Army Football Notebook

The game isn't until Sept. 6, but the enemy has already slipped through the gates at West Point. Officials from the University of New Hampshire recently visited West Point to get a feel for the campus and what to expect on game day. Army serves as the University of New Hampshire's season-opener. New Hampshire went 7-4 last year.

"The people there told them there will probably be 35,000 people for the game," New Hampshire athletic director Marty Scarano said. "They never get less than 25-30,000. It's a special place for the game."

In other New Hampshire news, sophomore R.J. Toman is likely to start for the Wildcats at quarterback. He replaces star Ricky Santos, who last month, signed a free agent deal with the Kansas City Chiefs. Toman backed up USC star Mark Sanchez at Mission Viejo (Calif.) High School.

He played in parts of five games for New Hampshire last year, completing 25-of-34 passes for 310 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.

Last month, ArmySports.com wrote a story about several college football coaches, including Miami's Randy Shannon, Notre Dame's Weis, Georgia's Mark Richt, Auburn's Tommy Tuberville and Yale's Jack Siedlecki, visiting with American troops in the Middle East.

The week-long trip concluded on May 26 and the coaches managed to even call some plays in Iraq. A team of servicemen coached by Tuberville and Richt stopped a two-point conversion with 19 seconds left to beat the team coached by Shannon and Siedlecki for a 14-12 victory in the first-ever Under Armour Iraqi Freedom Bowl flag football game. Richt coached the offense and Tuberville the defense. Weis helped officiate. "The average age of the guys here is 20-21 years old," Tuberville said. "They've had to grow up quick. This isn't a game here. They've asked a ton of questions. We've all signed each other's stuff. I've signed Georgia stuff, Miami, Notre Dame, Yale. The other coaches have signed Auburn stuff. They've been very appreciative and we've been very appreciative of them, what they are going through over here. They have a lot of enthusiasm. I'll tell you that."

Not only is Pete Dawkins a legend, he's a gentleman and great supporter of Army football and athletics.

Here's to Army for naming Oct. 25 "Pete Dawkins Day". The Black Knights host Louisiana Tech at Michies Stadium that day. Dawkins' legendary uniform number 24 will also be retired. Of course, Dawkins won the Heisman Trophy.

Army's 1958 team will be honored on Aug. 30 for Army's season-opener against Temple at Michie and the Black Knights' 1988 Sun Bowl team will be toasted Nov. 1 against AIr Force.

Extra points (or in this case: extra innings): Former Army pitcher Milan Dinga remains on the disabled list with a shoulder injury. He hasn't pitched for the Cedar Rapids Kernels (Angels) of the Midwest League in almost a month. That could be cause for some concern ...... DInga's former Army teammate, Nick Hill is 1-4 with a 4.56 ERA for the High-Class-A High Desert Mavericks (Mariners) of the California League. Hill has pitched in 12 games, making seven starts, spanning 47.1 innings. He has given up 52 hits with 38 strikeouts and 17 walks.