Camp Confidential

Joe Green

I'm certainly nowhere near as prolific as Bruce Wood, who covers every Dartmouth practice for his excellent Big Green Alert Premium site, (which all Ivy fans should sign up for; it's worth it), but I do hope to get some decent info out of training camp this year for all the hungry CU fans who have been waiting 641 days so far to see our team in action, (the wait will be 665 days between actual games when all is said and done, by the way)

So let's get to some of what I consider to be the most interesting information out of camp so far in my opinion:

Green Machine

Transfer QB Joe Green is looking very good in camp, with arm strength and accuracy that could be better than Anders Hill '18. He is not mobile, but he is quickly becoming the favorite of least the other players to win the starting QB job. It's obviously very early in this process, but I suspect Green is making a real push for the top spot and this is not just propaganda. 

Whatever happens, a healthy program is one where the coaches truly don't play favorites and are willing to change their plans when new evidence comes to light. Thus, if Green is clearly more of a productive QB than Ty Lenhart or anyone else, I think we'd all like to believe the players will be joined by the coaches in a decision to make him the starter. 

But of course, it's still really early. 

Woodley is back... really back

When I reviewed the linebacker unit earlier this summer, I expressed happy surprise that Justin Woodley was returning to the roster at all. But it turns out he's more than just on the roster; Woodley is back and in very good physical condition. The Lions now may have the best LB unit, which many believe is the most important unit in college football, in the Ivies. Woodley, Scott Valentas, and Cam Dillon are a formidable starting three, but there's also John Harris and a few other talented guys in the mix. 

With questions about how the relatively inexperienced D-line will do this season, one has to wonder if Head Coach Al Bagnoli will employ the kind of formations he often used at Penn when he was linebacker-rich and DT/DE-poor. During the late 2000's and early 2010's I distinctly remember Bagnoli using a 2-5-4 alignment on defense (at least in the two-deeps) to augment his defensive line with linebackers who were strong enough to at least tax opposing offensive linemen. Let's see if that happens again this year. 

That said, there is also optimism surrounding DL Paul Akere, who has beefed up and looks strong so far in camp. If he and super senior Cameron Carter can hold down the fort up front, the Lion linebackers should help create a pass rush that doesn't sacrifice pass coverage and run defense. 

Three Quick Hits

-Senior RB Ryan Young, whom the team calls "Saquan Jr.," is bigger, stronger, and even tougher to tackle.

-Sophomore DB Seth Parker is looking impressive, even among all the returning talented DB's in the Lion secondary.

-WR Marcus Libman is also impressive and on track to be the other starting WR with senior Mike Roussos.