My season totals last year were 48-18 straight up (.727) and 33-32-1 against the spread (.507).
All three of Columbia's out of conference opponents begin regular season play this Saturday, two of them against each other.
Marist -4 at Georgetown
The Red Foxes look a bit improved and more experienced than last year. The Hoyas do not.
Lafayette +3 vs. Sacred Heart
I like the Leopards to cover on the road.
There are too many examples to list showing how Al Bagnoli's arrival and eight years running the Columbia Football program has changed things inside and out.
But perhaps the clearest example is overall talent depth, and nowhere on this team is the talent deeper than at the wide receiver position.
Think about Columbia wide receivers for a moment. One of the best WR's pre-Bagnoli was recent Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame inductee Austin Knowlin '10. Knowlin graduated after the 2009 season and it was seven years before another receiver close to or better than Knowling joined the team in Josh Wainwright '20.
But the very next season of Ivy play after Wainwright's graduation brought us an eventual 1st Team All Ivy Bryson Canty, and two other top-flight receivers like Marcus Libman and J.J. Jenkins.
Now, the first two weeks of training camp are proving the talent is still coming. Two Texas native freshmen, Titus Evans and Braylon Gardoni have been turning heads already even though they face a landscape with not only Canty, Libman, and Jenkins dominating the field but also a talented veteran like Wills Meyer and a promising sophomore Edan Stagg also in their way.
That established seven-year wait for comparable talent that we had between Knowlin and Wainwright has been reduced to zero years. Pretty good.
Looking at some of the other positions, there are some other encouraging examples. The way that Joey Giorgi emerged last year to replace Dante Miller at RB. At QB, the Lions have two QB's who can honestly claim to have led Columbia to separate winning seasons. At DL, Daniel DeLorenzi has been replaced by Justin Townsend.
I don't know how many of the established starters will see much time in Saturday's scrimmage at Wien Stadium, but I bet we do get a good look at guys like Evans and Gardoni.
The days when Lions fans could write a season off if a top player graduated or got injured seem to be over.
Thank you Al!
If you're not following the Columbia Football Twitter/X and Instagram accounts, you really should in order to see all the latest videos from camp, etc.
Of course, those videos also leave us with some unanswered questions:
1) We've seen a lot of a player wearing #73 on the defensive side of the ball. That means last year's #73 Pat Colicchio has either switched his number or changed his position from OL to DL.
2) There is also a player wearing #7 on the offensive side of the ball, and we know Seth Parker hasn't changed his position. So he's either switched his number or the team is doubling up, (it needs to for some numbers since there are more than 100 players on the roster), on the number and we simply don't know which offensive player is using it.
3) The roster page in general still consists of a number of blanks from last season that include no pictures of last year's freshmen and poor incoming freshman OL Sean Kimani still has no bio information on his page. Hey, I understand everyone's busy and there may still be staffing issues to deal with... but still no pics from more than a year ago?
4) I don't expect player weight and height info to be updated any time soon, but you never know.
In large part due to these roster questions, I'm going to hold off publishing my annual in-depth preview of the team until at least after Saturday's scrimmage against Montclair State.
6-1, 180 pound DB Caleb Solomon from Florida's Miramar HS has committed to Columbia.
Solomon had offers from FBS schools Ohio U., Western Kentucky, UT Chattanooga, and Kent State he also had offers from Yale, Fordham, Lehigh, Georgetown, Akron, Howard, Bethune Cookman, and others.
Solomon will be the first Miramar grad to come to Columbia Football.
So the list of known commits grows to five:
1) Rodrigo Diaz-Martorella DE/TE 6"4 255 lbs. Miami Palmetto HS Miami, FL
2) Liam Donagher DB 6"2 200 lbs. Grafton Memorial HS/Choate (PG Year) Grafton, MA
3) Emanuel Nazy OL 6"4 280 lbs. Hackensack HS/Don Bosco Prep Hackensack, NJ
4) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ
5) Caleb Solomon DB 6"1 180 lbs. Miramar HS Miramar, FL
It didn't seem like a coincidence that former Columbia defensive backs coach Jon Poppe has broken into the ranks of head coaching by assuming the leading role at Union College, the same school where Al Bagnoli began his head coaching career.
Now, Poppe is getting the attention of his new players thanks to his energy in training camp.
While the succession plan for Columbia Football coaching has obviously changed with Bagnoli's sudden retirement, Poppe was often mentioned as a possible future head coach for the Lions. His stock will rise or fall based on what he's able to do at Union.
