Yale's annual Blue-White spring game will be played on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. at the Yale Bowl.

As has been the case during his tenure, Yale football coach Tom Williams is using the event as much as a practice as a scrimmage. There will not be split squads but will be plenty of series with the top offensive and defensive units butting heads.

"We will feature situational football," Williams said. "Our spring game for us is like another practice day, put all those young guys in situations were we can evaluate them and see what they can do for in the fall."

Obviously the personnel will be a bit different without receivers Jordan Forney and Gio Christodoulou (who is taking the spring off but will return in the fall), tight ends Chris Blohm and Caleb Smith, fullback Shane Bannon, center Jake Koury and tackle Alex Golubiewski among the key losses on offense. Defensive ends Tom McCarthy and Sean Williams, defensive tackle Joe Young, linebacker Jesse Reising, cornerback Chris Stanley and safety Adam Money will need to be replaced on the defensive side of the ball. But don't expect to see a change in philosophy or schemes in an attempt to replace the graduating seniors.

"It will be a lot of the same stuff," Williams said. "We are hoping we can throw the ball down the field a little bit more, our protection is better when our first five is out there. We may take some more shots down the field. We have expanded our offensive package so we have more run plays that we want to feature so we can take advantage of the skill set of our running backs. We will have a better intermediate passing game also. We thought last year we either took shots or took short passes. We want to be able to attack the middle of field a little more."

BANNON, MCCARTHY OPENING SOME EYES
The NFL draft is less than a week away from kicking off and there's a chance that a Yale player or players could be drafted for the first time since 2004.

Bannon, Blohm and McCarthy have put themselves very much on the radar of NFL teams with impressive workouts and strong efforts at pro days.

In an article on SI.com, Bannon and McCarthy are mentioned among 12 small school sleepers

ANOTHER BIG TURNOUT AT BONE MARROW DRIVE
Yale's annual bone marrow registry drive was a major hit once again as nearly 900 showed up to have their cheeks swabbed so they could join the registry.

The drive began as a way of trying to find a match for leukemia stricken Yale women's hockey player Mandi Schwartz. Although no match could be found and cancer ended Schwartz's life earlier this month, her spirit lives on. Six matches were found courtesy of the first two drives and it would be a fitting legacy for Mandi that her memory and inspiration will result in saving more lives.

Shortly after hanging up his cleats for the final time, Caleb Smith bid adieu to his football career and began to pursue his other passion - film making.

Smith wrote the script, produced, directed, provided the background music, edited and cast the movie with several of his former Yale teammates in prominent parts.

The Belly of the Whale, with former Yale defensive end/linebacker Sean Williams in the lead role as a well-meaning but down on his luck bouncer who was forced into running errands for a mobster, premiered at the Whitney Humanities Center on the Yale campus on Thursday.

The 23-minute screening was attended by the cast as well as other teammates, classmates and the Yale football coaching staff as well as leading figures in Yale's Film Studies Program.

The film was warmly received by those in attendance.

"It has been a labor of love for us," Smith said. "We worked incredibly hard on it. The amount of blood and tears that went into it can't be measured. People reacted really well to us, not just because they know us but I think the connected a little bit. Some people were coming up to me and saying they got some goosebumps afterwards so that is the kind of thing I like to hear as a story teller."

Smith, who has dabbled as a director and intends to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in film making, had various versions of the script before ending up with the final product. The filming took place over a span of seven days in February with the entire project costing about $3,000.

"I would have some ideas and I would meet with Sean, Alex (Golubiewski, the film's director of photography) and a couple of other guys but mainly Sean and Alex giving them ideas and they would give me feedback," Smith said. "I had a pretty solid narrative in place so I went back over Christmas break and I wrote it all over Thanksgiving break. I came back, I pitched it to some of my screen-writing peers. They gave me some feedback and I revised it a couple more times. Then I said 'OK, I am ready, let's shoot this thing.'"

Williams, who would like to pursue acting, felt a sense of relief when he saw the crisp, final product.

"I was definitely nervous but at the same time excited to show the product, the fruits of our labor," Williams said. "This was something that was pretty tough to put together because of all the moving parts. It was fun to see on the big screen."

Smith, who drew the praise of both his professors and coaches for his work, has high hopes for the film.

