Not So Defensive Praise

Head Coach Pete Mangurian's assessment of the defense in his latest blog post was surprisingly even MORE extensive and revealing than his already content-rich look at the offense the day before.

And with all the proper qualifiers, it was also more effusive with praise. He explained that LB's Ryan Murphy and Zach Olimger and DL's Josh Martin and Seyi Adebayo were good enough in the short time they played to justify what is obviously the high esteem with which the new coaching staff holds them.

A number of other players you might not have expected to hear about were singled out for praise. One was rising senior DL Greg Lee who only got a little varsity playing time last season. The nice words about Chad Washington and Wells Childress were expected, but I was surprised to hear that Nick Melka is only just apparently in the mix and not as solid a lock on a starting job as Martin and Adebayo on the DL.

At linebacker, a surprise mention went to rising senior Devan Luster, whome we have hardly seen or heard much of in the last three years. The strong mentions of rising junior Brian East and senior Mike Waller were certainly not a surprise.

Mangurian went out of his way to say he's very excited about the incoming freshmen in the secondary, which is a good thing because that unit has lost a tremendous amount to graduation over the past two years. But he spoke highly of senior Brian DeVeau and converted WR Ian Cummins. Rising soph Mike Skalitzky was singled out as well. Another converted WR, Augie Braddock, was noted for his talent but also described as "out of control" at times.

The other comments that stood out included, "I trust these guys," in reference to the LB's, and "I like what we're seeing to this point," speaking about the entire defense. It seems like that praise was very well-earned.

What was left unsaid was the simple fact that defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa is probably the best hire any Columbia head coach has made in decades. He comes in with much more experience than any DC in Columbia history and he seems to have hit the ground running. It's most likely that the things Mangurian liked the most about what he saw Friday night were the result of Lempa's work.