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.
80 comments:
Exciting times ahead! Last season’s underachievement is soon to be a distant memory now that we have a fantastic coach at the helm. Poppe is awesome!
In a bit of delicious irony, the incredibly insightful comment above — “9-1 or 10-0 for sure” — is, in all likelihood, the output of a Fabulist who was completely fine with our 3-7 record this year.
WOW?
Very interesting interview of Caleb Sanchez by John W. Davis, the Long Beach Telegram sportswriter wherein Caleb explains why he signed with Columbia. One of the most prominent reasons was the chemistry he feels he has with Coach Poppe and the new Columbia coaching staff. That is certainly to Coach Poppe and his staff's credit.
Is that the interview where he said his parents now won’t have to pay for college?
Caleb Sanchez is obviously a very intelligent young man and certainly capable of handling the rigors of a Columbia education, but the reality is that there is much schoolwork to be processed in at least the first couple of months. As a practical matter therefore, while it is very likely that he will see significant playing time as Columbia's quarterback vearly in his career, no one should expect that to happen immediately. As a practical matter therefore, I would expect there to be a vigorous competition for the starting quarterback position beginning in spring practice. At this time, the clear leader has to be the transfer from Northwestern, Cole Freeman, who has the benefit of at least seeing some collegiate varsity action during his two seasons at Northwestern. None of the returning Columbia quarterbacks has seen any meaningful action at Columbia, so it is virtually impossible for outsiders to assess chances.
Malcolm Terry is the only experienced running back on our roster. So the running back position is also an issue.
His best offer was from Nevada.
As I kept watching Sanchez's video, I kept thinking of Mahomes.
TOD HOWARD HAWKS
Mahomes.?
Ummm. We are going off the deep end already.
Come on, man. Has some composure.
There was a video that went viral in the summer where he was compared to Mahomes. Just saying
Please get a grip with the Mahomes stuff already. Sorry, that doesn't jive with his best offer being only Nevada.
As always I wish for nothing but the best for this QB and all players. To the fans, please remember that Brevin White who turned down Alabama to play for Princeton never played meanigful minutes there.
I agree with those who credit Poppe and co with a good job filling out the class. We should all defer to the coaches who will evaluate all players to play those who provide the best chances for winning
He had offers from Fordham, Christian Univ, and PWO at Northwestern Univ, UCLA QB coach interested in him, Oregon State but got another job at Oregon State, and other colleges! Kid was only given 1 year on his senior year to start as varsity even though he could have beat out them other QBs but politics at its best plays a major role at Bosco! He shock everyone when he show case his talent but because c/o 2024 is pretty much done from last years recruit, as much as other colleges wanted to offer him they couldn't cz they had no more space for another QB! This kid is special his better then a lot of the top 10 QBs in his class don't believe all the other hype his the real deal!
He had other offers kid just didnt like to post. No one really knew of him till he started at Bosco he literally shock everyone he was even nomited as MaxPreps Player of the year at one point. Kid just stays quiet don't like fake hype just wants to show out. If he walk in with the top QB in his class 2024 they all know Caleb and know they have a competition!
All the recent comments make sense to me. The bottom line is that Columbia is a great fit for him and Coach Poppe and the coaching staff also did a great job of recruiting him.
No; that comment is by a smart Alec who wants to trash us by mocking us—probably a Penn guy.
He made a lot of these young receivers look good by throwing dots and they got themselves offers from P5 schools and other top football programs thanks to Caleb! If Caleb had another year to play he would have been top 5 QB in his class easily and colleges would be all over him!
Hooefully someone steps up and get Caleb a NIL deal kids a prodigy!
I belive he said that because his parents doesn't want him worrieng about the cost of his education and just wants him to focus on his studies that's prob why his parents told him that everything is free is what I'm thinking.
We better go undefeated now
He has many similarities to Mahomes. Go Lions!
I think you should do it. Pretty straightforward.
Kid is legit. Michigan and USC were both interested in him
Clemson and Penn State as well
The bottom line to this is the kid is a stud on and off the field. He’s dealt with adversity and knows how to play in the biggest stage. Just look at the competition he played this past season. ( top 20 teams) and he still had a good season. He was also considered a max prep player of the year. This is not me just talking. These are facts!!! Google his name.
