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He made it into my post yesterday, but new of Darin Patmon's commitment to Columbia came too late for me to pass on some added info about the talented safety from Land O'Lakes HS in Florida.

First of all, can we talk about the name of that high school? I actually love it, because you can't ever forget it.

Second, Patmon was noticed as a very smart student and a very smart player very early on in his high school career.

This article about Patmon's brains was published at the start of his junior year in September, 2010.

And this report says Patmon was a "last minute late addition" on the Columbia radar. So, that's an excellent job by the new coaching staff on him.

The Dallas Morning News has a little more info on Niko Padilla's decision to come to Columbia and promises a "compelling story" in a longer piece about Padilla in the days to come.

And this piece gives  us some more details about QB Hank Trumbull's thought process before he committed to Columbia.

The artcile says:

"Trumbull also drew heavy interest from Boston College, Duke, Harvard and Cornell, but called his decision 'a no-brainer."


Quick to 20

We're holding steady at 20 KNOWN incoming frosh as of now, and that's not bad considering the number was zero just a few weeks ago after the coaching change.

National Signing Day is tomorrow and that's sure to give us more news of some of the 10 or so unknown incoming frosh out there.

Clearly, both the current and previous coaching staffs deserve a lot of credit for handling the transition well.

So even before we get the full number of 30 or so known commits, I'd like to extend that credit right now.

M.A. Clone

The Big Green Alert Blog reports that Dartmouth has just grabbed another player from Texas, a QB who reminds a lot of people about Columbia's big QB M.A. Olawale '10.

Watch his highlight video below to see why. (He throws and runs a lot like Millie):

BGA also says that the Green have snagged the younger brother of a player Columbia Head Coach Pete Mangurian coached on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just a year and a half ago.

Jonathan "AJ" Zuttah's older brother is Jeremy Zuttah who has been an offensive lineman with the Bucs for four years now.

A Gem for Columbia

Las Vegas-area super student Richard Lee is probably not going to play football at Columbia even though he's a varsity player for his high school.

But he sure looks like the kind of kid who uses athletics to hone his talents and academic skills.
Sports and scholastics truly aren't antagonists and Richard Lee is great proof of that.

Yale Needs a "Roar Lions Roar"
I think the guys at the Portal 31 blog do a nice job getting news out about the Yale football program. But they can't really take strong positions advocating for the fans can they?

And BOY do the Yale fans need an outlet like that after what has to be the worst two month period in Eli football history.

Here's what's happened to the program since mid-November:

1) News surfaces of a potential scandal involving Head Coach Tom Williams fudging his resume claiming to be a Rhodes Scholar "finalist."

2) A woman is killed in the tailgating area at the Yale Bowl before The Game in a terrible truck accident.

3) Harvard pounds the Elis in The Game at the Yale Bowl, 45-7.

4) Coach Williams is fired/steps down.

5) Yale's top choice to replace Williams changes his mind after his salary augmentation by the Yale boosters is vetoed by Yale President Richard Levin.

6) Yale settles for a young Tony Reno as head coach, a man who has never even been a coordinator at the FCS level.

7) The news surfaces that Patrick Witt had a very checkered past coming into Yale and the NY Times accused Yale of falsely promoting his Rhodes candidacy in the media when it had been suspended already.

8) Witt's reps and the Times engage in a war of words over the accuracy of the Times' story.

Whew! That's a lot of junk to contend with.

Something tells me the Yale alums would appreciate a blog like this one to register their immediate displeasure with how everything has been handled in New Haven recently.

Too bad they don't have one. ;)

Lion Shots!

Longtime and loyal reader "Old Lion" just got back from an African safari and was inspired by some grea Lion scenes he captured on film.

Check 'em out!

On the prowl

                                                       
                                                                     Roar Lion Roar!

The scene after this coming October's game against Yale!

Texas Twosome and One from Florida!

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We have two more incoming freshmen to tell you about this morning and they're both from Texas.

6-2 280 lbs. DL Niko Padilla, A Rivals.com 2-Star athlete has decommitted from Central Arkansas and is coming to Columbia. He made his new verbal commitment Sunday.

Niko comes from the Parish Episcopal School in Dallas, TX and is the first ever documented player from there to join the Lion program.

His senior year highlight video is below.

In addition to his football accolades, Padilla is a top academic student.

And check out Niko, #52, on the cover of Vype High School Sports magazine this past September:

In addition to the attention from Central Arkansas, Yale heavily recruited Padilla as well.

But all is not lost in New Haven.

The Portal 31 Yale blog reports that Ryan Dillard, a defensive back out of Buford (Ga.) High has switched his commitment from Air Force to Yale, citing an Atlanta Journal Constitutiuon blog entry.

More on Yale later...

Trevor checks it out

Texas Bell

Our second Texas incoming frosh for today is 5-7, 190 lbs. WR Trevor Bell from Hamshire-Fannette HS in Hamshire, TX. He's the first-ever documented Hamshire-Fannett player to join the CU football program.

Bell is a super speedy player who will also play on the CU track and field team.

And he's also a top-notch student with a 3.9 GPA.

Check out his highlight video below and you'll see he has another gear with his 4.4 40-yard dash speed:

And we also have a safety from Head Coach Pete Mangurian's old stomping grounds of Tampa, FL.

Darin Patmon is a 6-1, 185 pound safety.

