Yale Football

The Heisman Trophy is arguably the most prized individual award in all of collegiate sports, and now even a fan can own one for the cool price of at least $400,000.

According to TMZ Sports, the 1937 Heisman, which was won by Clint Frank of Yale, is available for bidding at Heritage Auctions until Oct. 18. "Experts tell us it's expected to go for over $400,000," TMZ wrote.

Frank played running back and safety for the Bulldogs, although TMZ noted he didn't play in the NFL and instead went into advertising.

Frank's daughter, Laurie Dorsey, owns the Heisman along with her sister and two brothers after the Yale great died in 1992, and she explained the rationale behind the decision to sell it.

"It's difficult to share because we all live in different cities and states," Dorsey said, per Vin A. Cherwoo of the Associated Press (h/t Washington Post). "We became kind of the caretakers for it. We kept it safe in a bank vault. Now we would like to see it go to someone who really loves football and appreciates the Heisman and can enjoy it."

Frank beat out Colorado's Byron White, Pittsburgh's Marshall Goldberg and Fordham's Alex Wojciechowicz to win the Heisman after he tallied 157 carries for 667 yards and 11 touchdowns for a Yale team that went 6-1-1, with the only loss coming against the archrival Harvard.

Cherwoo provided context for the expected price, noting a number of Heisman Trophies were auctioned off with the following prices:

• Rashaan Salaam's 1994 trophy for $399,000
• Larry Kelley's 1936 trophy for $328,100
• O.J. Simpson's 1968 trophy for $255,000
• Bruce Smith's 1941 trophy for $394,240 and
• Charlie White's 1979 trophy for $293,750.

Going through the NFL draft process, from all-star games and workouts to meetings with teams, requires a busy schedule. Being a pre-med student, especially at an Ivy League university, does too.

Somehow, Yale running back Tyler Varga is doing both simultaneously.

A three-time All-Ivy League selection (first-team in 2012 and 2014, honorable mention in 2013) who participated in this year’s Senior Bowl and was invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, Varga is well within the mix to be a Day 3 selection in this year’s draft. But pursuing his NFL dream has not stopped Varga from continuing his education at Yale, where he is on track to graduate with a degree in ecology and evolutionary biology this spring.

“It’s definitely challenging,” Varga said in an interview with Bleacher Report in early March. “You go to the Senior Bowl, you go to the combine, you talk amongst these guys and 99 percent of them are done with school. They’re focused on training, focused on getting ready for the draft and their testing and all their pro days…I’m training hard, trying to get ready for all that, but I’m at the same time trying to balance all this other stuff.”

That “other stuff” includes spending 10-15 hours per week in medical research labs and finishing up his senior thesis.

“I’m actually doing some insulin-based research: We’re investigating a gene in mice that plays a role in energy efficiency in the body, and hopefully that’ll have human application down the road and help us better understand Type II diabetes,” Varga said. “I’m doing some independent research on the shoulder actually as well, along with taking a couple classes just to tie up my degree.”

Prior to the Senior Bowl in January, he spent a week training at Athletic Edge Sports Performance Conditioning at Bradenton, Florida, and he has returned to Florida to train during Yale’s two-week spring recess.

For the rest of the semester, however, Varga has continued training at Yale. While most other NFL draft prospects have the privilege of working out in posh facilities and warm weather, Yale does not even have an indoor football complex, forcing him to micromanage his schedule during a cold, snowy winter in New Haven, Connecticut.

“There is an indoor bubble that we’ve been training at, I’ve been getting up at 5 a.m. to go and train some days during the week,” Varga said. “It’s a huge puzzle. It’s just a matter of fitting in all the workouts, all the speed training, all the field work and all that stuff into my schedule of classes and other stuff that I’ve got going on at Yale that isn’t as flexible.”

Juggling Yale academics and football, both now and during his collegiate career, has not left Varga much free time.

“If you want to have free time, you want to spend time with your friends, you better be pretty efficient with your schedule, and get your work when you need to get it done and not kind of lollygag around and wander on,” he said. “It’s definitely a challenge, definitely been something that I think will serve me well down the road.”

