Movin' on Up

Artist's rendering of 4650 Broadway 

There's a front page article in today's Daily News about how Wien Stadium's neighborhood of Inwood is going upscale. Since the story is behind an impossible paywall for many of you, here is a page with some recent links about Inwood's rise as a more desirable - and more expensive - area. 

Fans who have been attending CU games over the last few years have noticed this transformation already, especially when it comes to the explosion of good options to eat in the neighborhood. 

And before you start to grouse about how all these new hi-rise buildings will snarl traffic and reduce the already limited parking in the area, remember that these buildings will likely all come with parking garages with some spaces available for non-residents.

I think it's fair to say that Inwood's ascendance into a hotter/hipper neighborhood will help the Lion program. The area around the stadium should be a place where the alumni and students want to be for more than just game time or just on game days. 

No Love for Libman

Phil Steele's preseason All Ivy team came out this week, with 1sr Team honors for WR Bryson Canty, 2nd Team honors for J.J. Jenkins, but no mention of clutch WR Marcus Libman.

Libman really deserves more recognition, because he really is a clutch player and a go-to guy when the Lions need 1st downs and scores. His performance against Brown last season was one of the best games for a receiver in Lions history. On top of that, he's an emotional team leader. Woe to the Columbia opponents who ignore #3.

On the other hand, if you remember his romantic antics during that Brown game last year perhaps there IS love for Libman in football... just another kind. 

Some other interesting tidbits from the Steele list:

Despite never playing a down yet as an OL, Luke Painton made the 2nd Team as there's apparent confidence in his switch from TE to LT. 

Junior DE Justin Townsend rightfully made the 1st Team, but it was also nice to see junior DT Patrick Passalacqua get a slot on the 3rd Team. 

Also on defense, senior DB Seth Parker (2nd Team), and junior DB Aaron Brebnor (3rd Team) made the list. 

Perhaps the best news for a Columbia team that needs a relatively inexperienced O-line to step up this season: senior OL Andrew Pruske made the 3rd Team to go along with Painton's 2nd Team nod.

Some New Names

Thanks to the reader who commented on a previous post and gave us the heads up on some new names added to the CU roster. 

They are:

WR Aiden Shinfeld, a 5"8, 170-pound transfer from University of Redlands in California with junior year status. 

5"11, 210-pound RB Devon Thompson, presumably a walk on from the Berkshire School in Sheffield, MA. 

6-0, 185-pound WR Christian Hubbard who is also a junior and who appears to be moving over to football from the CU track team. 

6-0, 210-pound RB Cory Kline who comes to Columbia after serving four years in the U.S. Air Force. 

6-2, 220-pound WR Antonio White a transfer from Army. 

6-1, 195-pound WR Marcus Lenz a transfer from Hobart College. He is joining Columbia's 3-2 BA/BS double degree program with the School of Engineering. 

Considering the incredible talent and depth CU already has at WR position, these four new editions will seemingly have a tough battle to break into the mix. As for the running back, who knows?

But welcome to the Lions guys! 

QB R&D (RECRUITING & Development)

 

Is James Perry the one and only true QB coaching guru left in the Ivies? No... but it's still lonely at the top

Whether it's the Ivy League or the NFL, finding and then properly developing QB talent seems to be the most important challenge in the game. 

A couple of weeks ago while listening to the dominant sports radio station in the NYC area, the hosts of the show (one of whom is former Giants star Tiki Barber) spoke about how the NY Jets "blew it" with QB Zach Wilson by not doing the right things to develop him at his position. If it weren't impossible to get though on those call-in shows, I would have asked Tiki the following two questions:

Is there an accepted best process for developing QB's in the NFL and the Jets just didn't follow it? Or are there just a handful of good "QB coaching gurus" in the league and the Jets just don't have one of them?

The answer really can't be "yes" to both of those questions. 

My strong feeling is that in both the NFL and the Ivies, the issue is there aren't many coaches who have cracked the QB development code and that makes them a real commodity, 

One guy in the Ivies who seems to have done that is Brown Head Coach, former Brown QB, and former Princeton OC James Perry. The system he implemented at Princeton is still being used and he's had continuing success with it at Bryant (where he was head coach for two seasons) and now at Brown. It just doesn't seem to matter who is playing the position, they seem to play better when they are under Perry's guidance. 

