Tuesday, January 9, 2024

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

70 comments:

Anonymous said...

Transfers are always exciting. But they are usually as hit-and-miss as any other recruit. Sometimes they win a Bushnell. Sometimes they never see the field. Time will tell how Mr. Freeman performs...

Anonymous said...

How do we see the QB competition? Who is returning? anybody else in the transfer portal? How many years of eligibility does Freeman have? Didn’t Joe Green have one more year of eligibility?

CC12 said...

Let's hope we don't have a repeat of what happened with Nottingham!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful news. One step closer to an Ivy title or at least a winning season

Anonymous said...

I believe that Jake specified that Freeman has two years of eligibility.

Anonymous said...

"Wonderful news. One step closer to an Ivy title or at least a winning season"

The letdown that Columbia fans always set themselves up for is fun to watch.

Anonymous said...

“Transfers are always exciting” has it right. PWO Freeman most likely entered portal because……. He knew he wouldn’t make it at Northwestern.

Anonymous said...

Move along, troll.

Anonymous said...

Aren't the odds very much against any walk-on ever seeing playing time at a Big Ten School like Northwestern?

Anonymous said...

Joe Green is no longer playing football and is starting his career in NYC very soon.

Anonymous said...

Good Luck to Joe and his family from this devoted Columbia Football Fan! Thanks for the memories!

Anonymous said...


Our men's basketball team held its own against a strong Cornell team for most of last night's game in Ithaca, before falling by double digits. Even without our top scorer, junior guard Geronimo de la Rosa, who did not play, the Lion guards matched up very well with their Cornell counterparts. Unfortunately, the Lions are not quite as strong up front where several of the players I believe they were counting on at the start of the season did not play last night--Murphy, Nweke, Stoddard, Our very talented 6'10" freshman big, Arop Arop, also did not play last night.

Stan Waldbaum said...


Anyone know why Geronimo de la Rosa and Arop Arop didn't play last night against Cornell?

Anonymous said...

Continue to be very optimistic about mens basketball and football

Anonymous said...

Maybe the Jim Engles triple threat (injury, illness, and attrition) strikes again?

Anonymous said...

Men’s football, yes. Men’s basketball, a hard no. It’s a shame, too, because the basketball players are talented. Just need a new coach.

Anonymous said...

I am surprised people are still negative about jim Engles. I thought he was a good coach given his record at Nj tech. I thought he has just had a string of bad luck at Columbia and is finally hitting his stride but maybe i am wrong?

Anonymous said...

Engles is a solid coach and the team is nine and five.

Anonymous said...

Back to football are we really sure we have an offensive coordinator? That post was almost a month ago and still no announcement. The other coaches were announced and on the website within a few days

Anonymous said...

"Back to football are we really sure we have an offensive coordinator? That post was almost a month ago and still no announcement. The other coaches were announced and on the website within a few days"

Did you not see the photo of the post-it on the door that Jake showed?

Anonymous said...

Engles is horrific. Still waiting for a winning season, either in conference or overall. Even with the D3 cupcakes, I don’t see that happening this year.

Anonymous said...

SIX YEARS of bad luck? Tell me you don’t really believe that.

Anonymous said...

I think a good idea would be to move Townsend to OC

Anonymous said...

Football in very good hands with Poppe at the helm. Think we win 6+ in his first season.

Anonymous said...

I think we win 8 or 9 games and are league champs, with an outside shot at 10-0.

Anonymous said...

Last fall on this bog I correctly predicted Nick Saban would retire. He has become unhappy with the state of college football, i.e. the commercialization. I give him one to two years to become bored out of his mind and start looking for a coaching job in an old fashioned "pure" conference as some sort of a hobby.

If our new guy doesn't work out, we can always make Saban an offer he can't refuse before Princeton or Dartmouth do.

Anonymous said...

"I think we win 8 or 9 games and are league champs, with an outside shot at 10-0."

Definitely going undefeated 10-0. There's a new sheriff in town now. Multiple Ivy League Championships coming up!!!

Anonymous said...

Is it true that a bunch of seniors are taking spring semester off so they can come back and play in the fall?

Anonymous said...

Not so fast, Anonymous. I was the Anonymous one who predicted Saban would retire.

Anonymous said...

No

doc/jock said...

I don't believe you...
How do we know when EVERYONE is "anonymous".

Anonymous said...

What does "Doc/Jock" mean?

Anonymous said...

So excited for the Fall. We have waited so long for the kind of team and program we now have

Anonymous said...

Can’t wait to see Freeman go to work and win the job.

Anonymous said...

I expect Freeman to be the starting quarterback next year, but you need at least two talented guys behind him going into the 2024 season. Look for the Lions to add some more very talented talented players in the coming weeks.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, we wouldn't want them to add some untalented players.

Anonymous said...

Don’t sleep on James McCauley…

Anonymous said...

I’m hearing all the defensive guys that were leaving have decided to come back under the new coaches. If we get any offense at all we could kick some butt.

Anonymous said...

Is Georgi coming back?

Anonymous said...

Georgi is back

Anonymous said...