Varga was one of the first players Tony Reno recruited to New Haven after becoming Yale’s head coach in January of 2012. Reno said that his intangibles—specifically, his work ethic—stood out right away.

“He’s like a lot of guys we have that are very driven, very goal-oriented,” Reno told Bleacher Report. “He sets things out in front of himself and he sets them out with a logical way to accomplish his goals, and he goes and gets them.”

Despite his full plate, Varga has succeeded in all aspects. On the field, he ran for 2,985 yards and 31 touchdowns in his three-year Yale career.

Year	Games	Carries	Yards	Touchdowns
2014	10	233	1423	22
2013	6	125	627	1
2012	8	171	935	8

In the classroom, he carries a 3.56 GPA, according to his bio on Yale’s athletics website.

Varga has even found time to give back to the Yale community. He served on the executive board for the Mandi Schwartz Marrow Donor Registration Drive, which “organizes, promotes and conducts the largest bone marrow drive in the nation each spring,” according to the National Football Foundation.

For his impressive work in each of those aspects, Yale’s Council of Masters honored him with the F. Wilder Bellamy Jr. Memorial Prize, which is given to students “who best exemplify the qualities for which the alumnus is remembered, including personal integrity, loyalty to friends and high-spiritedness in athletics, academics and social life,” according to Yale’s athletics website.

“He’s got an infectious personality,” Reno said of him. “He’s positive in all situations and I think he’s one of those guys who’s able to really deal with any challenge that comes his way.”

Reno also noted that Varga has “been a member of [the Yale football team]’s leadership council since the moment he walked on campus.”

“He’s a vocal leader. He sets a great example,” the head coach said. “Tyler’s a team-first guy as well. I mean, you could have asked Tyler I think at any point in the season how many touchdowns he scored and how many yards he had, and he wouldn’t have had any idea.”

All of those qualities should enhance Varga’s appeal to NFL teams, at least among those who are confident his skills can translate to the next level.

 

From the Ivy League and from North of the Border

Getting a Division I football scholarship was not easy for Varga, in part because the Swedish-born tailback grew up in Canada.

At Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute in Kitchener, Ontario, Varga was a four-time team MVP who played five positions and scored more than 100 touchdowns. Still, Varga noted that it was tough to get noticed, despite those accolades, because he played his high school football north of the border.

“Being a Canadian player…I think that’s given me a different type of perspective to the game,” Varga said. “If you want to go to college and play football as a Canadian player, it’s getting better now but you really, really have to stand out. You really have to make a big splash. You have to make waves so that people notice you.”

Before transferring to Yale in 2012, Varga played his first year of college football at the University of Western Ontario, where he won the Peter Gorman Trophy as Canada’s national freshman football player of the year.

Now, Varga finds himself in a similar position to where he was in high school. In spite of his three years of excellence at Yale, some NFL teams could discount Varga’s production on the basis that he played against lower-level competition in the Ivy League than prospects who are coming out of Football Bowl Subdivision schools.

Since 2000, only 16 players have been drafted from the Ivy League, and only four from Yale. None of those players were top-100 draft picks, and only eight of those players—just one of the four from Yale—were selected before the seventh round.

Varga, personally, rebuffs the notion that his Ivy League competition was substandard. He believes that hailing from the Ivy League will be an advantage, not a disadvantage, in his transition to the NFL.

“Being an Ivy League student-athlete, I think that makes you even more draftable if you have the physical attributes and you showed you can play the game,” Varga said. “It trains you to be able to handle a lot of stress, a lot of stuff coming at you at once. There’s definitely not a lowered expectation for the athletes at Yale—and I’m sure all the other Ivy Leagues are the same—so you got to really learn how to balance.”

When Varga had a chance to play against prospects from the big schools in the Senior Bowl, he felt that “the level of play was not that much different” from that which he faced in the Ivy League.

