After Season of Struggle, Football Highlights its Best

Six Harvard football players earned All-Ivy recognition last week, with juniors Charlie Booker III and Justice Shelton-Mosley landing on the first team as a running back and return specialist, respectively.

Three seniors made the All-Ivy second team. Safety Tanner Lee, linebacker Luke Hutton, and defensive tackle Stone Hart grabbed the honor after anchoring a defense that held opponents to 20.9 points per game.

Junior defensive tackle Richie Ryan rounded out the defensive prizes with an All-Ivy honorable mention. And Shelton-Mosley nabbed an honorable mention at wide receiver, too.

At the end of each season, all Ancient Eight coaches vote on the All-Ivy honors. The first and second teams each hold around 27 players—12 on offense, 12 on defense, and three on special teams. Coaches select another three dozen athletes as honorable mentions.

Last week, the Crimson also awarded internal prizes at an end-of-season banquet. Teammates named Lee as the Most Valuable Player. The safety also earned the Henry H. Lamar Award for dedication to the program. Previously, no Harvard player had claimed both prizes in the same season.

Last season, Lee gained an honorable mention after leading the Crimson with four interceptions. In 2017, he started all 10 games at safety and logged 55 tackles.

“There was so much to play for this year,” Lee said. “I’ve grown a lot.”

Several other defensive players earned team-wide recognition. Senior defensive tackle Tristan Tahmaseb won the Joseph E. Wolf Award as the top interior lineman, Hutton won the Robert F. Kennedy Award for desire and determination, and senior cornerback Raishaun McGhee won the William Paine LaCroix Trophy for enthusiasm, sportsmanship, and loyalty.

Senior tight end Jake Barann was the sole prize winner on offense. He received the Joseph Restic Award for leadership, scholarship, and integrity.

The defensive imbalance of awards reflected the youth of the offense. In 2017, many of the team leaders played on the defense. Meanwhile, most high-impact offensive players—including the top wide receiver, rusher, and passer—will return for 2018.

“On offense, we’re returning a bunch of guys,” Lee said. “[Quarterback Jake Smith] will be better after another year of playing against our defense.”

The awards offered some consolation after a trying season. Bedeviled by injuries, the Crimson stumbled to a 5-5 record and a fifth-place finish in the conference. Meanwhile, Yale rebounded from a 3-7 campaign in 2016 to top the Ancient Eight. Columbia and Dartmouth followed in second.

The All-Ivy honors bore out this hierarchy, as the Bulldogs led all programs with eight first-team selections. Freshman running back Zane Dudek made headlines as the unanimous Rookie of the Year. Prior to 2017, no freshman had ever led the Ancient Eight in rushing or earned a unanimous spot on the All-Ivy first team. Dudek, who totaled 1,133 yards on 7.1 yards per carry, achieved both feats. He slotted second in the FCS with 15 rushing touchdowns.

For Columbia, coach Al Bagnoli stole the show. He received Coach of the Year after marshaling his team to an 8-2 record. He came out of retirement to lead the bumbling Lions to a 2-8 finish, and then a 3-7 finish, before this year’s breakout.

Penn placed second, with five first-team nods. Senior wide receiver Justin Watson recieved his third-straight unanimous selection to the first team.

In total, nine players earned a unanimous pick. Watson, Dudek, Princeton quarterback Chad Kanoff, and favorite target Jesper Horsted made the offense. Meanwhile, defensive end Richard Jarvis (Brown), linebacker Matthew Oplinger (Yale), linebacker Jack Traynor (Dartmouth), and safety Nick Gesualdi (Cornell) highlighted the other side of the ball.

The Ivy League still must name two major awards—the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year. Last year, Princeton quarterback John Lovett and Big Green linebacker Folarin Orimolade won the honors.

Almost certainly, no Harvard player will win either award in 2017. The Crimson didn’t have a historic performer this season, although Booker and Shelton-Mosley provided highlights. The seven All-Ivy awards marked the lowest Harvard total since 1998, when the Crimson finished below .500 for the last time.

Ancient Eight coaches especially shunned the Harvard offensive line, which had sported at least one All-Ivy player in each of the last 22 seasons. No offensive lineman achieved that honor this season.

2017 wasn’t a year of major decorations. Rather, players will remember the season as one of tribulations. Effort despite adversity—this is the legacy that Lee, Hutton, and the rest of the seniors have left.

“We couldn’t have asked for better leaders,” said senior safety and incoming captain Zach Miller. “They went after it every day.”

—Staff writer Sam Danello can be reached at sam.danello@thecrimson.com.