Biting at the Apple

The Columbia Football coaching staff is doing something really interesting today by sending its recruiters to just about as many high schools with football programs in the New York metropolitan area that they can in one day in what they're calling the "Empire Rush." 

You can pretty much follow their progress in real time by checking the CU Football Twitter/X feed every hour or so.

I think this is a great way to raise the local awareness of the program and hopefully snag an athlete or two that we may have overlooked otherwise. 

It feels like the times when Columbia has tried some innovative recruiting techniques, it's paid off well for the program. 

Let's see how this turns out. 

 

Georgia Get

 

6-3, 160-pound DB Mason Robinson from Camden County HS in Kingsland, Georgia has committed to the Lions. Robinson also had offers from Dartmouth, Army, Navy, and VMI\.

Mason will be the first Camden County HS grad to come to Columbia. 

As you know, we LOVE to get DB's over 5"11. 

So the list of known commits/transfers grows to 16:

1) Richard Bell Jr. DE/TE 6"5 250 lbs. Northview Academy Kodak, TN

2) Blaize Cameron TE 6"4 225 lbs. Clarkson Football North/Choate Rosemary Hall (PG year) Burlington, ON CANADA

3) Rodrigo Diaz-Martorella DE/TE 6"4 255 lbs. Miami Palmetto HS Miami, FL 

4) Liam Donagher DB 6"2 200 lbs. Grafton Memorial HS/Choate (PG Year) Grafton, MA

5) Jeremiah Douglas DB 6"2 185 lbs. IMG Academy/St. Paul's HS Brooklandville, MD 

*6) Cole Freeman QB 6"0 215 lbs. Delbarton School Morristown, NJ 

7) Christian Gonzalez LB 6"1 220-lbs. Bergen Catholic HS Oradell, NJ

8) Miron Magee DB 5"10 160 lbs. Lake Highlands HS Dallas, TX

9) Carter McCray DB 6"0 185 lbs Cornerstone Christian HS San Antonio, TX

10) Emanuel Nazy OL 6"4 280 lbs. Hackensack HS/Don Bosco Prep Hackensack, NJ

11) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ

12)Sam Pearman K 6"0 180 lbs. Los Gatos HS Los Gatos, CA

13) Xavier Phipps WR 6"5 190 lbs. Dekaney HS Houston, TX

14) Mason Robinson DB 6"3 160 lbs. Camden County HS Kingsland, GA

15) Benny Sasso OL 6"3 270 lbs. Wall Township HS, Wall, NJ

16) Caleb Solomon DB 6"1 180 lbs. Miramar HS Miramar, FL  

*transfer from Northwestern 

All Set

The official announcements have all been made and now there is confirmation of my report from December 17th that Seitu Smith is the new offensive coordinator. 

The other coaching staff names and bios can be found here on the official athletic department website. 

Of course, the big takeaway everyone will get is that this is an extremely young staff from top to bottom. I think there are two things at play here:

1) I believe Athletic Director Peter Pilling is looking to duplicate some of the key characteristics of the best coaching hire of his tenure at Columbia: Megan Griffith. Griffith was barely 30 years old when she got the nod as head women's basketball coach at CU in 2016. Assembling a younger staff sure seems to have worked for women's hoops.

2) Pilling is still pretty well connected to a number of NFL contacts and that league has clearly embraced a youth coaching movement for many years now. The fact that Bill Belichick hasn't been hired yet this off season seems to be strong proof of that. 

This kind of an extreme youth movement is something Columbia hasn't really tried before. Sure, Ray Tellier and Norries Wilson, are two examples of guys who were relatively young at the time they were hired. But both just seemed older in every way. 

Will it work? The immediate first test will be how well Head Coach Jon Poppe & co. fill out this incoming freshman class in the short time still available. Poppe himself has proven to be a great recruiter so far in his career, but his time to devote solely to recruiting is surely curtailed now that he's running a D-I program. 

The other big test will be how well he and Smith develop a QB for this coming season. 

The 2024 season begins in 238 days. 

... and another

 

6"4 225-pound TE/LB Blaize Cameron from Ontario's American football HS Clarkson Football North, with a PG year at Choate Rosemary Hall, has committed to Columbia. 

Cameron also had offers from Dartmouth, Yale, Maine, Bucknell, Louisiana Tech, and Stonehill.

Cameron will be the 13th Choate grad to come to Columbia, with his classmate Liam Donagher committing some weeks ago. Two other Choate PG year grads, Cobie Crews '26 and Mark Chapman '26 are on the Lions already.

No other Clarkson grads have come to CU so far.

