Yale wrapped up spring practice on Monday and the 12 practices gave some of the younger players a chance to move up the depth chart and make a case for either a starting position or a more prominent role than they had a year ago.

I asked Yale coach Tom Williams which players helped themselves the most during spring camp.

"John Whitelaw, is clearly our No. 2 quarterback. He clearly established himself as a guy who can help our team win football games. I think he has shown the development that we saw at the end of last season and he is a good football player. At tight end position, Kyle Wittenauer is a guy who has stepped up to show that he is ready to earn some playing time at that position. I don't know if he is going to be the replacement this year for (Chris) Blohm but I think he can do some things that can help us win there. (Fullback) Elijah Thomas, some kind of guy. He can do some things that Shane (Bannon) gave us and as a young player he will continue to develop and he certainly made a move in the spring. (Center) John Oppenheimer, moving from defense to offense has helped us and ultimately he will be a really good player for us at that position. Of all the skill guys that we had, (tailback) Mordecai Cargill probably had the biggest spring.

"Defensively, (safety) Nick Okano, (linebacker) Brian Leffler, (cornerback) Collin Bibb and having (defensive tackle) Pat Moran come back and show he is a better player than he was when he left us, all those guys had great springs."

Now it is up to the returning players to build off what transpired in spring camp. At this point last year I would not have predicted that guard Colin Kruger or cornerback Chris Stanley would emerge as starters but they had strong performances in the fall camp to earn regular spots.

Yale will begin its fall camp (or summer camp if you prefer since the first day of fall is not until Sept. 23) on Aug. 19.

It will be interesting monitoring some of the same positional battles that were going on during the spring highlighted by Oppenheimer and Jeff Fell vying for the starting center spot, Leffler and Wes Moyer in contention for a starting linebacking spot, Okano and John Powers trying to earn the starting nod at strong safety with Bibb, Kurt Stottlemyer and Dawson Halliday likely fighting it out for a starting cornerback position.

Receivers Gio Christodoulou and Peter Balsam will be back while Yale will be welcoming a freshman class which will number somewhere between 28-30 and should have former Duke defensive lineman Tevin Hood in the fold as well.

Yale senior defensive end Tom McCarthy (Achilles, calf strains) and sophomore running back Mordecai Cargill (hip flexor) are back at practice and should be good to go for Saturday's game at Dartmouth.

McCarthy hasn't played since the first quarter of the season opener against Georgetown and with a knee injury expected to keep the other starting defensive end Matt Battaglia out of Saturday's game, the timing of McCarthy's return could not be more ideal.

"Having your captain back for his first Ivy League game, we are hoping it will give us a boost," Yale coach Tom Williams said. "I know he is excited to play. I know the guys are excited that he is back. We hope all of those things will equate to a chance to win a game on Saturday."

Center Jake Koury will also be out against Dartmouth after suffering a knee injury. Jeff Fell will replace Koury in the starting lineup. Fell is also being pushed by Kyle Wittenauer for the starting long snapper role while Williams said he has reopened the kicking competition since Yale is 0 for 4 on field goals this season with three of the FGs being blocked. Alex Barnes is the incumbent while Philippe Panico is being given a 50-50 chance to earn the kicking job.

Another item I brought up at the weekly press conference at Mory's was reaction to the arrest of former Yale football player Jordan Jefferson during a New Haven police department raid on the Elevate Lounge on Crown Street. The raid, in which some of those on site have accused the police of brutality, came two weeks after there was a shooting on Crown Street.

"We already talked about it as a team, (the importance of) making good decisions," Williams said. "We always talk about that but the one thing we said in light of
what happened downtown with the gunfire is that everybody is on edge. We can’t add fuel to the fire so if you are in the situation when an officer is talking to you about doing something, you’d better do it, you’d better do it right away.

"We had this conversation long before this happened with Jordan. Unfortunately he is not on our team right now so he missed that conversation. When you are under the circumstance that our police are under, you are edge so we don’t need to do
anything to add to that. We need to help diffuse those situations."

Jefferson was a freshman tight end on Yale's 2009 squad. He appeared in two varsity games and although he did not have a reception, he did make a tackle on special teams. He has a medical condition which kept him from being cleared to return to the football field.

While it is possible that Jefferson could play for the Bulldogs again, Williams said "I don’t know what the odds are so there is a chance, you never say never but based on the last conversation I had, it was slim."