The Ivy League announced that it has suspended Yale's starting strong safety Nick Okano for tomorrow's game against Lafayette.

Okano was whistled for a 15-yard penalty as he left his feet and hit Dartmouth receiver Ryan McManus on the Big Green's first offensive play of the fourth quarter which I felt was a fair call.

Here is a portion of the release from the Ivy League explaining  why Okano was suspended.
Rule 9, Section 6, Article 2 of the 2011-12 NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations Manual states when a foul is called for initiating contact/targeting a player "that does not result in a player disqualification, there shall automatically be a video review by the conference for possible additional sanctions before the next scheduled game."


Additionally, as outlined in the Ivy League presidents’ July 2011 series of recommendations aimed at lowering the incidence of concussions and sub-concussive hits in football, the video review of helmet-to-helmet and targeted hits conducted by Executive Director Robin Harris includes taking appropriate but firm action in response to such hits, including suspension when appropriate.

My first thought is the release should specify targeting a player in the head because every defensive player targets the player with the ball, it's what is known as tackling. I'm not sure why this ruling couldn't have come earlier in the week. Does it really take six days to rule that Okano launched himself at McManus? The good news for Yale is that players like John Powers and Chris Brady see plenty of snaps during a regular practice week so they should be prepared for additional duties.

Okano has started all four of Yale's games and has 15 tackles, an interception and a team-leading three pass breakups. Powers is likely to start in Okano's place. Powers, a special-teams standout, is one of Yale's most physical players so the Bulldogs won't take a step back in that department but it will be interesting to see if Lafayette tries to isolate Powers in pass coverage.

Okano is the first player to be suspended under the new Ivy League guidelines. He will be back for next week's game against Penn.

There's plenty of stuff to report off Monday's practice (the last afternoon practice for quite some time).

First, I went over to get a sense of how the hurricane/tropical storm impacted Yale's practice schedule. Here is the story I filed for the paper.

In the time I was at practice, I noticed that John Whitelaw saw most of snaps at quarterback and starter Patrick Witt wasn't in there at all. Turns out the Witt strained a groin and with the field a little slick thanks to the large rainfall in the area over the week, the Yale coaching staff decided to play it safe.

"It wasn't anything bad but the grass was slick," Yale coach Tom Williams said. "He planted and his foot slid. It was mostly as a precaution. Johnny (was able to get) as many reps as he could stand. Pat got some reps but we didn't give him a lot. We didn't give him any pass reps. We gave him some handoffs so we didn't have to stretch his groin. We've give him tomorrow off and we are hoping Wednesday morning and be back to as close as 100 percent as he can be."

Whitelaw looked extremely sharp running the first-team offense. He is ahead of Witt in two noticeable areas - the screen game and the ability to make plays with his feet.

"It is not only beneficial to John to prove that he can do it but it is beneficial for the rest of the offense, the rest of the team to see John to be out there and be able to operation because now we know we are definitely two-deep at quarterback with John Whitelaw," Williams said. "The more reps he gets, the more comfortable he is going to get. We went through our two deep after the scrimmage on Saturday as a staff and we feel like we are two deep at every position and 2 1/2 deep at some and that has never been there before. It is exciting for us. He has a great feel for the screen and the other thing that he gives you that Pat can do but hasn't shown it is that John can scramble and get you 10-12 yards. About four or five times a game he can get you a first down which puts pressure on the defense. He is very similar to (former Cheshire and current Penn quarterback) Billy Ragone in that regard that if it breaks down, he can run and if you turn your back on him, he can go a long ways."

Williams referred to the scrimmage. Yale had originally planned to have an intrasquad scrimmage on Sunday but had a change of plans because of the unstable weather. So the team scrimmaged on Saturday.

Here are his thoughts on which players stood out.

