Head football coach Sean McDonnell has been happy with the way much of his defense has come on through the spring, leading into Saturday’s Blue-White game that wraps things up. . . . “The defense, I think, is improving,” McDonnell said. “The linebacking corps has gotten better with Matt Parent, Sean Ware and Devon Jackson. They’re doing a nice job and they’re getting better every practice.” . . . He’s also been pleased with John Clements, a cornerback who has been getting time at free safety. “He really showed up on the film from our last scrimmage. He’s understanding what’s going on. He got guys lined up. He broke on the ball. He made tackles. He gives us some flexibility back there.” . . . Defensive backs Ryan Hinds and Dino Vasso have had good spring sessions and others in the mix in the backfield include Anthony Gorrell and Kyle Flemings. . . . “Johnny Clements can certainly play corner,” McDonnell said. “But if he keeps this up, he may be the guy starting back there at safety.”
The Kansas City Chiefs had four quarterbacks on their roster yesterday. Former UNH quarterback Ricky Santos, who has a free agent deal with the team, makes five. “As a free agent, you want to have a competition where the people going against you have no more what I call pedigree than you,” said Brad Blank, the agent for Santos. “Where they don’t have a million dollars invested in them, or they’re not draft picks.” . . . Brodie Croyle is at the top of the KC depth chart followed closely by Damon Huard, who has spent the last four years with the Chiefs after three years with the Patriots. Santos will take aim at the third quarterbacking position. . . . David Greene out of Georgia, who spent a couple of months on the Patriots practice squad last fall, and Tyler Thigpen, drafted by Minnesota in the seventh round out of Coastal Carolina last year, are the other two quarterbacks on the roster.
Joe Flacco, the 6-6 Delaware quarterback with the gun for an arm, kept rising on draft boards and was picked No. 18 overall in today’s NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens. He was the second QB chosen behind Boston College’s Matt Ryan. . . . Flacco and Delaware were 5-0 when they came to Durham and lost to UNH 35-30 last fall. The Wildcats led 35-10 through three periods. Flacco completed 40 of his 51 passes for 419 yards and two touchdowns and had no interceptions in the game. R.J. Toman came off the bench to replace the injured Ricky Santos and lead UNH to the win. . . . The Blue Hens bounced back and eventually advanced to the national championship game. Last season, Flacco completed 63.5 percent of his passes for 23 touchdowns and had five interceptions. Santos completed 73.1 percent of his passes and had 24 touchdowns and seven interceptions. . . . Flacco, who transferred in to Delaware, lost his two career starts against UNH. In 2006, Santos had one of his best games as a Wildcat and led his team to a 52-49 shootout win at Delaware. Santos completed 21 of his 30 passes for 281 yards and three touchdowns and ran for two others. Flacco completed 28 of his 45 passes for 315 yards and three scores.
The UNH lacrosse team takes on Vermont tomorrow afternoon at 4 in a semifinal of the America East championships at Boston University’s Nickerson Field. . . . UNH is the No. 3 seed and Vermont the No. 2. BU, the No. 1 seed, and No. 4 Albany meet in the first game at 1. . . . Semifinal winners play in the championship game at 1 p.m. on Sunday. . . . The Wildcats and others are trying to dethrone BU. The Terriers have won the last three titles and six of the last eight. . . . UNH and BU met in the finals five straight seasons from 2002-2006. UNH won the championship in 2004, BU won the other four title games. . . . UNH lost regular season games to Vermont, 9-8, and BU, 7-6, this year. The Wildcats beat Albany 17-7.
The football team has passed the halfway mark of spring football, headed for the Blue-White game on May 3 at 12:30 in Cowell Stadium. . . . Head coach Sean McDonnell is looking for more consistency on both sides of the ball as the spring sessions wind down. . . . Travis Negron, J.T Wright and Terrence Fox were prime passing targets in the team’s scrimmage last Friday night with Mike Boyle sidelined with a high ankle sprain and Scott Sicko out with an abscessed tooth. . . . On defense, John Clements, who has been a starting cornerback, is getting a long look at free safety and Ryan Hinds has had a very good camp at cornerback opposite Dino Vasso. . . . The Wildcats are scheduled to scrimmage again on Saturday morning.
