It was a breakout year for Jake Weil. After emerging as one of the key players on a John Jay team that won a sectional title for the fifth time in six years, the 6-foot midfielder enjoyed a noteworthy summer for the Prime Time travel team, which ended with his earning a spot in the rising senior all-star game at the Battle of the Hotbeds Camp at the University of Delaware.

Weil’s success this spring and summer put him in the position to play at the Division I level. Today, Weil decided where that will be, as he gave a verbal commitment to Dartmouth College.

“Jake is an outstanding two-way midfielder who over the last six months has developed into one of the top midfielders in the section,” said Nick Daniello, the director of the Prime Time program. “With his combination of size and speed, he has the potential to make an immediate impact at the next level.

“Jake is the perfect example of what hard work in the class room and on the field can accomplish and he has a very bright future at Dartmouth.”

Here’s a Q&A with Jake on his commitment:

What were the main factors in your decision to attend Dartmouth?
Dartmouth has always been No. 1 on my list ever since I was a little kid. My dad went there so I had been up to Dartmouth many times before and I’ve always known that I loved it.

What other schools were you considering and what schools did you visit?
I had talked to schools like Colgate, Middlebury, Williams, Tufts, and a few others and I was considering all of them. However, I only visited Colgate, Middlebury and Dartmouth throughout the process.

What adjustments do you think you will need to make to play at the next level?
To play at the next level, I think I will need to get stronger and bigger. Division 1 is a new style of play in which I will have to get used to as well.

What are your strengths as a player and how would you describe your style of play?
My speed and decision making. My style is dodging from up top and getting a full head of steam.

What players have you looked up to as you have moved up through the varsity ranks?
John Jay has had great players throughout its history. I’ve looked up to my brother Zach, Chris and Nick Daniello, Kevin Stockel, Ryder Bohlander, and the rest of the guys I grew up watching.

When did you first realize you had the potential to play at the D-I level?
I’m not really sure. I guess when the recruiting process started and I was receiving a few letters in the mail from D-I programs.

Posted In: Recruiting Rundown

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39 Responses to “John Jay’s Weil decides on Dartmouth”

  1. Bronx Bomber says:

    Thats my boo

  2. jjlaxfan says:

    Congratulations Jake you deserve it, keep up the great work.

  3. Laxinnn says:

    Excellent choice Jake.

  4. Jaybird says:

    Well said, Schoolhouse. Jake will be continuing quite a John Jay/Dartmouth lax tradition that includes Chris Bates and Ben Grinnell.

  5. Purple Pride says:

    Way to go Jake. I’m sure a few more rising senior commits from JJ will be made the next few weeks — or days? 😉

  6. KatLew Lax says:

    Both Bates and Grinnell went on to pro careers and of course Bates is now the HC at Princeton.

  7. Observer says:

    Just curious – how much did Jake play as a soph? He’s obviously real athletic and should have been out there – if he wasn’t.

  8. Jaybird says:

    Jake played but didn’t play nearly as much as he should have last year.

  9. truth says:

    jaybird, Weil started as a sophomore and was on man-up and was a big contributor so i’m not sure what your talking about.

  10. JJ-Lax Alum says:

    Congrats Jake! keep working on improving that shot and seeing the open man,

  11. Salem Shores says:

    Great news! All the best, Jake!!

  12. JJYL says:

    Congrats to Jake Weil – great school and a great kid!

    Not to stray too much off topic – some very recent John Jay alumni are holding a camp next week. Chris Bocklet (UVA), Chris Daniello (Syracuse), Justin Schneidman (Cortland), and Kevin Stockel (Drexel) will running a lax camp starting on Monday (8/16) through Thursday (8/19).

    All youth players are welcome, cost is only $115. For more details and/or to register – please visit http://www.jjyl.org. Questions can be sent to info@jjyl.org.

  13. LAXman says:

    Congrats Jake! Observer – I believe Jake played a lot as a sophomore and was one of the leading scorers on the team at that point. John Jay will have an absolute scary midfield this coming season.

  14. Big Green says:

    Welcome to Dartmouth Jake. From what I’m reading here you will be a great addition!!!

  15. Town Laxer says:

    LAXman~
    John Jay will NOT have an absolute scary midfield this coming season, its the same Midfield line of last year minus the O’Donnell boy, that did not scare anyone.

  16. Grady Lax says:

    What a great group of schools Jake was considering. Good to see academics won out in the end.

  17. Laxrat says:

    That’s pretty cool JJ has a tradition like that with Dartmouth with Bates, Grinnell and now Jakey.

  18. P&G says:

    Town Laxer,

    The JJ Midfield was scary enough to beat Yorktown and 17 other opponents last year. By returning 5 of them (with another year of experience) – I fail to see your logic. I’d say Walter, Weil, Morris, Chen, Beck and others are better by far than any other HV team (Yorktown included).

