Among the former and current Yale players in attendance as Bobby Abare, Drew Baldwin, Geoff Dunham, Jordan Haynes, Pat Moran, Jake Stoller, Alex Thomas and Patrick Witt worked out for NFL scouts was somebody who knows the drill pretty well.

A year ago Shane Bannon was barely showing up on any NFL draft sites but a strong showing at Yale's pro day followed by impressive showings in individual workouts resulted in Bannon being drafted in the seventh round by the Kansas City Chiefs. I haven't had the chance to speak to Bannon since he was drafted so I spent a few minutes with him to talk about his experiences last season and also to have him talk about the process of attempting to catch the eye of NFL teams.

"It was fast," Bannon said. "It was the quickest six weeks of my life. I worked out at pro day, starting talking to teams and working out for teams and it just kind of snowballed from there. I think I was in the right place at the right time and the stars aligned and I couldn't be more grateful that the Chiefs drafted me. It was a great month for sure."

Bannon was thrilled to see his former teammates taking their best shot at the NFL.

"I thought they did great," Bannon said. "They came out and gave it their best shot so hopefully somebody saw something they liked and they'll get a couple phone calls. If not, that doesn't take away from anything they have done. I commend them for giving it a shot."

So what advice would Bannon give to the former Yale players hoping to get invited to NFL training camps.
"There is so much you can control," Bannon said. "If you get a workout or interview, just go out and be you and do what you know you can do. You can't let that stuff get to you because there is too much going on, sit back relax and enjoy it."

Bannon spent time on the Chiefs' practice squad and after the season signed a two-year contract with Kansas City.

"We'll see what happens in camp," Bannon said. "I have to make the team and I look forward to getting out there and competing for sure. It's a little different because you are not training to do a pro day any more, you are not doing specific benching and running 40s but I trying to get back in shape and get ready for OTAs and practice and hopefully the stars will align again."

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.

There was quite a bit of commotion in the Columbia press box as Austin Knowlin came out onto the field wearing jersey No. 4 instead of his normal 83. With his fellow senior Ray Rangel, out for the season because of a foot injury, Knowlin requested to wear Rangel's number.

Knowlin, a former Newington High star, will draw plenty of attention regardless of his uniform number. He is Columbia's all-time leader with 190 catches and needs 95 yards to become the Lions leader in career receiving yards.

Speaking of prolific receivers, Yale freshman Chris Smith not only made the trip but too part in pre-game drills. Whether his injured knee is well enough for him to play remains to be seen but the fact that he is out there is a good sign that the injury he suffered late in last week's loss to Penn is not as serious as it appeared.

Jordan Farrell, Yale's leading rusher, is also out going through warmups. He is slowed by the flu and bronchitis so it will be interesting to see how much he can play. While Jordan Forney, who missed the Penn game with a concussion, is back and figures to see plenty of time.

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.

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 wasn't the prettiest of wins, that's for sure but a Yale squad without its starting tailback Jordan Farrell (out with the flu) and starting center Jake Koury (bruised calf) and then dealt with safety Larry Abare and receiver Jordan Forney being knocked out of the game, wrapped up the non-conference portion of its schedule with a gutsy win.

The only touchdown came on a 40-yard run by linebacker Paul Rice on a fake punt. Yale had been whistled for delay of game making the call all the more surprising.

The most noteworthy aspect of the game in my opinion was the play of the defensive line. Tom McCarthy had two sacks and blocked a field goal. Pat Moran was also in the backfield on a regular basis while Sean Williams had another strong game, capped by him snaring the ball on a bad pitch by De'Vaughn Gordon on an attempted hook and lateral play. He also forced a fumble. With Lehigh having used all of its timeouts, all that remained was for quarterback Brook Hart to take a knee on three straight plays. On a day where offensive success was the exception and not the rule, even that proved to be a challenge. Lehigh claimed they recovered the ball on third down. The officials disagreed to allow Yale to run out the final few seconds.

Junior cornerback Adam Money caused a fumble and had an interception.

