Zach Olinger (55) is Columbia's elite LB
When it comes to stepping it up this spring, Columbia needs a leap up from its linebackers.
That's because two top-notch players are graduating in Mike Waller and Ryan Murphy.
Waller is the prototype of what I mean by a "Step it Up" player. He stepped up his game considerably between sophomore and junior year to become a key starter in 2011. Then he stepped it up even more the following season to become a serious team MVP candidate in 2012. Replacing him will be difficult,
Ryan Murphy is one of Columbia's great all time pass rushing linebackers. And his knack for kicking it up a notch in big moments of big games, (the Brown game in 2011 and the Cornell game in 2012 especially), will be sorely missed.
The only other graduating senior is Devan Luster, who stepped it up last spring and got into the mix last season.
The good news is that the one of Columbia's overall linebackers in many years, Zach Olinger, is back after leading the team in total tackles and INT's (tied with Waller), last season. Olinger stepped it up last year after suffering through injuries that abbreviated his sophomore season in 2011. He'll have to step it up even further in his senior season to makeup for the losses of Waller and Murphy.
Fellow senior Brian East stepped it up last year, played in all 10 games and recorded 25 total tackles and had two fumble recoveries. East came from a top notch high school football program in Indiana and I think he has the potential to step it up and become an important starting player.
Rising juniors Ray Pesanello and Vinny Pugliesi have always seemed to be on the same track since they arrived on campus. They both made a decent impact last season in supporting roles and have a chance this spring to prove they deserve a chance to start.
Fellow rising junior John Brady and rising sophomore Max Keefe both saw playing time last season, and they're not out of the mix.
Of all the returning LB's other than Olinger, East may have the most pressure on him this spring to show an improved game. But with only four known LB's coming into the mix this summer, (including Brady's younger brother Keith Brady), the pressure is on every player and coach to get this unit up to snuff in time for the fall.
TOMORROW: the Defensive Line
14 comments:
We are small at LB, especially IL, and that could be a problem in run stopping. We need a few Rory Wilforks.
Great call on Wilforks! The problem is they may not fit Coach M's weight requirements...
I don't think coach m has weight restrictions, I think he has fat restrictions. Rory wasn't fat. That big guy in front of Rory, eating up all those double teams wasn't fat either. #1 Lion, your constant sarcasm diminishes the value of your posts, and creates a combative tone. What are you mad about?
ouch!
CU almost got shut out in voting for all Ivy basketball team.
Did anybody here listen to Kyle Smith on Firing Lion last night giving his post mortem on the season? I missed it.
Post Mortem is absolutely the right description!!
Did they have coach Nixon on as well?
On KCR interview Wed., Smith praised Lo, Mullins, sees recruits as athletic, said non-league opponents next year likely to include Bucknell, Elon, Manhattan, Stony Brook, among others, and possibly Mich St. and a west coast trip.
I could care less whom we play other than the Ivies whom we cannot seem to beat!!
Like Harvard, Penn, Yale, Cornell?!
Yale and Cornell? Forgotten the 2012 season already?
"I could care less whom we play other than the Ivies whom we cannot seem to beat!"
Ivy wins this last season: Harvard; Cornell; Yale, Penn.
let's see:
CU record in the Ivy League basketball in both 2011/12 and 2012/13 was 4 and 10.
That's exactly what I mean by "we cannot seem to beat"
And, by the way we were dead last in scoring and FG%.
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