“There was maybe a little bit of a difference in competition, but not as much as everyone claims there is,” Varga said. “I mean, we’ve got some great players in the Ivy League as well. We got great competition there as well.”

Varga certainly didn’t look to be in over his head at the Senior Bowl. To the contrary, Varga ran for 13- and seven-yard touchdowns, executed a lead block on a four-yard touchdown from teammate David Cobb and also caught three passes for 39 yards.

 

Raised to Be an Athlete

Beyond the game itself, another highlight of Varga’s Senior Bowl week came at the weigh-in, where the 5’10”, 227-pound running back’s chiseled physique drew oohs and aahs from the crowd of NFL scouts and media members in attendance.

#NFL Draft analyst Charles Davis (@CFD22) on @nflnetwork talking about Canadian RB Tyler Varga: "Boy did he look good at the weigh-in."

— Justin Dunk (@JDunk12) January 20, 2015

Walking across a stage in his underwear to have his musculature evaluated might have been a new experience for Varga, but it was certainly not an experience unfamiliar to his family. 

Varga’s parents, John Varga and Hannele Sundberg, were both competitive bodybuilders.

Growing up as the son of competitive athletes—Hannele actually still competes in alpine skiing, and she finished second in her age group of the slalom at the Winter World Masters Games this February—played a “huge role” in Varga achieving his own success in sports.

“They got me into sports at a young age…I was in gymnastics when I was less than a year old,” he said. “Sports has been a huge part of my life, thanks to them, since I’ve been little.”

Seeing what his parents endured in their own athletic endeavors helped ingrain an attention to detail in Varga that he said has served him well.

“Just being able to take a small chunk of that, of the bodybuilding world, and being able to bring that to like another sport, like football, I think has really helped me out,” he said. “Because you look at bodybuilding, you eat like one tablespoon too much salt or something like that, and you could screw up like two months worth of training. I think being able to be that detail-oriented in preparing for what I do on the football field gives me an advantage, so I credit my parents for passing all that down to me.”

Simply being born into a family of athletes helped put Varga on track to become a professional athlete.

“Genetic factor, definitely, I think helped me out a little bit,” he acknowledged.

In spite of that, Varga admitted that playing in the NFL seemed like a long shot when he was a child growing up in Canada.

“The NFL’s always been kind of a dream of mine since I’ve been a little kid,” he said. “Did I see myself playing in the NFL? I don’t think, if you take out the dream factor, probably not. I think it really became a reality probably midway through college…That hasn’t changed my work ethic whatsoever, it’s been there all along, but just that has kind of come up on the road map.”

Now less than two months away from the 2015 NFL draft, Varga is on the verge of making that dream a reality. But there are still obstacles that remain in his path to prove that he can be a successful NFL player.

 

Where Does Varga Fit on an NFL Offense?

A tailback throughout his career at Yale, Varga also has experienced playing quarterback and returning kickoffs. Some evaluators, however, believe his future in the NFL will require a transition to the fullback position.

Matt Miller, Bleacher Report’s NFL Draft Lead Writer, ranked Varga as the No. 4 fullback and No. 260 overall player on his post-combine big board. NFLDraftScout.com ranks him more favorably, at No. 169 overall, but likewise considers him to be a fullback, and the No. 2 prospect in this year’s draft class at that position.

If the team that drafts Varga or signs him as an undrafted free agent expects him to make that transition, Reno believes he will have to spend time “honing the skills that are required to be a fullback in the NFL,” but ultimately expects his pupil to succeed.

“In my opinion, what makes him so much of a commodity is that he can do both [playing running back or fullback] well,” Reno said. “I think his ability to adapt to different systems—it might be multiple positions—would be something that fits in well for him.”

While Varga feels as though he is most prepared to play as a tailback, he said he is more than willing to make the transition to fullback if asked to do so.

“I’m used to handling the ball a lot, so I’m definitely comfortable in that role. But to be honest with you, I think the position that would make me the happiest is the one that would allow me to help the team in the biggest way,” he said. “I went to the Senior Bowl as a fullback, obviously I have some things to learn but I feel like I’m athletic enough to do both.”

