Hempel Gets First-Team Reps

From the beginning, it has seemed as though Harvard’s quarterback situation has been up in the air. Just days before its Week 1 game, the Crimson still lacked a definite starter.

But the transition from last year’s experienced quarterback in Colton Chapple to a relatively untested play-caller in junior Conner Hempel, whom coach Tim Murphy named as the first-string quarterback prior to Harvard’s contest with San Diego, appeared seamless.

Hempel led the team to back-to-back wins over the Toreros and Brown, tossing for 641 yards and five touchdowns with just one pick in his first two collegiate starts.

Then, minutes into the team’s Week 3 contest with Holy Cross, things went wrong. Hit hard on a sack, Hempel was forced to leave the game with a knee injury. But with the Crimson down by a score and the offense failing to move the chains in the fourth quarter, Murphy elected to put Hempel back in.

Harvard would eventually pull out a win in triple overtime with Hempel at quarterback, but the hit impacted the junior’s knee more than he had first thought. The torch was passed to senior Michael Pruneau, who had originally competed with Hempel in the preseason for the spot.

After a lackluster performance at Holy Cross while filling in for Hempel, Pruneau held his own at the position, quarterbacking the team to a win at Cornell. The following week, although Hempel had few lingering effects, Murphy called on the senior to step up again.

“I think [Hempel] probably could have played against Lafayette, but I think it was probably a smart decision by our sports medicine staff to hold him out,” Murphy said.

According to Murphy, Hempel received “all the [first-team] reps this week,” and will likely be starting against Princeton. Murphy notes that the experience Hempel has built up should help the junior shake off any rust from being sidelined for two games.

“He’s now a proven player,” Murphy said. “He’s got a good body of work behind him to rely on, he’s been taking a ton of reps between last spring and preseason and the three games [that he was in], so he’ll be ready to go.”

Despite the uncertainty under center, Harvard has remained undefeated through five games and is now tied atop the Ivy League with Princeton and Penn. This Saturday against the Tigers, the team that broke the Crimson’s unbeaten streak last year, Hempel and company will attempt to take the team to 6-0 for the first time since 2004.

“We didn’t finish our game last year, and that’s been our focus all year—finishing the play, finishing the drive,” Hempel said. “We have a lot to prove.”

—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samantha.lin@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @linsamnity.