Best Front Four

Napier looks ready to play

Gross Interview!

Check out this video of Alex Gross '11 talking about his Graz Giants beating the Danube Dragons 61-35. Alex doesn't look a t day older than he did in his final game at Wien Stadium in 2010.

Position by Position: Defensive Linemen

For a team that has suffered tragic problems defending the run in recent years, Columbia's front seven suddenly seems like a team strength. 

Columbia's presumed starting defensive ends, Joshua Martin and Seyi Adebayo, are the whole package: super athletic, senior experience, and they understand the system. 

Martin and Adebayo actually have a great deep bench behind them at the DE position. Nick Melka and Chad Washington are impact players, while Will Patterson has great speed getting to the QB. 

There's not as much proven talent at DT, but the Lions look a lot better than they did at this team last year at that position. 

Shad Sommers and Wells Childress made great strides as the season wore on and Head Coach Pete Mangurian had some very good things to say about Greg Lee's performance in the spring game. The three of them have a nice combo of talent and experience. 

But the depth Columbia enjoy's at defensive end is not something the Lions have at defensive tackle... at least not among the veterans. 

Here are the 5 incoming freshmen at DT and DE:

Toba Okinleye 6-3 207 lbs.

Chris Cicilioni 6-2 235 lbs.

JD Hurt 6-2 260 lbs.

Daren Napier 6-4 261 lbs.

Niko Padilla 6-1 265 lbs.

The depth Columbia needs at DT seems to be coming right in the form of Napier and Padilla. 

Napier rejected offers from Harvard and Yale and it's notable that just a few days after being named head coach, Mangurian hurried off to Texas to be at Napier's letter of intent "signing."

Padilla got major recruiting attention from lots of schools and could be a force to be reckoned with if he's comfortable at the nose tackle position. 

If Napier and Padilla get a little bigger, they'll have a shot to play with the varsity this year. 

Hurt could be a sleeper candidate, but he comes from a football league that is not quite up to the quality of what Napier and Padilla face in Texas. 

Okinleye seems like a good candidate to switch to linebacker, unless he gains about 25-30 pounds pretty soon. He may not want to, as a 6-3 linebacker with his speed could be a huge weapon. 

Cicilioni seems like a great blue collar type player, I expect him to make an impact down the road.

Columbia had just 21 sacks and allowed 165 rushing yards per game. With this group of veteran and newcomer DL's, I can't believe we'll see numbers like that in 2012.