Tuesday, December 17, 2013

South Jersey Lineman


Mike McGrath


6-6, 294 pound O-Lineman Mike McGrath has committed to Columbia.

McGrath is the first documented St. Augustine Prep player to come to Columbia football despite the fact that the school is in nearby South Jersey.

The nice article about McGrath, (see link to above), does include a mistake as it says that Head Coach Pete Mangurian just finished his first season at CU. As we know, this was his second season with the Lions.




24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Slimfast here we come

Anonymous said...

The article also makes the mistake of saying that the Columbia rebuilding and St. Augustine rebuilding situations are comparable.

Anonymous said...

This place is so toxic these days. This is a great get for Columbia and I wish the guy well.

Anonymous said...

He will make a great addition to our team.Welcome!!!

Anonymous said...

I would think everybody wishes the kid well, but the staff will have him at dback weight in short order.

Anonymous said...

Anyone else get the feeling that Mangurian is recruiting fatter players just so he can torture them? Pete must have had a fat dad who abused him and his mom or something. Why the Hell else is he even interested in someone who will have to go through Hell just to get a small chance to play?

Big Dawg said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Big Dawg said...

Rich '66

Congratulations, Mike, and great luck in your academic and football experience here.

On another subject, at this point I am leaving behind the PM phase. Everything possible to be said has already been said, at least by me. So I am moving on.

This week I am volunteering for ARC, and will specifically attempt to encourage qualified HS athletes to come here. PM's destiny will take its own course, and my greater personal goal is overall CU improvement, so I'm done cursing his particular darkness.
I am also shifting the greater part of my energy into the Committee for Athletic Excellence at Columbia (CAEC), which I expect will provide the long term venue for positive change here. CU needs a loyal opposition to point out issues, rather than "cheering squads" such as Nathan's, etc.

CU also needs a forum, a rallying point for alums, fans, etc. to vent and express their feelings, and that forum is very well served here, by Jake. We need general info, opinions and current events, and we get them here thanks to Jake. I intend to continue my participation, but focusing on other subjects besides you know who.

One of these days CU will come to its senses, we will field competitive teams in all sports, we'll win championships, and we'll fill Baker to capacity.

Keep the faith.

Anonymous said...

That's the shape of the linemen we need,

Anonymous said...

I'd like to see him carry the ball or block for the RBs inside the red zone.

Anonymous said...

He'd better report at 234 pounds. WE on this board are toxic? That's Peter Rasputin the Monk's territory.
Oh. and Army's coach is available. Just got fired for going 3-9 and not beating Navy. Our coach went 0-10 and can't beat the Old Navy store clerks but he's fine with Lee and Dianne.

Anonymous said...

Good luck to this kid in football AND engineering, but I have to laugh when he says his high school's "rebuilding" was like Columbia's. The HS record was 4-6 and 5-5. If CU went 9-11 over two years, Bollinger and Murphy would dance naked at midfield at Homecoming, then declare our football mission was accomplished and abolish the team.

Anonymous said...

Welcome. Looks like he has a lot of baby fat. Hope he can move his feet at that weight. At least he had a D1 offer from Monmouth. It's ok to be heavy as long as you can move your feet.

Anonymous said...

PM made guys who were fat and slow footed lose weight (fat) in order to put the size back on with muscle. The line was bigger this year than last year and they will probably be 10 pounds heavier next year after gaining more muscle in this off season. This new recruit doesn't look sloppy but he does look fat.

oldlion said...

Baby fat? He looks like he is ready to play on day 1. He looks like a potential road grader.

Anonymous said...

Old lion, I hope he is but at his height and weight, if he were really good than why didn't Rutgers offer him? How come only one offer from Monmouth? I hope he is excellent but I also know the recruiting process.

Anonymous said...

I gotta say, I live in Jersey and (maybe naively) imagine that I have a fairish knoledge of Jersey h.s. football, especially re Catholic high school.s Yet I've never heard of St.Augustine. We really could use some guys from St. Joseph's of Montvale, Bergen Catholic (to at least interrupt the "Penn pipeline" for a season_, Don Bosco, QP, St. Mary's, Delbarton and, of course, St. Joseph's of Hammonton.

If Army fired Ellerson, that is sad. Of all the Army coaches of the last 25 or so years(and there have been quite a few) he seemed best to understand the special requirements and attitudinal shifts that coaching at a military academy call for.

Anonymous said...

Yes!! We need more players from "national" conferences. The schools you mentioned, the conference that contains De La Salle in California and the power conferences in the DC area and the Tidewater area in Virginia. Harvard got a LB from Good Counsel, Penn got a LB from Dematha, Cornell got a TE/WR from Gonzaga, Dartmouth got a WR from Gonzaga and we got Pace from McNamara. If we could have gotten all those guys...I know wishful thinking.

Anonymous said...

Don't know about the strength of the league he played in but his school played against Vineland according to MaxPreps and that's where our recruit WR Toure Douglas played.

Anonymous said...

TEXAS always has some of the best HS QBs! Also college and pro.

Anonymous said...

Army did fire Ellerson. Don't know a thing about him but he must be better than PM. And who cares if this recruit didn't get an offer from Rutgers, but only Monmouth?
Rutgers would beat us 100 to 0 with or without this kid, and Monmouth did just beat us.
We have to concentrate on recruiting as if the continuation of football at Columbia depends on it, because it does. Then we must have coaches who inspire and train these kids expertly, and manage the games correctly. We wouldn't hire a gym teacher who can't teach a class, why do we scrape the bottom for football coaches and ADs?

Anonymous said...

It matters about offers and ability in players because coaches are not on the field playing. You must have talent. We want this kid to be epic but looking at his MaxPreps page roster he came from a school that didn't have a defensive lineman or linebacker 6 ft tall or over 190 pounds. Your as good as who you practice against daily. Is he ready to play? We hope so but coming from a high school nobody has ever heard of leaves room for concern.

Anonymous said...

Army has to beat Navy or the coach gets fired. That is why Tony Reno is on thin ice as well.

Al's Wingman said...

Tony Reno has to beat Navy? It'll never happen ;-)