Caraun Reid looks like he's been studying... studying for PAIN
As we get a good look at the returning rosters for all eight
Ivy teams, it’s a good time to hone in on the one player from each team who is
really the most key player coming back for 2013:
Brown
QB Patrick Donnelly
Because he missed just about all of 2011 to injury, the
talented but quiet Donnelly is coming back this fall for a 5th year.
This guy may not be as great as some of the Bear QB’s that came before him, but
he is very, very good and Phil Estes isn’t going to change his pass-heavy
attack. Donnelly is a master of the completion, finding his receivers more than
61% of the time last year despite the fact that Brown throws it short and long.
Lots of ink will be spilled this summer gushing about the
return of Jeff Mathews at Cornell and Billy Ragone at Penn, but Donnelly should
not be overlooked.
Columbia
RB Marcorus Garrett
Garrett’s breakout year for the Lions in 2012 was more
valuable than many realize. He should help keep Columbia in a number of games
as the program transitions to a new starting QB and incorporates more of
Mangurian’s changes. He has a chance to become just the second 1,000-yard
rusher in Columbia history.
Cornell
QB Jeff Mathews
Yeah, he’s still the big man on campus and the best Ivy NFL
prospect at QB in a long time.
He’s so good that his 2012 season, where he averaged more
than 350 passing yards per game, was considered a step DOWN from the level he
achieved as a sophomore in 2011.
Many will question Mathews’ ability to maintain his
blistering pace now that many of his top WR’s have graduated, but I don’t. I
think most of their success was due to Mathews and not vice versa.
When Columbia found a way to neutralize Mathews last season,
it was just a matter of time before the Lions were able to pull away for a
34-17. That’s how important Mathews is; you beat him, you not only beat the Big
Red, you pound them.
Dartmouth
QB Dalyn Williams
On most other teams, the returning star RB Dominick Pierre
would be the most important returning player. But the Big Green under Buddy
Teevens need Dalyn Williams to continue where he left off in 2012 more than
anything else. The one thing Teevens has never been able to establish in his
second tenure in Hanover is a real star at QB. He got one last year in the Ivy
Rookie of the Year Williams. Pierre’s return to full strength at RB after a
banged up 2012 is crucial too, but Dartmouth has had a dominant RB recently in
Nick Schwieger and he couldn’t make them into contenders like a solid running
and passing Williams can.
Harvard
DE Zach Hodges
I’m going a little outside of the box here and choosing
rising junior Zach Hodges as the Crimson’s most crucial returnee for 2013.
Hodges burst onto the scene as a rare sophomore starter on the DL and an even
rarer 1st Team All Ivy as a sophomore lineman. I don’t think Harvard
will go begging for a decent QB or even RB this fall, but if Hodges raises his
game this fall Tim Murphy’s club will be very hard to beat regardless.
Penn
QB Billy Ragone
I still don’t get why Ragone, who gutted out win after win
for the champion Quakers last season, wasn’t named the league MVP last season.
But I do expect him to be even better in 2013. Don’t pay too much attention to
this guy’s stats, when the game is on the line he gets it done with either his
feet or his arm and that’s that. This guy worries me.
Princeton
DT Caraun Reid
When the 5th year senior Reid announced he was
coming back for a 5th year at Princeton, it was the best news the
Tiger program has seen in years. Reid is a legit NFL draft prospect and a
game-changer. He’s also probably going to be the best player in the entire
league next season. Yeah, he’s that
good.
Yale
RB Tyler Varga
It’s another no-brainer to say that Yale’s chances ride
heavily on Varga. He carried the team last year and there’s no reason to think
that will change too much this fall. He
reminds me of Schwieger actually and that’s bad news for everyone else in the
Ivies.
44 comments:
Jake,
Just got through reading 4/12 football report. No mention of Nottingham or first-year recruits
unaccounted for. Where are they?
Thanks.
Meant to type 4/9 football report.
My mistake.
Hey, to all of those alums who are vilifying posters who are pointing out the shortcomings of this administration, or who are saying “loose lips sink ships”… Wake up! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that our line was under matched throughout the year and that a Harvard Band Member lettered in last year’s 69-0 loss.
And what about our own administration? They are showing “Iron Lion” http://bit.ly/11QpBg4 on Facebook. Won’t this show the other ivies our strongest (but lean) players? What about the theme music? If they know what music we like, they may know what we’ll do on 3rd and long now? Please have someone take the post down immediately!
Very constructive and enlightening #1 lion. Same old tired complaints. Does bringing all this up have purpose?as a group we seem to be long on pointing out shortcomings and short on proposing solutions.. And your point is?