His highlight reel is below:

So here is our list of 20 publicly known incoming freshmen for the class of 2016:

1. Oluwatoba "Toba" Akinleye DE 6-1, 215 lbs. Fort Hamilton HS, Brooklyn. NY
2. Jacob Ardron LB 6-1, 230 lbs. Diamond Ranch HS, Pomona, CA
3. Trevor Bell WR/KR 5-7, 190 lbs. Hamshire-Fannett HS Hamshire, TX
4. Matt Cahal DB 6-0, 190 lbs. Brophy College Prep, Phoenix, AZ
5.Chris Cicilioni G/DE 6-2, 225 lbs. Valley View HS, Scranton, PA
6. Mark Cieslak LB 5-11, 235 lbs. St. Joseph's HS, Montvale, NJ
7. Andrew Dobitsch WR 5-11 180 lbs. Northern Valley HS Tappan, NJ
8. Michael Gerst RB 5-10 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic Bergen County, NJ
9. Scooter Hollis QB 6-1 175 lbs. Bowling Green HS, Bowling Green, KY
10. Max Keefe S 6-2 195 lbs. Choctawatchee HS, Fort Walton, FL
11 Kevin McCarthy, S 6-1 200 lbs. Hingham, HS Hingham. MA
12. Trevor McDonagh, QB 6-3 200 lbs. St. Louis University HS, St. Louis, MO
13. Cameron Molina, RB/LB 5-10, 185 lbs. Tuscarora HS, Leesburg, VA
14.. Daren Napier DT 6-4 275 lbs. St. John's HS Houston, TX
15. Niko Padilla, DT 6-2, 280 lbs. Parish Episcopal School Dallas, TX
16. Darin Patmon S 6-1 180 lbs. Land O'Lakes HS,
17. Logan Scott QB 6-2 180 lbs. Chaminade HS West Hills, CA
18. Austin Stock, C 6-3 270 lbs. Solon HS Solon, OH
19. Hank Trumbull QB 6-4 210 lbs. Chadwick School Palos Verdes, CA
20. Mike Zunica, FB 6-1 215 lbs. St. Rita HS Chicago, IL



Reno Renegs


Meanwhile, new Yale Head Coach Tony Reno has reportedly pulled at least two offers from players who had received invites to join the Elis from the Tom Williams coaching staff.


That's a tough choice, but maybe the Lions will want to take a long look at these guys to see if they'd make super-motivated new Columbians this fall?


One of them is Sean Marinan from Xavier HS in Connecticut. He's the son of the head coach at Xavier, and that might make for a great new relationship between our program and that school.
Levin Explainer

One reader asks that we back of Yale President Richrad Levin regarding the Patrick Witt scandal.

While I appreciate the sentiment and the wisdowm behind not celebrating the troubles of others, I do think it's important to note that Levin is not simply a problem for Yale athletics.

He has been a tireless enemy of Ivy football in particular and has been an especially effective foe of increased marketing for the league.

When you see those reduced attendance numbers league-wide, remember that Levin has made it harder for each of the schools to combat this trend properly.

And so THAT's why I want him off our backs.

Lost in the Shuffle?

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Bryan Dewey


While the recruiting baton seems to have been handed cleanly to the the new coaching staff, there's a chance a good linebacker prospect from Southern California got lost in the coaching change shuffle.

Bryan Dewey from Beckman HS was in regular contact with Norries Wilson's staff, but hasn't heard anything since the new staff came in.

Princeton's coaches continue to recruit him to this day.

If the current staff has decided to pass on Dewey, that's fine. I'd just hate to see us lose him if the only reason is because his info wasn't passed on clearly.

Here's his 2010 highlight video below:

Honors

Incoming frosh Chris Cicilioni has been named a co-winner of the top honor given to the best football players in Pennsylvania's Lackawanna County, earning the annual Hookey Reap Award presented by the American Legion.


Joe's Boys

Coastal Carolina Head Coach Joe Moglia has hired former Columbia offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude as his new offensive coordinator.

You'll remember that Moglia is the former TD/Ameritrade CEO who left Wall Street to return to his first love of coaching. I thought there was a good chance he'd land a top Ivy job, but Coastal grabbed him.

Good luck Dave!

Witt Latest

Patrick Witt's lawyers have released a formal statement denying that Witt's Rhodes Scholarship candidacy had been suspended before he formally withdrew in time to play in The Game against Harvard.

I'm on the record for more than three years now as a Patrick Witt doubter, so let me stand up again and say I really doubt this kid and anything he or his lawyers say.

I'm no fan of the NY Times either, but the paper is standing by its story.

And even if what they say is true, surely the Yale administration knew of the sexual assault claim against Witt and should have known better to continue pumping out positive pres material about him.

There are a lot of people in trouble because of this mess at Yale, and other than the woman who Witt allegedly assaulted, I can't say I feel sorry for any of them.

The deplorable Yale PR department pushing this Rhodes story was overbearing to begin with, ex-head coach Tom Williams was almost always really inappropriate, and Witt should have been tossed off campus years ago when he wrote an editorial in the school paper trashing his fellow students.

But my favorite possible loser in this story is Yale President Richard Levin. Levin is by far the most hostile to athletics Ivy president right now.
He may be the most hostile ever.

And now, in a delicious case of beautiful irony, the most unfriendly to athletics Ivy president could go down because his school was being too friendly to one of its very troubled athletes!

I can't think of a better way for Levin to lose his job or at least lose his influence on the Council of Ivy Group Presidents.

Exclusive: Keefe Commits!

Brotherly Love

There will noe be TWO sets of brothers playing together on the Columbia football team this fall, because I can exclusively report that Max Keefe, brother of rising sophomore John Keefe, committed to the Lions Thursday. (The Gerst brothers will be the other set).

Max is a 6-2, 195 pound safety from Choctawatchee HS in Florida.

He chose CU over Princeton, and the fact that he's joining his brother in the program is a nice sign for the new coaching staff.

You can see a bunch of Max's senior season highlights here.


