Camp Followers

59 Days Until Training Camp


87 Days Until Season Opener




I keep trying to make the point that this upcoming Columbia training camp is going to be the most interesting and important preseason prep perhaps in all of Lion history.

In just 59 days, the 100 or so old and new Lions will come to the Baker Athletics Complex with so many questions to be answered that every day should be pretty eventful. 

For those of you not keeping score, here are just some of the plots and subplots, questions and mysteries, etc. guaranteed to make this camp different and special:

1) First training camp for Head Coach Pete Mangurian at Columbia

Obviously this is a big deal, especially for all the incoming freshmen who weren't coached by Mangurian during spring practice like the returning veterans. 

This is where Mangurian will set a tone that could last for years, decades, or maybe a lot shorter if things don't work out. 

2) Offensive Line

Columbia has a lot of questions to answer here now that graduation has taken away stars like Jeff Adams and Bob Hauschildt. And some other attrition issues have left the Lions with just 14 total OL's on the roster. 

The good news is that despite the lack of a lot of returning starters, a larger number of veterans than usual has real playing experience because of all the injuries last season. But other than Scott Ward, I think just about all the starting slots are up for grabs. 

That's a lot of drama on what is usually the most crucial single unit of a team. Coming from years of coaching O-lines in the NFL, I expect Mangurian's influence to be huge here, but we can't assume that will make it better. Norries Wilson was a former All Big 10 offensive lineman who took extra time to coach the group at Columbia and that didn't always translate to greatness. I do think having Ed Argast staying in his job as the coach of this unit will help overall. 

3) Wide Receivers

The starting WR's from 2011 are gone to graduation. So two or three of the 16 (!) WR's on the roster are going to step enough to earn the coaches' vote of confidence on the two-deep. 

4) Running Backs

It's not as crowded a field as the WR's, but there are still plenty of questions here about who starts. Columbia really hasn't had a lead starting RB since Ray Rangel '10 was injured midway through the 2009 season. If I had to guess, I'd say Marcorus Garrett and Nick Gerst are the front-runners for the starting spots, but that's pushing it a bit.

5)  Secondary

Like the O-line, this group is hit hard by graduation. The starting corners are gone, the standout safeties are gone, and there are a number of new members of the unit due to veteran position changes. The veterans from this group were coached well under John Gutenkunst the last two years and will get the special attention of Columbia's excellent new defensive coordinator Kevin Lempa. But I'm really at a loss to even guess the starters here and the suspense will build as camp goes on.

Of course the other units on the team like defensive line, linebackers, QB's, and special teams are filled with questions too, but the above are just the top five. And aren't they enough to get you hooked.

In his last blog post, Coach Mangurian talked about getting fans to attend some of the practice sessions during training camp. If that's for real, he's going to have more than a few takers among all of us who are just dying to know how all of these plots are going to shake out.  

Until then, let me know what YOU'RE biggest questions are and how you hope training camp will answer them...