Viewed as a running back, Varga might face questions about his athleticism and explosiveness, but a projected position change brings about its own set of questions, including the idea that he, as NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein noted, is “small for a fullback.”

That suggestion is one that Varga takes exception to.

“The truth is, I never was a fullback, I was asked to play fullback and I more than gladly accepted the challenge and accepted that role at the Senior Bowl, because I just wanted the opportunity to play football,” he said. “But then people say, ‘Oh, well he’s undersized,’ as a fullback…I’ve been a tailback my whole career.

“Obviously if I’m going to play fullback, I’m totally capable of putting on weight if I need to,” he added. “Even despite the fact that they say I was undersized, I still think I held my own against much bigger opponents, 240-pound, 250-pound linebackers.”

One aspect that Varga does feel he needs to work on is that he can be “a little bit overaggressive sometimes.”

“You probably ask how you can be over-physical in football, well, there’s some things in football that require a little bit more of a passive approach,” he said. “Something like pass protection, instead of trying to go knock a head off or trying to knock the guy out, you got to sit back a little bit more. Sometimes I do get a little overaggressive in that type of a situation, and I need to learn how to tone that back a little bit more, and use my hands a little bit more, in some of those situations where you just use body positioning.”

With the exception of the bench press, in which he posted 23 repetitions of 225 pounds, Varga was unable to work out at the NFL Scouting Combine due to a bone spur in his ankle. He says he will be ready to go, however, for his pro day on March 31.

The pro day could be an opportunity for him to prove he is athletic enough to continue playing running back, and/or that he has learned the nuances of playing the fullback position. However, Varga said he is not putting any more pressure on himself to perform at the pro day just because he was unable to work out at the combine.

“I’m just going to go in there and do my best,” he said. “There’s lots on the line, but you just got to go out there and run fast, jump high, be athletic. I think it’s a good opportunity to showcase my ability.”

After the pro day, Varga will have one month to wait—though he certainly won’t sit around idling—before finding out whether he will be selected in this year’s draft, which will be held April 30-May 2 in Chicago.

Getting drafted, Varga told Bleacher Report, would be “a dream come true.”

“Whatever team I go to, it would be something that’s really cool,” he said. “I know it would mean a lot to my school, it would mean a lot to my family, it would mean a lot to my hometown, my high school, everybody who’s been supporting me and watching me growing up.

“Rest assured that if I do get picked up, if I do get drafted, that I’m going to pour everything I’ve got into this opportunity and make the most of it,” he added.

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.

Dan Hope is an NFL/NFL Draft Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.

Follow @Dan_Hope

For a moment, put aside the time line of Patrick Witt’s quest for a Rhodes scholarship and also the question of whether The New York Times' telling of his story is accurate. 

The question here is whether Witt—6'4", 230 pounds and 22 years old—can attract enough interest at the combine in late February to make it into the NFL Draft?   

The answer is, probably not. He’s certainly not on any of the usual radars. And while he appeared for the National Team in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl, Witt did not distinguish himself. He was 2-of-7 for 21 yards during three drives. He didn't have any touchdowns or interceptions.

Coming out of high school, Witt was offered scholarships at several big-time football schools, finally chose Nebraska and was good enough to be a backup in 2008. He also appeared in the Gator Bowl that year. 

In his three-year career at Yale, he set several records for completions, attempts and for 6,033 yards. He had a 60 percent completion rate, which was a record, and threw for 37 TDs, which is second in Eli-ville history. 

Nevertheless, he seems more like a big fish in a small but pleasant pond. And not the biggest fish. He was Honorable Mention All-Ivy in 2011 and Second Team All-Ivy selection in 2010.  

The Ivy League has produced few quarterbacks for the NFL. Names that come to mind include Sid Luckman (Columbia), Jeff Kemp (Dartmouth), Jason Garrett (Princeton), Jay Fiedler (Dartmouth) and now Ryan Fitzpatrick (Harvard).  

