Before we get updated on the coaching staff hires, let's look at some recruiting news.
The good news is 6-0, 185-pound CB Carter McCray from Cornerstone Christian HS in San Antonio has committed to Columbia.
McCray had offers from Army, Dartmouth, Penn, Brown, Fordham, Colgate, Texas State, North Texas, and UT Rio Grande Valley. This appears to be a pretty big "get."
McCray will be the first Cornerstone grad to come to Columbia Football, according to my LionFeeders Historic Recruiting Database.
The bad news is that RB Brodey Berg has decommitted, saying in a Twitter/X post that he is opening up his recruitment again because of the coaching change at CU.
So the list of known commits remains at 10:
1) Rodrigo Diaz-Martorella DE/TE 6"4 255 lbs. Miami Palmetto HS Miami, FL
2) Liam Donagher DB 6"2 200 lbs. Grafton Memorial HS/Choate (PG Year) Grafton, MA
3) Jeremiah Douglas DB 6"2 185 lbs. IMG Academy/St. Paul's HS Brooklandville, MD
4) Miron Magee DB 5"10 160 lbs. Lake Highlands HS Dallas, TX
5) Carter McCray DB 6"0 185 lbs Cornerstone Christian HS San Antonio, TX
6) Emanuel Nazy OL 6"4 280 lbs. Hackensack HS/Don Bosco Prep Hackensack, NJ
7) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ
8)Sam Pearman K 6"0 180 lbs. Los Gatos HS Los Gatos, CA
9) Benny Sasso OL 6"3 270 lbs. Wall Township HS, Wall, NJ
10) Caleb Solomon DB 6"1 180 lbs. Miramar HS Miramar, FL
YOUNG GUNS
I can report that Head Coach Jon Poppe is very close to announcing his choice for offensive coordinator, which is clearly the most highly anticipated hire for this staff considering the Lions overall offensive performance in 2023.
So far, we've had the announcements of a number of young coaches to fill Poppe's staff. They include, (as I reported) Justin Woodley '21 as the Linebackers Coach, A.J. Gallagher as Wide Receivers Coach, and the previously-reported news of Greg Skjold returning, this time as the Offensive Line Coach.
The CU Football Twitter/X feed also announced the hiring of Kenneth Tinsely, the running backs coach from Georgetown, (which enjoyed a very good season on the ground this fall), to assume the same role here at CU. Tinsley has also served as the running backs coach at U. Maine. Tinsley will be one of the "older" coaches as he is over 30 years old!
Speaking of older, and definitely wiser, the CU Athletics website still lists Augie Hoffmann as the Tight Ends Coach, which would be a big positive to balance out the overall youth in the staff. Hoffmann also impressed just about everyone in his first year at Columbia this fall and his New Jersey recruiting ties run deep. Here's hoping he really is staying on.
Of course, the defensive staff is still headed by DC Justin Stovall and CU coaching veteran Andre Kukesh, who is staying on as DB's coach. That still leaves the defensive line coach slot open in addition to the as-yet un-named OC.
But this will definitely be the youngest coaching staff in Ivy football history, by far. If anything, it will be an interesting experiment for everyone to watch as the league has seen most of its older coaches move on.
39 comments:
Can anyone confirm the rumor that Baby Gronk is being invited to participate in the combine?
Like the DB recruits. Here's hoping that Poppe deviates from Bagnoli's hesitation to play first year players. Also Fabish's. What about that LB from Bergen Catholic this past year? 6'2" 225 Did he see the field? We need Big DLs too. I give myself a" Thanks Captain "
6’2”, good one. How about we forget about where guys went to hs. Doesnt have much to do with who plays.
Poppe should do whatever possible to keep Hoffman. Think he should share OL duties with Skjold
The player who decommitted would have rather played under Fabish than Poppe?
Losing our top (and only at this point) rb recruit is a taste of CU football karma for Popee. You would think that efforts were made to hold on to him but if his desire to go to Columbia is that weak probably best to forget him and see what terrific replacement (s) Popee comes up with.
Several Columbia Men's and Women sports teams including inter alia, the Men's Basketball and Women Soccer Team, appear to be enjoying outstanding recruiting success. Men's Basketball already has four high level commits for the 2024-25 season, and Women's Soccer has numerous known commitments from very talented players throughout the country. Despite the late start, my sense is that Coach Poppe and his staff will enjoy similar success in recruiting. In his passion for Columbia Football, Coach Poppe reminds me of my coach at Columbia who was very successful in a different sport than football. He also reminds me of our fabulous current women's basketball coach. She is outstanding.
Seems like the Ohio running back may have pulled the trigger too quickly. He probably had some other unstated reasons than the coaching change. In any event, I suspect that Coach Poppe and his new running backs coach from Georgetown already have some others in mind.
Kind of hilarious.
Here's another commit: Xavier Phipps, WR, 6'5" 190lbs, Dekaney HS, Houston, TX
https://twitter.com/XavierPhipps4
https://www.hudl.com/profile/15396353/Xavier-Phipps
Can we see the names of the four high level basketball recruits?
Gianni Cobb, Gerard O'Keefe, Nigel Clarkson, Mason Ritter
When Coach Poppe said he was looking to recruit players to Columbia who wanted to make "History," I guess he was thinking of guys like Xavier Phipps, the 6'5". 190lbs wide receiver/safety who committed to Columbia today. He looks like a great pick-up for the Lions. Thanks to our guy ungvar for spotting this commitment.