"The guys were expected to be players for us did what they expected us to do. Some guys who showed up where (defensive lineman) Charles Holmes who has been out for a couple of years in injury, I thought he had a really good scrimmage. (Freshman running back) Kahlil Keys was a guy that we wanted to see how he would do against varsity defense. Practice is one thing but games are different. He showed up. (freshman linebacker) Will Vaughan, looks like he is a guy who can help us. (Defensive back) Charles Cook, another freshman who showed up. Offensive line wise, Ben Carbery and William Chism, those guys look like they will be able to help us this year. In the secondary, probably the emerging starter for us at corner is Dawson Halliday. It is a great competition with Collin Bibb. I think Dawson has proven in camp that he has been more consistent and Collin has been nicked up injury wise. That has given him the edge. Nick Okano is being pushed by John Powers. I think that thing is going to go down to the wire. By the time we play Dean (in a scrimmage on Sept. 10), I think we will have a better idea. (Linebacker) Wes Moyer has had a good camp. He is a guy who has been a backup linebacker for us but is pushing to be a starter."

I followed up with Williams on Carbery and Chism to see if they are pushing for starting roles.

"Those freshmen offensive linemen were a pleasant surprise," Williams said. "I just wasn't sure if they were going to be up with the tempo. Athletically they can do it. Without a doubt. They are pushing guys who are up front right now. (They are) potential starters. I would say that they are both where Wes Gavin was a year ago which is 'we think he is good enough but we have to put him out there in the game and see.'"

Carbery is a tackle while Chism is making a push at center and guard.

Yale is taking Tuesday off because it is hectic day for students at Yale getting ready for the start of the fall semester. Yale will shift to morning practices beginning on Wednesday with the Bulldogs going 7:30-9:30 a.m. from now on with the exception of the scrimmage against Dean Junior College on Sept. 10.

The Yale Bowl scoreboard read Blue 28, White 0 at the end of Saturday's spring game but in reality, the scrimmage ended in a tie.

The offense, especially the first unit, completely dominated the first half while the defense rebounded quite nicely in the second half.

The first team offense scored touchdowns on its first four possessions of the first half and would have made it a perfect 5 for 5 if not for a holding call which negated a touchdown pass from Patrick Witt to Chris Smith.

Witt and Smith hooked up for touchdowns of 13 and 30 yards, Jordan Forney caught a 20-yard touchdown reception which I caught on video while Gio Christodoulou had a 91-yard reception to set up Mordecai Cargill's 1-yard touchdown run

The offense had 298 yards on 32 plays in the first half while managing just 51 yards on 17 plays in the second half.

I had Witt going 12 for 17 for 243 yards and three touchdowns and one interception. Christodoulou had two catches for 99 yards, Smith caught four passes for 95 yards and Forney had 43 yards on three receptions.

Yale went mostly with one-back sets today, something that will continue. Alex Thomas (4 carries for 46 yards) and Cargill (8 carries, 24 yards) split time with the first-team offense while Javi Sosa (14 carries, 36 yards) got all the work with the second unit.

Defensively, defensive end Cliff Foreman (four tackles, a fumble recovery and blocked punt) and linebacker Will McHale (six tackles) were the stars. Safety John Powers had an interception while defensive end Allen Davis recovered a fumbled punt by Christodoulou.

Spring games like Yale's when the offense plays against the defense always leads to the "is the glass half full or it is half empty" argument.

Witt looked great throwing the ball and with Yale planning to play Forney, Smith and Christodoulou together, I would expect a more wide-open offense than what I witnessed a year ago. On the other hand, Yale's starting secondary did not distinguish itself as the three receivers got open with relative ease. Bear in mind that the QBs weren't getting hit so it wasn't the same as a regular-season game when Witt would have been rushed more than he was on Saturday but it still was a bit surprising that the Yale secondary, featuring three returning starters, struggled as much as it did when the first team offense and defense squared off.

The other thing of note was that quarterback turned defensive back Bryan Farris was back at quarterback and was the No. 2 QB on Saturday while Dez Duron and Derek Russell got into the game in the second half. If Brook Hart gets taken in the Major League Baseball draft, which could very well happen, and opts to sign the Bulldogs will need to develop another quarterback to serve as insurance behind Witt.

NO NEWS ON MANTE
Just spoke with former Yale punter Tom Mante. He said there is nothing to report but his agent is still in contact with some NFL teams and he is hopeful of getting an invite to an NFL camp.