Preseason All-American

Today is Tuesday, which means it's the day that Julia Ratcliffe throws in the final of the women's hammer at the Olympic Games.

It also means that you're one day away from Lizzie Bird in the 3,000-meter steeplechase final. As TigerBlog wrote yesterday, it's extraordinary to see these two women, teammates in the Class of 2017, excelling at such an elite level.

Ashleigh Johnson is still competing at the Olympics as well. She is chasing her second-straight gold medal in women's water polo, and if she gets it, she'll join Caroline Lind as the only two Princeton women who have achieved that feat. 

Seguing away from the Olympics for just a minute - or more accurately for a few hundred words - yesterday saw the announcement of the Stats Perform Preseason All-American football team. Stats Perform has had several names, but it's mission has never changed - it's an outlet devoted to covering the Football Championship Subdivision, of which Princeton is a member.

TigerBlog has a vote in the Stats Perform weekly Top 25. In his time as a voter (which means the 2019 season), he has only ever voted for one team in the No. 1 spot, and that has been North Dakota State. This time around, it's much more wide open after the COVID fall and then spring season.

He does know he will be voting for Sacred Heart somewhere in the poll, and not just because his son went there. The Pioneers, who had an outstanding spring season, are led by first-team All-American running back Julius Chestnut, who put up huge numbers in not a huge number of games this past spring.

As TB watched Chestnut play for Sacred Heart this past spring, he got the feeling that it's going to be harder and harder for schools on the FCS level to keep stars like Chestnut, with the ability for FBS teams now to swoop in now via the transfer portal. 

Actually, that's just one way in which the college athletic landscape, especially in football, is heading into uncharted waters. The fallout from it all will be fascinating to watch.

TB wrote last week about how the Ivy League is the most stable league in all of college sports. This is just another example of that.  

Speaking of the All-American teams, Princeton's own Jeremiah Tyler was named to the Stats Perform preseason third team. That's about right for Tyler for the preseason. The postseason? Well, he's certainly gotten better each year he's been at Princeton, and he was really good to start with, so that tells you something.

Tyler was a second-team All-Ivy selection on the unbeaten 2018 team. In 2019 he was a unanimous first-team All-Ivy pick and one of two finalists for the Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. He's certainly a favorite for both of those honors again.

He's also a favorite of anyone who follows Princeton. He has to be. He plays with such ridiculous joy and such obvious ferocity. He's a pleasure to watch play the linebacker position.

Off the field, TB has never seen Tyler where he is not smiling. Widely. Ear to ear. He has a big personality, and he is clearly a leader on the team.

Princeton obviously did not play in the 2020 season, which was the first time since 1871 that there was no Tiger football season. The 2021 season is just a few weeks away now, and you can accurately say that the opening kickoff is next month. 

Tyler is not the only really good player the Tigers will have this season. There are holes to fill from graduation two years ago, and of course there is no quarterback who has started a game on the roster. 

Still, this Princeton team figures to be like the Princeton teams Bob Surace has put out there in recent years. It figures to be an Ivy League championship contender. As Gary Walters would say, there is reason for "cautious optimism" this August.

Of course, it is just that. August. Early August for that matter. 

Jeremiah Tyler is a deserving preseason All-American. He knows as well as anyone that such an honor will mean little when the games start. Then it will be time to prove it all over again.