Until some strong runs by senior Rodney Reynolds in the second half, it seemed as if Rice would end up as Yale's leading rusher. Reynolds, the starter coming out of the spring, had seen limited time. With Mordecai Cargill managing 16 carries on 15 yards and Alex Thomas added 13 on seven rushes, Yale turned to Reynolds in an attempt to run out the clock. Reynolds carried the ball 11 times for 45 yards to not only help secure a win but likely play himself back into the picture at tailback.

Hart struggled, throwing three interceptions including two on consecutive second-half drives. His final interception came when he did something quarterbacks at every level are instructed not to do - throw the ball late down the middle. He was just 12 of 31 for 86 yards. John Sheffield caught seven passes for 55 yards and he is now tied with Ashley Wright for third on Yale's career reception list.

The offensive line shuffle continued. With Koury again not able to do, Gabe Fernandez started again at center, the guards were freshman Jeff Marrs and sophomore Mike McInerney while Cory Palmer and Nathan Burow.

Yale is now 3-2, 1-1 in the Ivy League heading into Saturday's game at Penn. The Quakers won 27-13 at Columbia.

A couple of reminders, tomorrow's JV game has been cancelled and my weekly live chat will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. Log in to www.nhregister.com/chat to ask questions or just check it out.

After two mediocre offensive efforts in home losses to Cornell and Lafayette, I received more than a few questions in my weekly Yale football online chat about what's up with the offense and when will the new staff open things up.

Well, there were some new wrinkles in the 38-7 win over lowly Dartmouth. First, Yale coach Tom Williams and I have a different opinion on what constitutes a new wrinkle. I consider it to be something that has not been utilized in game action while is definition is something that wasn't worked on in practice.

While many of the dimensions Yale used en route to rolling up 520 yards I have seen in my weekly trips to practice, actually seeing them utilized in games was an encouraging sign of progress.

The no-huddle offense caught Dartmouth off guard. Then again, so did the fake punt, onsides kick, quarterback draw and so on and so forth. Yale was 7 for 14 on 3rd down conversion and if Brook Hart had not short-hopped a throw to John Sheffield, the Bulldogs would have been 2 for 2 on 4th down conversations. I also liked seeing Chris Smith getting the ball on reverses and the swing passes to the running backs.

The screen game, which Williams and offensive coordinator Brian Stark said would be a key component, was executed better today than it had been in the last two home outings. Brook Hart hooking up with freshman Chris Smith with a deep ball which turned into a 73-yard touchdown pass on a perfect pitch was also encouraging. Actually, I applaud the first deep ball which was incomplete but at least put into the mind of the Dartmouth coaches that Yale would at least consider throwing the ball down the field.

Any play that includes throwing the ball to tight end John Sheffield is a good play in my eyes. Sheffield caught a team-high eight passes, pushing his team-leading total of 25. He also passed a host of players including Curt Grieve and former NFL stars Gary Fencik and John Spagnola to move into seventh place on Yale's career reception list with 90 catches.

Sheffield broke three tackles on a 3rd and 9 play for a first down to set up Yale's first touchdown. With the emergence of freshmen Chris Smith and Allen Harris, the reliable Jordan Forney and big-play specialist Peter Balsam requiring attention from opposing defenses, I would expect Sheffield to have even more room to operate.

The quarterback plan of having Hart and Patrick Witt split time ended when Witt was benched for a violation of team rules. All Hart did was complete 28 of 40 passes for 390 yards and three touchdowns. I know it was against Dartmouth but you couldn't help but think Hart moved ahead in the quarterback competition. Hart is showing more pocket presence and the Yale staff is encouraging him to limit his options leading to him cutting down on mistakes. Hart was sacked once, on Yale's first offensive play, but Williams blamed that on a receiver running the wrong route.

Even more than his gun of a left arm, I have been impressed by the way Hart handled a difficult situation. He set a Yale single-season record by completing 62.1 percent of his passes as a sophomore before being beaten out by Witt. With Witt having issues with turnovers and making some questionable decisions, Hart kept putting in the work and has been - by all accounts - the model teammate. All you need to know about Hart you can find out by watching the way his teammates celebrated with him. They know he could have rocked the boat but put the team's goals ahead of his own but he showed remarkable class and poise in the way he dealt with everything.

