Some more notes for this week...

Scouting Lehigh

The Mountain Hawks are strong up front on both sides. They’re committed to the run and RB Brandon Yosha and QB Nick Shafnisky get most of the carries. Defensively, the shuffle in and out of odd and even fronts. Lehigh does not pressure a lot. It does have good speed on the perimeter. The Mountain Hawks are battle tested after opening the season with James Madison and New Hampshire.

Reno on size up front

“I’m happier. When I got here, we had one guy that was 270 lbs on the DL. The goal is to have six that are 270-275 lbs. We’re bigger than we’ve been. On the OL, we want to get taller.”

Eric Williams making progress

Williams has moved full time from QB to WR. It’s finally starting to click for the athletic Williams, who played some wide receiver in high school, too. Reno said he’s starting to see a steady incline and should provide some of the needed depth at WR if Yale is going to run its spread.

Biggest improvement

Deon Randall says he’s seen the most growth throughout the preseason on the defensive side. The Bulldogs played a handful of freshmen regularly on the defensive side last year. Randall says they’ve really made strides as a whole.

“Guys are understanding schemes better and there’s more awareness now,” Randall said.

Playing at the Bowl

Randall said his favorite part about playing at the Bowl is the grass.

“The grass is cut low,” he said. “As an offensive player, I know where to make my cuts. The defense isn’t used to playing on the grass and it gives me an advantage.”

With Yale and Brown the only teams in the Ivy League that have grass at their home fields, the Bulldogs will play seven games on grass this season.

This week’s Ivy schedule

Brown at Georgetown, Noon
Fordham at Columbia, 12:30 pm [ILDN]
Cornell at Colgate, 1 pm [TIME WARNER]
Penn at Jacksonville, 1 pm
Lehigh at Yale, 1 pm [ILDN]
Princeton at San Diego, 4 pm
Central Connecticut State at Dartmouth, 7 pm [ILDN]