So here is our list of 17 publicly known incoming freshmen for the class of 2016:

1. Oluwatoba "Toba" Akinleye DE 6-1, 215 lbs. Fort Hamilton HS, Brooklyn. NY
2. Jacob Ardron LB 6-1, 230 lbs. Diamond Ranch HS, Pomona, CA
3. Matt Cahal DB 6-0, 190 lbs. Brophy College Prep, Phoenix, AZ
4.Chris Cicilioni G/DE 6-2, 225 lbs. Valley View HS, Scranton, PA
5. Mark Cieslak LB 5-11, 235 lbs. St. Joseph's HS, Montvale, NJ
6. Andrew Dobitsch WR 5-11 180 lbs. Northern Valley HS Tappan, NJ
7. Michael Gerst RB 5-10 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic Bergen County, NJ
8. Scooter Hollis QB 6-1 175 lbs. Bowling Green HS, Bowling Green, KY
9. Max Keefe S 6-2 195 lbs. Choctawatchee HS, Fort Walton, FL
10 Kevin McCarthy, S 6-1 200 lbs. Hingham, HS Hingham. MA
11. Trevor McDonagh, QB 6-3 200 lbs. St. Louis University HS, St. Louis, MO
12. Cameron Molina, RB/LB 5-10, 185 lbs. Tuscarora HS, Leesburg, VA
13.. Daren Napier DT 6-4 275 lbs. St. John's HS Houston, TX
14. Logan Scott QB 6-2 180 lbs. Chaminade HS West Hills, CA
15. Austin Stock, C 6-3 270 lbs. Solon HS Solon, OH
16. Hank Trumbull QB 6-4 210 lbs. Chadwick School Palos Verdes, CA
17. Mike Zunica, FB 6-1 215 lbs. St. Rita HS, Chicago, IL

Another Shocker at Yale

If you thought the Rhodes Scholar issues at Yale were over, think again.

It turns out the whole drama over whether Patrick Witt would play in the Harvard game or attend his Rhodes interview in NYC was all a LIE. His candidacy was already suspended well before gametime!

That's because he had been accused of sexual assault by another Yale student.

This is just the kind of incident that threatens Ivy football on all eight campuses, so I'm certainly not delighting in this story. But it confirms what I and many other long-time followers of Ivy football felt when Witt first entered the league. He just didn't seem right. The editorials trashing his felloe students in the Yale Daily News, the stories that he fell asleep in team meetings, the aggressive attitude he had off the field. It was all weird and out of character.

Of course, he's still innocent until proven guilty... but whoa!

Running on Empty
The good news is that Princeton's Chuck Dibilio is out of the hospital and back home after his stunning stroke last week.

It still feels a little crass to ask whether there's any possibility Dibilio will play again, at least this fall. But as a parent, I can't believe he'll be back on the field this fall especially when they're just not sure what caused the stroke in the first place.

And that means yet another Ivy 1,000-yard rusher is off the grid.

And that's just another sign of the times for the Ivies.

Welcome back to the Ivy League Coach Pete Mangurian... it's changed a bit since you left in 2000!

First off, tuition room and board is almost twice what it cost back then... but there is also expanded financial aid at schools like Harvard and Princeton that you need to be able to compete with in the recruiting arena.

On the field, you might have noticed that just about every Ivy team has opted to go with a starting QB who also runs the ball quite a few times per game.

That's because they HAVE to.

Ivy running games have suffered from a dearth of top quality running backs for years now.

Mangurian's last season in the Ivies saw three Ivy RB's reach the 1,000 yard mark, last year there were two... but one was Dibilio and the other was the graduating Nick Schwieger from Dartmouth.

So it looks like the top returning rusher for 2012 in the Ivies will be Treavor Scales who had 816 yards for the 2011 season.

You might think that the lack of go-to/25 carries per game runners would lead to a lot more passing... but since every football team needs some kind of running attack, most Ivy teams are opting to go
with running QB's to keep defenses honest. The one team that's bucking that trend is Cornell, who simply let QB Jeff Mathews throw and throw and throw all day and it actually worked to set up a strong finish to 2011 season.

If Mangurian wants to run an NFL-style offense with a mix of running and passing, without an option game and without much of a running QB, he may find it tough to do with the personnel he and most of his peers
are working with.

Catching UP

With all the hype over the latest commits to Columbia football, it's time to give some of the other incoming freshmen a little more recognition.

Probably the most overlooked incoming frosh on my part has been Michael Gerst, who deserves attention especially since he'll be coming out of his older brother Nick Gerst's shadow at Columbia.

So, check out the speed on Michael Gerst in his senior year highlight video below:

Schiano Leaving College Game

Reports say that Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano is going to take the top job in Tampa Bay that former Columbia assistant coach Chip Kelly turned down.

I'm disappointed to hear this because I thought Schiano not only revived Rutgers football, but helped to revive college football throughout the Northeast.

Now the question is whether some of the top Ivy coaches may get offers to replace Schiano at Rutgers.

We'll keep our eyes open, because I still have this strong feeling that all the coaching shakeups in the Ivies are not completely over for this year.

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ANOTHER QB!

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Welcome Hank!

Another day, another QB commits to come play at Columbia this fall.

This time it's Hank Trumbull, a 6-4, 210 pound ESPN All-State player from the Los Angeles area Chadwick HS who can throw and run. And at that size, he may end up playing another position.

Chadwick has a good connection to CU, but it's been awhile. It was the high school home of an excellent WR Armand Dawkins '00.

Here's his senior highlight reel below:

So here is our list of 16 publicly known incoming freshmen for the class of 2016:

1. Oluwatoba "Toba" Akinleye DE 6-1, 215 lbs. Fort Hamilton HS, Brooklyn. NY
2. Jacob Ardron LB 6-1, 230 lbs. Diamond Ranch HS, Pomona, CA
3. Matt Cahal DB 6-0, 190 lbs. Brophy College Prep, Phoenix, AZ
4.Chris Cicilioni G/DE 6-2, 225 lbs. Valley View HS, Scranton, PA
5. Mark Cieslak LB 5-11, 235 lbs. St. Joseph's HS, Montvale, NJ
6. Andrew Dobitsch, WR 5-11 180 lbs. Northern Valley HS Tappan, NJ
7. Michael Gerst, RB 5-10 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic Bergen County, NJ
8. Scooter Hollis, QB 6-1 175 lbs. Bowling Green HS, Bowling Green, KY
9. Kevin McCarthy, S 6-1 200 lbs. Hingham, HS Hingham. MA
10. Trevor McDonagh, QB 6-3 200 lbs. St. Louis University HS, St. Louis, MO
11. Cameron Molina, RB/LB 5-10, 185 lbs. Tuscarora HS, Leesburg, VA
11.. Daren Napier DT 6-4 275 lbs. St. John's HS Houston, TX
13. Logan Scott QB 6-2 180 lbs. Chaminade HS West Hills, CA
14. Austin Stock, C 6-3 270 lbs. Solon HS Solon, OH
15. Hank Trumbull QB 6-4 210 lbs. Chadwick School Palos Verdes, CA
16. Mike Zunica, FB 6-1 215 lbs. St. Rita HS, Chicago, IL




More on McDonagh

There's so much written and filmed material out there on newly-comitted incoming frosh Trevor McDonagh, I could just post 3-4 links about him per day for a couple of weeks.

