The preseason pundits will justify their usual decision to place Columbia last in the Ivies with lots of talk about the graduation of Josh Martin and the turnover at the QB position.
No matter that most of them will be unaware that Stanford transfer Brett Nottingham is joining the team at QB or that the powerful Seyi Adebayo is coming back for a 5th year on the D-line... but until we start winning, we're not going to get much respect from the pundits anyway.
Martin is definitely a loss, but I am just as concerned about the losses of two of Columbia's three 2012 starters at linebacker.
Those two former starters were Mike Waller and Ryan Murphy, who both graduated last month.
Waller didn't take too much time to prove his worth at the beginning of last season.
With Marist already leading 3-0 midway through the 2nd quarter, the Red Foxes began a drive at their own 22. About two minutes later Marist had a 1st down at the Columbia 11.
One play later, Waller made his first big play of the year. He got in front of a Chuckie Looney pass and picked it off at the Lion 5 yard line, saving what looked like a sure scoring drive. The interception was especially gratifying since another pickoff by Marquel Carter just a few plays earlier had been called back because of a roughing the passing penalty.
It was the first of what would be three picks on the season for Waller and one of many big plays to come.
Mike Waller, #21
2 comments:
I loved both of those linebacker guys who just graduated.
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