Rippon's Resume

The key part of Columbia's presumptive new defensive coordinator Chris Rippon's resume are his five years as DC at Syracuse from 1999 to 2003.

Those years tell you a lot about what you need to know about what Rippon should be able to do for the Lions.

Generally, the Orange D was very solid under Rippon, except when Syracuse played top ranked teams.

That's not really anything to be ashamed of.  But the Ivies don't really have teams that are so much stronger than the rest of the league, like say how a 1999 Miami team was compared to the rest of the Big East.

Anyone who tries to refute this point by pointing to last year's 69-0 loss to Harvard, should just take a breath and remember that that same Harvard team lost to Penn a week later... the same Penn team that Columbia mostly outplayed and almost beat in Philly in week 5.

The point is, how will Rippon's defenses perform in a league where parity is the norm?

Rippon will also soon find out that big 280-pound+ defensive linemen are perhaps the dearest commodity in this league. I realize they don't grow on trees in FBS football either, but even the best programs like Harvard and Penn have very little depth in that area. I know the Columbia coaching staff was working feverishly to add at least one more big D-lineman to the current recruiting class and we'll have to wait at least until April 2nd to find out if they got one.

Rippon still inherits a defense that improved overall, especially when it comes to fundamental football. There were fewer missed tackles, more crucial run stops, and just better overall heads up play. Rippon needs to make sure that momentum continues without graduating stalwarts Mike Waller, Josh Martin and Ryan Murphy.

And hopefully, Rippon will find the kind of real student-athletes he'll deal with at Columbia a refreshing change from the type of players he's dealt with the rest of his career.

UPDATED: DC Position Filled

Chris Rippon

More than one source is now reporting that former Marshall and Syracuse defensive coordinator Chris Rippon will be named as Columbia's new DC in the coming days.

Rippon left Marshall at then end of last season after the Thundering Herd defense allowed the most points in program history. But he had many great seasons while guiding the Orange defense at Syracuse especially in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

The initial reaction I'm getting from long-term Lion fans to this hire is... not so great.

But to be fair, they may be responding too much to the stats and not enough to what Rippon was able to do with the tools available.

That said, he faces a very tough challenge this season as Columbia's defense needs to improve without graduating stars like Josh Martin, Mike Waller, and Ryan Murphy.

I do like the idea of getting someone from FBS football with real coordinator experience in the mix. I think Head Coach Pete Mangurian is trying to instill big-time football program expectations for the Lions.

I also hope Rippon comes into this situation hoping to prove anyone who doubts him wrong.


Recruiting Announcement

I'm not sure why this year's incoming freshmen class will be officially announced on April 2, (at least according to this release from the athletic department), but why look a gift horse in the mouth!

The promised early list, along with insights from Coach Mangurian about the new players, are great news.

Front Five Needs to be Fab

With Columbia's murderous 2013 schedule staring it in the face, it's clear the Lions will have to upgrade as team to improve on, (and probably even match), last season's total of three wins.

All the buzz about transfer QB Brett Nottingham and some of the incoming freshmen is great, but the Lions won't be able to move forward, literally or figuratively, without a major improvement on the offensive line.

First the good news: the starters from last year are all returning. Now the bad news: unless they get A LOT better over the off season, the starters from last year just won't do, 

The stats tell the story: a stunning 40 sacks allowed, on top of 16 QB hurries allowed, and a generally harassed Sean Bracket on almost every play. The Lions also scored just six TD's rushing all season, a sure sign of a weak OL if there ever was one. 

The guys on the hot seat for 2013 are the six players who, between them, started most of Columbia's games on the OL in 2012. They are:

Rising sophomores Keith Ramljak, Bill Lawrence and Eric Kuklinski, rising juniors Eric Stock, Ryan Thomas, and rising senior Jimmy Yukevich. 

The average height for this group as of the end of last season was about 6-5, but the average weight was just 250 lbs. 

I realize that lower weight was all part of Head Coach Pete Mangurian's "grand experiment," (my term, not his), pushing leaner muscle over bulky fat.

Magurian deserves more time to prove this theory right, but to put it mildly it failed miserably last year. The Lions OL was badly pushed around and often embarrassed when it really counted.

OL coach Ed Argast is still one of my favorite guys on the staff, but he's is a hot seat right now just as much as any player or even Mangurian himself.

Offensive line problems have been the key factor in most of the Columbia football program's failures over the last 40 years. If the Lions can fix this problem this year, there's a chance the team can really take off. 

