Believe the Hype!

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Incoming frosh #28 was confiremd last night and it's a kid from the New York area in 6-2 270 pound DE J.D. Hurt from St. Anthony's HS on Long Island.

His highlight video is below:

So here's our updated list of 28 incoming frosh:

1. Oluwatoba "Toba" Akinleye DE 6-1, 215 lbs. Fort Hamilton HS, Brooklyn. NY
2. Jacob Ardron LB 6-1 230 lbs. Diamond Ranch HS, Pomona, CA
3. Trevor Bell WR/KR 5-7 190 lbs. Hamshire-Fannett HS Hamshire, TX
4. Matt Cahal DB 6-0, 190 lbs. Brophy College Prep, Phoenix, AZ
5.Chris Cicilioni G/DE 6-2 225 lbs. Valley View HS, Scranton, PA
6. Mark Cieslak LB 5-11 235 lbs. St. Joseph's HS, Montvale, NJ
7. Chris Connors WR 6-1 205 lbs. St. Edward HS, Lakewood, OH
8. Alec Davison LB 6-1 243 lbs. Clement HS Sugarland, TX
9. Andrew Dobitsch WR 5-11 180 lbs. Northern Valley HS Tappan, NJ
10. Nick Durham DE/TE 6-4 228 lbs. Bishop Fenwick HS Franklin, Ohio
11. Josh Foster DB 5-11 170 lbs. Delran HS Delran, NJ
12. Michael Gerst RB 5-10 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic Bergen County, NJ
13. Scooter Hollis QB 6-1 175 lbs. Bowling Green HS, Bowling Green, KY
14. J.D. Hurt DE 6-2 270 lbs. St. Anthony's HS, Melville, NY
15. Max Keefe S 6-2 195 lbs. Choctawatchee HS, Fort Walton, FL
16. Brett Leatherwood OL 6-0 220 lbs. Anderson HS Austin, TX
17. Kevin McCarthy, S 6-1 200 lbs. Hingham, HS Hingham. MA
18. Trevor McDonagh, QB 6-3 200 lbs. St. Louis University HS, St. Louis, MO
19. Cameron Molina, RB/LB 5-10, 185 lbs. Tuscarora HS, Leesburg, VA
20. Daren Napier DT 6-4 275 lbs. St. John's HS Houston, TX
21. Niko Padilla, DT 6-2, 280 lbs. Parish Episcopal School Dallas, TX
22. Darin Patmon S 6-1 180 lbs. Land O'Lakes HS Land O'Lakes, FL
23. Travis Reim DB 6-1 185 lbs. Cedar Park HS Cedar Park, TX
24. Logan Scott QB 6-2 180 lbs. Chaminade HS West Hills, CA
25. Austin Stock, C 6-3 270 lbs. Solon HS Solon, OH
26. Hank Trumbull QB 6-4 210 lbs. Chadwick School Palos Verdes, CA
27. Julian Vigil DB 5-10 170 lbs. Mullen HS Denver, CO
28. Mike Zunica, FB 6-1 215 lbs. St. Rita HS Chicago, IL


Key Coach

Football Scoop is reporting that Matt Thurin will be the new special teams coach at Columbia.

This is a very  key coaching job considering some of the chronic problems the special teams have had in recent years.

Matt played football at Berea College, where the Cleveland Browns train.

Believe the Hype!

At this time last year, we only knew about 14 incoming players.

Today we've doubled that.

A big reason why, in my opinion, is that new Head Coach Pete Mangurian is not being overly sensitive about secrecy like his predecessor.

He may not be P.T. Barnum, but Mangurian seems to get the idea that this sport and these players need to be promoted much more in the media and among the fans.

Why do I make such a big deal about the incoming freshmen?

Beacuse while being recruited and accepted to play football in the Ivies is not the be all and end all of life, it should be at least briefly celebrated the way we do it here on Roar Lions Roar and other web sites.

And for those who say they don’t like hype, it’s been noted on some other sites than many of the people who decry recruit hype are also the people openly wondering why there aren’t more people in the stands
at Ivy football games!

In this world, things need to be promoted.

That’s true even when people are already hyped up about something like the latest iPhone or iPad.

That’s why even Apple has an advertising budget even though it probably gets about $1 billion in free advertising every year on TV news programs alone.

If you’re sitting around watching the Super Bowl this Sunday with a bunch of friends and they ask you about Columbia football or even if they don’t, do Columbia, the Ivies, and yourself a favor and talk up Lion football. 

Tell them about how there are plenty of non-thug footballers out there who work hard and play for the love of the game.

Tell them they can see these kids every fall for $10 a game and not worry that they have just subsidized a steroid operation or worse.

And tell them about how proud each parent of every player was at every signing ceremony this week where they saw their children being honored for their brains and athleticism.

And then challenge them to never complain about all the attention the factories like LSU and Alabama get until they try watching college football being played by actual collegians.

Do that for me, will you?

Offensive Holes?

A lot of readers are wondering aloud if the recruiting class this year is dangerously too thin in the offensive linemen category.

I’d like to calm down about this and just say that Coach Mangurian is coming off years as an offensive line coach himself and could never let this position slide too far out of mind.

But we said similar things about Norries Wilson who had been an All Big 10 O-lineman himself.

Still, I remain hopeful that some of the remaining unknown incoming frosh will be great offensive linemen and that Coach Mangurian has a strong plan to get the most of what we have coming back at the position.

Less is More

More and more sources confirm the theme I began to write about a few weeks ago: Coach Mangurian wants a leaner and meaner roster.

Team strength is a major issue and Mangurian is overhauling the weight training program right now.

But he also needs to weed out the players who won’t be good enough no matter what technique or training they endure.

The prospect of coaching 70 or so of the toughest players as opposed to 110 guys with varying skill levels is certainly attractive. But Mangurian knows he won’t be able to strip away the chaff quite so
easily.

But this policy is likely to be reinforced during spring practice, which is just a mere two months away.

Some of the players will surely file into those April practice sessions looking a bit rusty, and perhaps wondering if the continued effort is worth it.

All of us here would probably say it is worth it, but that’s easy for us to say.

My only word of caution on this strategy for Mangurian is to remind him that it will take time before he can really get that perfect balance of quality and quantity on the team. I know he knows this, but it’s a fact he’ll have to keep at the forefront of his mind at all times.

But the ax is falling my friends and the key will be making sure the fallout doesn’t result in a lot of people overreacting to a coach who’s simply looking to employ some tough love on on the program.

Football is Good

Rising senior Alec Kosminskas’ dad Mark wrote this very good op-ed piece in the Chicago Tribune this week denouncing a bad decision to cancel football at a local community college.

Here are some key quotes:

“Nearly 100 young men voluntarily walked through Harper College's doors and signed up for classes. That's raw material to work with. The task of Mr. Ender's institution is to do something with them. Who cares if they enrolled principally to play football? Once they enroll, the college has a shot at educating them and propelling them to college or a career.”

And

“There is now a real shortage of males attending college. By 2013, estimates are that women will make up 57 percent of college students and by 2019, that ratio jumps to 59 percent. For African-Americans, that ratio is even worse. Why shut down a conduit for dozens of males to attend college? If love of football is the lure that gets these kids to advance their education, so be it.”

Exactly.