    I guess it took until August for some to crawl out from under the green rock.

  19. laxin says:

    Yeah the team is returning 5 of 6 midfielders that saw significant time on a team last year that went 18-2, if that isn’t scary I don’t know what is.

  20. slacrosse says:

    P&G,

    Wonder if this Jay team be as good as that very special ’07 team?

  21. Lax Novice says:

    Scary for other Hudson Valley teams, perhaps. Not sure if JD, Garden City or Niskayuna are too worried.

  22. Old Rugger says:

    I’ve watched both teams and agree with Lax Novice these boys will be the cream of Sect 1 but not in 07 league as they are Lax players first and Athletes second. 07 they were D1 athletes in HS. (I really hope they make me eat my words and crush GC, Nisky, JD and Wogue etc.)

  23. P&G says:

    Slacrosse, I agree with much of with what Old Rugger said. I think/know there were definitely more “high end” players on the ’07 team, you might argue that the ’11 version will be deeper from 1 to 15. I think the sky is the limit for the ’11 team if they get solid goaltending.

    The ’07 team combined two very special years of JJ players (2007 & 2008) on one team. The 2011 team will be mostly driven by the ’11 senior class.

    Laxnovice, I’m sure those teams are not afraid – nor is JJ of them. But my point is that Section 1 should be wary of the team that JJ will field next year.

  24. Lax Novice says:

    P&G, I agree that amongst these high-quality teams no one is going to be intimidated by any of the others. Unfortunately in the larger scheme of things with the team John Jay has coming back it’d be a shame if they didn’t try to upgrade their non-Sec 1 schedule and risk a couple more regular season losses to go further in the States than any team since the 2007 one. Coach Schurr doesn’t need any of our advice in that regard. Having read earlier posts, it’s incumbent on the 2011 team to improve on the post season record to be remembered as one of the special groups they’ve had there on Route 121, being 19-1 playing Sec. 1 teams and getting bounced in the State quarterfinals again would surely be disappointing.

  25. Lax Man says:

    I agree John Jay top team in Section 1 they have the players but and a big but they have the best coach in Schur. That is a fact!!

  26. slacrosse says:

    P&G,

    Totally agree on your “high end” and “deep” comments. Saw Branca play this summer and he looked real solid in goal!

  27. slacrosse says:

    Lax Man

    For sure the Hudson Valley team kids were fortunate to have had the opportunity to be coached by Schur.

  28. Laxerrr says:

    Coach Schurr is the mannnn.

  29. Old Coach says:

    Ditto Old Rugger here

    P&G – JJ ’07 vs. ’11 ? 1-15? – Not really even close.

    Goal:
    1) Latino – All Section, ESG, Binghamton
    ’07 wins here – hands down

    Defense:
    2) Bohlander – 2 Time AA, ESG, Maryland
    3) Sneidman – All Section, ESG, Cortland by way of Providence (D3 National Champ Ring)
    4) Crossett – All Section, ESG, Endicott
    5) Weil (DM) – All Section, ESG, Union
    6) Whalen (sub) – All Section, Drexel
    ’07 win here again going away. At best, Lambert pushes Whalen for reserve minutes. No way he breaks into that returning senior starting defensive unit.

    Attack:
    7) Bocklet – 2 Time AA, ESG, Virginia
    8) Stockel – AA, ESG, Drexel
    9) Douglass – AA, ESG, Yale
    Not sure who all subbed here, but one sub was-
    10) H. Jones – All Section (60+ goals as a senior), ESG alt, Franklin and Marshall
    ’07 in another landslide. Yes, Daniello starts, but someone moves to midfield because none of that ’07 starting attack is coming off the field – figure Stockel since that’s what he’s playing at Drexel. No one else from ’11 sees serious minutes on attack.

    Midfield:
    11) Drew – AA, Syracuse (D1 National Champ Ring)
    12) Granelli – AA, ??? by way of Syracuse and Cortland (D3 National Champ Ring)
    13) DeCandia – All Section as junior
    14) Stewart – AA, ESG, Williams
    15) Santare – Western New England
    16) Laperch – All Section, Ithaca
    17) Dibetta – Ithaca
    ’07 wins again, but its closer this time. Weil and Walter get playing time, but they’d be fighting with 3 AA’s plus to get it. Of course, if Stockel moved to midfield to make room for Daniello, then he and Drew would have two spots locked down and everyone else would be fighting for what was left.

    All in all, Daniello is generally in the class of Bocklet, Bohlander, Stockel, Douglass and Drew. (1 vs. 5) Weil and Walter are generally in the class of Sneidman, Crossett, Granelli, Latino, Weil, Whalen and Stewart. (2 vs. 9)

    Everyone else is a step below that – but realize that on that next step, ’07 still has some very good HS and D3 players.

