The Cornell football team only dresses two captains on game day, but anyone associated with the team will tell you that it has three.
The late Jaime McManamon would have been a senior for the Big Red, but he passed away after a car crash following his freshman season in May 2004.
Coach Jim Knowles made the decision this year to make McManamon, a former offensive lineman, an honorary captain alongside running back Anthony Macaluso and defensive end Jonathan Lucas.
"I really thought he had the personality of someone that . would be a captain," Knowles said. "That was really his one goal; it wasn't anything personal on the field - it was to be a leader."
Of this year's team, only the senior class got to know McManamon, but the message likely won't be lost on the underclassmen.
With 15 seniors, including four starters on the offensive line, his legacy as a player won't be forgotten this year.
"The kids on the team understand that Jaime was a significant part our life and that he was a significant part of this football team," Macaluso said. "The way we still talk about him in Cornell football circles paints a pretty clear picture to the underclassmen of the type of guy he was."
Unfortunately for the Big Red, delivering an Ivy League title to its captain-in-spirit won't be easy.
While the veteran offensive line remains the team's strength, the Big Red will surely miss the presence of Kevin Boothe, who upon graduation became a sixth-round pick of the Oakland Raiders.
"I think Kevin elevated the play of everyone around him," Knowles said.
Graduating players are "part of college football. It's not the NFL - you don't get to keep them. . You try to take the positives from it and hopefully everyone learned from Kevin."
Outside of its offensive line, Cornell will have a relatively young squad. Sophomore Nathan Ford won the starting job at quarterback and will take snaps alongside an inexperienced receiving corps.
Ford does have some experience, however. Last season, as a reserve quarterback, he played in four games and completed 14 of 25 passes for 132 yards.
Knowles noted that the Big Red prides itself on both its running game - they have three players who have rushed for over 100 yards in two games - and run defense. But as for the passing game, Cornell's secondary might be spread a little thin.
"Our skill guys are still a question mark," Knowles said.
The Big Red's pass defense will likely be a target for opposing quarterbacks this year as its front seven anchor the defense. They are led by Lucas, a 2005 Ivy League second-teamer, who is a classic run-stopper at 6-foot-2, 250 pounds.
Cornell didn't start its Ivy season on the right foot with a 21-9 loss at home to Yale, which figures to place it in the bottom half of the league. But if nothing else, the Big Red players have an incentive to get a few conference wins - they'll want to do it for Jaime.