Another guru is/was Kevin Cahill at Yale before he left to take over as the head coach at Lehigh for 2023. Yale's fortunes at QB turned for the better when Cahill took over the QB room and also eventually became the offensive coordinator. Cahill was the guy who molded the raw talent of Kurt Rawlings and got the ball rolling with current Yale QB star Nolan Grooms. 

After that, I'd say Dartmouth's OC/QB coach has shown a good track record, and I don't mean to take too much away from Princeton's current QB coach Mark Rosenbaum, but he took over that position after Perry left and had instituted his superior system for the Tigers. 

That brings us to Columbia's new QB coach Skyler Mornhinweg '17, who has good experience and talent to work with in QB's Caden Bell and Joe Green, but his most important job may be to mold sophomore A.J. Simpkins into starting material in time for next year. 

Overall, it just seems like a precious few Ivy teams have had more than just one All Ivy caliber QB over the last 10 years or so. Considering the fact that one of those teams is NOT named "Harvard" (with all the recruiting advantages Harvard enjoys), I think it's clear coaching is the deciding factor in this and not just recruiting. 

Ranking Our Opponents

Earlier this week, the media poll for the Patriot League was released with the very unsurprising news that Holy Cross is the strong favorite to repeat as champs.

The "good" news for Columbia, (and it's a stretch to call it that), is that week one opponent Lafayette was picked 4th instead of 3rd as some expected. Week two and home opener opponent Georgetown was picked dead last; also not a surprise. 

Columbia's third and final out of conference opponent is Marist, with the Red Foxes set to travel to Wien Stadium in week four. But Marist's Pioneer League conference media poll has not yet been released. Last year, it was issued on August 1. There are some rumors that Marist may have really upgraded its roster for this coming year, but nothing is confirmed yet and probably won't be until we see that Pioneer League poll and press release next week or so. 

But any way one looks at it, Columbia's 2023 schedule seems like a tough one. Having to start on the road against Lafayette will not be easy for starters, and the two likely heavy favorites in the Ivies, Yale and Princeton, are both road games as well for the Lions.

Dark Horse Candidates

Every year, every team in organized football usually ends up with one or two players who make an impact despite very few fans and analysts ever expecting it based on the prior year's performances.

This is especially true for college football where even the best players have to turn over more often due to graduation.

Last year, I'd say the biggest and best under-the-radar impact player was DE Justin Townsend. Justin didn't play at all as a freshman in 2021, and I only heard about how good he was during training camp in 2022. He turned out to be 2nd Team All Ivy at his position, (and I think he deserved 1st Team honors). 

Not too far behind Townsend as far as impact was WR JJ Jenkins who came out of nowhere after two previously quiet seasons to catch 38 passes for 440 yards and three TD's. (*By the way, can whoever updates the Columbia football roster please include Jenkins' 2022 info? As of now it ends with 2021.)

I know there are a number of other players who made unforeseen impacts last year, like QB Caden Bell, and maybe a freshman like LB Jack Smiechowski but freshmen and those who come in due to the injury to the starter in front of him are not "dark horse" contributors as I define them. I'm talking about a sophomore or upperclassman who suddenly becomes a regular player with puts up stats. 

With camp still 3-4 weeks away, there isn't much to go on when it comes to identifying potential dark horse candidates. There never really is. But from time to time, we can take a few guesses. 

Based on his size, high school highlights, and the small amount of time we did see him on the field last year, I'd say Jr. LB Shawn Riley could be one of those dark horse guys if he can stay healthy. 

Another player who could make an impact is So. WR Edan Stagg. It's a VERY crowded and talented WR room for the Lions, but Stagg looked good in the spring game and perhaps could do some damage as a kick returner. 

Odds are someone on the revamped offensive line will be a good dark horse contributor, and whoever replaces Luke Painton at TE will have a chance to make a mark too. 