Over the years, 28 Yale players have gone to the NFL.   

Interestingly, the "stigma" attached to Ivy League players is not only that it’s Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as 1-AA, but it’s the very idea of having someone who is perhaps too smart. 

Pat McInally, the long-time Bengal kicker from Harvard, says that New York Giants general manager George Young once told him that his perfect score of 50 on the Wonderlic intelligence test probably put off some teams.

"He told me, 'That may have cost you a few rounds in the draft because we don't like extremes. We don't want them too dumb and we sure as hell don't want them too smart.' " 

And now, here is Patrick Witt, whose GPA is reportedly 3.91, in a murky and melodramatic sports story that would be legless without the aspect of a Rhodes scholarship. Even so, the story is thin, and yet it is another revelation about the “families” that grow up around college football programs and the extent to which these kinds of athletes are protected by the institutions they serve. 

Here’s a rough timeline of what may have happened. 

Sept. 2011: A woman, another student, notifies the university of a sexual assault charge and begins a process that includes an informal resolution of the matter. According to the Times’ story “the most significant outcome (in such a case) might be an agreement to move the accused to a different dorm."

September/October (date unknown): While at home in Georgia, Witt applies for the Rhodes Scholarship, “knowing," according to the Times, that the final interviews will be on Nov. 19, the same day as the Harvard-Yale game, the most important game of the season for both schools. 

Oct. 31: Witt learns he is a finalist. He also receives an email from the university notifying him of the sexual assault allegation and the need to meet with university officials. 

Nov. 1: Witt meets with officials to discuss the complaint. According to Witt’s agent, Mark Magazu, the meeting ends with an agreement that accuser and accused will remain “amicable." Apparently, Witt is not asked to meet with administrators again, and that may have seemed like the end of the matter.

The same day, Witt tells The New Haven Register, in the context of a choice between "the big game" and the big scholarship: “The commitment I made to this team I believe would come first.”  

At one point, Witt tells ESPN he will pray over the decision. 

And thus, another media hero is sprung from the ribs of needy pundits and a sentimental public always on the lookout for success personified, and pure. 

Incidentally, Witt’s agent, Magazu, is a former wealth management specialist who now heads Atlas Strategies. On the company website, the list of client athletes represented does not yet include Patrick Witt.

Magazu has attracted some derision in web comments at The Yale Daily News in the last few days because in his rebuttal of the Times story detractors claim he offered enough information about the accuser that she can now be identified. 

Nov. 3: The Yale Daily News takes a reader poll asking whether Witt should go to the Rhodes interview or play in "the big game," or else await some wealthy alum who could perhaps provide a private jet to get Witt to the interview in Atlanta and back to New Haven in time for the game. Fifty-two percent of respondents pick that option.

Remember the particular culture here. Before the 1916 Yale-Harvard Game, the Yale coach, T.A.D. Jones, explained to his players, “Gentlemen, you are now going to play football against Harvard. Never again in your whole life will you do anything so important." 

November (date unknown): Someone, and “not an anonymous person”, but perhaps a Yale official making an unofficial gesture, notifies the Rhodes Scholarship committees that a sexual assault charge has been made against Witt, and one would think adds that the accuser has decided to pursue the matter through an informal, not a formal, process.

November (date unknown): The Yale Daily News, where Witt appeared as guest columnist, has the story, in whole or in part, but doesn’t publish it. According to a former opinion editor at the paper, editors also knew that the sexual assault claim had caused Witt to lose an offer to join the Boston Consulting Group after graduation. Witt interned at the group last summer.

Nov. 8 (Or thereabouts): The Rhodes scholarship committee sends an email to Witt asking that he make a choice and that the interview date cannot be changed. 

Nov. 10 (Or thereabouts): Yale University administrators send Witt an email notifying him that even if he withdraws, he could have an opportunity to reapply. 

Nov. 12: Witt is quoted in The Wall Street Journal to say, “I just need to make a decision and live with it.” 

Nov. 13: Witt withdraws his candidacy for a Rhodes scholarship. 