6-4, 280 pound OL Emanuel Nazy from Don Bosco Prep by way of Hackensack HS in New Jersey has committed to the Lions. He also had offers from Sacred Heart, Delaware State, Rhode Island, Bucknell, and Fordham.
Nazy is doing a PG year at Bosco and will be the sixth Don Bosco grad to come to Columbia Football, and the first since Nick Mistretta'12 and Kurt Williams '12, (Williams also was a Don Bosco PG year student). Only one Hackensack HS grad before Nazy has ever come to Columbia Football, and that was Hector Carter '91 who was also the father of Cameren Carter '21.
So the list of known commits grows to four:
1) Rodrigo Diaz-Martorella DE/TE 6"4 255 lbs. Miami Palmetto HS Miami, FL
2) Liam Donagher DB 6"2 200 lbs. Grafton Memorial HS/Choate (PG Year) Grafton, MA
3) Emanuel Nazy 6"4 280 lbs. Hackensack HS/Don Bosco Prep Hackensack, NJ
4) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ
The Weather's Fine
Ivy League football training camp reports are a bit of misnomer, as no team really gives out much information about how position competitions are going, etc. But I can tell you that at least the weather has been favorable and looks to stay not too hot for the next several days at least.
So far, the team roster page hasn't updated the weights of the players or put in the new individual pictures we know the players took on Friday. But we can expect that very soon. I do appreciate the fact that the roster pages does now have updated 2022 season info for 5th year returning senior J.J. Jenkins.
Montclair Scrimmage on Sept. 2
Perhaps some of mysteries of training camp will be solved in 13 days when the Lions host a scrimmage against D-III Montclair State College at 2pm. I'm told this event will be open to the public. I don't think we'll too many revelations, but we'll take note of what we can.
Donagher will be the first Grafton grad to come to Columbia Football, but the 12th to come from Choate. Sophomores Mark Chapman and Cobe Crews are with the Lions now after doing PG years at Choate.
So the list of known commits grows to three:
1) Rodrigo Diaz-Martorella DE/TE 6"4 255 lbs. Miami Palmetto HS Miami, FL
2) Liam Donagher DB 6"2 200 lbs. Grafton Memorial HS/Choate (PG Year) Grafton, MA
3) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ
We already knew Columbia's Ivy opener at Princeton on Friday September 30 was going to be broadcast nationally on ESPNU, but today we learned Columbia is continuing its tradition of putting some home games on the SNY network again this year.
Those games we be the week 2 home opener vs. Georgetown on September 23, and the week 5 Homecoming game against Penn on October 14.
The games on SNY represent a nice commitment Columbia has made to get more games televised, especially at the local level. While SNY is available on many cable systems nationally, it is mostly a NY-area station.
The rest of Columbia's games will be available on ESPN+.
I'm sure most of the longer-time readers are tired of me and others bemoaning the fact that the Ivy League media day has become an almost non-information event. The fact that reporters have no in-person access to the coaches, and the long-ended practice of each team publishing a projected list of starters makes the event less interesting.
However, sometimes we get some potentially valuable info.
Interim Head Coach Mark Fabish seemed to tell us that senior Anthony Roussos is the presumptive starter at MLB, which is pretty much what I've been hearing since the spring.
It was also interesting to hear Fabish publicly state his excitement over the decision to move Luke Painton from TE to LT; a major decision that I think will hold some of the keys to the season.
Fabish was keeping things closer to the vest on the QB starting job. I suspect the coaches do have a presumptive choice at this point between Caden Bell and Joe Green, but I do not have public evidence of that.
But this feels like a good time to remind everyone which other starting slots are the most up-for-grabs/in doubt and who at least seems like the leading candidates to fill them.
Remember, players report to campus on Thursday and have their first formal practice this Saturday the 19th.
OFFENSIVE LINE
Presumptive starters: Andrew Pruske, Zach Mills, and Luke Painton (all seniors)
Likely starter contenders: John Iannuzzi (jr), Pat Colicchio (jr), Ryan Carr (so), Braeden Bellmer (sr), Noah Jordan (so), and Mark Chapman (so).
TIGHT END
Likely starter contenders: Dominic Busby (sr) & Jack Larsen (jr)
SECONDARY
Presumptive starters: Seth Parker (sr), and Aaron Brebnor (jr)
Likely starter contenders: Carter McFadden (sr), Hayden McDonald (jr), Lucas Mireur (jr), Jayden Marshall (so), Ethan Hebb (so), and Cobe Crews (so).
