Coach Poppe Tweeted this pic of George Mahoney speaking to the team
Yesterday the reports from training camp went from happy
impressions of the better attitude to actual concrete positive assessments
about player talent and effort.
I’m not going to single out any player by name, especially
not before the first real scrimmage in eight days, but here’s what I’ll say:
1)
Look for a new source of strength coming out of
the backfield with the kind of player Ivy defenders have historically not been
able to tackle very well.
2)
A new WR is already giving the defense fits
3)
Another new player is displaying a lethal combo
of blistering speed and extremely smooth hands
4)
Team size is much better across the aboard and
appropriate for college football
5)
Camp is being catered better than some NFL
facilities, (yum).
I have to add that the reports I had yesterday are the best
I’ve heard coming out of a Columbia training camp since 2009 when we last had a
truly competitive team.
Motivational Speech
After practice, George
Mahoney ’00 spoke to the team about perseverance. I don’t know any of the
other details about the speech, but I do know a little something about Mahoney
and how he stepped up for a another Lion he never played with years ago. Mahoney
came to Columbia from Staten Island’s St. Joseph by the Sea just in time to be
a freshmen member of the best Lion team in many decades. By his senior season
in 1999, he was a team leader on the field and also off the field as a leader
of the players’ Christian prayer group.
In the spring of 1999, the Columbia family was shocked by the
story of Mike Sardo ’93, a star WR
for the Lions in his playing days who had been hit with spinal cancer. Mahoney helped organize some of his teammates and worked with some coaches and other
campus advisers to help set up a fund for Sardo and his new wife, former Lion
basketball player Kathleen Johnson.
Again, I have no idea yet if Mahoney used Sardo’s story as
part of his speech on perseverance last night. But he certainly could have
because Sardo remains a very inspiring story. He lives today in Northern
Virginia and is fighting the good fight for himself and others who have to go
through everyday life in a wheelchair.
Mahoney is now an executive at Merck.
2 comments:
Great report, Jake, thanks! I remember Mike Sardo well, didn't know about his illness, he'll be in my daily prayers. Can't wait to hear all your "secret" revelations about the Lions!
Allie
As I am in New York this week installing my son back at NYU, I am reading the blog with even closer interest. It sounds over and over again that Columbia is sparing no expense on the program to treat the kids well and give them great coaching. I remember seeing some of the faces of the players back in the spring at the press conference when Al was announced....they looked hesitant as to be expected....but it has to be dawning on them that they are in much much better hands now.
Keep the reports coming Jake.
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