Getting the DT's

Niko Padilla and his mom

I’ve written many times that the rarest of rarities in the Ivy League is the 1,000 yard rusher and the second rarest of rarities is a dominant, big defensive tackle.

There may be a slight change in that trend this season as there are more than the usual allotment of just 1-2 dominant DT types. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

The best DT in the league, and the best one to come down in quite a while is Princeton’s 5^th year senior Caraun Reid. At  6-2 and 305 pounds he is currently without peer in the league in size, ability and effectiveness. No one else at the DT position in the Ivies seems to come close this year.

Columbia’s best hopes for filling that role seem be on the shoulders of sophomore Niko Padilla. I’d say he’s still about 10 pounds shy of where he needs to be to be the ideal DT, but he could get there by the fall.  And frankly, he’s already as good as any of the non-Reid DT’s returning this season.  

Remember, Padilla was recruited and offered by Army, Yale and given a scholarship spot at Central Arkansas. This is not a stretch to see him as even a 1st Team All Ivy this or next year. And Coach Mangurian really oozed with praise for Padilla in his spring assessment.

Harvard’s Nnamdi Obukwelu needs to make a significant step up to get anywhere near Reid’s league, but he has the goods. At 275 pounds and with speed, he already was one of the top DT’s last season and he’s one the of best 3-4 returning players at the position. He was an All Ivy 2^nd Team awardee last season.

After that, the cupboard seems a little bare… as usual.

Of course, an incoming frosh could make a move like Columbia’s Owen Fraser did as a frosh in 2008, (sadly, Fraser was chop-blocked in the 2009 opener and was never the same), and this seems like a year when there are enough DT vacancies up and down the league for a freshman to get into the mix.

But it’s just hard to understate how big an impact a strong DT has on an Ivy League defense. Such a player is a real definition of a game changer.

If Padilla steps up, there are few things that would help the 2013 Lions more than that.