Widman Impresses on Senior Day

It was Senior Day for the Harvard football team on Saturday—a day intended to celebrate a senior class that lacked the big-name star of so many recent years but that became one of the winningest groups in Crimson football history. So it made perfect sense that in their last-ever game in front of the home fans, two unheralded seniors from an unheralded senior class led Harvard to its dominating 29-3 victory over Penn on Saturday.

Fullback/H-back/tight end Kelly Widman and wide receiver Ryan Tyler paced a Crimson offensive attack that jumped on the Quakers early and buried them before halftime.

It may be safe to assume that when Penn coach Al Bagnoli and his coaching staff were devising their defensive strategy last week, game-planning against Widman’s pass-catching abilities wasn’t a major priority.

Widman entered Saturday with eight catches and two touchdowns. Though Murphy and offensive coordinator Dave Cecchini had moved Widman out of the backfield and into the tight end role in recent weeks, calling the 250-lb. senior a threat from the tight end position might have been a bit of a stretch.

But after Saturday’s performance, he can safely expect to receive more attention next week against Yale. Widman hauled in three touchdown passes in the first half—a figure that equaled his previous career total.

“We were just trying to get a lot of balance with our play-calling and try to mix it up,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “We were just trying to keep them off balance.”

With three touchdown passes to Widman in the game’s first 27 minutes, fans, too, may have felt a little off-center.

The first came just after Penn had taken a 3-0 lead on its first drive. Widman broke from the line and settled in the back of the endzone. Sophomore quarterback Liam O’Hagan lofted a ball that appeared too high, but Widman used all of his 6’2 frame to reach up, catch the ball, and stay in bounds.

His next two touchdown grabs occurred on similar plays. Again from the tight end position, Widman got behind the Penn linebackers and O’Hagan found him open in the front of the endzone for the scores.

“I was just trying to get open as fast as I could,” Widman said. “We have a lot of offensive weapons...I’m doing everything I can to complement those guys.”

While Widman converted his opportunities for touchdowns, it was Tyler who consistently made big plays to get the Crimson in the red zone. Tyler had a career day, catching 11 passes for 177 yards, and made the Quakers defense pay for crowding the line against junior running back Clifton Dawson.

Entering the season, Tyler was expected to play a strict supporting role as Harvard’s third receiver behind junior Corey Mazza and senior Rodney Byrnes. But after Byrnes went down with an injury in the first game and Mazza did the same in the second, Tyler assumed the No. 1 receiver spot and refused to let a mid-season shoulder injury take it away from him.

“One guy I’m really proud of is Ryan Tyler, because the doctors in essence said his season was over as well,” Murphy said. “But Ryan just basically came into the doctor’s office and said ‘hey I’m playing.’...He’s been just huge. He’s courageous and he’s inspirational for those other young receivers.”

Tyler has embraced his role as O’Hagan’s go-to option and leads the team in catches and receiving yards. The senior whose name may not be as recognizable as those of Carl Morris ’03 or Bryan Edwards ’05 has done a fine job following in his predecessors’ foot steps as the Crimson’s top receiver.

After the game, Murphy brought Widman and Tyler to meet with the media, leaving O’Hagan and Dawson in the locker room.

It was Senior Day, after all. Big names aside, it was the seniors’ time to get noticed.

—Staff writer David H. Stearns can be reached at stearns@fas.harvard.edu.