Speculation is always part of being a sports fan. Add to that the very long off season and the higher level of secrecy we see in the Ivies, and you have little left to do during these dog days of summer other than speculate. 

 

Northwestern Fallout

When I was a grad student at NU, they called this "Dyche Stadium"... the program has come a long way 

The continuing saga at Northwestern, where more lawsuits are being filed after the firing of head coach Pat Fitzgerald, is pretty sad to see.

I think a lot of people are thinking what I'm thinking: If there's a hazing problem at a program like NU, how much more so could there be a problem at Alabama, Georgia, the U, etc.

Northwestern, (I got my Masters there in 1994), has always had a good academic reputation, but that reputation soared to new heights over the last 30 years. It is now one of the most difficult colleges to get into, (and one of the most expensive), in the country. A BIG part of NU's rise has to do with the concerted effort the administration made to improve student life on campus, which had always been pretty sad. Getting the football team to a competitive place was a major aspect of that push, along with upgrading the physical look of the campus. As bad as this current controversy is for Northwestern, it's hard to believe it will suffer a fall back to where it was in the 1980s both in athletics and in regards to academic selectivity. 

VERY selfishly, I admit I was sorry to see the Wildcats hire David Braun as interim head coach this week. I was kind of hoping they'd go for a youngish Ivy coach to show that it wanted to go a more "academically friendly route" and grab either Princeton's Bob Surace or Yale's Tony Reno. Again, that's me being selfish since taking the head coach away at this point would throw either Princeton or Yale into a tailspin just before the season. But we're stuck with those tough coaches for another year at least! 

Things are far from perfect in the Ivies, and every program has its rogue incidents from time to time. But the Northwestern story is a good reminder that the Ivies are doing it mostly right when it comes to athletic priorities. It's also a reminder that allowing our football champions to play in the FCS playoffs would hardly be a dicey move when you consider what other programs are dealing with these days.   

Where Do they come from?

 

Now that we FINALLY have official info from all the schools on incoming freshmen, we can look at the geographic breakdown for the players' states of origin.

I list the states and the number of players they're sending to Ivy football below:

(NOTE: This data is based on where the players played their HS football)

1t) Georgia 19

1t) Texas 19

3t) Florida 14 

3t) New Jersey 14

5) Massachusetts 13

6t) New York 12

6t) Pennsylvania 12

8) California 11

9) North Carolina 10

10t) Connecticut 9

10t) Maryland 9

10t) Ohio 9

10t) Tennessee 9

14t) Illinois 7

14t) Michigan 7

16t) Colorado 3

16t) Indiana 3 

16t) South Carolina 3

16t) Washington 3 

20t) Arizona 2

20t) District of Columbia 2

20t) Kansas 2

20t) Louisiana 2

20t) Minnesota 2

25t) Alabama 1

25t) Delaware 1

25t) Mississippi 1

25t) Missouri 1

25t) Nebraska 1

25t) Nevada 1

25t) New Hampshire 1

25t) Oregon 1

25t) Virginia 1

25t) Wyoming 1

Outside the U.S.

Ontario 1

Quebec 1 

Good Luck Justin!

Justin Woodley's '20 career on the field for the Lions was cut short by injuries, and now his tenure as a defensive assistant is ending thanks to the folks at Stanford. 

Woodley was spotted at a summer camp for high school prospects in Palo Alto and was offered a defensive assistant role with the Cardinal. 

We wish Justin the best of luck, but we will miss him.

They Got 'Em (Penn and Princeton Editions)

Penn and Princeton finally just added their incoming freshmen to their rosters (but still no write up or press releases to be found) in the last week or so. Here are the eight players that we know Columbia offered that ended up in Philly:

DB Darius Beauvoir

LB Zach Darche

DB Kayleb Ervin

DL Mike Fernicola 

DB Josh Narcisse

LB Cole Olsztyn

QB Devin Page

OL Michael Zack

... and here are the 11 guys we offered (that we know about) who chose Princeton:

WR Aidan Besselman (perhaps the best recruit of the bunch. Super fast)

TE Jack Comeau 

OL Barrett Eddelmon

OL Phil Eichelzer 

OL Connor McAllen

DB Kavon Miller 

LB Tyler Morris 

DL Ral Nwogbu

OL Tare Porbeni

OL Barry Richardson 

DL London Robinson

There's a good news/bad news story here. First off, we're going to have a lot of overlap offers with all the Ivy schools, but especially with the schools in our general proximity like Princeton, Penn, and Yale. Sure enough, those three schools are the ones that got the most commits from players we also offered. 