This tweet just in from Coach M:
Rest of the recruiting class? Still waiting on one deposit, all the rest are in. Announce the rest together. No surprises, relax.
Jake, please are down the comments of the so-called #1 Lion. He is an obviously not a Lion fan. Quite the contrary.
In all fairness I don't see a lot of solutions being offered by anybody, this includes me. I think number 1 Lion was making a satirical comment on the state of affairs for many on this blog. Our recruiting class is no mystery to anybody nor should people really be that focused on it. It would be great if one of these kids stepped up to be a star in year one, but chances are they won't and there is nothing wrong with that.
The loose lips mantra that has been on this blog is utterly insane. It isn't like we are hiding barry sanders so nobody knows what we have. Every school knows we have an under sized line and so far, at face value, it doesn't look like much is going to change. The jobs thing is a major recruiting tool that is used at all schools, but we haven't held up our end of the deal with the kids.
There are good things going on, the campbell center (I am not one for the architecture, but if it works great.
I disagree with many of the other bloggers on our coach. I just haven't seen anything yet nor have I heard great things from his former players nor have I seen any class he has recruited do well. Please don't bring up Cornell because he did best with other coaches kids. I am not bashing I am just writing what I know. If you don't like it that is your opinion, but I have my own.
I hope we do well, but as somebody said in a few earlier posts...it appears the more things change the more they stay the same. As the kid said in eight men out, say it aint so, say it aint so.
"...nor have I seen any class he has recruited do well"
With all due respect, I do not understand what you are talking about? Depending how you define a recruiting class, the incoming class is either Coach Mangurian's first or second recruiting class.
I do agree with your about "the loose lips mantra," as the vast majority of the candidate for admission to all the Ivy League schools are well known and publicized. Of course,the loose lips mantra does make sense in some situations where a coach has identified particular players as targets
"It would be great if one of these kids stepped up to be a star in year one, but chances are they won't and there is nothing wrong with that."
Is there a point to that comment. What are you trying to say? All college coaches hope their recruits will do well, and reasonably expect certain recruits to do better than others. However, nothing is certain.
Ungvar, thanks for posting Coach M's tweet (see above). Much appreciated.
lionrock, in response to your questions.
when i speak of his recruiting clases i am speaking of his record while at Cornell where he did well with the then prior coaches recruits, but his own didnt perform well.
the second point is that our recruits are no secret and to, what seems to be, put so much emphasis on the incoming class is both unfair to them and the rest of the team.
so, i would say, without trying to be negative, just because you dont see the point due to a lack of research, does not mean that you should be negative or slight with your comments.
Pardon me for asking, but isn't this blog supposed to be for supporters of our program? If I want negativity I can always get it by opening The New York Times.
I totally agree with you. The whole purpose of this blog is to serve as a forum for Columbia football fans. Obviously, the overall tone of the Blog must be overwhelmingly positive for it to succeed and be taken seriously by its readers. Too much criticism and negativity will destroy the Blog. Surely, Jake knows that and will do whatever is necessary to stop the excessive negativity that has developed recently. More than that, Jake needs to build upon the foundation of useful concrete information that is coming forth from Coach Mangurian and the athletic department. I am very happy that the Coach is commenting openly on each of the players. Having specific updated information from the Head Coach is a journalist's dream. When the facts are known as they are now, Jake doesn't have to speculate about what the coach is thinking.
I disagree completely with the notion that the lean line concept is a proven failure after only one year. Perhaps our kids are not strong enough, experienced enough, skilled enough, deep enough, but give it a chance and let's see if there is any improvement in year two before jumping to any conclusions.
I don't love the way the coach communicates and I definitely have questions about how and why he chooses to do things but as the coach he deserves the chance to do things his way (as long as it is not physically or mentally hurting people or violating any laws).
It amazes me how some of you have already reached conclusions after basically one calendar year. Seems like many of the opinions are more personal than objective....
Coach wants a fit, well conditioned OL, not a bunch of fat guys who can't get out of their own way. We have some young, very tall OLs who are capable of getting much bigger and stronger. He isn't trying to starve guys to make a point. This isn't some grand experiment in which the objective is to have the skinniest line in college football.
The OL's youth and inexperience in playing with each other probably had as much to do with their ineffectiveness in pass protection as did their weight .
good point, Jock/doc, it takes time for a line to gel together...
