Letters from Camp

Justin Townsend

The biggest buzz surrounds Columbia's receiving corps and how it looks like the strongest WR group the Lions have had in anyone's memory. 

"COVID Juniors," (meaning they're all really sophomores who could each have three more years of eligibility with the Lions if they so choose) Bryson Canty, Wills Meyer, and Marcus Libman look like a three-headed monster that will be hard for opposing defenses to contain. Canty is emerging as the star of training camp which doesn't surprise those of us who watched him closely last year, but apparently will surprise many of the other published Ivy and FCS football pundits who have overlooked so many Columbia weapons this preseason. 

Canty will draw a crowd of defenders several times per game, creating tremendous opportunities for Meyer, Libman, and a few other WR's who are also excelling right now in camp. Also don't forget how lethal RB Ryan Young has been as a receiver out of the backfield, especially as an emergency option for QB Joe Green. And with the talented and unusually experienced offensive line in place to give Green time to throw, this has the ingredients of a very potent passing offense. That is, with the exception of the Tight End position, which remains a question mark so far. 

On the ground in addition to Young, transfer RB Malcom Terry is looking good in camp and will get a good look this season. Whether the Lions will pursue an outside running speedster to replace the running style of Dante Miller is not as clear right now. But it's possible those kinds of runs will now be a job for that talented WR crew on jet sweeps, etc. 

On defense, an emerging talent on the defensive line is Sophomore Justin Townsend. That's welcome news for a unit that needs to make up for the loss of the graduated, (and now a transfer to UVA), Paul Akere. Last year, the D-line looked like it would be a potential weak spot with the graduation of Daniel DeLorenzi. But D-Line coach Andrew Kukesh actually led the unit to an improvement over the previous season in every statistical and intangible category. Now, Kukesh has moved on to coaching the secondary and new DL coach Christopher West is in the hot seat. But West is a hit with the players so far. 

Speaking of the secondary, returning COVID 5th year senior Fara'ad McCombs is adding leadership skills to his prowess on the field in a unit that will have to deal with the loss of the graduated Ben Mathiasmeier... who led the Lion defense on and off the field for more than two seasons. 

Some of the questions I still have are about who will be the third starting linebacker to join the strong duo of COVID Senior Scott Valentas and COVID Junior CJ Brown. I also want to know about hybrid DB/LB Seth Parker and whether he's coming along from the impressive showing he made at last summer's training camp.