"I am going to look at recutting it, changing, get it better than it is and keep improving it," Smith said. "Then getting it into the festivals is really the next thing, playing it hopefully at some big festivals that can bring it some recognition for the work me, Sean and others have put in.

"I have always liked making videos from the time I was a kid. When I showed up at Yale, I didn't know exactly what I wanted to do. My sophomore year I decided I wanted to do film, from there on I have been working on it. I want to take on some more directing projects and stay behind the camera, keep working as a director. I have done a commercial, want to keep doing commercials and music videos and get paid to direct."

Both Smith and Williams believe the process of preparing for a football game and making a movie are eerily similar.

"Moving into the film realm, I feel like the same things transfer over, a different style of working together," Williams said. "It's the same thing of being able to feel out each other, kind of the way that they work and how their mind ticks. It helps to know that because it makes for a smoother run through.

"The preproduction stuff is watching the film and looking at the playbook. The actual filming is kind of like game time, it is Saturday for us. There is the breakdown and post production so it is almost like the same exact thing."

One of the advantages of three straight Yale games being televised by YES is I can go back and look at specific plays or in this case calls by the officials.

There were four I was curious to see.

At first glance I thought offensive pass interference should have been called on a screen pass from Ryan Becker to Jeff Jack resulting in a 17-yard Penn touchdown in the second quarter. But the replay showed that the other receiver waited until Jack caught the ball before throwing his block.

I mentioned the questionable spot on Adam Money's interception return and believed it cost Yale 10 yards. I stand by that statement after seeing the flag for an illegal block on the 33 yard line. If Yale was penalized from that spot and then the 15 yards were marked off for Penn's personal-foul penalty, the Bulldogs should have received the ball at the 28 instead of the 38.

I wasn't sure about the pass interference called on Yale's first scoring drive of the fourth quarter. The only issue was that the official called out No. 2 as the party responsible for the pass interference when it was evident that it was No. 37 Jim McGoldrick guilty of practically undressing Yale's Jordan Forney and forcing him out of bounds while the ball was in the air.

Now for the holding call on Alex Golubiewski late in the first half which negated a 33-yard completion to the Penn 2, the replay was inconclusive. You could see Golubiewski turning Brandon Copeland but couldn't tell if Golubiewski's hands were outside Copeland's shoulder pads or if he did anything after the final portion of his block was not visible on camera.

That being said, the officiating did not decide this game. Three turnovers, costly penalties and giving up a punt return touchdown had a bigger impact on the game's outcome rather than any one official's call. Inconsistency on first down didn't help. Nine times Yale had a double-digit gain on first down but 12 times out of the 32 first down plays the first-down play went for either no gain or negative yardage.

Also, if you count the two sacks as passing plays (as they were obviously designed to be) instead of running plays as they go down as, Yale threw or attempted to throw the ball 56 times on 74 offensive plays. Considering that quarterback Patrick Witt missed the previous game with a shoulder injury and has dealt with hand and wrist injuries, it's amazing he was able to walk off the field under his own power. A power back like Mordecai Cargill (who missed the game after undergoing knee surgery) could have made a difference in establishing the run. But he's going to miss at least one more game. Yale ran the ball on half of its first 12 offensive plays and had eight designed rushing attempts by the end of the first quarter but 10 for the rest of the game. Nobody expected Yale to attempt to shove the ball down the throats of a Penn defense coming into the game ranked first in FCS in rushing defense but when the opponent doesn't have to respect the run, you might as well put a target on Witt's jersey.

Back on the topic of Money, here's the story I wrote on the senior safety

Neither starting tailback Alex Thomas nor reserve Mordecai Cargill practiced today and both are questionable for Saturday's game against Fordham although Thomas would have to be considered more questionable than Cargill.

Thomas didn't return to Saturday's game against Dartmouth after injuring a rib while falling on the ball after a carry. Cargill was able to come back into the game despite dealing with an ankle injury.

"We'll wait and see," Yale coach Tom Williams said. "We have a few more days of practice. Our policy is you have to have some practice time before you play. He (Thomas) went to the doctor so we won't know more until later today. He fell on the ball awkwardly and they are going to have an MRI to see if there is any damage."

Williams also said that defensive end Matt Battaglia and center Jake Koury are unlikely to play against Fordham because of the knee injuries which they suffered against Albany.

