With five more months to go until the season, you need a good book to pass the time (More on that later)
It's been a brutal "spring" here in New York as far as the weather goes, but Saturday's warmer temperatures and clear skies set a great stage for the 2018 spring game and the conclusion of Head Coach Al Bagnoli's fourth spring practice since becoming head coach in early 2015.
Overall, the depth and talent on the team is so much improved from 2015 that it's impossible to express that fact in words. But it's worth trying to write it down just for the record.
In bullet point form, here are the 10 highlights as I saw them:
1) They put red jerseys without numbers on all five QB's, so it was often hard to tell who was in the game at any given moment. But it was clear that rising sophomores Josh Bean and Dillon Davis were getting most of the snaps. Both looked pretty good, making a lot of deep throws, especially down the sidelines. Sources tell me Bean is considered the front runner for the starting job at this moment, but almost everyone also believes Davis will get at least significant playing time.
After the game, Bean told he felt good about his chances and also that he'd like to run the ball more than he was allowed to in the spring game for obvious reasons.
2) Rising junior WR Ronald Smith was simply a thing of beauty along the sidelines. Despite the fact that rising junior CB Ben McKeighan was doing an excellent job in coverage every time, Smith was able to get just enough space to make acrobatic grab after grab.
3) The other star Lion WR, Josh Wainwright, was open quite often down the seam and had a stellar game as well. It certainly doesn't look like any of the QB's are out of sync with Columbia's historically deep and talented corps of receivers.
4) The defense was dominant against the run, but also seemed to control the line of scrimmage much of the time. Rising sophomore LB Justin Woodley had some standout plays, especially a screen pass that he absolutely blew up for a big loss.
5) The offensive looked better and bigger than we've seen it in a long time. I'm not going to count the weak running game against them with all the transition going on there.
6) The competition was fierce at times, as evidenced by a short after-the-whistle altercation between rising juniors DL Arman Samouk and OL Joe Scowden.
7) The secondary looked good despite the amazing catches so many receivers were making all day. Honestly, it would take a top level FBS group of DB's to shut down our receivers at this point.
8) The only two significant injured players in attendance were LB Michael Murphy, who looks like he's recovering nicely from his ACL tear against Harvard last season, and WR Christian Everett, who didn't seem seriously hurt.
9) The D-line had a lot of added quickness and even some bulk. Rising senior Mike Hinton was bigger, and rising sophomores Cooper Wilson, Andrew Nichols, and Ogonna Oraedu looked fast. Samouk was tough even on plays that didn't end in scuffles. Daniel DeLorenzi looked good and recovered from his injury issues last year.
10) The kicking game seemed generally fine. Rising senior Chris Alleyne may be more than just the kickoff specialist this fall based on some of his booming punts. Rising sophomore P Drew Schmid had a few too. K Oren Milstein looked solid.
Again, overall this may have been the most encouraging spring game we've ever seen. The main question about the 2018 Lions will be all about the QB position, and there was no need for despair about that position based on what we saw Saturday.
Abbruzzese can write!
All-time great Columbia RB Greg Abbruzzese '91 has put together a fine new novel that combines suspense, action, good ol' South Boston lingo, and... Ivy League Football.
Yes, it's true. He somehow managed to get all those themes together in a book that I'd call a fun combination of "The Departed," "Love Story," and "Everybody's All American."
Buy your copy today by clicking here.
