Losing Isaiah: Crimson Adjusts to Life Without All-Time Great Linebacker

If you look at the 2000 season preview on the Harvard football website, it is oddly appropriate that you must first click on a picture of number 49, Isaiah Kacyvenski '00.

No longer terrorizing the Ivy League, the fourth-round NFL draft pick has left a gaping hole in the linebacker corps with his graduation.

With Kacyvenski--and six other senior All-Ivy starters--in the lineup last season, the defense was the sixth toughest in the country against the run, allowing an average of just 80.2 yards per game on the ground.

"When you lose a class like that, it's not easy to adjust, but life goes on," Harvard Coach Tim Murphy said. "We're not putting anything but quality athletes on the field. We're going to be a young team, not an inferior team."

Murphy is most concerned about his linebackers. Junior Sean Parker is the only returning linebacker to letter last season.

"The position that got hit the hardest was linebacker," Murphy said. "We lost three senior starters and we're also banged up with injuries to three of our top upperclassmen."

Parker, who registered 14 tackles as a sophomore, will get the start on Saturday at outside linebacker, but the situation inside is not as clear.

Gone are Kacyvenski, fellow four-year starter Aron Natale '00 and Jeff Svicarovich '00. Svicarovich and Natale were second and third, respectively, on the team in tackles behind Kacyvenski's record-breaking 135 stops last year.

Junior Mike Cataldo and sophomore Jon Perry were the projected starters at inside linebacker heading into the season before injuries sidelined them in camp.

Cataldo is suffering from a hamstring injury, while Perry injured his knee but might return as early as the Brown game two weeks from now.

"John Perry has been our best linebacker," Murphy said. "Consistently since practice last spring, he's proved that he's the best."

With Perry and Cataldo out for at least the first week of the season, Murphy will start a pair of freshmen, Dante Balestracci and Jeff Reiman, at inside linebacker.

"Dante is one of those guys who was just successful at everything he did," Murphy said. "He has that competitiveness and sense that you know what it takes to win in any situation. He's not Isaiah Kacyvenski right now. Isaiah is a once-every-decade, every-two-decades player."

Although Reiman and Balestracci won't fill the void left by Kacyvenski, according to Murphy, they have the potential to develop into outstanding players.

But the tandem will be at a particular disadvantage tomorrow against Holy Cross. Harvard regulations prohibit freshman athletes from practicing during orientation week. In addition, the Crusaders threw the Crimson a bit of a swerve last Saturday in their season opener against Georgetown, unveiling an entirely new offense.

Robert Griffin joined the Crusaders this year as quarterbacks coach. He spent 1995-98 as an assistant at Syracuse and brought the offense that made Donovan McNabb a star with him to Worcester. Murphy will not really have a chance to drill his linebackers in the finer points of that system. Rather, they will have to rely upon football instincts that have not really had a chance to develop.

"It's not the best situation to be facing," Murphy said.

The skill in Harvard's front seven last year, combined with the "Attack 8" system it plays, stifled the opposing ground game. The Crimson essentially forced offenses to pass against it if they wanted a chance to win.

Spearheaded by a strong run defense, Harvard was in contention for the Ivy Championship down to the wire. The Crimson held opposing teams to 19.1 point per game, good enough for 19th in the country.

In the second half of The Game last November, Yale finally solved the problem and neutralized the Crimson's rush defense by simply abandoning the running game. Yale handed the ball to tailback Rashad Bartholomew just once in the second half. Unfortunately for Harvard, Eli quarterback Joe Walland threw for 437 yards on the day.

Parker, Reiman and Balestracci can't afford to be just average and get the job done if Harvard hopes to stifle opposing running backs like it did last season.

"We have to show that we can still stop the run," Murphy said. "Hopefully, the secondary can step up and help fill the void, but it's definitely something we need to prove."