KICKERS
William Hughes (sr) will surely be the punter and I think he has the inside track to be the placekicker as well. But incoming freshman Hugo Merry will likely get a shot at the job at some point.
I think the kick and punt returning jobs are a mystery right now, even though McFadden did a good job with punt returns last year. If I had to bet, I'd say both returning jobs will be handled by someone else this season.
PERSONAL REQUEST TO THE ATHLETIC DEPT:
Can someone update the past season's info for 5th year senior WR JJ Jenkins? It ends with his 2021 info.
And why is there no bio at all for incoming OL Sean Kimani?
As I do every year at this time, I urge all CU fans to sign up for Bruce Wood's Big Green Alert subscription site.
Of course, the content is Dartmouth-centered. But Bruce does excellent research on the entire league and it's really required reading throughout the season.
This week is the most important week to be a subscriber as BGA looks at all the Ivy teams (plus Dartmouth's three out-of-conference opponents) in a much more informed way that all those published websites that make predictions on the Ivies.
I know I always look forward to his take on Columbia from an educated and outside pair of eyes.
Check it out!
6-4, 255 pound DE/TE Rodrigo Diaz-Martorella has committed to Columbia out of Miami Palmetto HS. He also had offers from Marshall, Akron, and Cornell.
According to my LionFeeders database listing every known Lion player and his HS affiliation, Diaz-Martorella will be the first Miami Palmetto grad to come to CU Football.
This also means we can now start our annual developing list of publicly declared commits to the next freshman football class
1) Rodrigo Diaz-Martorella DE/TE 6"4 255 lbs. Miami Palmetto HS Miami, FL
2) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ
Columbia Football has announced that Joe D'Orazio will move up from his RB coach position to interim offensive coordinator. D'Orazio is a unique persona in the coaching ranks, who specializes and delights in finding and developing good young men as people as much as developing their athletic side. He's a perfect fit for a lifetime as an Ivy coach and if he can succeed at the coordinator level this year, the sky is the limit.
Augie Hoffmann (note the two "n's") comes to us after three years at Rutgers, the last one as offensive line coach. Before Rutgers, he was the head coach at St. Joseph Regional HS in New Jersey, the same school where rising star sophomore LB Jack Smiechowski played. The just-graduated Fara'Ad McCombs '22 played under Hoffmann at St. Joe's.
Hoffmann also played three years as an O-lineman for the New Orleans Saints from 2004-06.
No offense to the assistants we have that tend to come from smaller schools in D-III or the NAIA, but it's cool to get a guy with Big 10 and NFL experience who still presumably has some connections to fertile HS recruiting ground.
As abrupt and sad as it's been for Columbia and Dartmouth to lose their legendary head coaches because of health reasons this year, Ivy League football has seen more tragic stories when it comes to great coaches who had their tenures cut short.
The two most extreme examples are connected to Columbia and Princeton.
Some of you might remember the sudden death of Princeton Head Coach Ron Rogerson just before training camp was set to begin in 1987. Thee Tigers, who had been struggling as a program for years, responded with a 6-4 record in 1987 which was their best mark since 1981.
Working with mostly the players Rogerson recruited, the Tigers won a share of the Ivy title in 1989.
Legendary Harvard Head Coach Percy Haughton came to run the CU program after 9 successful years in Cambridge... only to die suddenly on the practice field in the middle of his second season with the team in 1925. After his death, the Lions went 2-2-1 (which included a win over Army at the Polo Grounds) to finish the season at 6-3-1.
Thank goodness both Al Bagnoli and Buddy Teevens are still very much with us, but we shouldn't be surprised if both of their teams show some real resiliency this year.
In the midst of all the understandable attention focused on Columbia's coaching situation, an impressive TE/DL committed to the Lions for next year in 6-4 235 pound Casey O'Sullivan from Seton Hall Prep in New Jersey.
O'Sullivan had offers from Villanova, Holy Cross, Bucknell, Brown, and others.
He joins not only two other Seton Hall Prep alums currently on the roster, but both of them - senior Dominic Busby and junior Jack Larsen - are also tight ends. Plus, Rory Schlagater '20 was an effective TE for the Lions in 2019 and he too is a Seton Hall grad. Overall, O'Sullivan will be the 10th Seton Hall alum to come to Columbia Football.
