BREAKING: Mornhinweg Hired as New QB Coach

Skyler Mornhinweg in 2015

Sources tell me Skyler Mornhinweg '17, who transferred from Florida to be the first starting QB for Columbia in the Al Bagnoli era, has been hired to replace Ryan Larsen as quarterbacks coach. 

Injuries kept Mornhinweg from reaching his full potential on the field for the Lions, but his experience with this program, Coach Bagnoli, and his family's long and impressive football pedigree all probably played a big role in this hire.

No word yet on the secondary coach vacancy. 

Stat Sheet 4: Red Zone Red Alert

One of the most glaring areas where the Lions need improvement for 2022 is red zone TD scoring and better red zone defense. 

Columbia only scored TD's on 51% of its trips in the red zone, as opposed to allowing its opponents a 70% red zone TD mark. 

Some of the offensive issues in the red zone are connected with the discussion in the previous post about how the Lions need to amp up their air attack. 

But many of us also saw the team lose momentum too many times after big plays engineered by QB Joe Green to get them into the red zone in the first place. Sometimes, that was because of switching to wildcat QB Gabe Hollingsworth and the offense clearly needing more time to adjust to the switch. Sometimes, it just seemed like the play calling got too conservative. Either way, settling for too many field goals is a recipe for disaster in football and Columbia needs to get that red zone TD percentage up to 65% or better this fall. 

I do think that having RB Ryan Young for another year will lead to improvements here, as he continues to get strong as an inside runner who can bang into the end zone from inside the 5. This is a skill I think Hollingsworth will get better at too, as he showed a great flash of brilliance in this department with his tough TD at Dartmouth. 

As for red zone defense, the only game where the inability to hold opponents to FG attempts made a big difference was the loss to Yale. But there were a number of things that contributed to that loss in a game the Lions looked like they had under control. 

Stat Sheet 3: Needs More Air

Marcus Libman

After focusing on two very good stats from the 2021 season in prior posts, it's time to look at one area of Columbia's game that will definitely need improvement in 2022.

That would be passing yardage, where the Lions only put up an average of 163 yards per game. 

The 5.8 yards per attempt number was also disappointing, when most football experts like to see a 6.5-7.0 YPA. 

There were some positive reasons for these somewhat anemic numbers. They include the amazing rushing attack Columbia had at its disposal last season. There was also a new starting QB to break in, (which went quite well), and the loss of top receivers like Josh Wainwright '20 to graduation. Also, wildcat QB Gabriel Hollingsworth clearly wasn't ready to throw the ball as much as many fans hoped. The obvious talent of WR Bryson Canty didn't really emerge until week 9 as well. Finally, there were some injuries and other issues keeping key WR's like Mike Roussos and Wills Meyer out of some games. 

I also think the coaches were a little too cautious with QB Joe Green, especially after he proved himself early in the season. I don't think it's a stretch that will change in 2022, especially after Green gets even more time to prepare with spring practice around the corner. 

One of the pluggers last season at WR, Marcus Libman, already proved he can be relied on as a weapon, and we know about Canty and Meyer. If Mike Roussos decides to return to CU for his senior year the Lions will already have a strong receiving corps to work with, but everyone will need to step it up. 

So What's Next?

Now that the Super Bowl is over, those of us facing the reality of no more football for a long time can take solace that Columbia spring practice (COVID allowing) is less than two months away.

Hopefully, that means we'll have a spring game that's open to the public as well.

Another bonus is that by then, we should also have the always-competitive Columbia baseball team in action and often they schedule the spring game to coincide with a baseball home game just down the hill from the football stadium.

By that time, we should also have a handle on who is and isn't really coming back to CU Football this fall. I suspect we may get one or two more players who were on the transfer portal to return to the Lions after all. We saw that with Ryan Young already, will key players like KR/WR Mike Roussos follow suit? 

Until then, we still have some incoming commits for 2022 to learn about and two assistant coaching jobs to fill. 

We also have a lot more stats and analysis of the 2021 season to get through, so this is hardly cold turkey time! 

Stat Sheets 2: The Front Five

Offensive Line Coach John McLaughlin

Another stat from the 2021 season that stands out is, well it's a series of stats, that are heavily connected to the play of the offensive line.

The Lions allowed just 12 sacks this season, down from 21 the season before and second least in the Ivies.

In rushing yards, Columbia had 1,580 net yards. That's up from 1,092 the previous season. The Lions also had the second most rushing yards in the Ivy League. 

Here's the kicker: Depending on what senior Center Tyler Worrell decides to do, the Lions could return their entire starting offensive line in 2022. That's something that simply doesn't happen more than once in a lifetime in college football, and even less often in the Ivy League. (I do believe Cornell returned about all of its O-line two or three seasons ago, but it was actually a subpar unit both years). 