One last item isn't so much of an injury update as it is a sign that Yale football players are cut from a different cloth than the usual college football player.

Starting offensive tackle Alex Golubiewski missed the Dartmouth game not because of injury or a lack of performance.

"He had to take the LSAT on Saturday," Williams said. "That's Yale. That's what Yale students do. He did reschedule and there was going to be a huge penalty at another time so he had to take it. He looked at every avenue and that was the only thing he could do. I told him I hoped he did really well but he said he thought he did really well."

Yale wrapped up its 11th practice of the spring a couple hours ago. In preparation for Saturday's Blue-White Game, the Bulldogs practiced without pads.

It didn't stop receiver Jordan Forney from catching three touchdowns in the time I was there including a brilliant one-handed grab in the right corner of the end zone. Collin Bibb had one series where he broke up three plays and also got into it with Forney which seemed to be the emotional spark the coaches was looking for as the pace and intensity of the practice picked up after the pushing and shoving subsided.

There has been a string of injuries among the offensive linemen with Nate Blair, Nathan Burow, Alex Golubiewski and Justin Hymes all expected to be sidelined for the 2 p.m. spring game tomorrow at the Yale Bowl.

When I've been at practice, I've been impressed by the development of the freshmen and that is the focus of the story I filed for publication in Saturday's Register. Defensive tackle Chris Dooley has been the talk of the camp while Kurt Stottlemyer and fellow freshmen corners Bibb and Russell Perkins are playing well enough for the Bulldogs to move All-Ivy corner Adam Money to safety. Will McHale has played his way into a starting linebacker spot while Brian Leffler should figure into the mix at LB when he is fully recovered from a knee injury which sidelined him for the 2009 season.

After practice I caught up with 2009 Yale captain Paul Rice, who has been a volunteer assistant coach this spring. Rice worked out for the Cleveland Browns earlier this month and would love to get an invite to the team's rookie camp. If not, he is planning to join the coaching staff at Fairfield Prep in the fall.

I asked Rice his take on the development of the freshmen defensive stalwarts. Although space limitations precluded me from getting Rice's take in my story, here is what he had to say.

"Leffler and McHale will definitely push for playing time, at least in my eyes," Rice said. "Stottlemyer has gotten a lot of playing time, a lot of looks and I think he will have a good scrimmage. Dooley has had a phenomenal spring (camp), he has really opened a lot of eyes. It is a very good class. They are going to come in and do what they are supposed to do which is push for playing time and challenge the older guys.

"It’s a big jump (from being a freshman to becoming a sophomore) because you have a year of lifting, a year of film, a year of everything under your belt and now a lot more is expected out of you. It is an exciting time and these guys are up for it. You’ll see a lot of sophomores making impacts (in the fall) on special teams or even in starting roles."

I am heading that 2008 Yale football captain Bobby Abare is among the alumni expecting to return to the spring game. Although it has not been officially announced, Abare recently accepted a spot on the staff at Wesleyan after spending last season coaching at Wagner. Former Yale head coach Jack Siedlecki will be Wesleyan's offensive coordinator.

Caught the last hour of practice today and here are some of my impressions.

Receiver Jordan Forney had a spectacular practice catching the ball including making a catch of a ball thrown behind him that was - for a lack of a better term - very John Sheffield like. Gio Christodoulou, who missed most of last season with foot and ankle injuries, got behind the secondary for a long touchdown catch from Patrick Witt.

Yale coach Tom Williams said the Bulldogs are planning to play Forney, Christodoulou and Chris Smith together in three-receiver sets which must be music to Witt's ears. Williams is also expecting big things from rising senior tight end Chris Blohm and was raving about the offseason work done by tailbacks Alex Thomas and Mordecai Cargill. Williams said Thomas added 15 pounds of muscle in the offseason while Cargill is bigger and faster.

Another offensive player drawing his praise is rising junior lineman Jeff Fell. The offensive line has been beset by injuries with Nathan Burow and Alex Golubiewski, who combined for 14 starts in 2009, both sidelined likely for the rest of the spring. Nate Blair hurt his right knee during a one-on-one drill.

There could be some offensive line reinforcements as Carter Deutsch moves over from the defensive line while former tight ends Roy Collins and Alex Birks are making the transition to offensive tackle.

