Roar Lions 2024: February 2024

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

More Harvard Angst

The latest online edition of Harvard Magazine continues the recent hand-wringing in Cambridge over the hiring of Andrew Aurich as the new football head coach.

It also contains this gem of a comment, Lions fans will love:

"On February 11, the Harvard Crimson published a scathing critique of the choice. Passed over (among others) were internal candidates Joel Lamb ’93, who was Murphy’s assistant head coach-quarterbacks, and Scott Larkee ’99, assistant head coach-defensive coordinator and linebackers. (Another onetime potential choice, former assistant coach and special teams wizard Jon Poppe, is the new head coach at Columbia. Watch for the Lions to get good, and fast.)"

We'll see.

Lion in Need

Recent Lion Football grad Bryan Bell-Anderson '23 has just this month been diagnosed with leukemia.

A Go Fund Me page has been set up to help him and his family cope with the costs connected to his care.

We wish Bryan all the best.

Saturday, February 17, 2024

Eerily Reminiscent of...

Andrew Aurich

If you read Friday's Wall Street Journal piece on alumni anger over the hiring of Andrew Aurich as Harvard's new football head coach, you can't help but feel like instead of learning from Columbia's mistakes of the past, the Crimson are emulating them.

This is NOT to say Aurich won't be successful for Harvard. For all we know, this could be the beginning of a new dominant era in Cambridge. But the alumni complaints about his hiring and his previous experience are very reminiscent of a number of periods in Columbia Football history, and I don't think I need to lay that out in detail to prove my point. Anyone reading this blog over the years knows exactly what I'm talking about.

If I had to guess why this has happened at Columbia, Harvard and many other schools over the years I'd say it's really indicative of an American university system that rarely feels any pressures of accountability. This is especially true for Ivy schools, who until this year almost never saw scrutiny from any groups other than the far right in this country. This habit of not being forthcoming about the hiring process was inevitably going to spread to athletics, and it has.

If Harvard had a fan blog, I wonder how nasty the anonymous comments would be!

The good news is that this story proves you don't have to be the fan of a program going on 63 years without a championship to be angry about being treated like garbage by your alma mater. I think Ivy Football has a long future ahead of it when even Harvard's alums/fans can get this angry.

Based on what we learned in the WSJ article and what I've heard from others over the last few months, one winner in all of this is new Columbia Head Coach Jon Poppe. It seems like he got out of a vipers nest of assistants at Harvard determined to edge out their peers for the top job only to see all of them spurned. Poppe's "demotion" to head coach at a D-III school lasted just one year and now he's in a better position than everyone who stayed with the Crimson waiting Tim Murphy out.

Well played Jon, here's hoping you have the same keen strategic skills for the Lions on the field this fall.

Thursday, February 8, 2024

The "Sanchez Era?"

It's not a stretch to say that Caleb Sanchez's decision to come to Columbia is the most prominent commitment to this football program in the modern era.

The story is getting a lot of standalone write-ups in national football recruting websites, sports pages, and even was the subject of a Twitter/X post from Eric Sondheimer, the LA Times top HS football reporter (with 114K followers to boot).

All the disclaimers about incoming freshmen still apply. They include reminders that Sanchez may need more time to adjust to college football, life in school, and NYC. Also, even the best QB's often take a very long time to develop.

But it's still okay to focus on the fact that Head Coach Jon Poppe has indeed delivered a major "big fish" to this program right off the bat.

Give a good deal of credit to Al Bagnoli and Mark Fabish though, because there's no way Sanchez makes this decision if this were 2015 and the Lions were riding a 21-game losing streak as they were when Bagnoli, Fabish, & co. got here. It was getting commitments like this that I was talking about when I emphasized that Poppe was dealing with this program in its best state for a new head coach since Lou Little retired in 1956. Even with his great reputation, Bagnoli wasn't really able to bring in top recruiting prospects in that first year because of the state of the program and because he didn't take over the job until February of that year.

