Notes and two-deep

It’s almost time.

Yale will open its season on Saturday at Colgate (0-3) at 1 p.m. Here are some notes from the first Yale football media luncheon at Mory’s.

RENO ON THE RED RAIDERS

The defending Patriot League champions are very talented on offense, Reno says. QB Gavin McCarney (who missed last week’s 53-23 loss to New Hampshire) makes plays with his feet and smart decisions in the passing game. Colgate has a strong running game. WR Dan Cason is a dangerous playmaker and tight end Kevin O’Connell is another option.

Defensively, Colgate is aggressive up front and its linebackers play downhill. They are very athletic in the secondary.

“There is a reason they were picked to win the Patriot League,” Reno said.

A NEW FACE

Yale has faced Georgetown in its last six openers. The Bulldogs won all six against the Hoyas and haven’t lost an opener since falling to San Diego in 2006.

WHO WILL PLAY QB?
As expected, Reno wouldn’t give any update on the quarterback situation. Morgan Roberts, Henry Furman and Eric Williams are competing for the starting spot. It appears in practice as if Roberts and Furman are the finalists for the job, with Williams still in the mix though.

GAME PLAN

Reno said he wants to run 90-100 plays per game. Last year the Bulldogs averaged somewhere in the 70s.

“I’m an attack first kind of guy,” Reno said. “I want to attack in all three phases. In the no-huddle, you’re able to control the tempo of game. If you want to snap fast, you can. If you want to snap midrange or slow, you can. I like to run the football. We’re going to run the football. We’re not going to throw it 60 times.

LOOKING BACK

A quote from Reno on last year’s QB dilemma…

“We beat Penn and this group of kids never beat Penn. We felt moving forward, we were making strides. I was sitting in the coaches’ locker room with my wife and the trainer walks in and says you don’t have a QB. I said ‘what do you mean.’ ‘There are no one left.’”

“At that point, I said there are one of two things we can do: complain about it or fix it. I called offensive coordinator Kevin Morris and told him I’m going to throw on single wing formation tonight and I suggest you do the same. That was a lot of fun. We had to shut practice down. The kids played their butts off. On the flip side, I was walking down here with Beau Palin today and said it’s so nice to walk into this meeting knowing we have 4-5 QBs on the depth chart.”

