QB Quo Vadis?

Senior Anders Hill may have been the starter for most of last season, and he certainly got a decent amount of playing time in his freshman and sophomore years.

But this is the first time he enters a season with a full off season of preparing to be Columbia's undisputed starting QB, and that puts Hill in a unique position to make some Lion history.

The last 20 years or so of Columbia football have produced just two or three starting quarterbacks who have made a major impact as leaders on the field. The best overall was Sean Brackett '13, who continues to make strides in the Arena Football League. But Brackett, who had enormous talent as a passer and fleet runner, graduated with just 10 wins under his belt as a starter despite starting for more than three seasons for the Lions. His senior season, where the Pete Mangurian regime basically banned him from running, was a disappointment that yielded only three of his career 10 wins. Still, those 10 wins as a starter are the most for any CU QB over the last 25 years.

Mike Cavanaugh '96 was only slightly less talented than Brackett, but he was injured in the middle of his senior season and didn't have anywhere near the opportunities Brackett had in terms of total starts.

M.A. Olawale '10 was the complete package as a bruising runner and a guy with a strong arm. But he too succumbed to injuries and only had 10 starts overall and two wins as a starter.

One of the best pure passers was Craig Hormann '08, who led the Lions in the pocket during the 2006 5-5 campaign. But he suffered a torn ACL in the off season before 2007, and his senior season was a bust at 1-9.

Jeff Otis '05, who showed some great flashes in his two years as the starter, graduated with five wins under his belt. He too was hampered by a disappointing senior season because of injury, but not his own. Otis couldn't match his 2003 success when super Columbia tight end Wade Fletcher '05 missed most of 2004 with a pulled hamstring.

Second to Brackett in recent decades in wins is Bobby Thomason '98, who edged nine victories as a starter but despite starting for most of the 1996 8-2 season, no one would mistake Thomason for a team leader. His teams were dominated by defense and he never even posted a 50% completion rate for a season.

A better overall athlete was Jeff McCall '02, who notched eight victories as a starter in games from 1998-2001. McCall was a talented player who would have been asked to do more had his career not coincided directly with all-time great Lions RB Johnathan Reese '02.

So Hill comes into this season with three wins as a starter already on his record and a chance to make his mark in his final season in a way no Columbia QB has in decades. It may seem like a low bar to clear, but just having the chance to clear it has to be exciting for a player who's been in the backup role coming into all his past seasons at the college level. The fact is, Hill performed pretty well as the unexpected starter beginning in week three last year and his record as a starter is a decent 3-5 for a team that has only five wins over the last four seasons.