroll at Yale. His application is currently being viewed by the admissions department at Yale.

Back to Peterson, his departure takes one player out of the contention for the tight end position. With the graduation of h-back Shane Bannon and tight ends Blohm and Caleb Smith, it will be interesting to see who emerges in the fullback, h-back, tight end positions. Alex Birks, who moved from tight end to offensive line a year ago, is being moved back to tight end. Elijah Thomas is moving from tailback to fullback while Keith Coty, Michael Leunen, Kyle Wittenauer and Beau Palin will also be in the mix when spring practice begins on April 4. Another possible name to watch is Jordan Jefferson, who did not play for the team a year ago because of medical reasons. He has not been cleared medically but Williams expects him to be out there for spring drills. He was on the verge of earning some quality playing time two years ago but he had some blood clotting issues and the medical staff will be monitoring Jefferson's situation before clearing him to practice.

There are a couple of new names on the roster (not including Moran who returns after taking off last season) as receiver Jack Bechert and tight end Willy Moore are walking onto the team and have been taking part in offseason conditioning.


ADDAZIO LOOKS BACK
When Jack Siedlecki stepped down after the 2008 season, one of the first names to emerge as a possible head coach at Yale was former Cheshire High coach Steve Addazio. In my other major beat at the paper, I cover the UConn women's basketball team and since I was down in Philadelphia for five days covering the Huskies, I headed over for an interview with Addazio who is in the first season at Temple's head coach. Of course I inquired about how serious his interest in the Yale job was. Here is what he had to say.

"It was very serious," Addazio said. "I had a chance to go there if I wanted to go there and at that time, I loved Yale and I thought (Yale athletic director) Tom Beckett was an awesome guy. Growing up, I thought I wanted to be at Yale. It is timing. Right when I was offered that job, I was also offered the offensive coordinator position at Florida. It all came down right before we were playing in the national championship. I just felt like I needed to become the offensive coordinator at Florida. I loved Yale. Probably if that (promotion at Florida) hadn't happened, I would have done it and been thrilled with that. Me and Rich Diana, we are so close. That was a wonderful opportunity but timing wise ... Everything works out for a reason."