But I thought I'd just add a few more for now:

I like his comments in an article published Wednesday afternoon, because I think they tip us off to what kind of offense we'll see at Columbia this fall.

"Their head coach is Pete Mangurian, and their offensive coordinator is Ben McDaniels. Those are the two main guys. The offense they run is perfect for me. It's exactly what I wanted."
Remember, McDonagh is an NFL-style drop back passer. And I'd be shocked if the Lions don't feature an NFL-style offense under Mangurian.

His 2010 highlight video, (see below), was so good, Central Michigan offered him a scholarship right away once the coaches saw it.

And here's a clip from local TV station KSDK previewing McDonagh's senior season at St. Louis University HS.


More on Hollis

Scooter Hollis is also ubiquitous on the web, but here are two of the better clips of him out there:

First, here's a very nice interview with Hollis on local station WBKO in Kentucky.

And I love this nifty highlight below of a 35 yard TD run by Hollis from this past season.

The Spirit of St. Louis

Reese, during his practice squad days with the Jets in 2004



Seeing news of McDonagh's commitment to Columbia followed by the news of the equally highly-rated St, Louis area QB Thomas Mitello going to Dartmouth reminded me of the great Johnathan Resse-Michael Malan rivalry of the late 90's.

Reese and Malan were both running backs at the same time for Mary Institute-St. Louis Country Day School, (the same school where Mitello is from). They had a good rivalry going, and as each looked to outshine the other the team benefitted from their competition.

But their rivalry didn't end after graduation. Reese went on to Columbia where he broke and still holds all the
program's key rushing records.

Malan went to Brown where he also broke several rushing records, (most were later broken by the great Nick Hartigan), and won an Ivy title in 1999.

You can argue that Reese became a bigger star on the Ivy stage, because he meant so much to Columbia while Brown had a lot of other potent offensive weapons.

But I'm sure Reese would be tempted to trade all his records for that Ivy championship and the 4-0 record Malan enjoyed against Columbia.

There's no way to tell if McDonagh, (who hails from MICDS rival St. Louis University HS), and Mitello will ever actually play against one another in the Ivy League.

I would feel a lot more comfortable predicting that if they were both running backs like Reese and Malan; talented running backs are at such a premium in the Ivies that just about every one of them gets a very
good chance to start.

But QB's are much more of a wildcard and there's a much bigger chance neither Mitello nor McDonagh will ever start a game in college.

But if they both do, it would be fun to see what happens.

Really?
A want ad on one of the college football websites for the Harvard
running backs coach position says the job pays $30,000 for the 10
month gig. Really? Is the salary that low? Please tell me that doesn't
include free housing in Cambridge, (because I'd say 10 months rent in
a decent place there is probably worth an additional $20K or $25K).

Demand Down
Something the at least remotely resembles the law of supply and demand
is finally coming to the Ivy League.
Columbia and other top schools say high tuition costs and incredible
admissions requirements have finally resulted in a reduced number of
applications for undergraduate admission.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-19/applications-at-top-colleges-retreat-amid-impossible-odds.html
Of course, you have to take that in the context of the fact that last
year applications to Columbia hit an all-time high.

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The Freshman 15

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Class of 2016 commits #14 and #15 surfaced overnight.

And since I'm expecting 30 new freshmen playrs to join the Lion varsity this fall, we are now aware of half of the new class.

First we have 6-1, 175 pound QB Scooter Hollis from Bowling Green HS in Kentucky.

Here's a video of Hollis talking about his monster game in the Kentucky 5A state final.

Hollis was also a Rivals.com 2-Star recruit.

Hollis is the first documented Bowling Green player to come to Columbia football, but current Lion Kal Prince is also from Kentucky and a QB.

Next up is THREE-STAR Rivals recruit and another QB: 6-3, 200 pound Trevor McDonagh.

Trevor comes from St. Louis University HS, where current Lion Griffin Lowry also graduated.

You can see all the Columbia football player legacy high schools here.

Trevor's junior year highlight video is below:

And here's an interesting article published last year about Trevor's entrance into the recruiting process.

So here is our list of 15 publicly known incoming freshmen for the class of 2016:

1. Oluwatoba "Toba" Akinleye DE 6-1, 215 lbs. Fort Hamilton HS, Brooklyn. NY
2. Jacob Ardron LB 6-1, 230 lbs. Diamond Ranch HS, Pomona, CA
3. Matt Cahal DB 6-0, 190 lbs. Brophy College Prep, Phoenix, AZ
4.Chris Cicilioni G/DE 6-2, 225 lbs. Valley View HS, Scranton, PA
5. Mark Cieslak LB 5-11, 235 lbs. St. Joseph's HS, Montvale, NJ
6. Andrew Dobitsch, WR 5-11 180 lbs. Northern Valley HS Tappan, NJ
7. Michael Gerst, RB 5-10 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic Bergen County, NJ
8. Scooter Hollis, QB 6-1 175 lbs. Bowling Green HS, Bowling Green, KY
9. Kevin McCarthy, S 6-1 200 lbs. Hingham, HS Hingham. MA
10. Trevor McDonagh, QB 6-3 200 lbs. St. Louis University HS, St. Louis, MO
11. Cameron Molina, RB/LB 5-10, 185 lbs. Tuscarora HS, Leesburg, VA
11.. Daren Napier DT 6-4 275 lbs. St. John's HS Houston, TX
13. Logan Scott QB 6-2 180 lbs. Chaminade HS West Hills, CA
14. Austin Stock, C 6-3 270 lbs. Solon HS Solon, OH
15. Mike Zunica, FB 6-1 215 lbs. St. Rita HS, Chicago, IL




The Kindest Cut of All?