Yes, some part of the O-line's success in 2021 was due to the amazing talents of RB's Dante Miller and Ryan Young. It also benefited from QB Joe Green's better-than-expected ability to avoid sacks. The O-line also has to take some responsibility for the Lions not scoring enough red zone TD's in 2021. 

But by any standard, this was and is a very good front five. There are just too many strong stats proving that to ignore it. And getting four or five of these starters to return in 2022 with the same QB and one of the two key RB's is a positive scenario Columbia has not experienced... well maybe ever. 

Stat Sheets

As we wait for more commitment news, etc. it seems like it's time to break down the 2021 season and pinpoint what should be the team's top priorities for spring practice and the upcoming season. 

Let's start with the one stat that really jumped out at me at the end of the season and it's one I expect longtime Lion fans to be shocked by.

Columbia turned the ball over a total of nine times for the entire season. 

I'm not kidding when I say I'm pretty sure the Lions turned the ball over nine times in some individual games a few times in my lifetime. 

That turnover total of 9 was way down from 20 the season before. 

Columbia had 16 takeaways in 2021, coming mostly via interceptions (12). That number seems like it's lower than what a team would want over 10 games, but the +7 turnover ratio is very close to a good target number.

Much of the credit for the low turnover rate obviously goes to QB Joe Green, who threw just three interceptions and never fumbled the ball all season long. This validates the coaches' decision to give him the starting job as training camp ended, which I believe was heavily based on his ball security skills. 

But I also can't remember too many fumbles made by the Lions RB's, which was also a blessing and it's another reason why the return of RB Ryan Young for 2022 is such a plus. 

In general, I think the Lions offense should take a few more risks in the passing game now that we know Green isn't easily rattled. Later this week, we'll see just how much being too conservative with him as a passer showed up in the stats.

Two Vacancies

Ryan Larsen & Joe Green

With yesterday's news that CU QB coach Ryan Larsen has been named the new head coach of D-III Carnegie Mellon, and DB coach Andrae Murphy taking the Dean College head coaching position last month, the Lions now have two coaching vacancies on the staff. 

I enjoyed seeing the nice back-and-forth on Twitter yesterday between Larsen and CU QB Joe Green. I think you will too. 

These two job openings should be attractive. The new QB coach gets to work with the reigning Ivy Rookie of the Year and a very mature Green. He will also get to work with speedy and strong Gabriel Hollingsworth, who gave us a nice appetizer last season as a tough running QB. Finally, there are some impressive newcomers arriving like A.J. Simpkins. 

The secondary is more of a challenge with the graduations of Ben Mathiasmeier and Will Allen, and the transfer of Jordan Colbert. But we did get the good news this week that Fara'ad McCombs will return this fall, and that means he, Bryan Bell-Anderson and Seth Parker will bring their considerable talents back to the back line in September. 

It's also reasonable to think that three winning seasons over the last four seasons will bring more top quality applicants for these jobs. 

Signing Day Pics

Here are some pictures of incoming freshmen footballers from today's National Letter of Intent signing day:

Edan Stagg

Patrick Sodl

Shawn Lin

Lucas Bullock

AJ Simpkins

Young Isn't Restless

I was among those who were surprised by RB Ryan Young's tweet late yesterday afternoon where he announced he will be returning to CU Football in the fall. Young had entered the transfer portal, and I presumed he had no Ivy eligibility left. 

It's hard to express how much of a positive development this is for the Lions. While Dante Miller grabbed a lot of attention as the year went on, Young never stopped being a crucial and effective part of the Columbia offense. 

Now, he will bring that talent and perhaps the most RB experience in the Ivies back the Lions in 2022.

Recapping some of Young's big highlights: 

-A 19-carry, 91-yard rushing performance capped by a dramatic TD run with a Yale defender riding his back for a 17-10 win over the Elis in 2018.

-Key contributions on the ground and as a receiver in the 2018 wins over Brown and Cornell. 

-A 65-yard TD run against Saint Francis that got the Lions back into the game in an an eventual win in the 2019 season opener. 

-Also was key contributor in the 2019 wins versus Harvard and Penn, and had a big TD run in the loss versus Brown. 

-Was an Honorable Mention All Ivy at RB in 2021, with major contributions to the wins vs. Marist, Georgetown, Dartmouth, and Brown. In the loss against Yale, he may have had his best ever game. And getting back to Brown, his 60-yard TD catch along the west sideline electrified the team. 

The Lions now have a lot to be confident about on offense heading into the fall. Young is returning with other talented RB's backing him up, the starting QB is the reigning Ivy Rookie of the Year, the O-line is returning more starters and experienced players than at any time in CU history, and some very exciting WR with solid experience as well. 

The defense seems to have more holes to fill, but in some ways there are fewer tough questions about the defense than we had going into 2021. There are still excellent players returning on all three lines of the D.

If this trend keeps up, we may have to start asking the "If not now, when?" question about the Lions and their championship chances for 2022.