Adam Money is moving from cornerback to safety with Kurt Stottlemyer, Collin Bibb and Russell Perkins among the leading candidates to start at corner across from Drew Baldwin. Austin Pulsipher moved from linebacker to defensive end and is vying for a starting job as the Bulldogs transition from a 3-4 to a 4-3 defense. Former safeties Jesse Reising and John Pagliaro are now linebackers and Reising would be on the two-deep chart if the season began tomorrow.

Yale seemed to have a plethora of defensive linemen so a move to the 4-3 makes sense. A player to watch is rising sophomore Chris Dooley who will likely move inside. Junior to be Jake Stoller seems to have put his shoulder issues which hindered his last two seasons behind him and could emerge into another impact player on the defensive line. With Pat Moran injured and captain Tom McCarthy taking the spring off so he can take advantage of a fifth year of eligibility in the fall out of the lineup, rising stars like Stoller, Dooley and Charles Holmes are getting plenty of chances to shine.

There have been some defections as fullback Josh Kozel and receiver Chris Morris are no longer with the team and receiver Peter Balsam is taking next year off but is planning to return for his senior season in 2011.

Also, former Oklahoma assistant recruiting coordinator David White is not joining the Yale staff. Don't know all the details but somewhere between being recommended for the tight ends coach/recruiting coordinator gig by Williams and getting the job, there was a snafu. A replacement for Mike Sanford, who left to become quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator at Western Kentucky, could be announced by the April 24 spring game.

Just a recap of the weekly press conference at the Yale Bookstore.

Junior cornerback Adam Money was the player who joined Yale coach Tom Williams at the event and he admitted he was pretty surprised to be named the Ivy League's Defensive Player of the Week. When I was speaking with Money after the question and answer session, former Yale coach Carm Cozza came up and whispered that his tracking down Columbia Leon Ivery at the 2 yard line was one of the best hustle plays he has seen in his time at Yale.

Considering the impressive Hall of Fame credentials of Cozza, Money may never receive a greater compliment.

A few updates on the starting lineup. Williams said Patrick Witt will start at quarterback, the starting offensive line of Alex Golubiewski, Nathan Burow, Jake Koury, Gabe Fernandez and Cory Palmer will start for the second straight week and Alex Barnes will continue to handle field goals and extra points.

A clarification from my pre-game blog, there was a freshman receiver wearing No. 21 but it was not Chris Smith but Collin Bibb.

He also said that Smith and safety Larry Abare, out with knee and arm injuries respectively, will not play. Jordan Farrell, who started the first four games at tailback, is close to returning after being worn down by a case of the swine flu and then bronchitis.

Just a few notes from Thursday's practice.

First, John Sheffield stole the show during the scrimmaging portion of practice making a series of impressive catches including one which he tipped twice and managed to corral just as he was falling to the ground.

Freshman receiver Chris Smith was not at practice. Yale coach Tom Williams said he hasn't heard anything definitive regarding the team's second leading receiver but since he has not practiced, Williams said he will not play against Columbia on Saturday.

The good news is that junior Jordan Forney, who has three of the Bulldogs' seven touchdown receptions, is back at practice and figures to start on Saturday. Forney was knocked out of the Lehigh game and missed the game against Penn with a concussion.

With tailback Jordan Farrell not 100 percent as he battles back from the flu and a case of bronchitis, expect to see senior Rodney Reynolds and freshman Mordecai Cargill to see the bulk of work in the running game.

The ever changing offensive line figures to have its sixth different starting lineup in the last six games. Williams said he expects the starting unit which played together on Thursday (tackles Alex Golubiewski and Cory Palmer, guards Nathan Burow and Gabe Fernandez and center Jake Koury) to start against Columbia.

As promised, the quarterback reps were split equally between Brook Hart and Patrick Witt. Freshman Dez Duron saw plenty of time but that was more to give the Yale defense a look at a running quarterback to help prepare for facing athletic Columbia quarterback M.A. Olawale. Of course there is one major difference as Olawale is 6-foot-1, 224 pounds while Duron is listed at 5-11, 180 which might be generous in both the height and weight departments.

The biggest news coming out of Wednesday's practice came from who was not on the field.

