Replacing the highly respected and liked assistant coaches Todd Gilchrist and Ricky Santos are former Dartmouth WR coach Jerry Taylor and the QB coach is now Ryan Larsen.
Taylor is very much a known quantity from his years at Dartmouth where he developed some of the Big Green's star wide outs including Hunter Hagdorn.
Larsen is more of a wildcard, even as he is thrust into what may be the toughest job on this Lions team: choosing and preparing a starting QB. The good news is there is talent. Based on my sources, rising junior Josh Bean could have returned to play more games last season but the coaches decided to be more cautious after his injuries. Rising sophomore John Foreback was unable to begin practicing with the team until the latter part of last season, but all reports say he was impressive and will challenge for the starting role as well. Rising sophomore Ty Lenhart, who ended up doing most of the emergency QB play last year is also back as is rising junior Dillon Davis.
Considering Columbia still managed to eke out a 6-4 record last season without any stability at QB, it's fairly obvious that some solid improvement and consistency under center is Job One for this off season.
Other key players back from injury are WR Josh Wainwright, LB Justin Woodley, and RB Dante Miller, and too many other wounded warriors to mention really. Their returns really add to what should be an exciting (less than) six month period between now and kickoff.
Ryan Young
Freshman of the Year
I know I made these nominations more than three months ago, and I also know the coaches have already handed out their official awards for the 2018 season. But I want to list my own winners over the next few days.
For Freshman of the Year, the competition was tough because so many freshmen contributed to individual wins, but rarely did they get the chance to make an impact on more than one game.
But RB Ryan Young was an exception. He was a major reason for the Lions win over Yale, but he also really contributed to the wins over Brown and Cornell too. I know the upperclassmen really appreciated him as the ranks of the Columbia backs got thinner and thinner.
It's not clear where Young fits into the Lions RB picture going forward, but his 2018 season was one he can cherish forever.
2 comments:
Have to agree with your pick on Ryan Young as Frosh MVP. He also had a huge game against Yale. Runner-up in my book is Ty Lenhart who literally had on the job training as he was pressed into service by all our injuries. Hopefully Larsen can coach some injury-prevention strategies,
like knowing when to throw the ball away rather than taking a rough sack.
Its a fine line because young inexperienced QB's are trying to impress and it takes real maturity to make those types of reads.
Young was a real spark...and could run through arm tackles and drag people over the goal line (which he did against both Yale and Brown). There must be a role for him in next year's offense!
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