There are nine days until Penn football kicks off its 2016 campaign. That’s 22 days after the first college football game of the season. Sports buffs out there will know that the first game, a matchup between Cal and Hawaii on August 26 in Sydney, Australia, is in the FBS division whereas the Quakers' first game against Lehigh on September 17 at 5 p.m.

Coming off of winning a share of the Ivy title in 2015, Penn football was predicted to finish second in the Ancient Eight preseason media poll this year, trailing only Harvard.

As the opening credits appear to the tune of the music score, Ray Priore is readying for his first season as head coach of the Penn football team, his 29th year as part of the staff.

The preseason hype surrounding Penn football is unreal – 13 returning starters from a championship team will do that.

I’ve had the privilege of writing for the Daily Pennsylvanian for two full years now, and one particular date is seared into my brain: November 7, 2015. That particular day, undoubtedly, was the most entertaining of my Penn career thus far.

A lot of athletes might say they were born to play their respective sport. But a kid related to both the NCAA’s Division I-A single-season touchdown passing record holder and the winningest quarterback in Stanford history might have a slightly better argument. Such is life for California native and safety Conor O’Brien, who is one of 29 recruits joining Penn football’s Class of 2020 looking to help the Quakers begin their title defense. Needless to say, O’Brien needed no help being introduced to the sport.

The University of Pennsylvania football team will be welcoming 29 members of the Class of 2020 onto their team this coming fall. The new student-athletes — sixteen defensive players, 12 offensive players and one kicker — hail from 13 different states. 

At a press conference formally announcing his retirement from the NFL, two-time Pro Bowl lineman Justin Tuck revealed his plans to attend Wharton to pursue an MBA starting this fall.

Last Saturday, Penn football tight end Ryan O'Malley signed as an undrafted free agent with the Oakland Raiders.

Ryan O’Malley, a tight end who completed his senior season with Penn football last fall, was signed by the Oakland Raiders as an undrafted free agent Saturday. After going unselected in the seven rounds of the NFL draft, the New Jersey native agreed to an undisclosed contract with the AFC West team.

The vote by the eight Ivy League football coaches to end tackling at in-season practices is Penn Athletics' philosophy in action.

For Penn football, and the other seven Ivy League programs, two questions remained unanswered: Will the coaches’ proposal to eliminate tackling from regular season practices be passed? And if it does, what effect will it have on the players?

For a few, sunny hours on Franklin Field, Penn football was back on Sunday. Capping off spring practices for the Quakers, the two-hour Spring Game gave alumni and students a glimpse of what the Red and Blue would look like once their quest to defend the Ivy title begins in September. “We don’t get to play many games so coming out here, even if it’s our own players, going aggressive and being able to tackle, it’s awesome for us,” junior quarterback Alek Torgersen said.

The game of football tends to dominate a lot of conversation around Franklin Field, but the game of life is so much more important.

Penn football announced the 2016 slate of games it will play in the quest to repeat last year’s Ivy title-winning campaign.

But now, following a nationwide change in the structure of the Uplifting Athletes organization allowing teams to raise money for multiple rare diseases, Penn will be taking its fundraising efforts to the next level.

Last week, at their annual meeting, the Ivy League’s eight head football coaches unanimously made an unprecedented decision to eliminate tackling from all regular season practices.