A more realistic comparison is Joe Green or Skyler Mornhinweg. 73 rush yards in 13 games. Big arm, not really quick/fast feet. Not seeing the Mahomes comparison.
Cole Freeman may be the better runner, and there are other QBs on the roster we don't know much about. Probably not wise to overestimate Sanchez, as good as he may be.
Doesn’t matter. We’ll only have Sanchez one year. After he takes us undefeated and shatters all Ivy League records in his freshman year, he’ll get some kind of an exemption from NCAA and NFL, go on to be the #1 draft pick by the LA Chargers and lead them to a Super Bowl win in 2025!
I googled him. Only 2 offers - Columbia and Nevada
https://247sports.com/Recruitment/caleb-sanchez-154736/RecruitInterests/
His offers is not updated on 24/7 cz he never post or tag has 4 offers overall
Thanks for this info. Sanchez seems like a great addition to the program. You seem to have seen him play and have some insight. In your opinion, what are the factors that kept him from going to a P5 school? Does he have some specific things he will need to improve on as he becomes a colllege QB?
The comment above about the #1 draft pick is incredibly clever and witty! It’s not often you see such gems. It must’ve taken the poster ages to come up with, and I don’t think we’ll ever be able to outdo him. Just the greatest comment ever. Easily.
Comparing an incoming freshman QB at FCS cupcake Columbia to Mahomes is bananas.
Agree. When I was watching Super Bowl I could not help but see strong similarities between Sanchez and Mahomes. Just sayin’
Too many people posting on this lard have too m,UC time on their hands. Some comments are insightful, a few are mean spirited, even fewer may have been fueled by vodka, but to the extent that we have true lovers of Columbia football whose comments may suffer from a surfeit of enthusiasm, I say God bless.
Let's move on from the quarterback position to running back. I suspect the Columbia coaching staff is hard at work trying to find two or three available high caliber late recruit(s) or transfer(s). At this time, there are only four running backs listed on the roster. Of the four only senior Malcolm Terry II, has seen any significant playing time at Columbia. Terry is an excellent running back, and certainly seems poised to have a very big year, however the three players behind him have to be considered question marks. Obviously, it is a great opportunity for those three players, but without any proven high quality depth behind Terry, we have a serious problem. I wonder what Jake and everyone else's take is on this matter.
Agree. Jake mentioned that several seniors are returning. Would be great to know if Gorgi is coming back. Having him would be huge. He's a solid back who can provide some leadership as the team adjusts to a new staff and younger guys take on bigger roles. Anyone with info on Gorgi?
*Giorgi
I have heard he will be back but have no way to confirm this. Have also heard most of eligible defensive players plan to return as well as TE. Again cant confirm, just what i heard
From a reliable source?
He was only given a chance to start in his senior year and many schools were interested in him but because he started his last year pretty much they already had QBs commited to their program and colleges want to see more film even though he had an amazing year it was but too late.
Any thoughts on Harvard hiring Andrew Aurich?
Surprised they didn't stay in-house.
You're an idiot. We didn't hire an internal candidate either. Both the Harvard DC and OC have had long successful tenures at Harvard, are well respected and had support for the job. Going outside the program to hire a Princeton guy with minimal experience is surprising. Your eagerness to be sarcastic makes you seem like a moron.
Do you actually follow Ivy League football?
Who's you? :)
3 posts up
Do we really need the snarky comments?
Looked like the start of a chat about the new Harvard coach......
"3 posts up".
Oh, you mean the anonymous that talks about the Harvard OC/DC. OK I see.
Seems as though the jerk has returned to the blog. Unfortunate.
Sensitive. Unfortunate.
He is back.
I know most of the defensive lineman that are eligible are coming back
Sanchez had an offer from Christian University
Sanchez had an offer from Christian University.
Where is that?