DEFENSE 
DE 40 Beau Palin Sr. 6-3, 247 pay-lin a leader in the Warrior-Scholar Program
10 Victor Egu Fr. 6-3, 235 ee-goo Born in Nigeria, family moved to U.S. when he was 5
NG 97 Kyle White Sr. 6-7, 268 played on offensive line and wore No. 71 his first 3 seasons
94 Pat McHugh So. 6-2, 258 played in one 2012 game
DT 96 Copache Tyler Fr. 6-3, 280 captained wrestling team in high school
53 Jeff Schmittgens Jr. 6-4, 240 earned spring practice DL award
DE 99 Dylan Drake Sr. 6-3, 224 5-2-7 at Columbia ’12; TD catch vs. Dart ’12 (sp. Tms); medical hardship waiver
91 Kolu Buck Sr. 6-3, 230 played in 6 games and had 4 solos in 2012
B 49 Andrew Larkin So. 6-2, 206 missed freshman season with injury
52 Aaron Ault So. 6-3, 194 played in 6 games on special teams in 2012
M 42 Will Vaughan Jr. 6-1, 225 1st collegiate start at Princeton ’11; 2-3-5 at Brown ’12
44 Brian Leffler Sr. 6-0, 225 1-6-7 at Gtown ’12; 3-1-4, blk kick vs. Colgate ’12; INT vs. Penn ’12; med hardship
S 22 Charles Cook Jr. 6-3, 210 5-4-9 at Columbia ’12
33 Chris Brady Sr. 6-0, 198 1-3-4 at Columbia ’12; 2009 National Championship Team for Don Bosco
CB 17 Spencer Rymiszewski Fr. 6-0, 185 rim-uh-shev-skee accomplished piano player
31 Max Napolitano Sr. 5-11, 182 intern with MLB Brewers last summer, did sausage race
CB 23 Foyesade Oluokun Fr. 6-2, 200 fo-yay-sa-day o-loo-o-kun earned 8 high school varsity letters between FB and Basketball
12 Nick LaTesta Jr. 5-9, 172 1-2-3 at Cornell ’12
SS 5 Cole Champion So. 5-11, 183 9 solos vs. Lafayette; 12 total at Columbia ’12
13 Derek Russell Sr. 6-1, 183 Played QB and WR in 2012; off bench to beat Penn as QB; starter at QB vs. Harvard
FS 34 Robert Ries Fr. 5-11, 185 reece competed in FB, baseball, track and ran lawn care business while in high school
20 Nick Okano Sr. 5-11, 182 o-kahn-o 2-4-6 at Georgetown ‘12; interceptions vs. Cornell and Columbia ‘11
OFFENSE
WR 3 Chris Smith Sr. 6-0, 200 All-Ivy in 2011; not in school in 2012
9 Cameron Sandquist Sr. 5-9, 174 10-76, 1 TD vs. Colgate ’12; 98-Yd TD Georgetown ’12 – longest Yale play ever
WR 29 Grant Wallace Jr. 6-0, 187 11-118, 1 TD at Harvard 2012, father (Bob) played for Carm Cozza
82 Myles Gaines Fr. 5-11, 175 won numerous WR MVP awards at various national camps
TE 18 Keith Coty Sr. 6-2, 225 ko-tee missed 2012 with injury
86 Adam Conklin Jr. 6-3, 231 played in every 2012 game and had 2 starts
LT 79 Wes Gavin Sr. 6-6, 286 3-year starter on OL; 2010 freshman MVP
65 Khalid Cannon Fr. 6-6, 265 Interested in chemistry with hopes of becoming a pharmacist or a pharmacologist
LG 67 Will Chism Jr. 6-3, 277 chiz-em Phil Steele's College Football Preview pre-season All-Ivy League squad
69 Stephen Shoemaker Jr. 6-2, 285 played on JV last 2 years
C 60 John Oppenheimer Sr. 6-0, 264 2 F-REC after interceptions 2011; spoke to U.S. Congress about bone marrow research
75 Mason Friedline Fr. 6-5, 290 freed-line
RG 50 Luke Longinotti So. 6-4, 265 lawn-gin-otti played in 10 games in 2012; scuba diver
62 Derrek Ross So. 6-4, 264 played JV in 2012; twin brother, Dustin, is also on Yale OL
RT 70 Ben Carbery Jr. 6-5, 287 Frosh MVP in 2011
78 Ben Killion So. 6-6, 273 Only Wootton High School player ever selected for Crab Bowl All-Star Game
QB 7 Henry Furman Sr. 6-4, 210 18-28, 184 in 1st collegiate start at any position (QB vs. Princeton ’12)
or 19 Morgan Roberts So. 6-3, 210 Clemson backup QB in 2012
8 Eric Williams So. 6-3, 192 Started 6 games in 2012; 1,056 yards and 6 TDs
HB 2 Deon Randall Sr. 5-8, 175 All-Ivy in 2011; missed 2012 with injury
4 Sebastian Little So. 6-1, 210 3 receptions in 2012 opener at Gtown; injured in that game and missed rest of 2012
RB 30 Tyler Varga Jr. 5-11, 220 220 yards Columbia (Yale’s 6th best game); 2012 FCS leader in All-Purpose
32 Candler Rich Fr. 5-11, 190 Scored 102 TDs in high school playing both ways; 20 interceptions
SPECIAL TEAMS
PK 37 Kyle Cazzetta Jr. 6-0, 208 Section IX (NY) record 51-yard FG in HS 2010
42 Parker Toms Jr. 5-11, 200 2011 WCAL Kicker of Year
H 13 Derek Russell Sr. 6-1, 183 DB who played on offense last year
14 Logan Scott So. 6-1, 187 backup QB
LS 40 Beau Palin Sr. 6-3, 247 captain and starting DE
11 Spencer McManes Fr. 6-3, 210 Mac-man-us backup QB
P 37 Kyle Cazzetta Jr. 6-0, 208 72-yard punt at Brown ‘12
43 Bryan Holmes Fr. 5-11, 205
PR 2 Deon Randall Sr. 5-8, 175
9 Cameron Sandquist Sr. 5-9, 163 6 for 53 yards in 2012
KOR 3 Chris Smith Sr. 6-0, 200 only Ivy player with 2 KOR for TDs in one game (at Brown ’10)