A reader asked today why OL Chris Proctor has left the team. I don't have a definite reason why Proctor personally left the team, but I can say that the challenging workout program new Head Coach Pete Mangurian has created for this winter is "encouraging" a number of players to consider dropping football.

As I reported last week,  Mangurian is seriously considering paring the varsity roster and even eliminating JV football.

The logic is that the 110+ player roster is unmanageable, and a leaner/meaner team would lead to more wins.
It's a strong argument and the last six years of Columbia football certainly serve as evidence that a lower attrition rate doesn't necessarily equal more wins.

Columbia fielded its biggest rosters ever in the Norries Wilson era, but it still never posted a winning season, and never truly showed a strong ability to replace injured start despite the big numbers on
personnel.

This is the way Mangurian rolled at Cornell, where none of his varsity rosters had more than 54 players in any of his three years as the Big Red head coach.

This was an easier transition back in 1998, when Mangurian succeeded Jim Hofher who also believed in smaller varsity rosters. Mangurian and Hofher were both proponents of the 50-60 man varsity.

But within two years of Mangurian's departure in 2000, the new regime in Ithaca was jacking the number right up to 96 players on the roster... but with a lot fewer wins.

A year later, the 2003 Big Red, (one of the weakest Cornell teams we've seen in a generation), was up to 105 players on the roster.

Bigger does not mean better.

If the coaching staff is working with say, 30 fewer players overall, will they be able to get the remaining players better prepared for each game and better developed over time?

With the right direction from the top, I'd say there's at least a good chance the answer would be "yes."

And the only important question is: "will this lead to more wins?"

Because we haven't seen our team win enough games for too many years, we Lions fans, (and I am VERY guilty of this), have focused for too long on just about every other stat other than W's.

We've focused on roster size and attrition, we've focused on the number of Lion All Ivy players, we've focused on TD-INT ratios, etc., etc, etc.

I'll take a smaller team, with fewer All Ivies and dreadful TD-INT ratios if Columbia starts winning more games and a championship.

I think we all would.

Now, HOW exactly can Mangurian go about getting this roster down to the core players he wants to go after the top teams in the league?

The 5am wakeups and runs in the middle of January are working so far, but that's not going to get us down to 60 or 70 by the spring game.

The answer, sadly, is the coach is going to have to cut some guys. No, it won't be fair in the truest sense to the players who have given their all and want to stay on that roster. But this is the Ivy League, which means they stay in school, keep whatever financial aid they may have and still own a great headstart on life.

Also, if the players come to realize that the coaching staff is really looking to keep the best and chuck the chaff, it should raise the level of everyone's play in practice and on the field.

But there's a reason why so many of the incoming freshmen have been quoted as saying the coaches told them they have a great chance to play right away. Roster depth and the confidence the staff has in them
could make more freshmen play a real necessity and hopefully a plus.

It's important to remember that this entire process seems like it's still in the experimental stage right now. The coaches may get to spring practice and realize shredding just 10-15 players will be more than enough. And JV ball might stay alive when the fall rolls around and too many of the returning players are working too hard to cut them off completely.

But the only real test for all of this is the win-loss record in the fall.

The days of using anything else as a serious benchmark, should be long gone by now when it comes to CU football.

Basketball Commit

For those of you who like any reason to get excited, (and I'm in that group), I give you
Grant Mullins, a Canadian phenom who committed to Columbia back in November.

I also give you Brad Gilson from northern Virginia.

Both Mullins and Gilson are big-time scorers and should fit in well with the current Lion squad next year.



Dumb Things Ivy Schools are Doing Besides Helping Athletics, Part 376:

Some "geniuses" at Harvard just put together an "art project" where students stayed on a single phone conversation for more than 46 hours.

Here's the quote that really got me laughing:

"Stage Manager Ginny C. Fahs ’14 said that the performance was much like an athletic competition because it required extreme endurance."

LIKE an athletic competition? Really? Here's an idea: how about those brainiacs at Harvard study some of the actual athletes that are on campus?

How about measuring how long some of our student athletes excel at sports while maintaining decent grade point averages?

I know, I know... this wasn't a scientific study at Harvard, it was an "artistic" performance. But if you ask me, a real artistic performance is a double reverse option pass.

The Front Five

Matt Cahal


#13

The pay-site Scout.com says Brophy College Prep safety Matt Cahal has committed to Columbia and will forego an official visit to Brown next week.

Cahal is 6-0, 190 pounds and excels on special teams as well.

And check out his  highlight video below. It includes a somewhat unsettling opening that makes Cahal look like a robot... okay, I admit it's super cool!

Brophy Prep has become a real pipeline to Ivy football in recent years. Current Lion senior Seyi Adebayo is a graduate, as were Brandon "Moose" Veldman ‘10, and  Drew Hopkins ‘08.
Before Hopkins, you have to go all the way back to  Tony Tutrone ‘86 to find the previous, (and first-ever), Brophy product to come to CU.

So here is our list of 13 publicly known incoming freshmen for the class of 2016:

1. Oluwatoba "Toba" Akinleye DE 6-1, 215 lbs. Fort Hamilton HS, Brooklyn. NY
2. Jacob Ardron LB 6-1, 230 lbs. Diamond Ranch HS, Pomona, CA
3. Matt Cahal DB 6-0, 190 lbs. Brophy College Prep, Phoenix, AZ
4.Chris Cicilioni G/DE 6-2, 225 lbs. Valley View HS, Scranton, PA
5. Mark Cieslak LB 5-11, 235 lbs. St. Joseph's HS, Montvale, NJ
6. Andrew Dobitsch, WR 5-11 180 lbs. Northern Valley HS Tappan, NJ
7. Michael Gerst, RB 5-10 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic Bergen County, NJ
8. Kevin McCarthy, S 6-1 200 lbs. Hingham, HS Hingham. MA
9. Cameron Molina, RB/LB 5-10, 185 lbs. Tuscarora HS, Leesburg, VA
10.. Daren Napier DT 6-4 275 lbs. St. John's HS Houston, TX
11. Logan Scott QB 6-2 180 lbs. Chaminade HS West Hills, CA
12. Austin Stock, C 6-3 270 lbs. Solon HS Solon, OH
13. Mike Zunica, FB 6-1 215 lbs. St. Rita HS, Chicago, IL


Gerst to Pursue Redshirt

I can now report that oft-injured senior Nick Gerst will pursue the league's permission to take a 5th year for medical reasons.

