Crimson running back Dawson slashes through defenses

"Very fast, very explosive, and very good," are the words Penn coach Al Bagnoli chose to describe Harvard running back Clifton Dawson.

With such high praise, it is hardly surprising that Dawson was at the top of Penn's recruiting list last year.

After an all-Canada high-school career and a redshirt year at Northwestern, the Scarborough, Ontario, native decided to transfer, narrowing his final choices to Penn and Harvard.

"We had a very, very strong interest in him ourselves," Bagnoli said.

"He actually came in on an official visit. It actually came down to Penn and Harvard. We felt that he's a real good player and will continue to be a very good player in this for a long time. We thought that we had a legitimate chance... unfortunately, it didn't work out for us. We were well aware of him in the recruiting process and knew what kind of player he was."

The 5'10", 190 pound freshman's numbers do not deceive.

He is averaging 127.9 yards per contest -- placing him third in the Ivy League in that category -- and has run for 10 touchdowns. Dawson is second to only Penn's (8-0, 5-0 Ivy) Sam Mathews in league all-purpose yards.

Dawson has had two 71-yard runs this season and ran for a 218 yards -- the highest single game total in the league this year -- and four touchdowns in Harvard's (6-2, 3-2) 34-27 win against Lafayette. He has had an increased role in the Harvard offense by necessity since the Crimson's star quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick has struggled with injuries.

Bagnoli likened him to a "faster" version of Yale's Robert Carr.

"Once he breaks a tackle and gets in the open he's got very legitimate speed," Bagnoli said. "He can hit the home run. Just look at some of his runs. He's got a couple of 70-yard runs in there. He's running away from people. The speed factor is something that really concerns us."

But Bagnoli was quick to differentiate Dawson from other prolific running backs Penn has faced this year, including Lehigh's Jermaine Pugh. Unlike Pugh, who likes to make juke moves and run horizontally, Dawson always seems to be moving forward.

"He's really a slasher," Bagnoli said. "He doesn't make a lot of moves. He's not a jitterbug. He just makes one move, gets north-south, slashes and boom, he goes."

And Bagnoli stressed that limiting Dawson's ability to slash will be crucial to Penn's chances for victory on Saturday.

"It's the same old deal," Bagnoli said. "It starts up front, where we don't create too many huge seams. And then our second and third-level people have got to take good angles and do a good job wrapping the kid up. We're going to have to do a good job of knocking him down, wrapping him up and minimizing the amount of seams he has."

While linebacker Steve Lhotak has yet to see Dawson play in person, he is well aware of his ability.

"I've watched a little tape," Lhotak said. "He's obviously fast. He's a good running back. Under 200 lbs., he's not exactly what I would call a bruiser. But if he's going to come and step into Harvard's program, which obviously has been good and is good, he's got to be a good player -- a legitimate threat."

Defensive tackle Ryan Strahlendorff stressed that no extra effort is being made to shut down Dawson.

"From what I've seen he's pretty talented," Strahlendorff said. "But we've played quite a [few] talented running backs in the league this year. Our preparation is not going to be much different than any other week.

"He's more of a one cut and go, he's not afraid to get physical and put his head down. He's not going to make a bunch of cuts. He's pretty smart where he just sees a hole, and makes one cut and hits it as hard as he can. He's got good speed -- real legit speed."

But because of his slashing running style, Strahlendorff emphasized that some extra assertiveness is necessary.

"You've just got to get off blocks a little quicker, I think," he said. "Play your technique and try to get off blocks as fast you can."

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