We know more players have committed to Columbia in recent months, but for now O'Sullivan is the only public name we've seen.
2023 IVY LEAGUE PRESEASON POLL (First Place Votes)
1. Yale – 122 (13)
2. Princeton – 103 (1)
3. Penn – 90
4. Harvard – 84 (1)
5. Columbia – 62 (1)
6. Dartmouth – 54
7. Cornell – 37
8. Brown – 24
The Ivy League media poll came out this morning and the Lions were picked 5th in the poll that was conducted before the big announcement that Al Bagnoli was stepping down as head coach.
I'm actually surprised that the Lions were not picked lower, given the usual bias against Columbia.
But no one should be surprised that Yale is the prohibitive favorite to win the league with all the star players returning on both sides of the ball. (although most of them are on offense and the Yale defense will be under the most pressure this year).
The Ivy League Media Day, which is not interactive and has recently just become a YouTube video that is prerecorded, will be next week. Sometimes that provides us with a better idea of what to expect.
Sometimes not.
FABISH NEWS CONFERENCE
If you missed the news conference today with Athletic Director Peter Pilling, Bagnoli, and Fabish, you should check it out. I thought Bagnoli spoke well, and the best news is that he seems to be in fine health.
Fabish spoke of his personal excitement at having this opportunity, and that's certainly not a surprise from a very non-reserved guy like him.
As I said earlier, Fabish deserves all our support right now. This is a trial by fire and not anyone's fault. Whatever strengths or weaknesses Fabish had as an assistant coach go out the window now.
One thing we should remember is that Pilling said there are "high expectations" going into this season. So, setting the bar lower for the Lions this year isn't something we should do.
We're still waiting on the naming of a new offensive coordinator, but I am hearing that it will be someone from the current staff.
For the conspiracy theorists out there: Al Bagnoli's sudden retirement was indeed sudden, and not some plot to insert Mark Fabish as head coach the "easy way." Sources tell me Bagnoli had every intention of coaching this season but his recovery from that major surgery in February was not where the doctors wanted it. (And anyone who sees how active Bagnoli is on the sidelines at every game can understand why the doctors would make this decision).
Sources also tell me Fabish will need to deliver a good W-L record this season to retain the job without the process opening up to the usual search process.
Multiple sources telling me the team has just been informed that Head Coach Al Bagnoli is stepping down immediately due to health reasons.
Offensive Coordinator Mark Fabish will be the interim coach this season.
UPDATE: Fabish will NOT be handling both the HC and OC jobs at once; another offensive coordinator will be hired.
Athletic Director Peter Pilling sent a letter at this hour to the Columbia Athletics family, explaining that Bagnoli will stay on as a coaching advisor.
Training camp begins in roughly two weeks...
MORE TO COME
Despite rumors of some kind of upgrade for week 4 opponent Marist Football this season, the Pioneer League writers didn't have much respect for the Red Foxes in the preseason poll. Marist was picked to come in 7th in the 11-team conference after finishing 6th last year.
Marist also only earned two spots on the All Pioneer League preseason team, and one of those slots was for the Red Foxes' long snapper.
The other honoree was LB Mike Arrington who is still on the team, taking a graduate year of eligibility. For the record, Arrington had eight tackles against the Lions last year that included one tackle for a loss in Columbia's 38-3 win in Poughkeepsie. In the 2021 37-14 Columbia win over Marist at Wien Stadium, Arrington had ten total tackles and shared a TFL for a loss of one yard.
Getting back to the Pioneer League poll, the University of Saint Thomas (located in Minnesota, not the Caribbean Island where my cousin was once the governor), is actually Harvard's week one opponent at Harvard Stadium. Despite the poll's vote of confidence in St. Thomas, it would still be a big surprise if the Crimson didn't win by at least two scores.
Coming in 4th in the poll was San Diego, who is hosting Princeton for the Tigers opening game on 9/16. Again, it would be a big surprise if Princeton doesn't win that one by at least two scores.
While a number of other schools in the Pioneer League, like Stetson, Valparaiso, Butler, and even Presbyterian have played Ivy teams in the recent past, the above schools are the only ones taking on Ancient Eight foes this season.
The Ivy League media poll is due to come out this Monday, 8/7 and the virtual media day (which has become just pre-recorded videos) is set for August 15.
One more comment: When I look at the Pioneer League and how the schools are spread out all over the country from coast to coast, I wonder how schools like Marist can afford what must be an exorbitant travel bill every year.