Nov. 19: Yale loses to Harvard, 45-7. Witt goes 24-of-39 for 226 yards. "I had a commitment to these guys long before I applied for that scholarship," Witt says after the game. 

Dec. 21: Football coach Tom Williams resigns after discrepancies are found on his resume. He said he had applied for a Rhodes scholarship while an undergraduate at Stanford. He hadn’t. He claimed to have played on the 49ers practice squad. In fact, he had attended a try-out camp for a few days. He had been with Yale for three years. 

Jan. 27: The New York Times story appears, reporting that the Rhodes Scholarship offer was rescinded after the committee was told about the sexual assault charge. Magazu responds to the Times insisting that Witt withdrew his application after being informed that the Rhodes Committee would not reschedule his interview. 

Through all this, one wonders why Witt scheduled the interview on the day of the Harvard-Yale game in the first place. Did he not check the schedule to see if there was a conflict? Incidentally, it was apparently common knowledge that it’s next to impossible to reschedule a Rhodes scholarship interview. 

Meanwhile, The Gray Lady has come under attack for a story based on people speaking solely on background, which is to say, where there is not only no attribution, but any information provided can only be used to verify other information. 

So no named sources, and the critics have no names either, all over a little story that should have remained little. But then, it slipped out through a crack. You can hear the bureaucrats scurrying through the ivy, worrying how the university’s image will be affected.

But what happened to the Yale press office, and why is this story not coming from them? At the least, they should come out with a proper timeline and resolved the question of whether or not Witt’s chance for the scholarship ended after the Rhodes committee was told of the charge against him. 

And what about these other questions? Did the university—and in particular, the residential college dean who would have signed off on the scholarship application—know about a minor charge against Witt while at the University of Nebraska? Or for that matter, a minor incident in New Haven, or even the sexual assault charge at Yale.

And would the university have refused to re-endorse Witt’s candidacy? And how was it that Yale hadn't checked the resume of Tom Williams? And why did Witt apply for a scholarship whose qualifications include "moral force of character?" Did he even apply for the scholarship in good faith, or was it all just a feint? 

No doubt the plot will eventually reveal itself. The veil of confidentiality only covers so much.     

Here is yet another example of a university administration not paying attention, not knowing enough about the people in their community, not knowing quite what to do in a crisis and in Yale’s case, forever caught up in the Dick Diver world of "the big game," at the expense of Lux et Veritas, not to mention God-given common sense and thoroughness. 

After seemingly passing up an opportunity at a Rhodes scholarship in November to help his team against Harvard, Yale quarterback Patrick Witt was the darling of the college football world. As it turns out, though, it was nothing more than a sham.

According to Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times, however, it turns out that Witt didn't skip his Rhodes interview because of the Harvard game, rather he was no longer eligible for the scholarship. The Rhodes Trust suspended his candidacy due to an alleged sexual assault incident between Witt and a fellow student.

While no report was filed with police regarding the alleged incident, the accuser made an informal complaint to Yale's Sexual Assault Harassment and Response and Education Center, according to the report. The female student said Witt sexually assaulted her in her dorm room, but the informal complaint process doesn't find guilt or innocence.

The fact that Witt said that he was withdrawing himself from Rhodes consideration in order to remain committed to his team now looks like an embarrassment. At the time, Witt received a great deal of praise from many media outlets for being an incredible teammate, but it turns out he actually fabricated the story.

Witt is now maintaining that the sexual assault case had nothing to do with his withdrawal from Rhodes consideration and that he had already made the decision to withdraw ahead of time because of the Harvard game, according to Barry Petchesky of Deadspin.

Witt is currently being represented by Atlas Strategies. The company's president of image consulting, Mark Magazu, said that Witt did withdraw because of the Harvard game and that the accuser was a woman "with whom he had engaged in an on-again, off-again relationship beginning in the Spring of 2011 and ending about two months before the informal complaint was filed."

