FOOTBALL PREVIEW 2005: All Eyes On Him

Junior tailback Clifton Dawson is an unlikely celebrity. With a reputation for being private, laconic, and modest, he isn’t one to seek the spotlight, attention, or adoration.

Nor, for that matter, does he need to—the spotlight seems just to keep following him.

Whether he likes it or not, Dawson is the star of the Harvard football team, the tough-to-tackle backfield threat, the Division I-A transfer who has distinguished himself as the greatest rusher ever to wear crimson, the consensus first team All-American on pace to be the best back in Ivy history.

“He makes everybody around him better, not only because he’s such a great player but because he’s such a tough, charismatic character on the field on game day,” Harvard coach Tim Murphy said. “On the other hand, off the field he’s one of our quietest, humblest, laid-back kids. He’s truly a Jekyll-and-Hyde personality when it comes to football.”

Now that quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick ’05 has moved on to the greener pastures of professional football, Dawson is undoubtedly the primary focus of opposing defenses.

“I understand that because of some graduation of players there’s a feeling amongst our opponents that there will be a target on my back,” Dawson said. “I look forward to the increased competition. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Whether from fans, media, or opposing linebackers, the attention is well deserved. The statistics Dawson has compiled are astounding—last season, he rushed for 1,329 yards and 17 touchdowns. He’s tied for the most career touchdowns, and he needs fewer than 900 yards to have the most career rushing yards in Harvard history. Only six touchdowns separate him from the all-time team scoring record.

“I’m definitely not running for the record books,” Dawson said. “The opportunity to continue making my mark on Harvard football history, that’s something I knew I wanted to do the moment I came here.”

Statistics can’t tell the whole story. Game notes don’t capture the sight of Dawson pushing the pile for another five yards or breaking loose for an 80-yard touchdown run against Princeton to set Harvard’s single-season touchdown record.

Nor do statistics reflect that no matter how shining a star he is, Dawson is just one prong of a balanced attack, and that the bigger he is, the better the Crimson pass game can be.

Just try to stop him—at your own risk. Dawson has operated as part of a Harvard package that leads defenders guessing, running against pass coverage and passing when opponents load up the line.

“Teams that try to take away the run, on the pass they suffer. The bottom line is we see ourselves as a balanced offense, and therefore people can’t completely take away our whole offense,” Murphy said.

Dawson recorded fewer than 100 yards only twice last season—against Dartmouth and Cornell—and while the Big Red held him to only 61 net yards of rushing, he distracted it from Fitzpatrick, who threw for 317 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 102 more yards and another score.

“It takes all the heat off the quarterback,” offensive coordinator Dave Cecchini said. “The fact that when defenses prepare for us, they have to prepare first and foremost for Clifton, because he’s such a force running the football.”

And the competition knows it.

“When you’re preparing for Harvard, you have to prepare for a team that throws the ball extremely well and runs extremely well,” said Brown defensive coordinator Mike Kelleher. “[Harvard has] done a great job for the last couple years, and every team that tries to prepare against them this year will have their hands full.”

The relationship between the rush and pass games is symbiotic—if defenses key in on Dawson, Harvard lets the long ball fly. If the secondary responds, Dawson gets breathing room at the line of scrimmage.

“As good as Clifton is, we can’t just hand him the ball 40 times a game and expect to score points,” Cecchini said. “It’s going to take a concerted effort to balance that with the passing attack that we have.”

Dawson’s contribution to the passing game may comprise more than distracting the attention of defenders. He caught 15 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown last season, and it won’t be a surprise if he expands on the role.

“He certainly has improved to the point where he has good hands and runs good routes,” Cecchini said. “He caught about two passes a game last year, and that may go up depending what direction we go offensively.”

Of course, that’s assuming that Dawson isn’t quite good enough to render any defense impotent.

“Clifton’s only stronger, he’s gained weight, he’s faster. He’s good enough to beat people even if they are focused on them,” said junior wide receiver Corey Mazza. “I don’t know what other teams are going to want to do.”

Meet Dawson, a Payton Award contender who is reticent in discussing anything but his team and the contribution he can make to it.

“We can start talking about individual awards once we’re 6-0 and on our way to back-to-back championships,” Dawson said.

—Staff writer Samuel C. Scott can be reached at sscott@fas.harvard.edu.