FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

Started by admin, August 16, 2005, 04:58:09 AM

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AlDavis

Quote from: frank uible on September 02, 2013, 09:21:26 PM
Bring back Shondor Birns!

Nice reference , but those days are gone and we can have our offshore websites in Costa Rica , Panama and Jamaica with no shakedowns....my last shakedown was in 1996 from some jokers in East Boston and the North End , but those guys are dinosaurs and not the smartest guys in the room when it comes to modern day bookmaking......also you are right on the Daily Double and have moved it to 50 - 1.

AlDavis

Great post Lumbercat...its hard just to chew on the Wesleyan and Bates info as that's all we got right now....I  analyzed Bates recruiting class as not portionate  and analyzed Wesleyan as filling the need to go along with almost everyone returning and a handful of recruits being D-1AA quality.

frank uible

#5897
Back in the day Shondor's guys on the Hill would pay off because it behooved them to do so in order to maintain their reputations as reliable businessmen, but today's anonymous offshore bookies may breach the faith by hijacking their customers' credit card numbers. Of course whether yesteryear or today NESCAC action is off the board since the Smart Money at best recognizes it as merely some brand of instant coffee.

amh63

Lumbercat...liked your post in general and Bates comments in particular.  I often deduce a change in a school....especially after a new Prez is "crowned"...when there is a refreshing of the school's website.  The Bates' website in all departments is a major one and IMO quite good.  Amherst has a more subtle one and while the Williams' website is quite different, it's athletic site has not changed much.  Tuft's site has gotten better.  Like the change in Trinity's website.  The Wesleyan website is quite good, especially the athletic site.  To me, a school's website reflects their "marketing" face and the athletic site often their outlook of teams.  The Hamilton athletic site is drab, IMO, and like the teams need a rebuilt.
Like others here, am awaiting the previews of the teams at Amherst...now that school has officially begun.  Amherst is still looking for an asst SID replacement...so I expect the previews will be late this year.

gridiron

Great insight, Lumbercat.  Your observations regarding Wes, Bates and Colby are consistent with and help explain some of what others are seeing as well.  Good stuff.

Amh63, always amazed at how some of the schools fail to regularly refresh and update their websites.  Basic marketing 101 in today's world.

frank uible

Isn't marketing (as opposed to plain information) for those who ain't got the goods and their dupes?

gridiron

Middlebury has now posted their roster for 2013.

amh63

Gridiron...thanks for the info.  There are over two dozen new players on board at this time...therefore there will be some "cuts" before the final roster.
Surprised at the number of recruits from my neck of the woods.. D.C. And Maryland.  The Panthers are tapping the schools that have sent fine players to both Williams and Amherst.
Cannot comment about the new players much but there are a bunch of WRs and DBs...skilled position recruits.
New assistant SID at Amherst and stories are emerging.  Teams that have contest early will be previewed first.  Do not expect any preview of the football team until next week at the earliest.  Hope there will be again a video of the practices with HFC comments.

lumbercat

2 more starters from last years Wesleyan team have turned up as transfers at a higher level-
Mike Radaspiel - OL to Delaware
Teddy Baker- TE to UConn
The Cards have lost some talent- that makes 4 starters from last year who transferred to major programs.

gridiron

Can't scoop Lumbercat, that's for sure.   Coach W. eating some humblepie.

Heard Colby starts with 72 on the roster.  Only six seniors--again a VERY young team which could bode well for the future provided they develop. 

FinethyOne

Quote from: LewDogg11 on August 19, 2013, 05:07:23 PM
Quote from: quicksilver on August 19, 2013, 04:23:29 PM
Quote from: amh63 on August 19, 2013, 10:00:59 AM
The board is starting to "heat" up as arrival date of students approaches.  Welcome aboard all new posters....hope you'll stay around during the season.
Lumbercat...thanks for the info.  After scanning the lists, several areas of interest.  . . . .
See that Bates and Bowdoin both have a QB from the Taft school...both good size.  Look forward to see who becomes the better college player  or contribute the most to their school on the field.
Taft seems to be a prep school that develop QBs.  Amherst had a starting QB that came from Taft "recently".  I noticed because he was the son of a great Amherst QB in the late 60's from Iowa.
He came to Amherst in part because of his uncle who played at Amherst and was a classmate of mine.
His "fame" came about in part from a win against Tufts in an away game.  Tufts was ranked the top team  by the Boston papers at The time.  The Amherst QB was just coming back from an injury..not at "full speed"...so to speak.  Amherst was the underdog.  Amherst crushed Tufts.  the Boston papers had to find out why and found a story line.  Seems that the QB turned down scholarships to Iowa and Iowa State to go play at Amherst, where his father had to pay...being a MD.  Of course, Amherst had several young WRs on the team.  One the papers considered to be the best in NE.  They were correct because he went on to play for both Dallas and the Redskins in the NFL.
I digress in memories.  Was at that Tufts game.

