Compare the two, but be careful. The name just wasn’t made for this kind of stuff. It wasn’t designed for the literary allusions that sportswriters dream of, wasn’t tailor-made for the delightfully violent allusions to hell and Infernos. The words, instead, read plain. Simple. Conspicuously, they lack that loud, Italian vivacity—that zest which leaps off the tongue with a vigor so perfectly becoming of a punishing linebacker.

No, quite unlike the last leader of the Crimson defense, Dante Balestracci ’04, senior Bobby Everett’s name wasn’t born for the headlines. At first glance, it certainly doesn’t seem born to make football players quake and shiver.

But to those who don’t know, again, be careful.

Be careful because it’s just a name—and the man himself is a completely different story.

OUT OF THE SHADOW

So what’s in a name, anyway?

For starters, it depends on which one you’re talking about. To Everett, Harvard’s first-team All-Ivy strong-side linebacker, “Dante” means more than one thing. A year ago, it meant “the best player I’ve [ever] played with,” an all-time All-Ivy force, a guy to look up to and learn from.

Now, it safely signifies one thing: the past.

Or maybe more specifically, the new burdens that come with the present. The responsibilities of life as the experienced veteran, the leader, the one everyone else on your suddenly young defensive unit turns to.

“The fact is, I’m one of the few guys who’s seen real game time,” Everett said. “We have lots of weapons, but I need to be the person who calms people down, gets people excited when the time comes. I need to help everyone else understand, as far as preparation, that they know what they’re doing.”

“Bobby’s not hesitant to raise his voice if he has to,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy echoed. “He’s not one of those guys who talks just to hear himself speak, but if something’s not going right, he takes it upon himself. He’s not worried about being popular, he just wants to win.”

And that mindset is going to be critical for Harvard’s success this year. The season will likely feature 10 straight Saturdays when coordinators attempt to send two blockers Everett’s way and, for the first time, pencil in No. 43 as the primary one to stop.

“When all the attention was on [Dante], it did help me a lot, and I prefer to fly under the radar,” Everett said. “But this year, there’s not going to be anyone like that to take the spotlight away.”

So shouldn’t he be concerned about shouldering the load? Nervous about taking entire lines head-on? About assuming the role of the new Bobby Everett without, well, an own old Bobby Everett of his own?

“I’m not worrying too much about people coming after me,” Everett laughed. “I hope they do that, because if they focus too much on me, [junior middle linebacker] Matt Thomas is seriously going to kick the shit out of them.