There seem to be a number of outstanding running backs still on the board in both Texas and Ohio. Columbia seems to be in the running for several of them.
Can you give us the names of some of those backs?
No one has commented on my historical non use of first years by St. Al or Fabulous Fabish
Coaches generally play the best players. Simple as that.
Not quite as simple as that. Several games were out of reach and at least one where we had a comfortable lead. Giving first years some game experience in those situations pay dividends in the future, especially if they are ballers you will depend upon as sophomores and going forward. Think only 2 FYs saw any game time.
Your obsession with Bagnoli and Fabish is disturbing. Time to focus on the present.
Don't want to repeat the past
I agree. Norries, Mangurian, etc.
How does your deranged obsession with the past and posting about it impact the future?
In response to the question about the 4 MBB commits, they are listed in the basketball blog—Basketball U—Gianni Cobb, Nigel Clarkson, GIrard O’Keefe and Mason Ritter. For somebody who has really been down on Engles, he is off to a very good start on the floor (8-3) and in recruiting.
I was profoundly disappointed but not shocked by our poor showing in the last all Ivy team which came out the other day. Only roussos and Hughes made first team, and Justin Townsend only made second team.
In respectful response to the poster who asked for the names of some of the running backs who are still on the board in Ohio and Texas, I would direct his attention to the various recruiting public websites which list all of the football players that Columbia and other colleges have offered as well as the their possible preferences There are no secrets. This is the way it has worked for decades. However, if you lack the time, I can tell you now that according to the top websites, Columbia has offered two running backs in Ohio, Nate Severs of Sunbury, and Cade Wolford of Jackson. Severs has also been offered by Georgetown so our new running backs coach from Georgetown obviously knows about him. In Texas, Columbia has offered Brennan Carroll of San Antonio and Nico Hamilton of Austin, amongst others. Hope this helps. Go Lions!
Wolford - committed to Kent St
Men’s BB is 5-3 vs mostly weak D-1 opponents. 3 of the 8 wins came against D-3 schools. Contrast this with CU WBB, which has played virtually every game vs strong D-1 competition
Try again. We've played 2 D3s so far, however we do have a 3rd. Most Ivy men play a few D3 games. Comparing them to the women, who are awesome, isn't that useful. You should compare our men's schedule to the rest of the league. Princeton and Yale are really good and have probably played tough schedules, but I'm certain our schedule is similar to the rest of the league. The men have certainly played better this year. Would be nice to see that continue.
Yes, "the men have certainly played better this year," but the Lions are still ranked sixth in the Ivy League by Kenpom, behind everyone except Brown and Dartmouth, so the odds are against the Lions making the 4-team Ivy League Championship Tournament which will be held for the first time at Columbia. It will be very disappointing to Columbia fans and a huge embarrassment to the Columbia Administration if the Columbia men's team fails to make the Championship Tournament in March.
Townsend should have made 1st Team. 2nd year he was snubbed. Got to believe it will motivate him in 2024.
On men's hoops - while I share the frustrations of others re: the past years, the men's team is quite improved and really fun to watch. Say what you want about FDU, but that was a hard fought, entertaining game; some very strong performances and you should've seen several of Avery Brown's acrobatics. Lions have quite a balanced attack, speed and showing intensity that has lacked in previous seasons. We shall see when Ivy season arrives. And yes, we're now above Brown and Dartmouth in the rankings --- already two slots higher than beginning of the season. I think the climb will continue and we will battle for the fourth playoff spot. As for embarrassment if men's team doesn't make the playoffs - I don't think so. Do you think we're hosting the tourney because someone thought the men would make it in 2025? We went into this season with little expectation for men to make it.
Meant make it in 2024, of course.
FDU is better than most people think, and has been for a few years. Avery Brown.and DLR are very, very good. We need more help up front.
Are you turning into a Jim Engles fan? Where have you been since Kyle Smith left?
Great turn around for basketball! Congrats to all involved!
Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Several of our wins have come at the hands of atrocious opponents, and I think we’re not as good as Princeton, Penn, Yale, or Cornell (haven’t seen enough of the three other teams to say one way or the other). Let’s check in at the halfway point of the Ivy campaign. If we’re something like 2-5 (or worse), then I’ll acccuse you if having swallowed the Engles KoolAid. If we’re 3-4 (or better), then I’ll say we’re legit. But I still don’t think we finish higher than seventh.
Don't worry, we're (I'm) not getting ahead or ourselves. Yes, relatively weak schedule (forget about the D-3 opponents), but we're winning these games instead of losing. Contributions across the board and deep into the bench. Also not drinking Kool-aid. Just acknowledging and observing. Yes, Princeton and Yale standout. Cornell, Penn, Harvard have the edge, but I simply suggested that we could fight for the fourth slot in the Ivy tourney. Yes, Medioctrity Purger, we will check in half way through the season, or earlier!
Columbia's 6'10" freshman, Arop Arop (not a typo), finally played a significant amount of time in the F-D Game and looked very good to me. Does anyone know why he hasn't played much until now? If he's ready for prime time, I can see the Lions making the Ivy League Tournament.
With Blair Thompson out sick and a fast paced game, it seemed like a good opportunity for Arop to get some minutes. He's very skilled and probably will continue to improve and be an important player. I think he probably needs some added strength to be a good defender and play a lot more.
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