Rhode Island, Virginia and perhaps Penn State could be on the men’s basketball schedule for the upcoming season. Bill Herrion and his staff are still firming things up, but those are looking like the team’s “money games.” . . . The Wildcats figure to have non-conference home games against Harvard, Brown, Central Connecticut and maybe Hofstra. They will also play at Colgate and Long Island University. . . . The season may begin with a home game against a non-Division I foe on or about Nov. 15. . . . UNH finished 9-20 last year overall and was 6-10 in the America East in the regular season. . . . “We’ve got to do better job of winning games in our non-conference schedule,” Herrion said. . . . UNH was 3-8 last year before it played its first league game.
It will be defense first for the University of New Hampshire hockey team next season. First at the top of the leader board anyway. A couple of defense-first Wildcats _ defenseman Joe Charlebois and forward Greg Collins _ have been elected captains of next year’s edition. . . . Charlebois was named Hockey East’s Best Defensive Defenseman this past season and led UNH with a plus-26 in plus-minus statistics. Collins, regularly described by coach Dick Umile as the kind of guy who is a complete pain to play against, was the winner of the team’s Warren Brown Award as its best defensive forward. He pulled down those honors for the second consecutive season. . . . The captains were announced at UNH’s annual awards banquet on Saturday.
Catch this in this week’s Sports Illustrated? The magazine published a brief piece titled, “Coming Soon: Five college players who’ll make the biggest impact in the NHL,” to accompany a three-page spread on Nathan Gerbe leading Boston College to the NCAA championship. . . . James vanRiemsdyk, who just wrapped up his freshman year at UNH, was the first of the five players listed. . . . “The 6-3, 190-pounder is a well-rounded left wing with no clear weakness. He’s expected to top out at 210 pounds and be a nasty forward in the NHL,” SI said. . . . The folks of Wildcat Nation would like nothing better than to see that happen. They just hope vanRiemsdyk plays at least one more season in Durham before taking his game to the pros.
UNH seniors Kevin Regan, Matt Fornataro, Mike Radja and Brad Flaishans were all at the New England Hockey Writers banquet in Saugus, Mass., last night to accept hardware as New England All Stars. . . . Regan is still on the roster of the Providence Bruins, who opened their Calder Cup playoff series with an overtime win over the Monarchs last night. He has been practicing with the team. . . . Radja and Fornataro, who both made their pro debuts with the Syracuse Crunch on tryout contracts, have been released and are back in Durham. Radja had three assists in his two games and Fornataro had a goal in his one game. . . . Defenseman Craig Switzer, who signed with the Milwaukee Admirals but did not get into a game, is back on campus, too. . . . Regan also was recognized as New England Division I Player of the Year and UNH coach Dick Umile as New England Division I Coach of the Year last night.
Five UNH football games in the fall are scheduled to be televised on either CN8 or Comcast SportsNet New England, according to the Colonial Athletic Association. . . . Games at Rhode Island at noon on Sept. 13 and at Villanova at 3:30 on Nov. 8 are set for CN8. . . . A contest at Northeastern at noon on Oct. 18 and games at home against Towson at noon on Oct. 25 and at home against Massachusetts at noon on Nov. 15 are scheduled to be carried on Comcast Sports New England and Comcast Sports Massachusetts. . . . UNH opens the season with a game at Army on Sept. 6. After the game the next week at Rhode Island, the Wildcats play their home opener against Albany on Sept. 20 and then are at Dartmouth on Sept. 27. They are off Oct. 4 and come back to play William & Mary for Homecoming in Durham on Oct. 11. . . . Other games are at Hofstra on Nov. 1 and at Maine on Nov. 22.
