One of the top programs on the South Coast on a yearly basis is Dartmouth.

Coach Rick White has done an excellent job of getting his team to compete with the toughest teams on the schedule.

In 2023, Dartmouth posted a 9-2 record with wins over Doherty, Bridgewater-Raynham, and Old Rochester. The losses were to good teams in Milton and Fairhaven, two squads that won state titles in D3 and D6, respectively.

But Dartmouth is no stranger to that level of success. The program recently won state titles in both 2014 and 2015.

This is a team that will be among the favorites in D3 this coming season. Dartmouth has a solid nucleus coming back and is working toward taking that next step.

“We had most of our guys in there all winter,” White said. “So we had a productive winter.”

Of course, the gold standard for Dartmouth teams is the 2007 squad, which had stars like Jordan Todman, Arthur Lynch, and Sean Sylvia, among others.

“That was the best team we’ve ever had just because of the level they were playing at, obviously, where the guys went after they graduated, and they played in the Super Bowl,” White said.

We wanted to get White’s thoughts on this current team, and the first person to profile is quarterback Jackson Hart (5-11, 180). Hart is a three-sport athlete who also plays lacrosse and basketball.

“He’s really athletic. A multi-sport athlete, he plays basketball and lacrosse,” White said. “He’s pretty good at lacrosse, very good at lacrosse, actually. He just does a lot of things well. He’s fast. He’s quick. He’s very athletic. Throws the ball well. Runs the ball well. We run some option. We run some RPOs, things like that. He can do all that. He’s kind of a dual threat, but what was nice this past year was his completion percentage was, like, 66 percent. We don’t throw a whole lot, but we kind of threw it more this year than we did the year before. We may throw even more next year because he’s kind of developing that aspect. It’s nice to see, put in a lot of work in the offseason, and it showed during the season.”

Hart is getting looks in both lacrosse and football, so he should have some options there.

His running back is Ray Gramlich (5-9, 185). He rushed for close to 1,000 years in 2023.

“He’s not super-fast, but I would say he’s kind of sneaky-fast in the sense that once he’s in the open field, I don’t think he has that breakaway speed, but he’s a really good running back,” White said. “He’s kind of like a zone runner. He kind of glides, and then he finds the hole, and then he goes. He finishes runs off really hard. He’s a tough, tough, tough kid.”

The top wide receiver to watch is Marcus Andrews, a slot WR at 5-9, 170.

He had about 1,500 yards between rushing, receiving, and returns.

“He’s a good slot receiver. Great hands, and he can run the ball, too,” White said. “It’s a nice 1-2-3. We kind of used those three guys last year, they were kind of the focal point of our offense.”

Andrews is a key piece in the team’s jet game.

“We’ve been pretty good with that over the years,” White said. “We kind of stayed with it. You try to stretch things vertically and horizontally. Marcus is the jet guy. Having that speed, and then he can go vertical on you. It does create some issues for the defense at times. We kind of have the inside run game with Ray. Jackson can run and throw. Perimeter run, inside run, or throw the ball. Marcus is pretty good with the perimeter run, jet, screen, slip screens, RPOs, and over the top, he can beat you, too. That’s kind of what we focused on last year. We used to run some diamond stuff, too, when I had some other backs, some bigger backs. When they took away the cut blocking, to be honest with you, that, in ’14 and ’15, we were really good at blocking on the edge. But you can’t do that anymore.

Another player to watch is Tom Quinn, a linebacker at 6-0, 190. He will be a key piece of that defense in the fall.