"That is a testament to Brook," Sheffield said. "That is kind of the (attitude) we have had as a team is to put the team first. We was battling when Witt was the starter and he only had two reps, he made the most of it. Last week he comes in and did whatever he needed to make the most of it. As you saw today, that was an achievement and hopefully that is not the last achievement that he has."

If not for an extremely late flag thrown on Adam Money for defensive holding, Yale likely would have had a shutout. If my eyes did not deceive me, the flag on Money was not thrown until the junior cornerback neared midfield on what appeared to be his second interception of the season. If he did tug the shirt of the intended receiver, why not throw the flag before the ball in thrown because once it is in the air, it should be called pass interference. Was it a good call? I am not sure. But it was a late, really, really late call and should not have been the case.

Four Yale freshmen played few roles in Yale's offensive outburst.

Mordacei Cargill ran for a team-high 52 yards, Smith (3 catches, 82 yards) and Allen Harris (5 catches, 76 yardd) made some big plays and Jeff Marrs saw plenty of time at guard.

The news on Dartmouth quarterback Alex Jenny, knocked out of the game with an injured elbow on a cornerback blitz by Money, was not encouraging. Sounds like he could be out for a while.

Yale appeared to be OK health wise.

Drew Baldwin, who has top-flight ball skills, made a sensational interception for Yale's only turnover. Sean Williams, who continues to impress me, Tom McCarthy and Reed Spiller each had sacks while Geoff Dunham had a team-high six tackles including one of the bone-crunching variety on running back Nick Schwieger.

Sophomore Alex Thomas is finally healthy enough to make an impact. The former Ansonia High star ran four times for 28 yards including his first career varsity touchdown and had three catches for 26 yards.

Yale's football weekend will conclude with a 1 p.m. JV game against Dean College Sunday at Clint Frank Field. Among the players on Dean's squad are former New Haven area products Michael Mainiero (Shelton), Marvin McClendon (Hillhouse), Rodney Williams (Hyde), Ron Vece (Amity) and Dan Mazzacane (Cheshire).

Plenty of news to report out of a pretty solid practice.

Gio Christodoulou will not play on Saturday because of foot and ankle injuries suffered in the loss to Cornell. Yale coach Tom Williams said Christodoulou could be out "indefinitely." Reid Lathan is back and should make his 2009 debut against Lafayette on Saturday.

Sophomore Bryan Farris, who came out of spring ball running neck and neck with returning starter Brook Hart for the No. 1 quarterback job, has been moved to safety - at his request.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Farris saw plenty of action in the secondary today. The move was his idea. Seeing that he was behind classmate Patrick Witt and Hart, a junior, and with three freshmen quarterbacks joining the program, Farris decided to request the switch because he wants to play.

The irony is that Farris split time at quarterback on Yale's junior varsity team with Dawson Halliday and now they are both defensive backs. Halliday saw extensive action as an additional defensive back in the nickel package, a role filled so admirably by current starter Adam Money last season.

The biggest winner in all of this - other than Farris - could be freshman Dez Duron. The reigning Louisiana Gatorade Player of the Year moved up to No. 4 on the depth chart. He was in there frequently today since a class conflict kept third-string quarterback Rich Scudellari out of practice.

With starting center Jake Koury battling a left calf injury and guard Nate Blair sidelined by a combination of a reaggravation of a previous knee injury and a class to attend, senior center Ben Meyer and freshman guard Jeff Marrs saw plenty of time practicing with the No. 1 offensive line.

Freshman Taylor Stib, coming off a strong effort in Yale's junior varsity opener against Milford Academy, was rewarded by getting a number of carries in the scrimmaging portion of practice. With Jordan Farrell, Alex Thomas, Mordecai Cargill, Brandon Scott, Rodney Reynolds and Ricky Galvez all options at tailback, it's uncertain how much varsity time Stib will get but he certainly did not look out of place when he got the call.

Finally, a bit of housecleaning. There are three uniform number changes. Smith goes from No. 4 to 21, freshman running back Javi Sosa, who used to wear No. 21, will now wear No. 39 and junior linebacker Andrew Pappas changes numbers from 51 to 36.

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.

The Tom Williams era of Yale football began with a 31-10 win at Georgetown.