But I'm not yet sure if that means Gerst will sit out THIS season entirely recovering from his hamstring surgery, or attempt to play two more full seasons.



On Second Thought...

Former Columbia assistant Chip Kelly apparently changed his mind about leaving Oregon and he is NOT taking the head coaching job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

That's too bad, because I was kind of hoping for every story about Kelly beginning with a line like:

"20 years ago, Chip Kelly was sharing an Upper Manhattan apartment while working as an assistant
coach with the Columbia University football team..."

Harvard Holes

With Tony Reno and some of the colleagues he poached going with him to Harvard, the Crimson already have a want ad out to fill the holes:

"Harvard: Harvard University Football, a Division 1 FCS school, is seeking two positions, an offensive line coach and a defensive line coach. These will be full-time 12 month positions. Responsibilities will include coaching and on the road recruiting. Applicants with experience in these areas is preferred. Interested applicants should email a letter of interest, resume, and references to: Head Coach, Tim Murphy at tmurphy@fas.harvard.edu. Information can also be faxed to 617-496-9343."

Will any former Columbia assistants apply? Perhaps Chris Nugai will since he worked under Tim Murphy at Harvard about 10 years ago.

Offensive Line

The one unit on the Columbia team I have yet to assess since the season ended is the offensive line... and yes, the reason is the O-line is always so hard to assess.

There are also some serious wildcards in effect. New Head Coach Pete Mangurian is a particular expert at the position after coaching it for most of his NFL career.

The other big wildcard is the huge degree of uncertainty that slams the unit now that two of the best offensive linemen in Columbia history, Jeff Adams and Bob Hauschildt, are graduating.

But there are still some very experienced players coming back for 2012, and last year's spate of injuries at this position has produced a few players who will be more prepared for this coming season than they otherwise would have been.

And there will be some good continuity here as O-line coach Ed Argast remains with the team.

The returnees with starting experience are seniors Scott Ward, Xander Frantz, and Eric Walker.

Fellow senior Alec Kosminskas also has a good amount of playing time and has patiently waited behind guys like Hauschildt for a better chance to shine.

Junior Jimmy Yukevich has started some games and fellow junior Joe Ghergurovich has impressed.

By the end of last season, lots of then-freshmen cracked the two-deep including Cary Parker, Ryan Thomas, and Chris Proctor, (but Proctor has now left the team).

I'd say the three players most likely to start this fall will be Ward, Yukevich and Kosminskas, with Frantz and Parker close behind.

And don't overlook Tom Callahan, a player some considered to be the top recruit of last year's freshmen class.

Speaking of top prospects, incoming freshman Austin Stock seems like he could be the pick of the class of 2016 so far. But there's no way of knowing now whether he'll be good enough to become that extremely rare freshman offensive lineman to actually get playing time with the varsity.

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From Columbia to the NFL

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Chip Kelly


Kelly's Rise

In the latest case of "six degrees of separation," former Columbia assistant Chip Kelly has been hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the new head coach.

Of course that job was available because of the poor results turned in by former Bucs Head Coach Raheem Morris. The same Raheem Morris who foolishly let Pete Mangurian go as offensive line coach last year, freeing Mangurian up to be Columbia's new head coach this year.

Waiting for More...

Keep your eyes on this space as another recruiting weekend has wrapped up on campus and we should be getting a flurry of new commitment announcements today or slighlty later in the week.

For what it's worth, Coach Mangurian and those recruits were present Saturday night to see a thrilling men's basketball win over Cornell.

Dibilio Latest

Good news on the Chuck Dibilio front: he's showing good signs of recovery so far. But no one is saying anything about whether he can return to football this year or beyond.

Ivy Leaguers in the Super Bowl

With the Giants punching their ticket to the Super Bowl last night,  Kevin Boothe of Cornell and  Zak DeOssie of  Brown join that rare group of Ivy alums who have been to multiple Super Bowls.

JV=R.I.P.?

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J.V. R.I.P.?

Another major change Head Coach Pete Mangurian is considering is eliminating the JV squad entirely.

The thinking is that the added games are a distraction and don't do enough to develop the younger talent on the team.

Plus with the significantly smaller roster Mangurian is hoping to work with, not having to scrape up the minimum numbers for a JV game would be a relief.

I'm not sure where I come down on this possibility. But I will say that when Norries Wilson eliminated JV just for his first season in 2006, he posted his best ever overall record with the varsity at 5-5.

It's just something to consider.

Defections

With deep regret, I can now report the names of the five players so far who have decided to leave the Lions:

Sean Coffinger

E.J. Odigwe

Malcom Carson

Josh Keiles

Chris Proctor

All of them, besides Carson, are rising sophomores.

They will not be alone. I expect more losses before we get to the spring game.

We'll miss them, but a leaner and meaner Lion team could very well be the result.

Tweety Bird

Yuri Wright, a Don Bosco senior with a very bright future has seen a lot of his chances go up in smoke because of some very offensive Tweets.

Yep, bad stuff you write that goes online can be used to hurt your recruiting status.

My guess is that Wright will still get a scholarship slot somewhere, just probably not Notre Dame and maybe not Michigan.

Stunning News & Mangurian Cracks Down

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Chuck Dibilio





We'll get back to all the news of the day and fun in a moment, but a stunning story from Princeton really requires everyone's attention right now.

The Ivy League's Rookie of the Year Chuck Dibilio has suffered a stroke.

That's not a misprint.

