What a Spring it Was!

Fordham's Odd Schedule

Columbia's week TWO opponent Fordham has released an interesting new schedule for 2012. 

The Rams will play THREE games this season before they take on the Lions at Wien Stadium on Sept. 22, including a road game at Villanova and a home contest against Cornell on Sept 15.

And on Oct. 13th, Fordham goes to Cincinnati to play the FBS Bearcats in what should be an ugly game. 

This will be the first time Columbia will not have the Rams as their scheduled season opening opponent since 1999. (The 2001 season opener against Fordham was postponed to the the end of the season because of the 9/11 attacks).

Rory Wilfork

The Best Spring Ever

Spring football is still a relatively new 'tradition" in Ivy football.

In 1993, the Ivy League began allowing freshman to play varsity football and it instituted its first ever sanctioned spring practices.

Winning the right to hold a spring session and let freshmen play was a big deal back in the early 90's, and it's proof that some of the things sports fans in the Ivies want can actually come true.

For Columbia, the two changes had an immediate positive effect. The mid-90's were the best period for Columbia football in this generation. After an initial stumble in 1993, the Lions came out roaring in 1994, most of 1995, and had their best season in 50 years running in 1996.

But that run all started with what has to go down as the productive spring in Columbia history in early 1994. 

The huge amount of player development and strategy changes that took place that April is really hard to fathom.

1) The decision was made to switch rising junior Marcellus Wiley from RB to DE, (and keep him as an occasional tailback in clutch yardage situations). This would be the greatest move of Head Coach Ray Tellier's career, resulting in not only a dominant Ivy defensive lineman but also helping to create a future NFL All Pro.

2) The decision was made to move rising junior WR/QB Mike Cavanaugh back to QB alone and have him work in a shuttle system with rising senior Jamie Schwalbe. The result was an explosive offense with Cavanaugh playing the role of the running QB and Schwalbe as the primary passer. The Lions offensive output jumped sharply in 1994, scoring 55% more points compared to 1993. 

3) Rising sophomore LB Rory Wilfork was given a chance to shine that spring and he was undoubtedly the best defender on the field day in and day out. He became a three-time 1st Team All Ivy player at linebacker after busting out that spring. 

4) Jim Lill, a rising junior LB was switched to free safety and he immediately became the ferociously hard hitter the secondary needed after some severe graduation losses.

It's extremely rare that you can get as much out of one spring as Columbia did in 1994, and the Lions haven't been as fortunate in the 18 years since. 

But the new coaching staff and all the sheer numbers of returning players this year give us at least the CHANCE that a very transformative spring is possible. There are about 75 veteran players participating in spring practice this season and that's very close to record numbers. It also allows for a lot more options, position changes, and strategy tweaks.

The 1994 Lions had 69 veteran players that spring, and they performed miracles that would ensure their place in Columbia history. 

Let's see what Coach Mangurian and company with this crew.