If not, prepare for a very tough slog.

Running Low?

I wanted to highlight Connor Nelligan's big 2012 season because of the VERY crowded pack of WR's we have going into the 2013 campaign.

When you factor in the incoming players, there's decent depth and a lot of talent at some other positions on offense too, especially tight end and QB.

But that brings us to the troubling lack of real depth numbers at the crucial RB position.

Marcorus Garrett is the best returning running back the Lions have had in over a decade. Cameron Molina showed some good, if brief promise, last season. 

Griffin Lowry, Alec Fisher, and Trevor Bell, have maybe 15 total carries between them. There's only one incoming freshman RB that we know about in Alan Watson.

Even if Head Coach Pete Mangurian decides to go with a one-back "run and shoot" offense, you have to wonder what happens if, Heaven forbid, something happens to Garrett. 

Of course, having two or three solid RB's can sometimes wind up being a curse in disguise. 

Columbia found that out the hard way in 2004 when Ayo Oluwole and Rashad Biggers were both healthy and raring to go but the coaches couldn't figure out how to juggle them. The result was a great opportunity was wasted and the Lions finished 1-9.

Focusing the running attack on one primary runner is a good method much of the time, so this is not a call for a "run it by committee" offense. It is, however, a call for making sure Garrett has a more than adequate understudy.

The final spring practice, (it seems more and more like there will be no actual spring "game" this year), should help answer some questions about who will step up at the RB position. Of course, the incoming frosh Watson won't be involved so it will still be an incomplete set of data. 

But I am already very comfortable predicting that Columbia's overall rushing stats will improve in 2013, because of one important factor: sacks.

Yards lost from sacks are counted against a team's rushing yardage in the NCAA. And the Lions suffered a stunning 40 sacks allowed in 2012. Those sacks really knocked Columbia's overall rushing stats all over the place and skew the data. 

Unless the Lions show NO pass protection improvement, I think it's safe to say the sacks allowed stat this coming season will be reduced and by contrast, Columbia's rushing attack will at least look better.

But the big question is whether the Lions can BE good and not just look "better." 

Connor's Year

Connor makes the grab

All the awardees at the football dinner this past weekend were very deserving. 

One of the best developments was sophomore WR Connor Nelligan winning the Lou Little Most Improved Award.

Nelligan went from 0 receptions as a freshman, (he did get some playing time with the varsity), to leading the team with 62 catches for 636 yards. 

But it wasn't just about the stats. He made a number of amazing grabs and tough runs after catches to earn his role as the go-to guy for QB Sean Brackett. And that was despite the fact that one of Brackett's top receivers from 2011 was still with the varsity for the entire season.

It's a bit of a travesty that Nelligan didn't score a TD last season, but that shouldn't detract from the amazing season he had and how much he meant to the team. 

Nelligan's value became extremely apparent in the 2nd half of the first game of the season against Marist.

Columbia went into the locker room at the half trailing the Red Foxes 3-0 and sputtering on offense. Nelligan hadn't even been thrown to at that point, but everything changed after the Lions took the opening kickoff of the second half.

The very first play from scrimmage was a 22 yard Brackett-to-Nelligan pass that got Columbia out of a field position hole at their 13. Three plays later is was a 15-yard pass to Nelligan that got the Lions into Marist territory.  Four plays later, a 12-yard toss put Columbia in the Red Zone. And three plays later, Marcorus Garrett punched into the end zone for the Lions' first TD of 2012, thanks in large part to Nelligan's break out series.

Nelligan didn't get another pass thrown his way that entire game, but the statement had been made: #84 was going to be a big part of this CU offense.

The following week against Fordham, it was obvious that Nelligan was becoming Brackett's primary target even though he finished the 20-13 loss to Fordham with just three receptions.

Nelligan had his first career 100-yard game in week three, but the 11-catch 102-yard output was overshadowed by Columbia's stunning 33-6 loss to Princeton.

But his best game of the year was the week 7 win over Yale, when he had 138 yards on 11 grabs. The key sequence was on the Lions' final winning drive when Nelligan had back-to-back receptions and runs after catches for 25 and 17 yards, respectively. Then one play later, he had another catch and run for 10 yards that set Columbia up on the Yale 3.

My feeling is it will take moving Heaven and Earth to keep Nelligan out of the end zone in 2013. Even with a very crowded roster full of WR's, this rising junior has a great shot at an All Ivy year.