Without speculating on Witt's guilt or innocence in the alleged sexual assault, he deceived everyone by saying that he withdrew his candidacy. The truth was that his candidacy was revoked. Rather than the scrutiny he surely would have faced, Witt put a positive spin on ending his pursuit of a Rhodes scholarship and was lauded over because of it.

I can understand why he might not have wanted to tell people the real reason he was no longer pursuing a Rhodes scholarship, but to create a blatant lie was wrong. Simply saying that he was suspending his candidacy certainly would have sufficed, but for whatever reason Witt decided to go overboard.

It's strange that he thought nobody would ever find out the truth. In fact, it's amazing that it has taken more than two months for his assertion to be debunked. Witt received two months of undeserved positive attention and I find it to be despicable.

This revelation is made even worse by the fact that former Yale head coach Tom Williams resigned over the fact that he had fabricated parts of his resume. The most well-documented fabrication was that he dropped a Rhodes scholarship candidacy himself 20 years earlier, but that wasn't the case.

Perhaps the alleged sexual assault is a misunderstanding or maybe he's being framed, but the fact of the matter is that Witt was disqualified from Rhodes scholarship consideration. If Witt had said nothing on the matter then that would have been fine. The fact that he misled the media as a whole, though, makes this so much worse.

Tom Williams, Yale Bulldogs head football coach, resigned on Wednesday while being investigated to determine whether he lied on his resume about being a Rhodes Scholarship candidate while attending Stanford in 1992.

If it is determined that he lied on his resume, it is just another colossal embarrassment for college football coaches across the country.

"I considered the opportunity, sought advice and was encouraged to apply by faculty members and my coach Bill Walsh, but I did not apply," he said.

He says that he was encouraged to apply for the Rhodes Scholarship. Well, Mr. Williams, almost applying and actually being a candidate are two completely different matters.

Isn’t he supposed to be held at the highest standard as the head coach of a football program?

This is completely unacceptable.

The whole outlook on college football coaches looks awful right now and rightfully so. From the whole fiasco at State College, Pennsylvania to Todd Graham leaving yet another team hostage, college football has been an absolute joke in terms of coaches who are supposed to be father figures.

Coaches say one thing and do the opposite. They preach integrity and commitment, but bail when they have the slightest opportunity to go elsewhere. I understand that a few coaches are making the whole landscape look horrible, but hey, that’s life.

Did Yale even look deep into Williams before hiring him?

He detailed that he was on the San Francisco 49ers practice squad, but that was also a lie because he never signed with the team.

"During the spring of my senior year, I was given an opportunity to attend a tryout camp with the San Francisco 49ers, and I participated in that three-day event. I did not sign a free-agent contract with the 49ers or participate in their summer training camp for signed players," he said in the AP report.

Does that make you on the roster if you never signed with the team? Give me a break.

This whole situation would have never even been brought up if Patrick Witt didn’t decide to use his football coach as a reference when he decided to go for his Rhodes interview or play against Harvard. This would have never been out in the public.

What a shame.

Williams should be ashamed to lie on his resume. Not only has he darkened his name for his career, but he puts a negative stamp on the great university of Yale. 

A UHaul struck three Yale-Harvard tailgaiters on Saturday. The accident has resulted in the death of one, and hospitalized two.

The Yale Daily News reported that the UHaul was driven by a Yale student, and that students at the scene have reported seeing emergency responders giving one of the victims CPR for 10 minutes.

CBS Connecticut is reporting that the deceased victim was a 30-year-old Massachusetts woman, and that the second victim was also a 30-year-old woman who is currently in serious but stable condition. 

WFSB.com reports that the third victim is also female. She is being treated at Saint Raphael's Hospital with minor injures.

According to the Hartford Courant, police spokesman, officer David Hartman, that the accident took place in Lot D. 

The UHaul turned into the lot off Central Avenue and accelerated for reasons unkonwn. The UHaul then ran over three women, continued forward, and crashed into two other UHaul vans parked in the lot.

Police told WFSB.com, that they have the driver of the UHaul in custody and are questioning him. 