So the list of known commits/transfers grows to 15:

1) Richard Bell Jr. DE/TE 6"5 250 lbs. Northview Academy Kodak, TN

2) Blaize Cameron TE 6"4 225 lbs. Clarkson Football North/Choate Rosemary Hall (PG year) Burlington, ON CANADA

3) Rodrigo Diaz-Martorella DE/TE 6"4 255 lbs. Miami Palmetto HS Miami, FL 

4) Liam Donagher DB 6"2 200 lbs. Grafton Memorial HS/Choate (PG Year) Grafton, MA

5) Jeremiah Douglas DB 6"2 185 lbs. IMG Academy/St. Paul's HS Brooklandville, MD 

*6) Cole Freeman QB 6"0 215 lbs. Delbarton School Morristown, NJ 

7) Christian Gonzalez LB 6"1 220-lbs. Bergen Catholic HS Oradell, NJ

8) Miron Magee DB 5"10 160 lbs. Lake Highlands HS Dallas, TX

9) Carter McCray DB 6"0 185 lbs Cornerstone Christian HS San Antonio, TX

10) Emanuel Nazy OL 6"4 280 lbs. Hackensack HS/Don Bosco Prep Hackensack, NJ

11) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ

12)Sam Pearman K 6"0 180 lbs. Los Gatos HS Los Gatos, CA

13) Xavier Phipps WR 6"5 190 lbs. Dekaney HS Houston, TX

14) Benny Sasso OL 6"3 270 lbs. Wall Township HS, Wall, NJ

15) Caleb Solomon DB 6"1 180 lbs. Miramar HS Miramar, FL  

*transfer from Northwestern

Kodak Moment

 

6-5, 250-pound DE/TE Richard Bell from Northview Academy in Kodak, TN has committed to the Lions. Bell was recently named to the Tennessee all state team.

Bell will be the first Northview grad to come to Columbia Football.

So the list of known commits/transfers grows to 14:

1) Richard Bell Jr. DE/TE 6"5 250 lbs. Northview Academy Kodak, TN

2) Rodrigo Diaz-Martorella DE/TE 6"4 255 lbs. Miami Palmetto HS Miami, FL 

3) Liam Donagher DB 6"2 200 lbs. Grafton Memorial HS/Choate (PG Year) Grafton, MA

4) Jeremiah Douglas DB 6"2 185 lbs. IMG Academy/St. Paul's HS Brooklandville, MD 

*5) Cole Freeman QB 6"0 215 lbs. Delbarton School Morristown, NJ 

6) Christian Gonzalez LB 6"1 220-lbs. Bergen Catholic HS Oradell, NJ

7) Miron Magee DB 5"10 160 lbs. Lake Highlands HS Dallas, TX

8) Carter McCray DB 6"0 185 lbs Cornerstone Christian HS San Antonio, TX

9) Emanuel Nazy OL 6"4 280 lbs. Hackensack HS/Don Bosco Prep Hackensack, NJ

10) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ

11)Sam Pearman K 6"0 180 lbs. Los Gatos HS Los Gatos, CA

12) Xavier Phipps WR 6"5 190 lbs. Dekaney HS Houston, TX

13) Benny Sasso OL 6"3 270 lbs. Wall Township HS, Wall, NJ

14) Caleb Solomon DB 6"1 180 lbs. Miramar HS Miramar, FL  

Murphy Retires

All of last season, I predicted that longtime Harvard head coach Tim Murphy would retire at the end of the season. 

But November and then December came and went, and I figured I had been wrong all along or maybe Murphy decided he wanted one more year after the Crimson fell to Yale in the season finale. 

Well, it pays to just be patient with your predictions. 

Murphy announced his retirement earlier today, he had been the head coach since 1994.

I know Harvard has had a legendary history, but I still think Murphy was the team's best coach of all time. 

Of course, another story is that over the past year the Ivy League has lost all three of its most senior and legendary coaches in Al Bagnoli, Buddy Teevens, Tim Murphy. Of course, David Archer at Cornell is gone too. This makes Princeton's Bob Surace the new dean of Ivy coaches.

Wildcat Transfer

 

The long-rumored transfer of 6-0 215-pound Northwestern QB Cole Freeman to Columbia is now official. 

Freeman had very little playing time at NU after graduating from New Jersey's Delbarton School and holds two years of eligibility.

He will be the fourth Delbarton grad to come to Columbia Football and the first since the great D-lineman Matt Bashaw '11. 

So the list of known commits/transfers grows to 13:

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) Jeremiah Douglas DB 6"2 185 lbs. IMG Academy/St. Paul's HS Brooklandville, MD 

*4) Cole Freeman QB 6"0 215 lbs. Delbarton School Morristown, NJ 

5) Christian Gonzalez LB 6"1 220-lbs. Bergen Catholic HS Oradell, NJ

6) Miron Magee DB 5"10 160 lbs. Lake Highlands HS Dallas, TX

7) Carter McCray DB 6"0 185 lbs Cornerstone Christian HS San Antonio, TX

8) Emanuel Nazy OL 6"4 280 lbs. Hackensack HS/Don Bosco Prep Hackensack, NJ

9) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ

10)Sam Pearman K 6"0 180 lbs. Los Gatos HS Los Gatos, CA

11) Xavier Phipps WR 6"5 190 lbs. Dekaney HS Houston, TX

12) Benny Sasso OL 6"3 270 lbs. Wall Township HS, Wall, NJ

13) Caleb Solomon DB 6"1 180 lbs. Miramar HS Miramar, FL  

*transfer from Northwestern

New D-Line/Special Teams Coach

 

Columbia Football has announced the hiring of D-Line/Special Teams coach Garrett McLaughlin who comes over to CU after three years at UNH.

McLaughlin is a 2012 graduate of Syracuse, making him one of the older assistants on this crew.