Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

If you could set up a starting roster - offense, defense, special teams - of NFL players who played college in the Ivy League, what would your selected lineup be? Me posting this is for my own educational reasons for Calvin Hill (Yale) is the only player coming to mind. Come on! There has to be others that’ll pop up if I give it some more thought!

Have to have Sid Luckman (Columbia) and Concrete Charlie (Penn) as the anchors I would think.

Mike Pyle was an excellent center for the Bears in the 1960s. Matt Birk was also a great center. I think Pyle went to Yale and Birk to Harvard.

John Prchlik played DT for Detroit 1949-53, went to Yale with George H.W. Bush and William F. Buckley, Jr.

Here's a Pro Set and 4-3 defense with what I think would be the best representatives for each position. I couldn't find a second decent safety so I included a third DB. (Note that Yale fills up the defensive secondary.) I also couldn't find a punter so I included two kickers.

QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (Harvard)
RB Calvin Hill (Yale)
RB Ed Marinaro (Cornell)
T Dan Jiggetts (Harvard)
G Tom McHale (Cornell)
C Matt Birk (Harvard)
G J.C. Tretter (Cornell)
T George Starke (Columbia)
TE Steve Jordan (Brown)
WR Pat McInally (Harvard)
WR Bo Roberson (Cornell)

DE Mike Catapano (Princeton)
DT Seth Payne (Cornell)
DT Desmond Bryant (Harvard)
DE Marcellus Wiley (Columbia)
LB Reggie Williams (Dartmouth)
LB Chuck Bednarik (Pennsylvania)
LB Zak DeOssie (Brown)
DB Gary Fencik (Yale)
DB Dick Jauron (Yale)
DB Kenny Hill (Yale)
S Foyesade Oluokun (Yale)

K Nick Lowery (Dartmouth)
K Pete Gogolak (Cornell)

Pat McInally (Harvard) at punter.

I was trying to come up with a Yale Lary joke but I just said screw it.

Thanks for the knowledge-drops, guys! And thanks in-advance for those yet to come!

Of course Bednarik a Quaker! Now how did that slip my mind?? Didn’t know about Fitz and Molinaro at Harvard and Cornell but actually did read about Jauron at Yale a while back but forgot and wouldn’t have ever remembered again unless someone said something like now.

Being a Buffalo guy, I love Fitzpatrick, but Sid Luckman won championships while defining the role of the T formation quarterback...

JeffreyMiller wrote:Being a Buffalo guy, I love Fitzpatrick, but Sid Luckman won championships while defining the role of the T formation quarterback...

It sounds like maybe a QB1/QB2 situation

RyanChristiansen wrote:Here's a Pro Set and 4-3 defense with what I think would be the best representatives for each position. I couldn't find a second decent safety so I included a third DB. (Note that Yale fills up the defensive secondary.) I also couldn't find a punter so I included two kickers.

QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (Harvard)
RB Calvin Hill (Yale)
RB Ed Marinaro (Cornell)
T Dan Jiggetts (Harvard)
G Tom McHale (Cornell)
C Matt Birk (Harvard)
G J.C. Tretter (Cornell)
T George Starke (Columbia)
TE Steve Jordan (Brown)
WR Pat McInally (Harvard)
WR Bo Roberson (Cornell)

DE Mike Catapano (Princeton)
DT Seth Payne (Cornell)
DT Desmond Bryant (Harvard)
DE Marcellus Wiley (Columbia)
LB Reggie Williams (Dartmouth)
LB Chuck Bednarik (Pennsylvania)
LB Zak DeOssie (Brown)
DB Gary Fencik (Yale)
DB Dick Jauron (Yale)
DB Kenny Hill (Yale)
S Foyesade Oluokun (Yale)

K Nick Lowery (Dartmouth)
K Pete Gogolak (Cornell)

Kyle Juszczyk (Harvard) at FB and Jeff Rohrer (Yale) at LB instead of DeOssie, who should be the LS.