Former Yale tight end Nate Lawrie, fullback Shane Bannon and defensive end Tom McCarthy survived the latest round of NFL cuts as teams had to get their rosters down to 80.

Lawrie was not among the latest round of cuts announced by the San Francisco 49ers as San Francisco waived wide receivers Tyler Beiler and Kevin Jurovich, running back Seth Smith, offensive linemen Donovan Edwards and Nick Powell, linebacker Scott McKillop and punter Sam Paulescu.

Kansas City let seven players recently and then waived kicker Todd Carter and placed offensive tackle Ryan O'Callaghan on injured reserve meaning that Bannon, a seventh-round pick of the Chiefs, is still in contention for a roster spot.

The Atlanta Falcons signed center Brett Romberg, received an injury settlement with receiver Tim Buckley and cut receiver Doug Beaumont, defensive back Kirk Belgrave, running back Philip Sylvester and linebackers LaMarcus Thompson and LB Youri Yenga meaning that McCarthy is among the 80 players on Atlanta's roster.

Each NFL team has to be down to 53 players by Saturday. The good news is that even if Bannon and McCarthy are cut, they have a chance to be named to their respective team's eight-member practice squad. Had they been cut today, they would not have realistic practice squad candidates. I'll have to brush up on my practice-squad rules to see if Lawrie still has eligibility to be named to San Francisco's practice squad.


Thanks to an alert blog reader for pointing out that defensive lineman Tevin Hood is on the roster of the University of San Diego football squad.

Hood played in four games as a non-scholarship player at Duke last season and planned on enrolling at Yale. Hood actually was at Yale for a couple of days this summer before telling coaches that he had a change of heart. Playing at San Diego will allow Hood to play immediately since he would have needed to sit out a season if he went to a Bowl Championship Series program and he will be closer to his family in Arizona.

I don't have very many details but former Duke defensive lineman will not be suiting up for Yale after all.

Hood, who was recruited heavily as a senior out of Hamilton High in Chandler, Arizona, opted to attend Duke as a preferred walk on. Hood played in four games as a freshman and was in on a sack in a game against Alabama.

After flirting with the idea of attending his home state University of Arizona, Hood followed through on his transfer at Yale. He attended at least one of Yale's spring practices and was provisionally accepted into Yale. He was supposed to be taking some classes during summer school and was supposed to suit up for Yale when fall drills began in August.

However, I just heard that he is not at Yale. If I find out where he ends up and/or what led to his change of heart, I will pass on the info.

The silver lining is that defensive tackle may be Yale's deepest position with the return of Jake Stoller, Reed Spiller and Chris Dooley and Patrick Moran coming back after taking a year off from school and football.

With Yale's graduation fast approaching, I thought it would be a good time to catch up with Jesse Reising, the linebacker who was nearly paralyzed during the Nov. 20 game against Harvard. As it turned out, we sat down on Friday which was six months to the date of his violent collision with Harvard running back Gino Gordon.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

As I wrote in my last story about Jesse back in February, he was in line to be commissioned as an officer in the Marines but the injuries he suffered prevented him from realizing his dream.

Reising, while obviously disappointed at being disenrolled from the Marines office training candidate school, was not about to wallow in self pity. As the story which is running in Sunday's edition of the Register documents, his future is looking pretty bright. He is heading over to Afghanistan to work as a contractor and is starting a non-profit organization to help care for the families of fallen service members.

MAJOR HONOR FOR BANNON
Shane Bannon, who became the first Yale player taken in the NFL draft in seven years when he was selected in the seventh round by the Kansas City Chiefs in last month's draft, received a prestigious honor on Saturday night.

Bannon was co-winner of Yale's Meyer Humanitarian Award.

The award is given each year to a varsity athlete in the senior class "whose character exemplifies selfless devotion along with compassion and concern for their team and the community at Yale and beyond."

Bannon was recognized for his off the field work including spending the last three years being very involved in the annual Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive at Yale. He has also been a mentor for elementary school children at Shepherd Glen School in Hamden since 2009 and has volunteered with Special Olympics. He has participated in Youth Days and the athletics department’s annual holiday gift giving drive for underprivileged children all four years he has been at Yale.

LOOK FOR RECRUIT LIST NEXT WEEK
Last I heard, Yale was still dotting the i's and crossing the t's on its incoming freshman class. I'd look for the list to be officially released at some point in the next week. Don't look for any surprises as it is expected to consist of the 29 high school seniors as well as Duke transfer Tevin Hood.