Quarterback Patrick Witt completed 22 of 27 passes for 216 yards including touchdowns to tight ends A.J. Haase and John Sheffield. Tailback Jordan Farrell ran 17 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Sheffield and Peter Balsam had six catches each. Freshman Mordacei Cargill added 37 yards rushing on 11 carries. Sophomore Alex Thomas did not play because of an ankle injury suffered in practice.

Defensively, Drew Baldwin and Tim Handlon had interceptions and Joe Young had a sack as Yale held Georgetown without an offensive touchdown. Larry Abare led the Bulldogs with seven solo tackles and five assists.

Tom Mante had a 50-yard field goal, recovered his own onsides kick and punts of 49, 65 and 73 yards.

Those are the highlights. Now for the other side. Witt had some fumbling issues (losing two of his four fumbles) including one which Georgetown's Paul Sant'Ambrogio returned 38 yards for a score with 1:02 left in the second quarter. Georgetown, which lost to Yale 47-7 last year, was driving for the tying touchdown in the third quarter before self destructing. Two fourth-quarter touchdowns by Yale made the game sound more one-sided than it actually was. Witt was also sacked six times meaning he was sacked one for each six passing plays which is not the recipe for success. Then again, none of the five offensive line starters had started a collegiate game before. The defensive line managed just one sack even though Georgetown freshman quarterback Isaiah Kempf attempted 59 passes.


Still, Yale came away with a win in Williams' first game something that hadn't happened at Yale since the Bulldogs defeated UConn 3-0 on Sept. 28, 1963 in John Pont's first game as Yale's head coach.

The Bulldogs play Cornell at noon on Saturday at the Yale Bowl in the home and Ivy League opener.

The long-awaited release of the season's initial depth chart is out.

The biggest surprise is that five players who started games for Yale in 2008 are listed as backups.

That starts at quarterback where junior Brook Hart, who started five games last season, was edged out for the starting job by Nebraska transfer Patrick Witt.

Personally, I thought the biggest surprise came at right offensive tackle where Cory Palmer (the only returning starter on the offensive line) is now No. 2 behind fellow senior Jon Charest. I have seen variations of Yale's starting offensive line between practice, the intrasquad scrimmage and Union scrimmage and the only constants were Palmer and center Jake Koury.

Receiver Jordan Forney and H-back John Sheffield, the only returning offensive players to start every game last season, remain as starters but receiver Reid Lathan, who started nine games in 2008, is behind Gio Christodoulou while tight ends A.J. Haase (seven starts in '08) and Chris Blohm (three starts) are behind Caleb Smith on the depth chart.

One item to clear up on the offense is that although Alex Thomas is listed as the starting tailback, Jordan Farrell is expected to start against Georgetown. Thomas, Mordacei Cargill, Brandon Scott and Rodney Reynolds are all expected to see action at tailback this season. Ricky Galvez, a key backup to all-time leading rusher Mike McLeod the last two years, will likely be limited to special teams at least at the start of the season.

With starting fullback Josh Kozel slowed by an ankle injury, freshman Jordan Capellino moved to the top of the depth chart.

Defensively, Justin Oplinger, who started every game at defensive end, is now a second-string outside linebacker while Tom McCarthy (10 starts),
The constant on the defense is Larry Abare, who returns to the strong safety position after starting all 10 games there in 2008. Travis Henry, who started three games at a position called a defensive end but what was actually an outside linebacker, will return to that position. Paul Rice, who started nine games at cornerback, moves to inside linebacker while Adam Money, who started at corner in the Princeton game for an injured Rice, is the only other defensive player back who started for a Yale defense which led all Football Championship Subdivision teams in scoring defense for the second year in a row.

The defensive position which caught my eye was free safety where sophomore Geoff Dunham got the call over classmate Bedford Booth. John Pagliaro also seemed to be in contention to be a starter at free safety but the son of the former Yale running back is listed as Abare's backup at strong safety.

One of the many changes from the current coaching staff from the former staff is that if a player is not producing, they will not keep their job so don't be surprised to see the depth chart change in the coming weeks.

During Tuesday's Ivy League conference call, Yale coach Tom Williams announced that Patrick Witt will start against Georgetown although last year's starter Brook Hart is expecting to see time against the Hoyas.

