Tully Fills Void Left By Defensive Injuries

In his first address to the British Parliament, amidst the heat of the Nazi onslaught, Winston Churchill proclaimed, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.” In the first big opportunity of his collegiate career, sophomore linebacker Ryan Tully offered everything he had, but added one new item to Churchill’s list—vomit.

“It kind of came out of nowhere,” explained Tully, who had eight tackles and a sack in Harvard’s 34-24 victory over visiting Cornell on Saturday. “I was trying to run a blitz. I think I was just a little dehydrated, and I got the wind knocked out of me the play before.”

“It was actually really funny on the field,” added senior defensive back James Harvey. “[Ryan] was asking me what the call was, and right when I was about to tell him, he just started projectile vomiting. It was great because he was blitzing on the play, and as the play was going and he was running in, he was vomiting out.”

Football and vomiting are not as unrelated as they might seem. In Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday, for example, Jamie Foxx’s character throws up on the field when he sees the enormity of the crowd. Nevertheless, the sight of a player vomiting in an actual game—especially in the middle of a play—came as a surprise, though Tully is confident that dehydration and the recent hit were to blame, rather than nerves.

Normally a backup, who watches much of the game from the sidelines, Tully was one of a number of younger players who received significant playing time on Saturday due to the absence of four defensive starters.

Senior cornerback Gary Sonkur was out with a shoulder injury, junior defensive end Erik Grimm was sidelined with a strained medial collateral ligament (MCL) and senior defensive tackle Coesen Ngwun missed the game with a separated shoulder.

A few hours before gametime, Harvard coach Tim Murphy learned that senior safety Ricky Williamson, who had spent Friday night in the hospital with viral meningitis, would also be unavailable for action, opening the door for Tully and some other untested younger players.

Tully capitalized on the opportunity, recording eight tackles—three for a loss—after entering the contest with just six on the season.

He also had a huge sack in the second half, drilling Big Red quarterback D.J. Busch for a seven-yard loss with the Crimson hanging on to a 27-24 advantage.

“I was blitzing off the edge,” Tully said. “We also had some guys pressuring up the middle, so it wasn’t an individual effort. The guys rushing up the middle drew a lot of protection, and I happened to catch the quarterback when he had his back to me.”

Coach Murphy was pleased with the way Tully rose to the challenge.

“Obviously he did a good job,” Murphy said. “Anytime you throw a sophomore into the fire like that and come out with a win against a pretty good offensive team, you did a good job. He did make some mistakes, but in terms of effort he was outstanding.”

Tully was excited to finally get a chance to prove himself in a game situation and praised the coaching staff for designing a system that gives many players a chance to succeed.

“Injuries happen all the time,” he said, “and you have to be ready to go in at a moment’s notice. It’s pretty competitive to get on the field, so everyone’s fighting for a spot and the depth charts are constantly changing. The coaches make sure that everyone is on the same page, so that if one of the starters goes down, someone can step up and replace him.”

The veterans commended their younger teammates for helping to keep Cornell at bay.

“A lot of younger guys stepped up in this game,” said Harvey, who had 10 tackles and two pass break-ups. “Ryan is really aggressive, he loves to hit people, and he definitely stepped up.”

“Tully was right in the mix from the beginning of the season,” senior linebacker Bobby Everett added. “I’m not surprised that he was able to step up and contribute the way he did. He’s an outstanding athlete, and has worked hard, like everyone has, to learn the system.”