The tragedy certainly leaves a stain on one of the great rivalries in sports. This contest is simply known as "The Game."

Yale and Harvard have played each other more than any other team in college football history, and "The Game" is the second oldest rivalry in the sport.

There are a lot of rivalry games in college football, but only the annual tilt between Yale and Harvard is big enough to simply be called "The Game."

As such, there's no way Yale quarterback Patrick Witt would miss it, right? What excuse could possibly be good enough to drag him away from The Game?

How about a crack at the Rhodes Scholarship? Witt was named one of just over 200 finalists for the scholarship, which allows lucky students to go on to postgraduate study at the University of Oxford, and he was scheduled to interview for it on Saturday.

Saturday, as in this coming Saturday, the day The Game is scheduled to be played.

What's a brilliant young man like Witt to do?

Apparently, play in The Game.

Per ESPN.com, Yale announced on Sunday that Witt had withdrawn his Rhodes application, saying, "My focus this week is solely on preparing for The Game alongside my teammates and coaches."

It's a bold decision, and one that not everyone is going to agree with. Sure, playing in the biggest football game the Ivy League has to offer (and maybe all of college football has to offer) is all well and good, but does it really outweigh a chance to earn the so-called  "world's most prestigious scholarship?"

Admittedly, I'm on the fence about the idea. This may sound weird coming from a sportswriter, but I value academics higher than I value sports. It's up to all of us to make the most of our minds, and you might say those with better minds than the rest have an even more pressing responsibility to do so. 

Concerning Witt, what good is his brilliant mind if he chooses to focus it on something as trivial as football? As hallowed as the gridiron may be, it's not Oxford.

In so many words, by choosing to play football rather than commit himself to the Rhodes selection process, Witt is wasting not just his time, but possibly his future as well.

Maybe, but not necessarily. The good news for Witt is that he can reapply for the Rhodes Scholarship any time before his 24th birthday (he's 22), so it is entirely conceivable that he could still end up getting it.

But that's down the road. Since the deed is done, the only thing that matters now is Saturday's game.

Which, in my opinion, is not a complete waste of Witt's time. He's not going to win a chance to go study at Oxford if he leads the Bulldogs to a win, but at least he will be able to participate in something that, though not sacred, it certainly special. No doubt some of the other Rhodes finalists wouldn't mind switching places with Witt.

Besides, there is value to be found in Witt's decision to play in The Game. While you could argue that he's putting his mind to waste, you could also argue that the choice he made exemplifies plenty of other worthwhile traits. Things like duty, commitment and leadership come to mind.

These things may not amount to an academic chance of a lifetime, but they are not entirely valueless either.

I'm not sure I would have made the same choice had I been in Witt's shoes, but I will tip my cap to him. He made a choice not everyone could make, and for that he deserves some credit.

Patrick Witt is a victim of the Rhodes Committee's desperate need for self-importance.

The Yale QB has withdrawn his application for a Rhodes scholarship because he would not be able to attend the interview, which is in conflict with his game against Harvard.

Witt, who is a finalist for the scholarship, had asked the committee to allow him to work around the scheduling conflict. This request was promptly and arrogantly denied. 

We have candidates every year miss games for the interview.

That was American Secretary for the Rhodes Trust Elliot F. Gerson's statement on the matter to ESPN.com.

Um—maybe the committee should learn something from that statement. If this situation arises every year, perhaps they should adjust their schedule to eradicate this problem.

You would think a committee that rules the Rhodes scholarship would be smart enough to figure this one out. 

Why would you force student-athletes to make this choice?

It is a needless show of self-importance. It is as if the committee gains value by the fact that they can force athletes to ditch out on their games. "See, we are more important than athletics."

Well I applaud Witt for his choice. This scholarship has nearly unlimited value moving forward. It sets the table and opens doors for endless opportunities. It could not have been an easy thing for Witt to turn his back on.

However, he made a commitment to his team and his teammates that began before he applied for that scholarship. He should be applauded for his desire to honor that commitment.

And the Rhodes committee should be jeered for making him choose in the first place.