A 19-year-old superior athlete has suffered a stroke.

This is a terrible story, but the good news is Chuck is concious and starting to recover.

You can bet that whatever caused this problem is going to be looked at closely by the league.

It's a terrible deja vu for the Princeton program which was hit hard by the life-threatening anemia that struck Jordan Culbreath 2 1/2 years ago.

Like Dibilio, Culbreath was a 1,000 yard rusher in this age of hardly any 1,000 yard rushers in the Ivies.

We certainly hope Chuck recovers fully.

Adams Turns it Around!

3-Time 1st Team All Ivy OL Jeff Adams has improved in a big way as he prepares for today's East-West Shrine Game.

The same scouts who panned Jeff early this week had  this to say about him yesterday, including this:

"He was stoning defenders in the Wednesday practice and looked like a solid mid-round developmental prospect."

Good luck Jeff!


Back to Recruiting


I popped him in the comments section yesterday, but we do have confirmation on a 12th incoming freshman player.

He's Fort Hamilton High School's Oluwatoba Akinleye,  a 6-1, 215 pound DE who seems like he's the perfect size to play linebacker in the Ivies in the mold of our current rising senior Joshua Martin.

I'm sure Akinleye isn't really the first Fort Hamilton HS player to join the Columbia football program, but it's been at least 43 years since anyone from that school has come here. So Akinleye is a trailblazer
either way.

Here's his highlight reel: 

The stat that really stands out for Akinleye is total sacks from last season: 16!

He was also a 2nd Team All New York State Player at DE.

I've written for years just how important it is for Columbia to once again cultivate a local New York City star like it did in the days when schools like Stuyvesant pumped out Ivy-ready players.

I see Akinleye as a good gamble. He has great potential to get even better with a real football program and professional coaches.

The fact that he had offers from scholarship schools like Fordham and Stony Brook is another good sign.

So here is our list of 12 publicly known incoming freshmen for the class of 2016

1. Oluwatoba "Toba" Akinleye DE 6-1, 215 lbs. Fort Hamilton HS, Brooklyn. NY
2. Jacob Ardron LB 6-1, 230 lbs. Diamond Ranch HS, Pomona, CA
3.Chris Cicilioni G/DE 6-2, 225 lbs. Valley View HS, Scranton, PA
4. Mark Cieslak LB 5-11, 235 lbs. St. Joseph's HS, Montvale, NJ
5. Andrew Dobitsch, WR 5-11 180 lbs. Northern Valley HS Tappan, NJ
6. Michael Gerst, RB 5-10 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic Bergen County, NJ
7. Kevin McCarthy, S 6-1 200 lbs. Hingham, HS Hingham. MA
8. Cameron Molina, RB/LB 5-10, 185 lbs. Tuscarora HS, Leesburg, VA
9.. Daren Napier DT 6-4 275 lbs. St. John's HS Houston, TX
10. Logan Scott QB 6-2 180 lbs. Chaminade HS West Hills, CA
11. Austin Stock, C 6-3 270 lbs. Solon HS Solon, OH
12. Mike Zunica, FB 6-1 215 lbs. St. Rita HS, Chicago, IL

The Mangurian Way

Dalen Cuff's question to Coach Mangurian about getting a handle on the huge number of players in the program was an interesting part of the athletic department's newly posted interview with the new coach.

It's interesting because while I think Dalen was just using that as a throwaway question, I can now report that the situation he asked about is the #1 issue inside the program right now.

Mangurian is openly wondering if a 100+ player roster is manageable or even makes sense when 30 or so freshmen are coming in this summer.

The new number Mangurian is throwing around 60! In other words, he wants to have a total of 60, (okay maybe 65), non-freshmen on the roster going forward.

The number of players leaving the team is now up to five, (I reported four yesterday), and they all left after a particularly rough workout at 5am yesterday.

Mangurian is doing three-time a week sessions right now and that should do the trick as far as roster dwindling is concerned.

Toughness will be the norm in practice this spring and during training camp.

"Brutal" might be the better word.

But I have also learned that Mangurian has decided to ease the hitting in practices during the actual season.

Meanwhile, the weight lifting and conditioning program WILL change, probably radically, under Mangurian... but just how it will change is yet to be determined.

That would be a welcome change for the most part as it seems like in-season injuries really hit Columbia more than our Ivy opponents in the Norries Wilson era.

But the changes will certainly not stop there. Mangurian is taking the revamping of the program seriously and will look at the entire training regimen and get some outside consulting help in the evaluation process.

This will be a developing story over the coming months, but hopefully we'll get some solid idea of where Mangurian will go with this before the spring game in April.

I just want to warn Columbia fans that they should not necessarily panic when and if they see the roster start to shrink in the coming weeks and months.

Once again, the comparisons with former Head Coach Jim Garrett come to mind.

Garrett wanted to work with a smaller roster of the best players and expect only excellence all the way.
It was actually easier mathematically for Garrett because freshmen could not play in his day and he was already dealing with just about 55 or 60 returning varsity players anyway.

But because we didn't have spring practice back then, Garrett was forced to do his "paring" during the season. The result was the worst of the 0-10 seasons during The Streak.

Thankfully, Mangurian has a good seven months until training camp and another eight months before the actual season to get the roster where he wants it to be. It would be really nice if he is able to get the players he wants out without singling out punters or calling anyone a "drug addicted loser."

As fans, I think we should be excited about this new commitment to excellence.

So the question is: when all this goes down, will the adminstration be able to handle it?

Let's hope so, because the Sovern-Cole regime of the 1980's couldn't handle Garrett and his commitment to excellence. The only people who could were the top players on that team like Matt Sodl '88.

They still tell me how Garrett had the program on the right track.

The low attrition rate under the Wilson regime was generally a good thing, but obviously it didn't produce any winning seasons.

Mangurian is taking a gamble, going with a leaner and meaner team is definitely not something Columbia has INTENTIONALLY done before.

But not taking anything as a given and being willing to shake it all up is something Mangurian promised us and he's following through already.

