Football players quit

With the Penn football team's season opener against Duquesne two weeks away, the Quakers should be able to fine-tune and make minor adjustments.

This year, however, Penn has not been blessed with this luxury. The recent departure of two key players -- fifth-year senior Kyle Chaffin, a starting defensive lineman, and junior Jack Phillips, a backup quarterback -- has forced the Quakers to concentrate on quickly filling big holes in their lineup.

"They're both great players, so it kind of caught me way off-guard that both of them quit," senior starting quarterback Mike Mitchell said.

"I talked with both of them before camp and they were working out and doing all this, and then, out of the blue, they just quit.

"I just hope they're fine with their decision and everything will work out for them."

The departure of Chaffin in the past two weeks came as a shock to the Bagnoli and Mitchell, who are still unsure as to why he left. His career highlight came on Sept. 29, 2001, when he blocked Dartmouth's potential game-tying extra point with 1:38 remaining. Penn went on to win, 21-20.

"We're still trying to figure it out ourselves," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "Kyle [leaving] is a huge disappointment. He's a fifth-year kid. We've never had a fifth-year kid come back and then leave."

Bagnoli indicated that Phillips had to leave because of family issues.

"This has nothing to do with football," he said. "There were some family things that popped up that unfortunately required his attention."

Neither Chaffin nor Phillips could be reached for comment.

Chaffin -- a starter in all 10 games last season -- was coming off a banner season, tallying a career-high 27 tackles, including 17 for a loss.

The loss of the defensive lineman is especially costly to a unit that was already shaken by the loss of several other members.

Earlier this preseason, junior defensive tackle Karon Singleton also quit the team, while junior tackle Steve Small has been plagued with back problems.

The defensive line will also have to cope with the loss of junior linebacker Ric San Doval -- an honorable mention All-Ivy selection last season -- who made the switch to linebacker this season.

"Given the situation we have with injuries that we have currently, it pretty much leaves us in a very precarious situation," Bagnoli said. "We've had to take a couple of our defensive ends and cross-train them as tackles and just do some things we didn't think we'd have to do."

The other returning members of the defensive line -- senior Ryan Strahlendorff and junior Michael Sangobowale -- will have to step up in San Doval's absence.

Strahlendorff -- who recorded a career-high 29 tackles, eight tackles for a loss and four sacks last season -- was a member of the second-team All-Ivy squad in 2002. Sangobowale had 21 tackles, six for a loss and four sacks.

Phillips was not slated to start this season, but will be missed in his role as the team's primary backup quarterback. While Phillips had limited playing time last season, he did put up impressive numbers, completing six of seven passes for 78 yards and one touchdown.

Replacing the quarterback at No. 2 on the depth chart will be sophomore Pat McDermott.

The Yonkers, N.Y., native had an extremely successful high school career -- team MVP, first-team all-county, first-team New York Daily News and first-team all-state as a senior.

"He's got a good arm," Mitchell said. "He just needs to learn the system.... He's just going to have to mature a little bit quicker for the backup job."

Filling McDermott's vacated third-string spot is senior quarterback Greg Valli.

While Mitchell is upset by the loss of his two teammates, he understands that the commitment of college football is sometimes too much for athletes.

"Obviously every year it's hard work to play football," he said. "It takes so much time out of your day and not everyone can play.... I just hope they made the best decision."

Penn career highlights Kyle Chaffin In 2002, defensive lineman Kyle Chaffin started every game for the Quakers. He recorded 27 tackles, 17 of which went for a loss. In 2001, he preserved a Penn win by blocking a would-be game-tying extra point by Dartmouth with 1:38 to play in regulation.

Jack Phillips Last season, backup quarterback Jack Phillips connected on six of seven passes for 78 yards and one touchdown for Penn. The junior appeared in five games. The previous year he went five of 10 for 83 yards and one touchdown.

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