Step it Up Spring: The Tight Ends

Andrew Kennedy's shadow still looms large over the CU program

One of the more difficult shocks to the Columbia football program in the last few years was the graduation of TE Andrew Kennedy '11.

Kennedy was just that good. He was a team leader, a great receiver, and speedy for a tight end. Sean Brackett's game seemed to suffer without him as did the entire Lion offense.

Then-sophomore Hamilton Garner did come along in that 2011 and at least became a favorite end zone target for Brackett, but so far Columbia's dire need for a real threat at TE is still unfilled.

Garner, one of CU's 218 co-captains for 2013, is a classic "step it up" candidate who could easily get back into All Ivy territory, (he was an All Ivy Honorable Mention in 2011), in his senior year. 

The only other returning player who got any real playing time at TE last season was rising sophomore Nick Durham. I got a chance to meet Durham last summer and he impressed me greatly. I wasn't the least surprised to see him on the field early in the season. He's not a speedster or tall enough to be a classic tight end, but he's a great H-back type and if he steps it up this spring his chances of getting even more playing time look good. 

The other three tight ends on the roster, rising senior Zack McKown, and rising juniors Garrett DeMuth and Roy Schwartz, seem like they're going to need to make a major impression this spring to break into the mix this fall. McKown will always have a special place in my heart for his great TD reception in the snow during the 2011 game vs. Yale, but otherwise he, DeMuth and Schwartz haven't made a big impact so far. 

 With two very good tight end prospects coming in, and Head Coach Pete Mangurian openly writing last year about how he wanted more out of this position, I expect Garner and Durham to be working extra hard this spring in hopes of not leaving anything to chance. 

TOMORROW: The Running Backs