Moment #69: Gaffney’s Two Picks

 Anthony Gaffney

Dartmouth’s Dalyn Williams won the 2012 Ivy League Rookie of the Year award, and he deserved it. But Princeton’s Anthony Gaffney was a very strong contender for that title and you’d be hard pressed to find any freshman last year who had a better single game than Gaffney did in week three against Columbia.

As if his 94-yard kickoff return for a TD to start the game wasn’t enough, he also made several sterling plays in the Tiger secondary.

And the man who baked the cake with the opening TD, put the icing on that cake in the 4^th quarter with a pair of INT’s to seal the game.

The first pick came with 12:15 left in the game and Columbia doing the desperation thing trailing 27-6 at the time. Gaffney intercepted Lion QB Sean Brackett’s pass at the Lion 35 on a 3^rd and 18 play that started at the CU 19.

Six minutes later, Gaffney picked off Brackett again at the Columbia 43.

Brackett finished the season with 12 INT’s, which was not bad considering her three 344 passes in all. That’s just one pick per 28 throws. 

Gaffney comes in to this season with lots of high expectations as a returner and defensive back. He’s been named to the College Football Performance Award watch list and the Beyond Sports Network watch list.  

If all goes according to plan in Old Nassau, Gaffney will follow in the footsteps of the great Jay McCareins, who was also a dual threat in the secondary and as a kickoff returner.

Gaffney has a long way to go to get into that territory, but remember that he's only a sophomore now and he really couldn't have done more in his freshman season than he actually did.

Of all the opposing players Columbia needs to watch out for in 2013, Gaffney ranks very high on the "dangerous" list.