Football Looks Forward to Spring Game, New Season

The last time that the Harvard football team stepped out competitively onto the gridiron, senior running back Treavor Scales raced down the sidelines on a 63-yard scamper that put away The Game for the Crimson, while quarterback Colton Chapple connected on two touchdown passes and ran in for another score to secure the victory.

On Saturday night, when Harvard showcases its work since the end of last season in its annual spring game, that team will look markedly different. Missing from the field will be Chapple and Scales, both graduating seniors and key leaders on the field.

“Anytime you lose kids, Ivy League Player of the Year caliber guys like Colton Chapple, and you lose one of the great running backs in Harvard history in Treavor Scales, you lose a lot,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “Not just in terms of productivity and ability, but leadership. Both of those guys were tremendous leaders by example and were inspiration-type players, so it’ll be a challenge.”

But the loss of Chapple and Scales won’t be the only losses felt—the Crimson will also be playing next year without Kyle Juszczyk, a halfback projected to be drafted into the NFL this weekend. Juszczyk, who led Harvard’s receiving corp last year with eight touchdowns and over 700 yards receiving, represented one half of the Crimson’s two-tight-end offense that has led to one of the most productive offenses in the Ivy League for the last decade.

Stepping up in Juszczyk’s role will likely be Tyler Hamblin, a rising junior who is similar to Juszczyk not only in the position he plays on the field, but also in his high school football background.

“Tyler is a converted quarterback out of high school—the biggest similarities [between him and Juszczyk] were that both were high school quarterbacks,” Murphy said. “Tyler probably doesn’t have the physical ability that Kyle had yet, but he’s extremely coachable and 6’4”, 240 [pounds], and he can do all of the things that Kyle did, which is why we want to make sure we don’t ask him right away to do things at [Juszczyk’s] level, it’s not realistic. Tyler Hamblin’s had a heck of a spring—it’s not a surprise, but it’s been a relief for all of us.”

The battle for quarterback is less clear-cut, as rising senior Michael Pruneau looks to show off his talent after being sidelined during the 2012 season with an ACL injury. His toughest competitor will likely be rising junior Conner Hempel, the only quarterback besides Chapple to throw a pass last season.

“Conner Hempel’s been competing against Pruneau, and I don’t even know which one’s going to be our starting quarterback,” said rising junior defensive end Zach Hodges. “The two of them have been working unbelievably hard. I head into the locker room at 4 a.m. before anyone gets in to watch some film, and the first people I see come in are Conner Hempel and Pruneau, and my roommate Norman Hayes, and they all come in together so it’s really been my teammates that I’ve seen step up.”

Rising sophomores Paul Stanton and Zach Boden are the probable candidates to fill the void left by Scales, who recorded his first 1000-yard rushing season last season. Stanton bolstered the running game last season, supplementing Scales by rushing for 171 yards in his rookie season while Boden returns to the team after not being listed on the roster last season.

“With guys like Paul Stanton and Zach Boden, we really feel like we’re going to have outstanding ability and leadership at [running back],” Murphy said. “It remains to be seen if they can compete at that extremely high level that those guys competed in, but we’re confident that those guys can do the job.”

On the other side of the ball, the Crimson must deal with the loss of John Lyon, a fifth-year defensive end who recorded 7.5 sacks over the season and played a crucial leadership role on the field, as well as the graduation of players like captain Bobby Schneider. But players like Hodges, who rivaled Lyon in the pass rush with nine sacks, as well as players with less experience, are ready to step in to plug gaps left by veterans.

“I’ve personally watched how our entire D-line has steadily been improving,” Hodges said. “We have defensive backs [like rising sophomore] Asante Gibson stepping up, every freshmen in every position has been taking serious leaps in this program, all the way from winter workouts. We get up at 5 o’clock every morning to lift weights every day through spring ball, and they’re starting to take a lead in their plays, being able to call plays, run plays, make plays. All of these guys, they’re going from last year when they were on the scout team, to next year, they’re going to be taking significant reps, making significant plays, and taking on serious roles for the team.”

Although the spring game will not answer all of the questions remaining for the team, Hodges notes the importance of the game as another marker on the way to the next Ancient Eight title run.

“It’s now huge on the younger guys on the team, the freshmen on the team, [as well as] the rising upperclassmen—this is like their shifting moment when they have to step up and become leaders,” Hodges said. “Everyone’s kind of taking in their roles on the team for the new season, so just want to cement all the hard work we’ve been putting in in the offseason and try to bring it all into fruition before the summer as a team and to define ourselves as a unit.”

—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samanthalin@college.harvard.edu. Follow her on Twitter @linsamnity.