Secondary Firsts

Dartmouth's official list of incoming freshmen is out and there aren't any surprises mostly because Bruce Wood's  Big Green Alert site had all this info out a few weeks ago.

But it's worth mentioning that at least in the size department, Buddy Teevens seems to have done what no other Ivy coach did this year - successfully recruit more than two big defensive tackles. 

Jacob Flores, Frank Fullerton, and Jonathan Zuttah already look ready to play DT and we should expect at least one of them to get on the field with the varsity this season.

One position that Teevens hasn't been shy about filling with freshmen in the starting spot is QB, and two of the three incoming Green QB's seem promising. 

First is 6-4 Thomas Miltello from St. Louis Country Day. The other top QB coming out of St. Louis this year is Trevor McDonagh from rival St. Louis University High School. McDonagh is coming to Columbia setting up a potential continuation of their rivalry.

The sheer athleticism of Dartmouth's other QB, Earnest Evans, is also impressive.

So don't be surprised if you see one of them on the field relatively soon.

Position by Position: DB's

Getting back to our position by position look at where the incoming freshmen may fit in, let's look at the defensive backs.

Columbia's secondary has been particularly gutted by graduation and that would seemingly give the incoming freshmen some real openings. 

But with 12 returning veterans, the six new frosh may find things a bit crowded.

Here are the newcomers:

Brandon Blackshear 6-0 185 lbs.

Matt Cahal 6-1 190 lbs.

Joshua Foster 5-11 165 lbs.

Kevin McCarthy 6-0 200 lbs.

Darin Patmon 6-0 175 lbs.

Travis Reim 6-0 175 lbs.

Of course, the most important newcomer in the secondary is defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa who is also going to coach the defensive backs. I've written a few times before that Lempa is a fantastic pickup for the Lions and I expect the defense to develop faster and better than the offense this year. Luckily, the veteran defensive backs had been coached the last two seasons by the superb John Gutekunst, so there may not be a need to brush these guys up on the fundamentals as much as the rest of the team.

But the stats don't lie, and Columbia was one of the worst pass defenses last year in the key category of passes completed. Opponents completed a whopping 68% of their passes against the Lions last season. Columbia also allowed 250 yards through the air per game. Welcome to crisis central.

Among the freshmen, McCarthy has the size and skill to make a difference early on at safety. Another promising frosh is CB Cahal from Brophy Prep, senior Seyi Adebayo's Alma Mater. Cahal chose Columbia over Brown. As terrifying as the term, "freshman corner," sounds, remember that both Calvin Otis and Kalasi Huggins both excelled at corner in their freshmen years recently at CU.

I really like the looks of Patmon and Foster as well, but to be honest the position is so crowded it's anyone's guess what that two-deep will look like when it's released the week of Sept, 15.