Do these guys have any college eligibility left?
Most of what I had to say about the offensive line I said already in this post on February 26th.
To summarize, anyone and everyone who played on the OL for Columbia last season needs to step it up, period.
The big loss due to graduation this year would be Scott Ward, but in what remains the biggest mystery of Pete Mangurian regime, ward was marginalized last season and was not designated as a leader up front.
Another huge factor for 2013 will be the continuing development of Coach Mangurian's "Grand Experiment," (my term), of pursuing very lean linemen as opposed to much heavier guys like the rest of organized football.
As I have said many times, Mangurian's project deserves a lot more time to show results on the field. But let's be honest, it did not really work last year. Hopefully, the turnaround will be quick.
The key returnees are rising sophomores Keith Ramljak, Billy Lawrence and Eric Kuklinski, rising juniors Eric Stock, Ryan Thomas, and rising senior Jimmy Yukevich.
The average weight for the above mentioned six gentlemen is just 250 pounds.
But they are not the only players who could improve Columbia's fortunes if they step it up this spring and fall.
I'm curious about players who had some playing time in 2011, like rising senior Joe Ghergurovich and rising junior Carey Parker, who could conceivably get back into the mix this year.
And while Mangurian had no qualms about playing a number of freshmen last season, rising sophomores JD Hurt and Marshall Markham didn't participate as much as Ramljak, Lawrence and Kuklinski. If they step it up, they could suddenly bring some serious depth.
That leaves rising senior Dylan Leonard as something of a mystery man, but I'll try not to take my eye off him as he gets one last chance to seriously contribute.
Like the defensive line, this unit will get absolutely no respect from the preseason pundits this summer. But lowered external expectations aren't going to help Columbia win.
MONDAY: The Wide Receivers
8 comments:
There are no fat guys in that picture, and it's by design.We will build our own. Jake you watch the game, Ward played very poorly especially in critical situations. Why play a senior when he plays no better than a freshman. Missed assignments, penalties not explosive on the snap, they have a long way to go, but they will get there. Mangurian knows what he's doing, this is his area.
Found this post of the top ten greatest NFL players from the Ivy League, and Columbia has the most!-- three of them played for the Lions....Ah, for those days again!
http://www.realclearsports.com/lists/nfl_ivy_league_players/chuck_bednarik.html?state=stop
Coach has tweeted about significant gains in weight training program so far this year. Our very tall young OLs presumably benefitted from that upgrade in that program.
I'm encouraged because it makes sense to recruit taller guys that can carry the extra weight. Call me an optimist but I think the line comes together this year.
Jake
It looks like we have outsiders promoting something other than CU Football.
that top 10 list is vastly incomplete and some of CU's guys would fall off the list. now if you went back to players like cliff montgomery, CU would dominate the list.
the O line was a disaster. in speaking with coaches around the league the main repsonse was how our QB was running for his life and was our line not eating during the year.
we dont have 4.3 speed in the backfield so the line has to be able to hold its blocks. part of that is speed and agility, but some is size as well.
did anybody notice our HC sitting with Cornell players at the Ivy hall of fame dinner or was i just imagining that?
Id be interested to see of the Ivy coaches you seem to know, how good or bad their offensive lines were this year? Coach M was sitting with the staff. The only Cornell player that would be there is Columbia's rb's coach who played at Cornell.
i think Harvard and princetons o lines was pretty good or at a mimnimum, and i mean minimum, better than ours.
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