Columbia's just completed 6-4 2018 campaign was laden with so many injury-forced changes that the year was really more like three or four seasons in one.
That's what makes choosing some of my personally chosen awards for 2018 so hard.
But I'll take a stab at it with the disclaimer that this was a unusual year on so many levels.
This blog post will serve as a list of nominees. The blog post announcing my choices for winners will come next
Freshman of the Year
The All Ivy voters, (that is the Ivy coaches), voted freshman
Mike Roussos as the 1st Team All Ivy Return Specialist mainly on his heroics in the final game vs. Cornell.
But was he really the freshman who contributed the most to the 2018 Lions?
Two running backs made major impacts in alternating halves of the season.
During the first five and a half games, freshman
Dante Miller burst onto the scene as a dangerous runner with breakaway speed. His 83-yard TD run in the opening win at Central Connecticut will be long-remembered.
But after Miller was injured, fellow freshman
Ryan Young lept up from 5th on the RB depth chart to make a major difference in the wins over Yale, Brown, and Cornell. His game-winning TD against the Elis, dragging a defender on his back for the last eight yards was a major highlight of the year.
Then there was the "frying pan to the fire" season endured by freshman QB
Ty Lenhart. Lenhart was forced to start the final three games of the season despite starting the year fourth on the QB depth chart. He clearly had some problems with his accuracy at times, throwing five interceptions compared to just one TD pass. But he also had some brilliant moments in the wins over Brown and Cornell. The 75-yard TD drive he led in the 4th quarter against the Big Red was his finest moment, and more than any team could really expect of a freshman QB who didn't even throw the ball that much in high school.
Special Teams Player of the Year
Obviously, Roussos gets another nomination here for his return work.
Sophomore first-time starter
Drew Schmid was brilliant all year in the punting duties. He even earned MVP honors from me after the victory over Yale.
And K
Chris Alleyne simply had a dream season; winning 1st Team All Ivy honors, hitting his first seven FG attempts on the year, booting a team record 51-yard FG in the win over the Elis, nailing five other FG attempts of 40+ yards, and going a perfect 24-24 on PATs.
In any other year, each of the above three nominees would be slam dunk choices to win this award.
Defensive Player of the Year
Two Lions, senior DB
Ryan Gilbert and junior DL
Daniel DeLorenzi, made the All Ivy 1st Team. That makes both of them clear nominees.
But you also have to add senior LB
Sean White, who anchored this year's version of the most consistently strong unit of the Columbia program since Head Coach
Al Bagnoli took over.
And even though he missed three games to injury, where would this defense be without senior DB
Landon Baty?
Offensive Player of the Year
This is tougher to decide because the massive number of injuries for Columbia came more on the offensive side.
Almost every one of Columbia's six wins came with a different offensive MVP.
Backup QB
Dillon Davis was the offensive savior in the win over CCSU, as he came in for the injured
Josh Bean and got the Lions a key score to save the win.
WR
Ronald Smith was the MVP in the win over Georgetown the following week.
Bean was the offensive star in the win over Marist two weeks later.
RB Ryan Young was the big offensive savior in the win over Yale.
WR/QB
Kyle Castner was the man in the win over Brown.
And the Cornell game was kind of a toss-up between Castner and Young for best offensive weapon.
But I'd narrow down the nominees here to Castner, Young, Smith and C
Parker Coogan, who was an unsung hero in the middle of that O-line.
Team MVP
Based on everything written above, I think this award comes down to DeLorenzi, Castner, Alleyne, and Young.
Good luck everyone!