Of course, this all comes as Columbia just happens to be in need of a new starting QB for the fall. No matter how talented he is, it's a lot to ask a true freshman in the Ivy League to be ready to start at QB at any point in the season let alone right off the bat. But perhaps his very presence at training camp and beyond will inspire the older QBs to put in their best effort levels that only competition from a nationally-known and coveted recruit can produce.

Whoever does get the QB starting job will have some advantages compared to last season. That includes the fact that the offensive line will be more experienced.

For now, the new coaching staff needs to do its best to prepare Sanchez as much as it can without Sanchez getting the benefit of spring practice or any full squad workouts/practices until August. Perhaps that means helping him and his family prepare mostly for the emotional changes ahead as best as they can.

But how this staff deals with, develops, and parlays this Sanchez opportunity could very well be the main factor in how it is judged for all time.

2 More

6-2, 284-pound DL/OL William Matthew from Orange Vista HS in Perris, California has committed to the Lions.

Matthew had offers from Cornell. San Diego, Western Colorado, Davidson, and Northern Arizona. He will be the first Orange Vista grad to come to Columbia Football.

6-7, 295-pound OL Charlie Slavik from Bishop Blanchet HS in Seattle has committed to the Lions.

Slavik had offers from Pacific and Whitworth. He will be the first Bishop Blanchet grad to come to Columbia Football.

So the list of known commits/transfers grows to 23:

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

2) Benjamin Bruce WR/DB 6"0 160 lbs. Trinity Christian HS Lubbock, TX

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

4) Will Carstens DL/TE 6"5 240 lbs. Myrtle Beach Collegiate Academy Myrtle Beach, NC

5) Hutch Crow WR 6"0 185 lbs. Parish Episcopal HS Dallas, TX

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

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

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

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

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

11) Dylan Grech DL 6"5 280 lbs. Calhoun HS Merrick, NY

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

13) William Matthew DL/OL 6"2 284 lbs. Orange Vista HS Perris, CA

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

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

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

17) Keller Patterson DT 6"2 275 lbs. Kimball HS Dallas, TX

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

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

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

21) Caleb Sanchez QB 6"4 230 lbs. St. John Bosco HS Bellflower, CA

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

23) Charlie Slavik OL 6"7 295 lbs. Bishop Blanchet HS Seattle, WA

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

25) Luke Walker DL 6"3 235 lbs. Naples HS Naples, FL

*transfer from Northwestern

Wednesday, February 7, 2024

4 New Names

6-4, 230-pound QB Caleb Sanchez from national high school powerhouse St. John Bosco in Bellflower, California has committed to the Lions.

Sanchez made his announcement at a signing day ceremony earlier today. He also had offers from Nevada, Fordham, a PWO from Northwestern, and heavy recruitment from Arizona, U.C. Davis, and Oregon State.

Sanchez will be the first St. John Bosco grad (not to be confused with Don Bosco in NJ) to come to Columbia Football.

6-2, 275-pound DT Keller Patterson from Kimball HS in Dallas (also played at All Saints HS in Fort Worth) has committed to Columbia.

Patterson also had offers from Harvard, Georgetown, and some others.

Patterson will be the first Kimball HS grad to come to Columbia Football, but we have had three recent grads from All Saints HS come to our program, including QB Ryan Suitt '19.

6-5, 240-pound DL/TE Will Carstens from Myrtle Beach Collegiate Academy (after also playing at Terry Sanford HS in Fayetteville, NC), in Myrtle Beach, NORTH Carolina has committed to the Lions.

Carsten had offers from North Dakota, Charlotte, Presbyterian, Wagner, Eastern Kentucky, and a likely PWO from Miami.

Carsten will be the first Myrtle Beach Academy or Sanford HS grad to come to Columbia Football.

Finally, from just down the street from my house, we have 6-5, 280-pound DL Dylan Grech from Calhoun HS in Merrick, NY.

Grech had offers from Marist, Wagner, and a PWO from Stony Brook.

Grech will be the second Calhoun grad to come to Columbia Football, but the first one in 40 years.