Every week for the next 10 weeks, I’ll be taking a quick
look at what our 10 opponents for 2014 have been up to this offseason.
I’ll start with week one opponent Fordham and go on from
there:
The Rams haven’t stood still since finishing their
remarkable 2013 season at 12-2 and winning an FCS playoff game.
Well, that’s not completely true, because one impressive
aspect of the 2014 Fordham team is how many amazing players are returning from
last year.
Nowhere is that more evident than the wide receiver position
where the Rams have not one, not two, but THREE returning WR’s who gained at least 1,000 yards each last season.
But the story at Fordham is not just about the returning
players.
New York fans will likely be paying a lot of attention to a transfer
named Josh Klecko, son of NY Jet great Joe Klecko.
Klecko transferred from Rutgers to Fordham early this year. He’s also the brother of
Dan Klecko who won three Super Bowls in the NFL.
Of course, the Rams are okay on the D-line already when you
consider that FCS All American Brett Biestek is returning for 5th year. He’s been named to the CFPA
preseason watch list.
And you have to mention that QB Michael Nebrich is coming
back after throwing for 4,380 yards, 35 TD’s and just 7 INT last season.
Nebrich also ran for 513 yards and 9 TD’s.
With all the transfers and returning players, Fordham
brought in an extremely small incoming freshman class, but one player from the
class of 2018 who really stands out to me is All-State RB Chase Edmonds from Harrisburg, PA. That kid is dangerous.
A big moment for Fordham will come on Nov. 22nd when
the Rams travel to West Point to play Army.
16 comments:
I remember when Fordham was horrible. Their alumni were up in arms of course and then around 2000 if memory serves they decided to turn it around. I didn't follow it closely but I do recall they started getting good players and staff. Is this all attributed to having scholarships? What other lessons can be learned from Fordham's transformation? They have only had a few dips since that time and they occurred usually season 1 after a coaching transition so not unexpected.
Certainly we were highly competitive with Fordham until last year. A few things happened. The new Fordham president made football a priority. They have always been able to recruit kids that we can't touch. And now they can offer scholarships to boot. I actually think that we should drop them from our schedule. Plus I just hate playing them in that awful facility with no home sidelines.
True, I was thinking the last few years have been decisive losses but the scores show it was close. I don't remember them that way.
I bet they wish they had our stadium though.
Dropping Fordham should NOT be an option! Just because we have inept coaching and recruiting, the kids, alums, and University soyuld not suffer. The "Liberty Cup" does mean something. We should focus on being better prepared! Based on what Pete has recruited, and how he coaches, we won't be competitive with Fordham until he leaves.
Edmond Chase, the All-State RB who Fordham "got" was also recruited by Navy and West Point. We just missed him (again).
Michael Nebrich is the UCONN transfer, correct? It looks like Fordham will have several D-1/JUCO transfers on their team. With the addition of Klecko their defense should be solid. The question is (again), why can't we get impact transfers (Nottingham TBD). We need to better utilize the School of General Studies (just like baseball).
Baseball did fine this year without using GS. The one roster player from GS is a great story as a vet, etc., but he had a bad season and was benched. GS is not the answer. And Fordham has moved so far away from Ivy and even Patriot League standards that none of the schools will likely want to continue playing them. And I will say it again, playing them at Fordham in that miserable venue makes the whole experience even worse. The simple fact is that they can recruit guys who are borderline students and give them scholarships. We can't and shouldn't.
Oldlion, all good points; especially about the venue in the Bronx. However, I do not think that we reached a point like Dartmouth and UNH (a couple of years ago they cancelled the series because of the range in talent). I would suggest playing FU as our 3rd or 4th game, rather than our 1st game. I wouldn't say that GS is the anser, just another option. If we could get 1-2 players a year through GS, we would be far more competitive.
What are the rules?
If we can legally utilize GS students and we can use GS as a route for talent, why not?
I would rather have the rest of the league bitch about that than laugh at our incompetence.
Harvard, et al don't appear to mind comments about their recruiting methods.
Exactly. And it wouldn't be so much the rest of the league that would complain, it would be the defeatist CU fans themselves.
Exactly. And it wouldn't be so much the rest of the league that would complain, it would be the defeatist CU fans themselves.
Absolutely detest the fact that we play Fordham as our opener when its
their 3rd game usually. We're stil working on timing and execution and they're well tuned by then. Very concerned
for the health and safety of our kids-(see Nottingham).
Though, as oldlion pointed out, CU has beaten Fordham a few times before - granted, at a different strength trajectory.
What the opening game represents now is a clear benchmark for what to expect during the season. Another beatdown would be disastrous. Being competitive out of the blocks could potentially salvage the program enough to steal a few wins in subsequent games.
Why can't we schedule some local scrimmages to tune up prior to Fordham?
Pat
I am not aware of a college football team scheduling scrimmages outside of their own team. It could not hurt at all though if another team was interested. A lot would ride on costs for travel. You are going all that way, why not just make it a game? It would be nice to see what the Ivy League athletics charter looks like. Specific to football I recall a conversation where someone said the rules with football are specific. All teams need to conform to the 10 game schedule as is.
We used to either scrimmage or play an exhibition with if I recall correctly, Nassau CC back in the 80's. Maybe it was Stony Brook?
Yes it was NCCC... now we don't scrimmage them, we hire our coaches from their freshman class.
Yes it was NCCC... now we don't scrimmage them, we hire our coaches from their freshman class.
Post a Comment