Defending Ancient Eight champion Penn returns fifth-year senior Billy Ragone, who rallied the Quakers past the Crimson last year to upset the favorites and clinch the title. Brown, Harvard’s first Ivy League test, also brings back a three-year starter in fifth-year senior Patrick Donnelly, who led the Bears to a 45-7 obliteration of Georgetown in their season opener.
Princeton, which dealt the Crimson its only other 2012 loss, brings back signal-callers Connor Michelsen and Quinn Epperly, both of whom were instrumental in the Tigers’ late-game heroics to pull off a comeback win over Harvard last season.
Dartmouth boasts the 2012 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, Dalyn Williams, while even the typical underdogs of the Ancient Eight—Yale and Columbia—have quarterback transfers from Clemson and Stanford, respectively, vying for the starting spot.
“There’s nothing we can do about the other guys, but there’s no question that this is going to be a very unusual and challenging year for defenses in our league,” Murphy said. “It’s going to automatically give those teams some credibility and production, and some swag, some confidence.... I don’t think we’ll face an average quarterback all year.”
But for Hempel, his relative inexperience compared to some of the other play-callers in the league is, if anything, just a motivating factor as the season progresses.
“I can’t really tell yet [how I’ll stack up in the league],” Hempel said. “It’s only been game one against a non-Ivy League opponent. That being said, San Diego was a great team; I definitely think I have the potential to compete with the top quarterbacks in the league. I’m just going to try to continue to get better and better every day, and I think that’ll come as the season goes on.”
And perhaps, while Hempel attempts to carry on the legacy of quarterback at Harvard, it’ll be the words of his former roommate, Chapple, that motivate him most.
“Colton texted me before the [San Diego] game wishing me luck, and I told him how thankful I was for his support for the past couple of years,” Hempel said. “I told him how I wanted to follow in his footsteps, and he told me that he wants to see me make my own footsteps.”
With the entire Ivy League season ahead of him and fueled by redemption after watching the Ancient Eight title slip away last year, Hempel should have plenty of time to make those footsteps and, if all goes well, leave his own mark on Harvard football history.
—Staff writer Samantha Lin can be reached at samantha.lin@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter @LinSamnity.