Nearly all of the 2-deep on defense will be back. Will need to have several D B’s step up but there is talent there. Will those returning be improved? Hopefully. Repeating last year’s performance not good enough
Oline will need to improve. But will bring back at least 4 with starting experience. All TEs should return, if there is improvement there could be an area of strength. You heard it here first - WRs have a big bounce back year. BC shows he really is most talented player on the squad. RB should be fine. Will need to replace the criminally underutilized Edwards as short yardage option. QB big question mark. Hoping new OC uses scheme to help Oline protect and make reads easier on QBs
Yes, we will have excellent size, speed and athleticism at the tight end position-definitely an area of strength in the upcoming season.
What type of injury did BC have last year? And is he fully recovered?
As far as the questions about the paucity of quality offers to Sanchez, my guess is that it relates to the fact that he was not the starter until his senior year. His high school is a powerhouse which has had a long tradition of D1 recruits, including D1 QB recruits, so my conclusion is that he was under the radar. As far as open questions, last year our OL didn’t put anybody on the 1st or 2nd all Ivy teams as I recall. We have a very good HM center but the returning OLs will need to step up.
LT was underrated and will be missed
Thanks Dad
In case you missed it, I call your attention to the 2/16 WSJ article regarding the uproar by some regarding the selection process and the choice of Harvard’s new head football coach. Not unlike some of the noise during the search for Columbia Lions’ new head football coach. But this one by Harvard is quite curious.
Another Engles biff. Guy is clueless, and once again, our star underclassmen get torched by a freshman. It’s beyond unbelievable that this disaster of a coach hasn’t been fired yet, but he will be once we fail to qualify for the Ivy tournament we’re hosting. Thank goodness we have a great football coach. Wonderful things ahead for us on the gridiron. On the hardwood, at least for the men, not so much. Until Engles is shown the door, we’ll continue to be losers.
Yes, the Harvard freshman guard "torched" us in the final minutes of the game, but the bigger issue was that for the umpteenth time an Engles coached squad failed to win a close basketball game. That happened tonight not just because the Harvard guard you referred to handled the ball very well, but also because we couldn't come up with a strategy for guarding Harvard's big men.
Fire Engles.
We have a pattern in MBB—we wilt down the stretch in close games, usually after we see a decent lead slowly slip away. The game last night followed the same pattern that the Princeton game followed, and arguably the Cornell and first Harvard games. Plus our starting backcourt couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from beyond the three point line. Cooper and Noland off the bench are our two best players — certainly our best shooters—but a Streaky DLR and an offensively challenged Brown played 32 and 33 minutes. And finally, except for Josh O — undersized but effective— our front court is not up to a competitive IL level. So why does Engles stay? Is it the mythical Gerry Sherwin bequest? Is it the brooding omnipresence of Josh Schiller? (PS, how much did it cost Schiller to get his name on the court?). In any event, I imagine that when Engles winds up with 5 or 6 IL wins, Pilling will tout the “vast improvement of the team” and re-up Engles for the next 5 years.
Who is LT?
Fire Engles.
I must agree on Sanchez. He didn’t get many offers due to the fact his didn’t start until his senior year but like you stated Bosco is a powerhouse and has a history of QB ‘s going D1
Left Tackle
Just wanted to note that Bosco was rated as one of the top 15 high school teams in the country and they beat eventual number one (Mater Dei) during the season with Sanchez at the helm. https://highschool.si.com/rankings/2023/12/18/sblive-si-top-25-high-school-football-rankings-mater-dei-is-2023-national-champion#gid=ci02d130f26000240c&pid=1-mater-dei-santa-ana-calif-13-1
Facts.
He sucks why do you think he transffered and it's not like NWU had good QBs! Caleb can beat all these QBs the only disadvantage is his young.
Nice, keeping things light and airy for all the new folks
Sanchez > Mahomes
Another Engles biff. 4-10 it is.
Why is Engles still coaching at Columbia?
A) Each season is a form of Groundhog Day
B) Pilling is asleep at the switch
C) Women's basketball has diverted attention from the men's annual train wreck
D) He has video on someone in the Athletic department who could ask him to leave
E) The Peter Principle can and does apply
F) ALL OF THE ABOVE
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