The good news is Columbia is clearly in the recruiting mix for these great players and the Lions are winning some of the battles they wouldn't have even been able to enter a few years ago. 

The bad news is there are some talented players on that list above that Columbia doesn't just lose out on getting, but will now be facing the Lions for the next four years. 

5 Big Questions

Columbia Football training camp begins in about a month, and here are the five biggest questions that need to be answered:

5) Will the Lions be Ready for a Tougher Schedule?

It's seems likely that all 10 of CU's 2023 opponents will be improved compared to last year. The opener at Lafayette will feature an opponent with a stingy defense and picked for 3rd in the Patriot League. Marist has reportedly made some roster improvements (details pending). So, Columbia's six-game out of conference winning streak is definitely in jeopardy. Meanwhile, six of Columbia's seven Ivy opponents bring back their starting QB's. 

4) Can Felkins be Adequately Replaced?

I thought senior William Hughes looked good as a placekicker in the spring game, and he certainly was a salvation as a punter at the end of last season for the Lions. If Columbia ends up having to sacrifice Alex Felkins' range (Felkins is now with Penn State as a grad transfer) for similar or better consistency from within 35 yards, the Lions will take it. 

3) Who's the Mike?

Unanimous 1st Team All Ivy Middle Linebacker Scott Valentas' decision to graduate presents a major challenge for the defense. If I had to bet, I'd say the new MLB will be Anthony Roussos, or maybe Rocco Milia, but I think there are more than two candidates for this crucial job.

2) Will the New O-Line be Ready?

Columbia's offensive line took a major hit from graduation, but still returns a decent number of experienced players. The problem is, the Lions have become used to having a strong O-line the last two seasons and it seems unlikely that it will be able to maintain that level this year. The big wildcard is the move to switch senior TE Luke Painton to Left Tackle, which the optimistic among us can hope will be a game changer. 

1) Who's the Starting QB?

Senior Joe Green had a strong 2021 season, but we now know he was already injured going into 2022. 5th year senior Caden Bell was a revelation as the starter during the second half of last season, showing some unique skills along the way.  Can the job somehow be shared? Could Bell and Green sometimes line up on the field at the same time like Princeton did so effectively with its two QB's in 2016 and 2018? The possibilities are numerous. 

Season Tickets On Sale Now!

It's that time of the summer again when the high school recruiting camps are done and we can start legitimately counting down to the start of the new season in the fall. 

With 75 days left to go before the kickoff of the 2023 season, you can get more connected to it all by ordering your season tickets which went on sale today. 

Click here to order or renew your season tickets.

If you're reading this blog, I don't think I need to make any special arguments to get you to buy season tickets. But in case you need any motivation, just think what it would be like if you could say that being at Columbia Football games this fall put you in the spot to enjoy this program's first three-straight winning seasons since the 1940's! 

More specifically, I'm excited about the immense talent returning at our QB, WR, and DE positions. We have stars in Caden Bell, Joe Green, Bryson Canty, Marcus Libman, JJ Jenkins, Justin Townsend and more.

And you'll want to be there when Head Coach Al Bagnoli becomes the first Columbia skipper with a winning career record at Columbia since the days of the leather helmets. 

By the way, the home slate features some great rivalries including Penn on Homecoming, Havard, and Brown. 

I hope to see you there!

Listen Up! (link fixed)

I've joined a great new app called "CenterClip" where audio clips of 5 minutes or less are featured by a number of great contributors. 

Most of my pieces will be about politics and culture, but I will also sprinkle in some commentary about Ivy Football. 

As we begin the final month before football training camp, I have an overview of what to expect this fall. 

SPOILER ALERT: This could be the most experienced & talented Ivy League Football product we've seen in years.