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Thursday night’s Gold Dinner honored the outgoing seniors, and it’s really the last look back before the very tough road ahead for the rest of the players who remain on the team.
And the team WILL look and operate a lot differently based on my latest sources.
On offense, my initial expectation that the team will pass the ball extensively seems to be wrong. Head Coach Pete Mangurian and new OC Jaime Elizondo are now working on an offense that will use a double tight end formation with a motion H-back as much as possible. For those of you who can’t picture that, just try to remember what the Yale offense looked like during the Jack Siedlecki years.
Norries Wilson actually wanted to put this kind of offense in place, featuring a player named Peter Holst-Grubbe at H-back. But Holst-Grubbe was never healthy enough to play and the plan was
scrapped just before the 2009 season.
Such a formation would take a lot of the emphasis off of QB Sean Brackett’s running and passing... unless Mangurian plans on having Brackett throw about a dozen times a game to TE Hamilton Garner, which IS possible.
But it would be understandable if Brackett is a bit miffed about a much diminished role for him in the offense.
We’ll have to see if these formations are ready to go in for the spring game on April 20th.
Wake Up!!!
Mangurian has set practices for 6am, (similar to what Tom Williams instituted at Yale in 2009), this is mostly in hopes of avoiding terrible class scheduling conflicts.
But I also think it's another attempt to separate the men from the boys and get this roster whittled down to the hardest of the hard core.
Linebacker Opening?
One position where Columbia seems very deep in talent is linebacker. Even if Josh Martin moves back to the D-line, the Lions still have excellent players like Ryan Murphy, Mike Waller, and Zach Olinger ready to go.
But replacing middle linebacker Nick Mistretta '12 is presenting a problem right now. I am getting reports that more than one or two players currently playing other positions are considering making a change to challenge for that MLB slot.
One player who could work is rising senior Will Patterson, who has good size and speed for that position.
Either way, it will be an important position to look for at the spring game.
Follow CU Football on Twitter
There is now a fairly new Twitter feed for Columbia football. You can sign up for it here.
5 comments:
Jake, why are you creating a potential problem regarding a "diminished role" for Brackett? In his current role he is taking a merciless pounding. We need him on the field all the time. The Holst-Grubbe story, by the way, reminds me of the dangers of assuming that somebody with impressive size and speed and a good high school background will be a contributor. I don't think that this young man ever suited up for a game.
In response to a post in voyforums today about the new Columbia offense, a cockroach who calls himself "Foehi" took a cheap shot at our program. It seems to be a recurring pattern with him. Any post about Columbia draws him out of his sewer. So who is he, why does he obsess about Columbia, and why does the moderator permit him engage in this bizarre vendetta? And in case anybody is wondering, no, I don't find him funny. In fact it is because of jerks like him that Penn cannot lose enough as far as I am concerned.
Foehi has been around the Forum for years and thrives on baiting Columbia football fans. Best to ignore him and better still to beat Penn on the field.
I think Olinger and Waller can play on the inside. I wouldn't be comfortable with Patterson moving back. He came in as a Linebacker but just wasn't fluid enough to play without his hand on the ground despite great straight ahead speed.
What time will guys need to catch the bus if practice starts at 6am?
Coach Mangurian presented his entire staff I believe for the first time publicly at the Gold Dinner. When each of the seniors spoke as a whole they fully support the team and reminded the new coach they expect nothing less than a winning team from him. If the abundance of support for Coach Mangurian and his staff that was shown at this dinner by past players/coaches in attendance, including Bill Cambell, is any indication the next couple of years will be really exciting.
It was a great event where the seniors now join a very special group of men that call themselves Columbia football alumni.
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