Williams also said Jordan Farrell will be the starting tailback on Saturday.

Neither decision is particularly surprising. Witt was slowed early in the fall camp with an injury to his non-throwing shoulder but seems at ease with the high-percentage passing game put in by new offensive coordinator Brian Stark. He is also more athletic than Hart.

Farrell has had an outstanding camp and seems primed to make an impact. However, this will not be a repeat of the last few years when Mike McLeod got the call over and over again. Freshman Mordacei Cargill and sophomore Alex Thomas are among the long list of tailbacks pushing for time.

With a Yale/Quinnipiac men's soccer game to run out to Saturday evening, I wasn't able to put together a recap of the Yale/Union scrimmage.

So file this under the "better late than never" department.

Patrick Witt started at quarterback and played five of the seven first-half drives. Witt seems comfortable in Yale's West Coast offense. His two touchdowns (a 54-yarder to Alex Thomas and 16-yarder to Peter Balsam) probably traveled about five yards combined. Thomas ran the wrong route but made up for his miscue by slicing through the Union defense for a TD while Balsam made an impressive grab on Witt's swing pass just after crossing the line of scrimmage and took care of the rest. The passing game didn't take a ton of chances down the field but it's hard to argue with a 20 of 30 for 320 yards, 3 touchdowns and no interceptions in Yale's 36-14 win.

My unofficial stats had Witt 8 of 9 for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns. Brook Hart was 4 of 9 for 59 yards. It was a two-quarterback show until the fourth quarter when Rich Scudellari (4 of 8, 48 yards) and Bryan Farris (4 of 4 for 47 yards) got some work.

Jordan Farrell started at tailback and turned a busted play into a 36-yard touchdown run on his first carry and had a 25-yard run on his second rush. He finished with 71 yards on five carries. Freshman Mordecai Cargill was up next and ran nine times for 33 yards and also had a 24-yard reception. Thomas also saw plenty of action, scoring on a 2-yard run as well as the aforementioned screen pass. Rodney Reynolds and Brandon Scott (the top two tailbacks coming out of spring ball) and Ricky Galvez saw some time in the second half. Balsam, Thomas, Chris Smith and tight ends Chris Blohm (2 catches for 45 yards) and Jordan Jefferson (3 catches, 54 yards) had multiple receptions.

I have seen different variations of the offensive line with center Jake Koury and tackle Cory Palmer the only constants. But the starting unit was the same one which I saw working together in Thursday's practice with Jon Charest playing the other tackle and Nate Blair and Jeff Marrs (the only freshman to start on either offense or defense) manning the guard positions. It was a mixed bag as there were very few hits behind the line of scrimmage by Union but there were six penalties for either holding or illegal blocks.

Defensively, I was little surprised to see Joe Young and Pat Moran lining up side by side on the line along with Sean Williams and Tom McCarthy. Although I had Young and Moran for three tackles combined, they helped bottle up Union's running game. Bedford Booth got the start at free safety and looked pretty comfortable while Tim Handlon and Jordan Haynes saw plenty of time at linebacker, playing alongside Paul Rice and Travis Henry.

Larry Abare and Drew Baldwin, half of Yale's starting secondary, had interceptions as did John Pagliaro while linebacker Dan Walsh continues to make plays.

On special teams, Tom Mante did miss an extra point and field goal but did have a 57-yard punt. Gio Christodoulou was his normal electrifying self on returns while freshman John Powers, who starred at Hopkins, was a special-teams terror.

It was a pretty good day for the freshmen. Not only did Marrs start and Cargill have his moments, Jefferson looks like he will be forcing his way into the rotation even with John Sheffield, Haase and Chris Blohm all returning at tight end for the Bulldogs. My stats had Powers and fellow freshman safety Ryan Falbo tying for the team lead with three tackles with Walsh and Haynes. Freshman receiver Chris Smith made a highlight-variety catch in the end zone for an 18-yard scoring grab. Fullback Jordan Capellino had a 23-yard catch. Of the 15 players with receptions, seven were freshmen.

The only injury I noticed was to fullback Josh Kozel, who twisted an ankle.

Hopefully, the depth chart will be available to me in the next couple of days.