Cornell List

The Big Red officially announced their incoming football class of 2016 late yesterday, which means all the Ivy schools have now made their lists public.

As usual, I like to focus on the two positions toughest to recruit in the Ivy League: running back and defensive tackle. Coincidentally, these are the two biggest areas of need for an otherwise up-and-coming Cornell team.

The best RB seems like it's Luke Hagy from the Pittsburgh area's Mt. Lebanon HS. Columbia has snagged a number of players from that school in the past. The league Mt. Lebanon plays in can be hit or miss in terms of quality depending on the year, so Hagy's super numbers may not be as impressive all things considered. But I'd keep an eye on him.

The only big DT in the class is Brett Jones, but he does come from a great HS program in Naperville North outside of Chicago. Jones may not be ready to play right away, but he has the size to be a potential force down the road. A bigger issue is that Cornell did not successfully recruit even one other big man for the DT position. It leads one to believe that Head Coach Kent Austin's team is getting a reputation as an offensive juggernaut and maybe not the best place for defensive stars to go.

Meanwhile, you have to give kudos to the Cornell website staff for assembling perhaps the best online release about the incoming freshmen of any Ivy school this year. Cornell came last, but it may have been worth the wait. I especially like the touch of the scrolling Twitter comments from the fans at the bottom of the page!

The players on the Big Red list that we know Columbia also recruited were John Ford and Jeff Kruse, both of whom look like great gets for Cornell.

In addition to Ford, Mike Tate is another super LB and seems like one of the best pickups in all of the Ivies this year. Perhaps Coach Austin will successfully fill his defensive holes with a much-improved linebacking crew this year or next.

The stage is really getting set nicely for the historic 100th meeting between Columbia and Cornell at Wien Stadium this November 10th.

Not only will it be the 100th game, but Columbia Head Coach Pete Mangurian will become the first Ivy League head coach to face an Ivy opponent he once led since Bob Blackman led the Big Red against his old Dartmouth program in 1982.

In the 140 or so of Ivy League teams playing football, only THREE men have been head coaches of more than one Ivy team in their careers: Percy Haughton, (Harvard and Columbia), Frank Navarro, (Columbia and Princeton), Blackman (Dartmouth and Cornell), and now Mangurian will make four when he adds Columbia to his list after leading Cornell from 1998-2000.