Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Rambling Thoughts on the Spring Game

Zoom in to see that the old, often illegible scoreboard has been replaced! This, in addition to the bigger jumbotron installed last season will make games a lot easier to follow at Kraft Field


The team looked pretty healthy overall. Reports that star WR Bryson Canty would be held out of the game because of a sore knee turned out to only be partially true as he did get onto the field and even made a nice catch on a long pass from 5th year senior QB Caden Bell, (who, I have to say one more time, it's amazing to have him in spring camp... extremely rare for a 5th year).


Bell and sophomore A.J. Simpkins got most of the reps at QB and passed accurately. Sophomore QB James McCauley got in some reps too and looked generally seasoned. Senior Joe Green did not play. 

The WR corps looks as good as advertised. In addition to Canty's play, senior Marcus Libman was solid and made a nice TD catch near the end of the scrimmage. Libman also chucked a nice option pass for a TD to Simpkins. Senior Wills Meyer looked healthy and made some great catches. Rising sophomore Edan Stagg may have made the play of the day with a great spinning run after a catch for a big gain. RAC will be a big key for the Lions this year as Catny will draw a lot of coverage and the open CU receivers on shorter routes will need to make defenses pay with big yards after the catch. Not participating was 5th year senior J.J. Jenkins who probably is off this semester in order to be eligible for the fall. 

The big question mark for the team, the offensive line, looked pretty good. The first unit was Zach Mills, Braeden Bellmer, John Iannuzzi, Noah Jordan, and Ryan Carr. I believe Andrew Pruske will be one of the leaders of this unit in the fall, but as a 5th year senior he too is probably off this semester. Also not participating was LT Luke Painton, who is shifting to that crucial role from the TE position. He too is a 5th year senior. It's really hard to tell just how good this unit will be when it counts. But the mechanics look good enough for now. 

RB Joey Giorgi looked great all day, and it looks like he will be a screen pass target more this fall based on the throws that went his way Saturday. That could be a key element in the Lion offense that I think longtime fans will prefer to screen passes to wide receivers. 

As far as replacing Painton at TE, I thought senior Dominic Busby and junior Jack Larsen looked good at getting open. But I don't expect either of them to be a deep threat like Painton often was. That seems like a good sacrifice to make with such a talented WR crew. Throw in the Giorgi element as a receiver out of the backfield and I think the Lion passing game will be varied enough. 

Malcom Terry didn't run as consistently well as Giorgi, but he showed some good moves and got the highest elevation I've ever seen from a CU running back during a leap into the end zone for a late TD. 

On defense the first line on the DL was made up of Justin Townsend, Ben Corniello, John Martin, and Reid Spachman. This feels like it could be a very formidable group, with Martin and Corniello bottling up the runners and Townsend and Spachman specializing in pass rush. 

The first line linebackers were C.J. Brown, Anthony Roussos, and Roco Milia

The first line secondary were Aaron Brebnor, Seth Parker, and Hayden McDonald, and Carter McFadden. 

William Hughes handled all the place kicking and punting duties. All of his kicks were with the wind, but even with that taken under consideration it's clear Hughes has the leg strength to do a lot of damage. Accuracy will be the issue, but he made most of his FG attempts and was perfect on PATs. 

In addition to just not knowing how good or bad the offensive line will be, I'd say the other concern is how Bell will learn to adjust for his height. The D-Line tipped a number of his passes (not too many) and I suspect CU's opponents will be gunning to do the same very often this fall. Bell may need to roll out more and/or use that screen option to Giorgi to fight that all season long. 

It feels like the real headline from Saturday is there's a really joyful feeling all around this team and program right now. It looks like Head Coach Al Bagnoli isn't retiring anytime soon, the COVID nightmare is over, and coming off two winning seasons in a row is a nice feeling. Hopefully when the full team is able to practice together this summer, some more strengths will emerge. 

Wednesday, April 19, 2023

Devastating News on Buddy

News broke Tuesday that the injuries Dartmouth Head Coach Buddy Teevens suffered in a bicycle accident earlier this year were much, much worse than all of us had hoped.

His wonderful wife Kirsten confirmed late yesterday that Buddy has lost a leg and sustained spinal cord injuries

As I wrote here when the accident was first reported, Teevens has long been one of classiest and nicest people in Ivy League sports. As a former star QB for the Big Green, Buddy is a lifelong example of the best our league has to offer. 

This news is very hard to bear, but I hope it will inspire league-wide support for Teevens and his family. 

You can send an electronic message to Buddy and his family here.

Friday, April 14, 2023

Roster Updated

The 2023 football roster has now been updated, clearing up some questions about who is and isn't coming back this fall. These questions have always been a big part of the off season in Ivy League football, but COVID and the transfer portal have made the mysteries more numerous and difficult to unravel. 

Here are a couple of quick takes: 

GOOD NEWS

Senior WR JJ Jenkins, who had a breakout year for the Lions last year, is coming back. That gives CU a formidable returning wide receiving corps of Bryson Canty, Marcus Libman, Jenkins, and the oft-injured but sure-handed Wills Meyer also in the mix. Also keep an eye open for sophomore Edan Stagg in this group.

We already knew that QB's Caden Bell and Joe Green were returning, giving the Lions a rare level of depth at the game's most crucial position. But the videos of spring practices show that both Green and Bell are participating, which is a bit of a surprise for Bell because 5th year seniors usually have to take the spring semester before their final seasons off to remain eligible (this must be a result of special COVID rules). 

NOT SO BAD NEWS

The 2023 offensive line will not be totally devoid of game experience. Zach Mills and Andrew Pruske both got on the field a lot last year and Pruske had some starts. Judge Niland played in one game. Braeden Bellmer made the travel team but did not play. Luke Painton is still listed as a TE, but I guess we're keeping his move to LT a "secret."

RB Nicolas Nesbitt has left the team, but Joey Giorgi, Ty'Son Edwards, and Malcom Terry are back, and Jake Langdon is recovered from his ACL tear last year.  

NOT SO GREAT NEWS

DB Brian Bell-Anderson is not returning, leaving a hole in the secondary. But there is still a lot of experience among last year's backups along with the super-talented returning starters Seth Parker and Aaron Brebnor.

WHO KNOWS?

There are 33 returning seniors on the roster, and it's usually a very good sign to have 30 or more of those in Ivy ball. 

... And we're still waiting on the official release on incoming freshmen. 


Monday, April 3, 2023

Schedule Mystery 100% Solved




No, the Columbia athletics department has not yet released the 2023 football schedule. 

But Marist just did.

And sure enough, the Lions will be hosting the Red Foxes on October 7th, week four of the season for the Lions and the fifth game of the season for Marist. 

That confirms that Columbia has indeed canceled, or at least postponed, a once-scheduled road game at Wagner for that week. It also confirms that the Lions will have five home games in 2023. 

Columbia has played Marist six times and won each contest. The Lions easily cruised past the Red Foxes in the CU season opener in Poughkeepsie last year, 38-3