Undoubtedly the most successful recent alum of the Harvard football team, Matt Birk '98 has continued to raise the bar for Crimson athletes in major professional sports.
Once again, the center is one of the top offensive linemen in the NFL. With Birk at center, the Baltimore Ravens rank fourth in Rush pwr for rushes through the center. Rush pwr records the number of times when a team successfully attains the two or fewer yards needed for a first down or touchdown on third or fourth down or on any goal-to-go scenario. In other words, when his team needs crucial yardage, Birk is one of the best centers in the league at creating holes.
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As the football team finished its season with its fourth straight victory over Yale, the Back Page gives you an opportunity to meet captain Collin Zych, an unanimous selection to the All-Ivy First Team announced today. In this exclusive interview, Zych reveals his embarrassing fumble return, why he would want to play basketball, and which Olympic gold medalist he would like to date. Every week, The Full-Court Press will give you the sort of personal scoop that you’re not likely to hear at a typical press conference.
Name: Collin Zych
Year: 2011
Stats: In his three seasons on the field, Zych accumulated 224 total tackles, 10.5 tackles for a loss, six interceptions, and 27 pass breakups. This season, Zych ended the season tied for a team-high 79 tackles. He also led the Crimson with 40 solo tackles, three interceptions and 12 passes defended.
Now, to the questions!
1. Typical pre-game meal.
I just eat what I normally would, nothing too fancy. No fried food though.
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Yale linebacker Jesse Reising, who was injured during the fourth quarter of the Harvard-Yale football game on Saturday, is expected to be released from the hospital today, the Yale Daily News reports.
Reising was involved in a helmet-to-helmet collision with Crimson senior running back Gino Gordon in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s contest, a hit that left both men on the ground for several minutes.
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After a year in which they intimidated everybody in their path, it was fitting that senior Josue Ortiz and captain Collin Zych were the only two defensive players to be selected unanimously to the All-Ivy First Team. Harvard's leader on the defensive line, Ortiz finished the season as the Ancient Eight's leader in tackles for loss and the runner-up in sacks, with 7.5 and 13.5 respectively. Zych, meanwhile, finished the season with 79 tackles to bring his career total to 224.
Joining the two of them on the first team is senior running back Gino Gordon, who last night received the Frederick Greeley Crocker Award as the team's most valuable player. Gordon was the first Crimson back since Clifton Dawson '07 to rush for over 1000 yards in a season, finishing the 2010 campaign with 1059 yards. He also graduates as Harvard's all-time leader in yards per carry with 5.3.
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Before the Crimson football team’s matchup with Penn on Nov. 13, Harvard coach Tim Murphy noted that Collin Zych and Alex Gedeon acted like the two captains of defense. Turns out Murphy’s analysis was spot on.
The coach announced at the team banquet tonight that Gedeon, a junior this year, was elected by his teammates to replace outgoing senior Zych as the official team captain. The third-year linebacker, who posted 49 tackles and tied for second on the team with two interceptions in addition to occasional punting duty in 2010, takes over as the 138th captain of Harvard football, an honor that Zych carried well enough to earn his own accolade this evening—the Robert F. Kennedy Award for desire and determination.
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