    So don’t think it matters whether you go 1-5, 1-10, 1-15 or 1-20, ’07 wins all the same

  30. truth says:

    Yeah that ’07 line-up can not be compared to. The ’11 team is going to be very very good but not close to the the level of the ’07 team. The ’07 attack unit was Virginia, Yale, Drexel…that just cannot be matched. Then their defense was Maryland and Cortland- and he was one of the best DIII defenders

  31. slacrosse says:

    Does anyone remember where the ’07 team ended up being ranked nationally? Had to be pretty close to #1.

  32. P&G says:

    Old Coach,

    I won’t respond in detail – because I don’t ever want to violate my own rule of posting negative comments about individuals. As I posted, the ’07 team definitely had more “high-end” players – and based on talent they were the best team to date.

    All I’ll say is that the ’07 team has the benefit of history…Many of those players you mentioned played little or no role on the ’07 team. The ’11 team is still making history. I think the 2011 JJ senior class will actually have more kids playing college lacrosse than any other single JJ graduating year. How they finish their HS careers as a team – is TBD.

  33. P&G says:

    Slacrosse,

    Laxpower had them at No. 10 nationally…

    http://www.laxpower.com/update07/binboy/natlccr.php

  34. slacrosse says:

    P&G,

    Thanx.

    Yeah, they’re certainly in good company and nothing to hang your head about even at #10. When you get to that level, any of these teams could pick up a win vs the others.

  35. Old Coach says:

    P&G

    I don’t believe I was being negative about anyone. If I was, I apologize. But, implying that most of the ’11 team is probably “only’ comparable to a 60 goal HS scorer or some really solid D3 players is hardly damning. The ’11 team should be good. But they should be left to find their own level without all the hype that has been dumped on them for what seems like ever.

    That ’07 team was simply different.

    Bigger, Faster, Deeper. More Experienced.

    You mentioned that ’11 may have more depth, then said that many of the players I mentioned “played little or no role on the ’07 team” – These statements are simply not true.

    I mentioned 17 players from ’07. Obviously, they can’t all have started. …and I left out some who played regularly and others who went on to play in college. But…

    … 12 of the 17 players I mentioned plus one other (Sobocinski) received postseason accolades. (4 All Americans, 5 others All Section, 1 All Section HM and 3 All League HM) So they must have played more than a little.

    Of the remaining 5, one started at least one game (against Huntington) and was the first sub in at his position. Two others got regular runs as subs. As for the last two I mentioned – I don’t know when they saw their time as juniors, but both were All Section the following year as seniors. All five are playing in college. Most of the ’08 class did not start as juniors, some did not play that much. That does not mean that they weren’t any good as juniors – only that there wasn’t enough room for them all.

    Finally, You say that ’07 has the benefit of history. True – but they had the benefit of history in 2007 as well.

    The 2006 Jay team had gone 19-3 and averaged 12.2 GPG while allowing only 5.7 GPG. They beat Nisky in the states before losing to West Islip in the Class A semis on the Island. Out of section opponents that the ’10 team did not play – Darien (21-1, State Champ, only loss to Jay), Garden City (19-2, lost to Huntington in Class B quarters, only losses to Jay and Hunt.), West Islip (23-0, State Champ)

    …while the 2010 Jay team went 18-2 and averaged 10.7 GPG while allowing 6.9 GPG, lost to Nisky in the states and did not make it to the Island. Out of section team opponent that the ’06 team did not play – Syosset (10-7)

    The ’07 was coming off a better year than the ’11 is (although the ’06 season ended with a bit of a thud) – and they had fewer questions to deal with going forward.

    Going into the ’07 season Jay returned 9 players with ’06 postseason honors – their entire starting attack and defense (all seven were also ESG players) plus an All Section Middie and an All Section HM Middie. Outside of goal, they had to replace Chris Daniello.

    In contrast, ’11 returns only 5 players with postseason honors plus 2 other starters (both rising sophs). Outside of goal, they have to replace 3 starting poles (an AA, an All Section, and an All Section HM) and a D1 Att/Mid. (and in Pickel and O’Donnell they lose their best two pure “athletes”).

    Then again, I suppose – on paper like this, the ’07 team was a blowout win over JD.

    … and reality disagreed.

  36. Lax Novice says:

    A question for you in New York that may be relevant to the outlook for the Indians in 2011 – is there such a thing as an all-NY State team? It’s great to be All-Section, no doubt. But if your season is measured on whether you can advance to the State final and win it, is there a measure of the relative strengths of the Class B opponents John Jay will see down the road? How do they stand up to the Garden City type of opponent?

  37. PTer says:

    Do ur thing Jake…

  38. Jayyyy says:

    JJ is gonna school Darien when they scrimmage

  39. The Color Purple says:

    Do your thing Jakey!

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