Crowded Field

Josh Wainwright


The improvement to the Columbia Football program that Head Coach Al Bagnoli and his staff have brought over these past three-and-a-half years is obvious in many ways.

But the most striking example is the talent and depth you now see in Columbia's wide receiving corps.

Note that I wrote "talent AND depth," because we've seen a lot of talented Lions over the years. Some of them were even the best in the Ivy League at their positions. But now, Columbia has more than one WR who is a top player in the league and decent backups to boot.

Of course, the leader of this very stellar group is still junior Josh Wainwright.

Wainwright followed up his impressive freshman season with a sophomore campaign that included breaking Columbia's 35-year-old single season receiving yards record, catching 78 passes, and scoring eight TD's including the most dramatic walkoff score perhaps in program history.

Hot on his heels for most of the year until he was injured against Penn was fellow junior Ronald Smith. Smith broke the 50-year-old Columbia single game receiving record with 236 yards on 10 catches at Princeton. That day included the second most dramatic play of the year for CU with his 63 yard catch and run for a TD in what would prove to be the game winning score. Smith missed most of the second half of 2017, but still finished with 31 receptions for 437 yards and four TD's.

There are a number of good WR's in the league, but the tandem of Wainwright and Smith is the best one-two punch in the Ivies. And it's not just about their stats. Wainwright gets so wide open and make so many acrobatic catches, that you have to keep your eyes on him throughout the game. Smith runs like a majestic gazelle after the catch and is positively lethal down the sideline even when tightly covered.

But wait, there's more... so much more.

Despite the prowess of Wainwright and Smith, no fewer than four other CU wide receivers managed to hit double-digits in receptions, led by senior Kyle Castner and sophomore Emerson Kabus, with 24 and 21 catches, respectively.

Sure-handed juniors Kaleb Pitts and Chris Everett were not far behind, each making spectacular catches from time to time.

Remember, each of the players mentioned above isn't just coming back this season, with the exception of Castner, they each have at least two more seasons at Columbia. And that's just the returning talent.

You can't discuss this unit without mentioning two very sought-after incoming freshmen wide receivers. First is Mozes Mooney from La Jolla, California who had so many quality offers, he might have been the toughest "get" for Columbia this year. Next is Trajen Johnson from Little Rock, Arkansas who was also offered by a massive number of top schools.

Yes, Columbia has a challenge this year in having to find a new starting QB. But there's no QB in the country who wouldn't want to be working with this group of wide receivers this season and beyond.