What Looks Good

Bruce Wood at the Big Green Alert Blog has learned that Hamilton Garner is one of just two Ivy Tight Ends on the 2013 College Football Performance Awards FCS Tight End Watch List.

That’s two nice accolades for Garner in the last 24 hours, because he was one of the Lions players given the heftiest praise from Head Coach Pete Mangurian in his assessment of the Columbia offense released last night.

The update on the offense got right to the heart of the matter, devoting four of the first paragraphs on the offensive line.

From what Mangurian wrote, it sure seems like the top 5 O-liners on the depth chart are Ryan Thomas at center, Jim Yukevich and Keith Ramljak at guard, and Eric Kuklinski and Billy Lawrence at tackle. All that could change of course, but appears where we are right now.

(And while we don’t know of Tom Callahan will move up on the depth chart or face some kind of roadblock because of the Twitter issues, it doesn’t SEEM like he was expected to be a starter this fall either way. But I still believe he has a lot of talent and it’s certainly worth it for him and the program to do whatever they can to clear everything up).

Mangurian also asserted that the line in general is improving, which is always good to hear and I don’t think he’s bluffing. He acknowledged that there’s a long way to go

None of this changes the fact that the O-line is still probably the #1 concern/challenge for this team right now. But I am a bit more encouraged than I was a day ago.

There is indeed more good news at the Tight End position where in addition to the praise for Garner, the coach seems excited about Garett Demuth. We also heard about Nick Durham basically playing the H-back position, which makes a lot of sense.

In what was a real moment of super clarity, Mangurian said that Connor Nelligan, Chris Connors, and Jake Wanamaker were the top three receivers right now. That seems to confirm my suspicions that Wanamaker was indeed more than just a little injured last season and would have made more of an impact had he been healthy.  I still think Isaiah Gross will be a de facto starter this fall too.

At running back, I was also very encouraged by the coach’s comments about Griffin Lowery and Cameron Molina.

In August, the freshmen will come in and change a lot of the factors now in place. But in one sentence here are my takes on each major part of the 2013 Lions:

Offense Overall: Looks generally good. Should be the stronger of the two units.

Defense Overall: Could drop a peg from last year without coach Lempa, Josh Martin and two of the three starting linebackers, but a chance to avoid a decline if Adebayo meets expectations.

Special Teams Overall: Generally a strength, especially if Eddy gets more consistent.

Quarterbacks: Should be a strength position with a lot of depth, and maybe a super weapon if Nottingham lifts all boats.

Running Backs: Garrett is a real star, but backups look better than before and maybe only one or two Ivy teams have a better overall running attack.

Wide Receivers: Perhaps the #1 strength of the team, with maybe three All Ivy players.

Offensive Line: Still a big worry, but will be better than 2012.

Tight Ends: Another good strength, depth seems to have jumped a few levels in quality.

Defensive Line: Looks solid, but would be more solid with Chad Washington who can’t be fully expected to play the whole season right now.

Linebackers: Olinger is a top player, but his supporting cast is a crucial question mark.

Secondary: Another big question mark; there’s talent but not much starting experience.

Placekicking: Eddy has a powerful leg; needs to be more consistent.

Punting: Delaney is the man.

Returners: Major positive jump from where we thought we were at this time last year.

Coaching: Also seems to have improved, but Twitter/Chad Washington scandals and the rough schedule will be a major test.