Boston Herald
When your football program has been around for 140 seasons, there is a certain legacy and history that goes with the territory.However, you don’t need to research too far back in the archives to ascertain the impressive roll call of quarterbacks at Harvard, especially during the coaching era of Tim Murphy.Murphy and longtime offensive coordinator Joel Lamb have worked closely in tutoring a plethora of record-setting quarterbacks, including Neil Rose, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Liam O’Hagan, Chris Pizzotti, Collier Winters, Colton Chapple and new-kid-on-the-block Conner Hempel. Hempel, who made his debut last Saturday when the Crimson belted San Diego, 42-20, in Harvard’s first West Coast visit since 1949, is well aware of the red-carpet list of luminaries who have preceded him in the role of starting Crimson quarterback.“Absolutely, you definitely look at those names and see what they did at Harvard,” said the 6-foot-3 junior from Ryle High School in Union, Ky. “It’s a pretty impressive group and it’s quite an honor to maybe someday be one of those names to add somewhere down the road.“Over the years, coach Murphy and coach Lamb have coached us as to what their expectations are and what type of defenses we should be looking for and coach Lamb, especially, has helped me tremendously.”Murphy never doubted Hempel could handle the job and expects more of the same tonight at The Stadium against Brown (1-0) in the Ivy League opener for both teams.“Well, coming into the game, we thought that the kid was very talented and had the potential for a great demeanor as a Division 1 college quarterback. I don’t think we could have predicted that in his first college (start) that he would have played as well as he did,” said Murphy. “Not just the reads and the throws but the improvisation, the running ability, and just the total package. Now, as we all know, one game does not a career make. But, we’re not surprised.”“We recruited him as a kid that had some Division 1 scholarship offers and really liked the intangibles. He’s a really good person. He was a very good runner and overall athlete in high school,” said Murphy about Hempel, who threw for 6,139 yards and 60 touchdowns in high school. “He was a second team All-State as a punter. He rushed for a thousand yards. He put it all together. He’s right where we hoped that he would be, if not expected (to be).”Against San Diego, Hempel completed 25 of his 34 passes for 345 yards with four touchdowns.“I think that we’ve done a good job here recruiting, evaluating, and developing quarterbacks and you better be good at it because . . . it’s the most important position on the field, by far,” Murphy said. “But, in Conner’s case, it’s easy to see on film that physically he was a tough kid. (Ryle High) actually ran the ball a lot so, kind of like Ryan Fitzpatrick, he was just a tad under the radar as a thrower. But, in terms of being a tough kid, and leadership, their coaches raved about him. You could see his football charisma on the field and his very understated charisma in person, when we were getting to know him in recruiting, was very obvious.”Hempel downplayed any pregame jitters heading into the season opener.“Honestly, I don’t know why, but I’ve never gotten nervous before a football game before,” he said. “I think that once you get that first series of downs under your belt that you kind of settle in.”Murphy applauded the play of the offensive line during his talk at the New England College Football Writers’ luncheon hosted by Harvard at Dillon Fieldhouse. Harvard compiled 472 yards of total offense on 62 plays and produced 22 first downs.“We had zero sacks and that’s awesome. That’s what you hope to get every game. The only time I had to really move was when they brought pressure and I should have checked off against the blitz,” Hempel said. “But that’s on me.” - See more at: http://bostonherald.com/sports/college/college_football/2013/09/conner_hempel_may_be_latest_star_qb_from_harvard#sthash.jVRSQVYR.dpuf
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