Clearing Up

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Mike Zunica a 6-1, 215 pound fullback from St. Rita's HS in the Chicago area is indeed coming to Columbia this fall.

Zunica is the first documented St. Rita's player to come to CU, which is surprising considering how many players from St. Rita's league come to Columbia and the rest of the Ivies.

Mike's dad is the athletic director at St. Rita's and the baseball team coach.

You can see Mike's highlight video here.

Clearing Up


With the recruiting news coming in super fast, there are going to be some errors here and there and I will work hard to make sure everything that's wrong gets cleared up within 24 hours.

So here we go...

Clearing up a few things and adding a few things about Mark Cieslak who I reported yesterday is coming to Columbia:

1) Yes, his first name is MARK, sorry about calling him "Mike" earlier.

2) Mark does come from the same HS as Mike Capra ‘97, Ayo Oluwole ‘04, and Quentin Unsworth ‘02. That is St, Joseph REGIONAL HS in Montvale, NJ. Home of the Green Knights!

Mark's highlight video is here:

He's a natural middle linebacker and may be a good eventual replacement for the graduating Nick Mistretta, who played at St. Joseph rival Don Bosco.

Keefe Clarification

Also, I need to confirm that the Max Keefe who is still in high school and is the younger brother of current Lion John Keefe is still undeclared and will be on campus this weekend for an official visit.
There was another Max Keefe who committed to Miami of Ohio and he is not the young man we're looking at.

So, our list of confirmed, (by me), incoming freshmen is up to 11:

1. Jacob Ardron LB 6-1, 230 lbs. Diamond Ranch HS, Pomona, CA
2.Chris Cicilioni G/DE 6-2, 225 lbs. Valley View HS, Scranton, PA
3. Mark Cieslak LB 5-11, 235 lbs. St. Joseph's HS, Metuchen, NJ
4. Andrew Dobitsch, WR 5-11 180 lbs. Northern Valley HS Tappan, NJ
5. Michael Gerst, RB 5-10 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic Bergen County, NJ
6. Kevin McCarthy, S 6-1 200 lbs. Hingham, HS Hingham. MA
7. Cameron Molina, RB/LB 5-10, 185 lbs. Tuscarora HS, Leesburg, VA
8.. Daren Napier DT 6-4 275 lbs. St. John's HS Houston, TX
9. Logan Scott QB 6-2 180 lbs. Chaminade HS West Hills, CA
10. Austin Stock, C 6-3 270 lbs. Solon HS Solon, OH
11. Mike Zunica, FB 6-1 215 lbs. St. Rita HS, Chicago, IL


.. and in the Outbox

Four players on the Lion squad have left the team. I don't want to name them yet until I get better confirmation, but I can say that none of the players has and starting experience with the varsity.

I can also say that their defections have NOT yet been recorded on the team's online roster.


Mangurian Interview

The athletic department website has a pretty good interview with Coach Mangurian available right now.

There wasn't much info about personnel, etc. but I liked a lot of what I saw. You can see how serious the man is for one thing, and the acknowledgement that his age and experience are valuable.

I still maintain that our last two head coaches were too inexperienced and immature. That won't be a problem with Mangurian.



Yale Coaches Finding New Homes

While I have yet to hear of any of the relieved members of Norries Wilson's staff hooking up with new coaching jobs, the newly-relieved Yale staff is apparently a hot commodity.

Yesterday, Duane Brooks got the head coaching job at Colby College, and now we learn that former Eli offensive coordinator Brian Stark is joining the Denver Broncos staff.

Big Day

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It's been a very good 24 hours on the Columbia recruiting front as the Lions have snared two top quality players from the Northeast.


First came a Boston Globe All Star safety who was also highly rated by some ESPN scouts.

Kevin McCarthy is 6-1 and 200 pounds. He also played running back for Hingham HS last season and returned kicks.

Here's the ESPN scouting report from a camp McCarthy attended this summer.

The key sentence was:

"Kevin McCarthy really stood out as one of the better defensive backs and overall prospects at the event. Great size, range, athleticism and ball skills were all present."

Next up is New Jersey's Mike Cieslak, who may try to play baseball and football here at Columbia.

Mike chose Columbia of U. of San Diego.

So our list known incoming freshman has swelled to 10:


1. Jacob Ardron LB 6-1, 230 lbs. Diamond Ranch HS, Pomona, CA
2.Chris Cicilioni G/DE 6-2, 225 lbs. Valley View HS, Scranton, PA
3. Mike Cieslak LB 5-11, 235 lbs. St. Joseph's HS, Metuchen, NJ
4. Andrew Dobitsch, WR 5-11 180 lbs. Northern Valley HS Tappan, NJ
5. Michael Gerst, RB 5-10 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic Bergen County, NJ
6. Kevin McCarthy, S 6-1 200 lbs. Hingham, HS Hingham. MA
7. Cameron Molina, RB/LB 5-10, 185 lbs. Tuscarora HS, Leesburg, VA
8.. Daren Napier DT 6-4 275 lbs. St. John's HS Houston, TX
9. Logan Scott QB 6-2 180 lbs. Chaminade HS West Hills, CA
10. Austin Stock, C 6-3 270 lbs. Solon HS Solon, OH


The above list is again the number of publicly KNOWN incoming freshmen. Sources tell me we already have 20 committed recruits with room for 10 more this year.

I am also hearing reports that Chicago-area RB Mike Zunica has committed t o Columbia, but I have no confirmation on that.



Big QB

It looks like it's between Columbia and Brown for a highly-touted 6-5 235 pound QB from Lima, OH
His name is Seth Rosenbauer and we'll see if Head Coach Pete Mangurian's new NFL-style offense attracts this NFL-style QB.


Campbell Center Latest

Construction on the Campbell Center is ahead of schedule (a snow-less winter so far has helped), and WILL be ready for this fall according to a Columbia Spectator report.



Yale Staff Shuffle

I haven't seen any news about recently let-go members of the Columbia coaching staff getting jobs elsewhere, but just-fired Yale D-line coach Duane Brooks has just grabbed the head coaching job at Colby
College.




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