Alums- do you really think that turning a blind eye to what is wrong with the football program is the right thing to do? By doing so we allowed to stay Norries 2-3 years longer than he should have. Another example would be earlier this year how several posters on this blog commented on how GREAT the basketball program would be. These “Homers” cited that the Lions were picked 2nd or 3rd in the League at the beginning of the season; only to raise expectations further when we found out that two of Harvard’s top player were suspended for cheating. Hello, they finished dead last behind Dartmouth (that wasn’t a typo, BEHIND Dartmouth). We should have a new men’s coach by now (regardless of the Nova and Harvard wins). This is Ray Tellier Syndrome – Nice Guy, HORRIBLE Coach! Please do not try and refute it, his overall record is atrocious (fact, not opinion).
NEWS FLASH… Not everything CU Football is doing is right! I wish that were the case, but it’s not. If you think that it is, just join the Football (Hot Dog) Committee. We were out-coached in two/three games last year and we should have been at least 500. The blueprint of a “four-year plan” is supposed to be in place. When can we expect to see it? Why can’t all players dress for home games? Having them sit in the stands is embarrassing to their peers! And now we have a lack of career service assistance (to prepare the kids) as an issue.
I played through three head coaches (Freshman ball inclusive), so I’ve seen first hand, read reports throughout the years, and watched decades of games. I do not see a whole lot of difference from Shoop (or Garrett for that matter) to Mangurian. If I were Mangurian, I would be embarrassed by the O-Line that he put on that field. Fat/Skinny, Tall/Small, Overweight/Lean, I don’t care! What I do care about is setting the wrong type of records… losing 69-0! The reality is we took TWO steps backwards last year. My personal opinion is that he’s not the guy, but I’m an idiot and I still send checks to the program. A few years ago, Dartmouth was in the basement, now they’re in the middle of the mix. Two years ago, Princeton was in the basement, and they made a run for the title last year after upsetting Harvard. It’s embarrassing that we can’t get this right. We are one of THE most selective colleges and shouldn’t be an issue! Northwestern turned it around… Stanford turned it around… Why can’t we?
OldLion and Doc/Joc- Thanks, now we all know where to go when we want to hear excuses for the program. Here's a novel idea... how about assigning responsibility!
Jeez, the guy's been our head coach for just one season. I, for one, will be giving him some slack. I didn't play on the football team but have suffered over the years. The streak was in full force during my undergraduate years. But I think Coach Mangurian's the guy.
This year's recruiting class, the first he's truly responsible for, looks very promising. A more-than-solid QB transfer from Stanford seems to think the program is going in the right direction and is switching coasts to play for the Lions.
Regarding our maligned OL, give Coach M. a chance to prove the skinny/strong concept. He's hired a new strength coach who seems to be the real deal and the team has four more months to put on muscle.
We have a new athletics building at Baker that will help the team mix field work, lifting and studying. We've never had that before.
I can't speak to the placement support for graduating seniors but I've got to believe the situation will get fixed (if it's broken at all).
We will turn things around. Can't we let a head coach have two full years before we kick him down the Low steps?
hot dog committee guy,I played for four coaches (including Freshman) and for the life of me have no idea how anyone can judge a coach based on one full calendar year.
There are entirely too many angry negative repetitive rants from "ANONYMOUS".
Please calm down;it's bad for your health. And,you are also boring me to death.
jock/doc
Arguably, "joc/doc" is still anonymous, isn't it?
well,at least we know it is the same person when he posts...
Hard to have a dialog with someone when there are several anonymous guys posting
While I agree that one cannot judge a coach on one year, but isn't the opposite side of that also true, that we shouldn't be singing his praises as if he has won something? Just a thought.
It is early no doubt so we shall see what happens, I hope they win a lot of games.
One other thought on the last comment, given there are several anonymous blogs that are displeased, doesn't that speak volumes about the state of affairs? Maybe it doesn't, but it sure does to me.
If people didn't have differing opinions we would not have half, maybe more, of the greatest inventions/products we take for granted. In running my business I always want somebody who disagrees so I can see their point and also see if I am missing anything. Why should this be any different. Perhaps you don't like the delivery, but maybe he doesn't like the delivery from people who are overly positive.
I don't think it is fair to put the onus on Jake either. He has provided a venue for people to speak and be heard. If you don't like what you hear then tune it out or don't read.
And I am not the hot dog guy, but I do like a good hot dog.
Who is singing his praises? All I am saying is that it seems unreasonable to be overly critical of the guy after essentially only one calendar year.
Of course he is going to rankle some people, any new coach will - when there is change there will always be people who don't like it, regardless if it is right or wrong...
But let's give the guy a chance and if it fails (and I hope it doesn't) let's blame the right person(s) for yet another exercise in futility, which is the President and AD....
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