Any word on Seth Parker? Hopefully defensive unit learns from experience of Receivers group in 2023. Just returning a talented group is not enough. Dont read your press clippings, if you are not improving you are loosing ground

Anonymous said...

No

Anonymous said...

Need a QB

Anonymous said...

Georgi and Terry are a good RB combination, but I would like to see a big back in the mix as well, somebody like that big wildcat QB who carried the Dartmouth LB over the goal line a few years ago and then transferred.

Anonymous said...

Who do you have in mind?

Anonymous said...

Townsend!!

Anonymous said...

There are some Qs rostered that have shown they can run with power. Although none have done that yet in game, it shows up on HS tape.

A few of these guys are very strong, too. We have a few guys likely to be willing to lower a shoulder and work for hard yards from the position.

Anonymous said...

Who will play LT in 2024? Big shoes to fill

Stan Waldbaum said...


Jake, I thought you would like to know that Richard Bell Jr., a 6'5" 250 defensive end and tight end for Northview Academy in Kodak, Tenn. has committed to play football for the Columbia Lions. Bell is the Regional 1-4A Defensive Lineman of the Year. Bell, who carries a 3 me.8 gpa, also plays power forward on Kodak's Basketball Team. Richard Bell looks like a great young man and football prospect.

Anonymous said...

Soph who replaced BG when he was injured handled himself fine. Question is can the 3 sophs who started last 2 games improve this offseason?

Anonymous said...

What other offers?

Anonymous said...

I remember this group had very high standards for Fabish recruits. No RB’s from small schools in Ohio. Of course all high standards will be applied evenly regardless of HC

Anonymous said...

Why would the size of the school matter if the running back has the necessary skills to be an outstanding player in the Ivy League? See Joey Giorgi.

Anonymous said...

Ask the football gurus who posted criticisms of prior staff’s recruiting

Anonymous said...

"Richard Bell Jr., a 6'5" 250 defensive end and tight end for Northview Academy in Kodak, Tenn. has committed to play football for the Columbia Lions. Bell is the Regional 1-4A Defensive Lineman of the Year. Bell, who carries a 3 me.8 gpa, also plays power forward on Kodak's Basketball Team. Richard Bell looks like a great young man and football prospect."

What other offers did he have?

Anonymous said...

The previous staff was beyond reproach. Except, of course, when it came to coaching.

ungvar said...

From The Mountain Lion on Voy.com:

Blaize Cameron the 6'4" 225 lb. TE, OLB and WR for the Choate School in Connecticut has committed to the Columbia Lions. Cameron, who hails from Burlington, Ontario, has 4.5 40 speed and was a 1st Team All-Founders League Selection on an undefeated Choate Team.

Anonymous said...

Cameron had offers from La Tech, and several Northeast FCS programs--including Yale and Dartmouth.

Can't find anything on Richard Bell. He doesn't appear to be active social media.

Roar Lion said...

Only my personal opinion, but I'm skeptical of players who come from New England boarding schools or expensive small preps. Have we had many excellent players come from boarding school? The big public and Catholic HS play a higher level of football, but those players often require financial aid. You recruit from expensive prep schools when you run out of financial aid.

That said, I hope Bell and Cameron are future all-Ivy!

Anonymous said...

My point on asking for his others offers was really to poke fun at the dumb critiques of the prior staff’s recruits. As always I wish nothing but the best for all players, do not and never will care about size or location of their high school

Fwiw, the fact that Mr Bell seems to have limited social media engagement suggests to me he has a fine head on his shoulders

Anonymous said...

Absolutely agree w Roar Lion. Need more recruits from FL, GA, TX. They play against much better competition and make earlier contributions

Anonymous said...

<>

Undoubtedly true. That said, it takes more than having a find head to win games. Talent helps as well. Without social media, we have no idea if other college football coaches view Bell as a prime recruiting target, or if he's a marginal guy that nobody else wants.

Anonymous said...

All the recent points are indeed excellent in my opinion, but having been personally involved in the recruiting game for many years, I understand and know for a fact that not all generalizations are accurate. For example, the fact that a particular athlete may or may not have many, or even any offers from other schools, may or may not be important. It all depends

Anonymous said...

Is there anyone on this Board old enough to remember George Starke who was possibly the best football-basketball combo athlete in Columbia sports history? I'm not seeing that our new recruit from the Volunteer State is going to be that good, but I hope so. Incidentally, it appears that Columbia has also offered a second standout football player from the same school. Let's hope he joins the party.

Anonymous said...

I remember George. TE and in basketball played in the pivot. Tremendous athlete. Highly recruited. We beat out Yale for him as I recall.

Anonymous said...

Exactly, thats why it is best to refer to groups when using things like stars, other offers, etc. aside from being unfair to the individual these tend to be wildly inaccurate. Now if you look at 3 or 4 recruiting classes (90-100 athletes) you can start to make some decent generalizations. But again, you still play because teams with clear athletic advantages do get upset now and again

Anonymous said...

Who is BG?

Anonymous said...

Baby Gronk!!

Anonymous said...

He sucked

Anonymous said...

Not nice