Although many Harvard athletes excelled this past week, only one top performer can be The Crimson's Athlete of the Week. (Well, actually this week there were five—but you get the gist). Here are the best of the rest:

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In the first installment of a new weekly series, we break down the ins and out of the Harvard football team. First up: the option, a play which has led to a number of scores so far this season for the Crimson.

Our last two Athletes of the Week have been senior running back Treavor Scales and the offensive line that blocks for him—a testament to the strength of the Crimson’s running attack in the team's first two contests.

While much of that success can be attributed to the size and skill of senior quarterback Colton Chapple, Scales, and the offensive linemen, some must go to the Harvard coaching staff for employing a potent run-option attack. The play requires impressive timing and football acumen, but as evidenced in these few plays from the Crimson’s win over San Diego on Sept. 15 at Harvard Stadium, the Crimson offense has made it look easy.

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The post-game press conference was more crowded than usual following the Harvard football team’s season opening win over San Diego on Saturday. And not because more reporters were interested in following the Crimson’s on-the-field story. Instead, they were more concerned with the story that has dominated headlines for weeks now: the Government 1310 cheating scandal.

The issue was alluded to in the very first question posed to Harvard coach Tim Murphy, and the barrage of questions didn’t subside until the press conference’s conclusion. Below, we have transcribed all of the back-and-forths between reporters and the football team regarding the scandal. Naturally, thanks in part to Murphy’s ability to artfully answer—and evade—questions as necessary, that presented some interesting and at times humorous situations.

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Harvard basketball has recently taken another turn in the national spotlight—this time for all the wrong reasons. A whirlwind of commentary and debate have followed the high-profile withdrawals of the team’s two captains, Kyle Casey ’13 and Brandon Curry ’13, who were both implicated in the widespread cheating scandal of last spring. In the wake of their departures, some have raised questions about the role of athletics at Harvard, while others have noted the now muted enthusiasm for a team that captured the campus’s attention and brought rare athletic pride and excitement to the University less than six months ago.

But don’t be fooled—this is not the death of Harvard basketball as we knew it. In fact, Tommy Amaker and Co. have ample reason to be excited for the future, so long as a few key decisions go their way.

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In recent days, awkward, oversized high school students have been following awkward, oversized freshmen all over campus.  It’s that time of year again: varsity recruiting season. As the verbal commitments roll in, one must wonder whether a legend will emerge from the Class of 2017. Does one of these recruits have what it takes to be the next Harvard athletic great? Here’s a look at the pre-Harvard careers of some of the finest athletes to wear Crimson.

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