Senior safety Larry Abare, who leads the Bulldogs with 30 tackles, had his right arm in a sling. Abare suffered two broken bones in his right arm. Although no surgery will be needed, Abare said "I am going to keep looking at the x-rays but it probably looks not good for the season right now. I am still hoping I will be able to make the Harvard game."

It goes without saying that this is a huge loss for the Yale defense. Juniors John Pagliaro and Marcus Wallace will likely both see plenty of time filling in for Abare.

Junior receiver Gio Christodoulou spoke with his parents Tuesday night and decided to sit out the rest of the season so he could recapture his junior season and have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Christodoulou suffered a turf toe injury similar to the one that hampered Green Bay Packers' star Charles Woodson a couple years back and he was not going to be 100 percent so he made the decision to shut it down for the season. Christodoulou, while obviously disappointed to see his season end prematurely, admitted it's been easy to deal with emotionally because of the development of freshman Chris Smith gives the Bulldogs a big-play threat on special teams and at receiver even if he isn't the one providing the game-breaking plays. If Yale was struggling to make plays in the passing, kickoff and punt return games, Christodoulou would be taking his absence much harder than he is at the current time.

"He's the future of Yale football," Christodoulou said of Smith. "I think he is going to be a great football player, he already is, and I try to help him out. Since I got most of the reps during spring and fall practice, I help him out with what I learned."

Right on cue, Smith had an impressive diving catch of a deep ball thrown by Patrick Witt for about a 40-yard gain during the scrimmage portion of Wednesday's practice.

There will be a story on Abare and Christodoulou in Thursday's Register and look for a piece in Saturday's paper about how the Bulldogs go about trying to fill the rather sizeable void left by Abare's absence.

The good news on the injury from is that offensive linemen Jake Koury, Alex Golubiewski and Nate Blair are all back at practice. I expect Koury and Golubiewski to be back in the starting lineup. At practice, there were a number of combinations seeing time with the first team offense. Cory Palmer, Golubiewski, Koury, Nathan Burow, Blair, Mike McInerney and Gabe Fernandez all took snaps with the starters.

Senior linebacker and captain Paul Rice did not practice to reach an aching knee but Rice said he will be good to go on Saturday when Yale plays at Penn.

Yale coach Tom Williams mourned the loss of one of his former players, Marquis Cooper, who fell overboard on Mar. 1 when a boat he was a passenger on capsized in rough waters in Clearwater, Fla. So he knows a thing or two about tragedy but he admitted on Tuesday that he has no way of knowing how he would handle the situation at UConn.

Junior cornerback Jasper Howard was stabbed to death outside UConn's Student Union early Sunday morning. There are reports that two of his teammates were with him when he was attacked. The UConn community, which held two candlelight vigils on Monday night, is still reeling from the loss.

"Obviously it is devastating," Williams said. "I would want to be in touch with the family, knowing we are there to support them and do anything we could to let them get through the crisis then I want to get our football family together, allow the guys to grieve, bring in a counselor. I am sure the guys who are closest to him are the ones affected the hardest and they need to grieve. It is not easy, there is no book on how to handle those situations, you just kind of deal with those situations as they come.

"We talk about our football family, we have 105 players and they are like my children and as my own children get older, you try to instill the values, the decision making and those things too get through life but ultimately they make decisions, they have to as they become adults and you can't watch them all the time."

Back on the subject of his Yale team, Williams said the flu bug which wreaked hsvoc on the squad in the last couple of weeks has just about run its course. Running back Jordan Farrell and offensive lineman Alex Golubiewski, who were among 10 players who did not make the trip, are doing much better.

Williams said he is waiting to hear the results of medical tests on the injured arm of senior safety Larry Abare while receiver Jordan Forney will be watched after suffering a concussion in Saturday's win at Lehigh.

Quarterback Patrick Witt, who was benched for the Oct. 10 game against Dartmouth and did not make the trip to Lehigh because of a violation of team rules, is back to practicing is expected to resume his duties as Brook Hart's top backup.

It was a pretty uneventful but spirited practice this morning.

Quarterback Brook Hart saw most of the time with the first team as you would expect for a guy planning for his second straight start. Dez Duron was in there quite a bit too but that was more to give the Yale defense a look at some of the stuff Lehigh likes to run.

There is more of the flu hitting the team. It limited safety Larry Abare and linebacker Travis Henry last week. There were a decent amount of key players missing as a result of getting IVs from the Yale medical staff while some had to do with class conflicts.