Interesting story on the Bates QB prospect from Taft, Nick Laspada. He did not play QB at all in the fall of 2012 during his PG season at Taft due to the position already being occupied by the Bowdoin recruit (Time Drakeley). Laspada was once a very hot prospect at QB until sidelined by some serious health issues, causing Harvard to lose interest in him. He spent his PG year playing WR and safety but hopes to take another shot at QB at Bates.

Laspada was a very good QB at Billerica HS and was recruited by some decent sized schools before his health issues.  Kind of surprised he ended up at Bates but I anticipate he'll light up the stat books, much like Matt Grimard has at Bethany College.

LaSpada was a tremendous QB at Billerica HS.  He impacted football games as soon as he stepped onto the field as a freshman.  Only player in state history to win the
Gatorade Player of the Year as a sophomore.  Then unfortunately in December of his sophomore season after leading his team to a 10-1 record, he took a dirty, cheap shot to the right knee on a run up the sidelines in the playoff game against Everett.  A play where the Everett LB chose to dive at his knees instead of going up high where he should have went.  That cheap hit blew out Nick's knee and it was surgery and a brutal rehab, which to his credit he did and the kid busted his tail and actually was ready to go on week one of his junior season after surgery in January.

With knee injuries, as everyone knows after a torn ACL, it takes at least a year to get back to where you were.  Nick went on to have a great junior season even with the limiting knee brace that he had to play every game with.  The letters or interest started to arrive, Alabama, Oregon, Florida, Notre Dame and all the Ivy's.  He was a legitimate D1 prospect and had the D1 tools scouts look for (Size, Speed, Quickness, Agility, Arm Strength and Accuracy).  The schools were ready to pull the trigger but they wanted to evaluate his senior year before stamping the seal of approval.  It all came down to his senior year.   He was a feared football player in the MVC, a game breaker and now he was back, over a year healed after knee surgery.  He no longer had to wear the limiting knee brace and HUGE expecations where expected Nick's senior year. 

Senior Year:  Early in the season, Nick didn't feel right, he got winded easily.  On punt returns and QB Keepers that he used to bust for TD's by outrunning everyone, he would pull up purposely due to pure exhaustion.  Something wasn't right.  Half way through the season, Nick got checked and it was learned that he had been playing the entire season with blood clots in his lungs.  This obviously cut his season short as he chased the Massachusetts TD record along with DJ Crook and Jonathan DiBiaso.
He ended up throwing (70 TDs - 3rd best in state history).

A Senior Year with scouts waiting and watching was cut short due to health issues.  An absolute shame that this had to happen at the time that it did.  Thankfully, Nick took a few months to get himself completely healthy again and had hopes of going Ivy to his dream school, Harvard to play for the Crimson.  Harvard backed off and Nick then made the decision to Prep school it at Taft in CT to reprove himself.  He went there knowing Drakely was already establised, so Nick played both ways (Safety and WR) and had a great year at Taft.  He wants to QB again and wants the ball in his hands.  According to the Taft Head coach, Nick had his pick of the NESCAC schools and chose Bates.  He went there with the hope of getting the QB job.  Bates landed a 'Big Fish' here believe me.  This is a highly-touted, big, fast, athletic QB with a cannon of an arm who would be a natural in the Option offense run by Harriman.  Nick from all accounts is completely healthy and IF he wins that QB job at Bates (I know there are 3 other good prospects), the Bates student body will see what a tremendous athlete and play-maker Nick is with the ball in his hands.

Here's a nice piece written before his senior season:

http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/massachusetts/post/_/id/39/improved-laspada-primed-for-spectacular-season

Best of Luck to Bates on what should be a great season, they have things going in the right direction up there.

AlDavis

Quote from: FinethyOne on September 05, 2013, 09:18:58 AM
Quote from: LewDogg11 on August 19, 2013, 05:07:23 PM
Quote from: quicksilver on August 19, 2013, 04:23:29 PM
Quote from: amh63 on August 19, 2013, 10:00:59 AM
The board is starting to "heat" up as arrival date of students approaches.  Welcome aboard all new posters....hope you'll stay around during the season.
Lumbercat...thanks for the info.  After scanning the lists, several areas of interest.  . . . .
See that Bates and Bowdoin both have a QB from the Taft school...both good size.  Look forward to see who becomes the better college player  or contribute the most to their school on the field.
Taft seems to be a prep school that develop QBs.  Amherst had a starting QB that came from Taft "recently".  I noticed because he was the son of a great Amherst QB in the late 60's from Iowa.
He came to Amherst in part because of his uncle who played at Amherst and was a classmate of mine.
His "fame" came about in part from a win against Tufts in an away game.  Tufts was ranked the top team  by the Boston papers at The time.  The Amherst QB was just coming back from an injury..not at "full speed"...so to speak.  Amherst was the underdog.  Amherst crushed Tufts.  the Boston papers had to find out why and found a story line.  Seems that the QB turned down scholarships to Iowa and Iowa State to go play at Amherst, where his father had to pay...being a MD.  Of course, Amherst had several young WRs on the team.  One the papers considered to be the best in NE.  They were correct because he went on to play for both Dallas and the Redskins in the NFL.
I digress in memories.  Was at that Tufts game.

