Ivy League football gets back into the pro scene

Yale or Miami? Ivy League or Big East? Academic powerhouse or athletic powerhouse?

Both Rashad Bartholomew, MC '01 (left), and Josh Phillips, MC '01 (bottom right), hope to make it to the pros like Chris Hetherington, JE '96, who now plays for the Carolina Panthers..

That was the decision facing Josh Phillips, MC '01, as a high-school senior in Orlando, Fla. Neither school could offer Phillips a scholarship: Miami, because its football program was on probation and its number of scholarships reduced for various NCAA violations; Yale because membership in the Ivy League bars athletic scholarships. Since the age of four, Phillips had dreamed of one day playing in the NFL, and he was enticed by Miami Coach Butch Davis's assurance that Phillips would get playing time and, after Miami was reinstated from probation, an athletic scholarship. However, Phillips eventually decided to become the first member of his family to go to an Ivy League school.

Four years later, as Phillips, along with teammates Eric Johnson, JE '01, Than Merrill, JE '01, and Rashad Bartholomew, MC '01, tries to make good on the dream of playing in the NFL, he expresses no regrets about his decision. "This is a degree that no one can ever take away from me," he said. "I think it's been a great decision for me." However, Phillips, who played running back and then cornerback at Yale, also thinks the decision may hurt his quest to make it to the pros. "It's tough, working against that stigma of coming from the Ivy League," he said.

A stigma certainly seemed to be haunting Ivy players from 1985 to 1996. During those 12 years, only three players from the league were drafted by the NFL. In the 10 previous years, 28 had been drafted. (In 1975 and 1976, the NFL draft had 17 rounds; since then, it was reduced to 12, then eight, and now seven rounds.) The biggest factor in this drop-off was the Ivy League's decision to switch to Division I-AA from Division I-A in 1982. This move made it more difficult for league schools to recruit pro prospects, and it also reduced the exposure of the league's top players to pro scouts. Dartmouth Quarterback Jay Fiedler '94, and running back Chris Hetherington, JE '96, were two of the few Ivy players to make it to the pros during those 12 dark years, and both did so despite going undrafted. Fiedler, after being waived by two teams and out of pro football for almost two years earlier in his career, led the surprising Miami Dolphins to an 11-5 record and the second round of the playoffs this year. Hetherington started five games for the Carolina Panthers in 2000, gaining 181 all-purpose yards and scoring three touchdowns.

However, since 1996 the Ivy League has regained favor with the NFL. Nine players have been drafted in the last four years, making a total of 11 alumni in the NFL. Seven of those nine are currently on NFL rosters. The Ivy players' stickiness is particularly noteworthy because seven of the nine recently drafted players were taken in the fourth round or later; six of those seven are still in the NFL. Brett Hoover, assistant director of the Ivy League, says he recalls times during the mid-'90s when there were only three or four Ivy grads in the pros. He attributes the high number in the league today partly to the players' savvy marketing. "Every article that's ever written about any of these guys, they discuss the league extensively," Hoover said.

The league is also getting some positive buzz this year from Fiedler's emergence; from Jason Garrett's, Princeton '89, return to the Super Bowl as a backup quarterback for the New York Giants; and from center Matt Birk's, Harvard '98, being named to this year's Pro Bowl and the All-Madden Team. Birk is the first Pro Bowler from the Ivy League since tight end Steve Jordan, Brown '82.

Another advantage provided by the Ivy League is the ability to play right away, thereby gaining valuable exposure and game experience. While recruiting Phillips, Miami's Davis told him he would get lots of playing time, but Phillips was skeptical. "I'm sure some coaches will exaggerate to get recruits," Phillips said. Merrill and Bartholomew transferred from Stanford and Air Force, respectively, and both started almost every game of their three years at Yale. Bulldog running backs coach Larry Ciotti pointed out that while Bartholomew could have been one of Air Force's top backs, his tendency to miss practices because of nagging injuries could have hurt his chances for playing time at Air Force. "At Air Force, they did not have any compassion for that," Ciotti said. "At Yale, we do, because we don't get many running backs like [him]."

"My main choices coming out of high school were Nebraska and Harvard," Chris Eitzman, Harvard '99, who now plays tight end for the New England Patriots, said. "I'd like to think I would have been taken more seriously if I went to Nebraska, but I got to start all four years at Harvard, which never would have happened at Nebraska."

John Dorsey, director of college scouting for the Green Bay Packers, turned down scholarships at North Carolina and Virginia coming out of high school in 1980 when he was told he wouldn't play until his junior year. He attended UConn instead and started all four years at linebacker. "It was a no-brainer," he said. "I graduated in four years with two degrees, and I made it to the pros." Dorsey was a fourth-round pick of the Packers in 1984 and played five years for the team. Today, Dorsey sends scouts to a number of I-AA schools, including Yale, to evaluate players."You can't make generalities about the Ivies," Joel Buchsbaum, author of the Draft Preview Book and an editor of ProFootball Weekly, said."You have to take prospects as individuals."

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