Tackle Alex Golubiewski, safety Geoff Dunham and receiver Allen Harris were among those who were not practicing. Perhaps the most impressive players at the practice were senior h-back tight end John Sheffield and junior cornerback Adam Money.

Thanks to those who took part in the third of the weekly live chats. Here's a link to see how it went

There may be new coaching staff with just two holdovers and 14 new starters for Yale but when it comes to Cornell, it was a familiar script as the inability to run the ball consistently, costly turnovers and offensive futility led to another loss to the Big Red. Instead of having quarterbacks losing fumbles, it was Patrick Witt's three second-half interceptions which proved costly.

A few observations:
Witt was not at his best. He was high on so many throws and will need to break his tendency to lock in on his intended receiver. It led to an interception by Anthony Ambrosi which was returned 20 yards for a score. Witt didn't get too much help from his receivers - especially in the first half when I counted six dropped passes.

I thought the offensive play calling for Yale was pretty conservative. Of course, losing Gio Christodoulou to an apparent ankle injury did not help. It is the second straight game Christodouou wasn't available for the entire game as he was knocked out of the Georgetown game with cramping issues. For most of the game, the passing game was little more than a series of dump offs. Then in the fourth quarter, it seemed like they were overcompensating and starting going for it all. You'd have to think they will find a happy medium at some point.

The offensive line did a solid job pass blocking as Witt was sacked just once but struggled run blocking. Yes, I know Jordan Farrell ran for 74 yards but he needed 25 carries. One thing to consider is that Alex Golubiewski, who started at left tackle, had less than a week of practice so the unit that started only had three days of practice to get accustomed to playing together so I expect that they will get better. Alex Thomas was in uniform but did not play. I think he could have loosened up the Cornell defense considerably but perhaps he was not ready physically.

Yale ran 35 more plays than Cornell, outgained the Big Red 296-166 and limited Cornell to three first downs but lost. Football can be a funny game sometimes.

Yale's defense was fooled on the trick plays as the double pass turned into an 81-yard touchdown and a flea flicker also worked perfectly only to be negated by a holding penalty. Let's be honest, other than strong safety Larry Abare, the other three starting defensive backs (Drew Baldwin, Adam Money and Geoff Dunham) came into the season with just one career start between them. I was impressed by the play of defensive linemen Pat Moran and Joe Young and linebacker Tim Handlon had an interception for the second straight game.

Of course Tom Mante's 54-yard field goal was something to behold. It would have been good from about 60 yards. His punting was merely average by his lofty standards as he averaged 37.6 yards on six punts.

Former Amity and Choate star Ricky Ballou started at defensive end and had three tackles playing in front of a host of friends and family. He had an interception nullified by a personal foul penalty by Aaron Levine.

Apparently the Versus feed went out in the second half. If anybody lost the feed, feel free to post a comment. We are looking into what happened.

Tom Williams has seen his share of Thursday practices in his time as a college and professional coach and would be hard pressed to see a more productive one than the one which wrapped up about an hour and a half ago at Clint Frank Field in West Haven.

Running back Alex Thomas (ankle), safety Marcus Wallace (shoulder) and tackle Alex Golubiewski (knee) were all back in action. Wallace, who was the starter at free safety after spring practice was over, split time with Geoff Dunham with the starting defense during the scrimmage portion of the practice. Golubiewski, cleared to return to practice earlier this week, saw plenty of time at left tackle with the top offensive line unit and Thomas had a few impressive runs.

The two most impressive players in the scrimmage were receiver Peter Balsam, who caught TDs on consecutive series, and running back Mordecai Cargill, who had a couple of highlight variety runs. Considering that the Ivy League rookie of the week was Columbia punter Michael Williamsson, I'd have to think that Cargill has a chance to emerge as the league's best freshman since I would expect him to get plenty of opportunities to carry and catch the ball this season.

Receiver Reid Lathan (knee), fullback Josh Kozel (ankle) and tight end Chris Blohm (foot) were held out of practice with only Blohm expected to play on Saturday against Cornell.

WILLIAMS GIVING BACK
Williams is one of the college football coaches taking part in the Coach To Cure MD program. He will be wearing a patch on his shirt during Saturday's game.