Interesting story on the Bates QB prospect from Taft, Nick Laspada. He did not play QB at all in the fall of 2012 during his PG season at Taft due to the position already being occupied by the Bowdoin recruit (Time Drakeley). Laspada was once a very hot prospect at QB until sidelined by some serious health issues, causing Harvard to lose interest in him. He spent his PG year playing WR and safety but hopes to take another shot at QB at Bates.

Laspada was a very good QB at Billerica HS and was recruited by some decent sized schools before his health issues.  Kind of surprised he ended up at Bates but I anticipate he'll light up the stat books, much like Matt Grimard has at Bethany College.

LaSpada was a tremendous QB at Billerica HS.  He impacted football games as soon as he stepped onto the field as a freshman.  Only player in state history to win the
Gatorade Player of the Year as a sophomore.  Then unfortunately in December of his sophomore season after leading his team to a 10-1 record, he took a dirty, cheap shot to the right knee on a run up the sidelines in the playoff game against Everett.  A play where the Everett LB chose to dive at his knees instead of going up high where he should have went.  That cheap hit blew out Nick's knee and it was surgery and a brutal rehab, which to his credit he did and the kid busted his tail and actually was ready to go on week one of his junior season after surgery in January.

With knee injuries, as everyone knows after a torn ACL, it takes at least a year to get back to where you were.  Nick went on to have a great junior season even with the limiting knee brace that he had to play every game with.  The letters or interest started to arrive, Alabama, Oregon, Florida, Notre Dame and all the Ivy's.  He was a legitimate D1 prospect and had the D1 tools scouts look for (Size, Speed, Quickness, Agility, Arm Strength and Accuracy).  The schools were ready to pull the trigger but they wanted to evaluate his senior year before stamping the seal of approval.  It all came down to his senior year.   He was a feared football player in the MVC, a game breaker and now he was back, over a year healed after knee surgery.  He no longer had to wear the limiting knee brace and HUGE expecations where expected Nick's senior year. 

Senior Year:  Early in the season, Nick didn't feel right, he got winded easily.  On punt returns and QB Keepers that he used to bust for TD's by outrunning everyone, he would pull up purposely due to pure exhaustion.  Something wasn't right.  Half way through the season, Nick got checked and it was learned that he had been playing the entire season with blood clots in his lungs.  This obviously cut his season short as he chased the Massachusetts TD record along with DJ Crook and Jonathan DiBiaso.
He ended up throwing (70 TDs - 3rd best in state history).

A Senior Year with scouts waiting and watching was cut short due to health issues.  An absolute shame that this had to happen at the time that it did.  Thankfully, Nick took a few months to get himself completely healthy again and had hopes of going Ivy to his dream school, Harvard to play for the Crimson.  Harvard backed off and Nick then made the decision to Prep school it at Taft in CT to reprove himself.  He went there knowing Drakely was already establised, so Nick played both ways (Safety and WR) and had a great year at Taft.  He wants to QB again and wants the ball in his hands.  According to the Taft Head coach, Nick had his pick of the NESCAC schools and chose Bates.  He went there with the hope of getting the QB job.  Bates landed a 'Big Fish' here believe me.  This is a highly-touted, big, fast, athletic QB with a cannon of an arm who would be a natural in the Option offense run by Harriman.  Nick from all accounts is completely healthy and IF he wins that QB job at Bates (I know there are 3 other good prospects), the Bates student body will see what a tremendous athlete and play-maker Nick is with the ball in his hands.

Here's a nice piece written before his senior season:

http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/massachusetts/post/_/id/39/improved-laspada-primed-for-spectacular-season

Best of Luck to Bates on what should be a great season, they have things going in the right direction up there.

.........oooohhhhh snaaaap!......Bates going to smash Williams Again for the third year in a row.

AlDavis

....Many Student Athletes in the NESCAC have somewhat similar stories of going bigger time for one reason or another but it sounds like Laspada had some bud luck and he has persevered which he deserves.......even with a possible future Heisman Trophy winner at Bates , with just 3 teams so far posting full rosters I rank the incomings freshmans so far   1. Middlebury  2. Wesleyan  3.  Bates

amh63

#5908
Found some interesting bits of info as I search the web.
Bowdoin has signed a 3 year contract with NSN to have webcast coverage of all home sporting events! Started with the men's soccer game on the 3rd of Sept. Professional broadcasters will be provided.  All videos will be FREE.  Great news, IMHO....especially in winter sports. 
Some quiet changes are going on at Bowdoin...based on this year's incoming class of 497 students. Bowdoin seems to be increasing its enrollment to one approaching that of Williams....moving pass the other Maine schools and Amherst.  Will be looking to see if there will be a similiar growth in its football roster. Like to see a push by Bowdoin to a 75 man football roster...indicating a desire to compete for a conference title.  Like the HFC...the Polar Bears have been given Amherst a tough time on the field the last few years though.

frank uible