Brown University picked for seventh in Ivy League football preseason poll

Bill Koch, The Providence Journal
·2 min read
Brown receiver Wes Rockett fends off URI defender Coby Tippett during a game last September. Rockett and the Bears were picked to finish next to last in the Ivy League preseason poll.
Brown receiver Wes Rockett fends off URI defender Coby Tippett during a game last September. Rockett and the Bears were picked to finish next to last in the Ivy League preseason poll.

Brown has some climbing to do in order to reach the ranks of Ivy League football contenders.

That’s according to the conference preseason poll released on Monday afternoon. The Bears are picked seventh in the eight-team standings, with only Cornell trailing them in last place.

EJ Perry has departed for the NFL, leaving Brown without its quarterback and Bushnell Cup winner as the league’s top offensive player. Even his performance in 2021 couldn’t help the Bears escape a 2-8 finish, which included a 1-6 mark in league play. Brown’s lone conference win came in a 49-45 thriller at the Big Red.

Brown receiver Hayes Sutton pulls in a pass for a touchdown during a game last season against URI. Sutton will be one of the key players for the Bears this season.
Brown receiver Hayes Sutton pulls in a pass for a touchdown during a game last season against URI. Sutton will be one of the key players for the Bears this season.

Perry is the lone all-Ivy selection to depart. The Bears return five others, and they were nominated to the Phil Steele preseason team. Wide receivers Wes Rockett and Hayes Sutton, running back/kick returner Allen Smith, defensive lineman Camden Gagnon and linebacker Junior Gafa are expected to lead Brown this season. The Bears open with an in-state matchup against Bryant on Sept. 17 before hosting Harvard in their conference opener on Sept. 24.

The Crimson and Dartmouth each collected 108 points to enter as league co-favorites, but Harvard picked up eight of the 16 available first-place votes. That was double the number racked up by the Big Green, who will technically slot in second. Princeton also took in four first-place votes while being picked third.

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Yale is expected to close out the league’s top half in fourth place. Columbia and Penn occupy the two spots ahead of Brown. The Bulldogs and Lions and Lions both finished 4-3 in the league in 2021 — the Quakers and Cornell were each even with the Bears in terms of conference record.

bkoch@providencejournal.com    

On Twitter: @BillKoch25 

URI football: The team is No. 22 in the Stats Perform preseason poll

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Ivy League preseason poll: Brown football is picked to finish seventh