BREAKING: Mornhinweg Hired as New QB Coach

Skyler Mornhinweg in 2015

Sources tell me Skyler Mornhinweg '17, who transferred from Florida to be the first starting QB for Columbia in the Al Bagnoli era, has been hired to replace Ryan Larsen as quarterbacks coach. 

Injuries kept Mornhinweg from reaching his full potential on the field for the Lions, but his experience with this program, Coach Bagnoli, and his family's long and impressive football pedigree all probably played a big role in this hire.

No word yet on the secondary coach vacancy. 

Stat Sheet 4: Red Zone Red Alert

One of the most glaring areas where the Lions need improvement for 2022 is red zone TD scoring and better red zone defense. 

Columbia only scored TD's on 51% of its trips in the red zone, as opposed to allowing its opponents a 70% red zone TD mark. 

Some of the offensive issues in the red zone are connected with the discussion in the previous post about how the Lions need to amp up their air attack. 

But many of us also saw the team lose momentum too many times after big plays engineered by QB Joe Green to get them into the red zone in the first place. Sometimes, that was because of switching to wildcat QB Gabe Hollingsworth and the offense clearly needing more time to adjust to the switch. Sometimes, it just seemed like the play calling got too conservative. Either way, settling for too many field goals is a recipe for disaster in football and Columbia needs to get that red zone TD percentage up to 65% or better this fall. 

I do think that having RB Ryan Young for another year will lead to improvements here, as he continues to get strong as an inside runner who can bang into the end zone from inside the 5. This is a skill I think Hollingsworth will get better at too, as he showed a great flash of brilliance in this department with his tough TD at Dartmouth. 

As for red zone defense, the only game where the inability to hold opponents to FG attempts made a big difference was the loss to Yale. But there were a number of things that contributed to that loss in a game the Lions looked like they had under control. 

Stat Sheet 3: Needs More Air

Marcus Libman

After focusing on two very good stats from the 2021 season in prior posts, it's time to look at one area of Columbia's game that will definitely need improvement in 2022.

That would be passing yardage, where the Lions only put up an average of 163 yards per game. 

The 5.8 yards per attempt number was also disappointing, when most football experts like to see a 6.5-7.0 YPA. 

There were some positive reasons for these somewhat anemic numbers. They include the amazing rushing attack Columbia had at its disposal last season. There was also a new starting QB to break in, (which went quite well), and the loss of top receivers like Josh Wainwright '20 to graduation. Also, wildcat QB Gabriel Hollingsworth clearly wasn't ready to throw the ball as much as many fans hoped. The obvious talent of WR Bryson Canty didn't really emerge until week 9 as well. Finally, there were some injuries and other issues keeping key WR's like Mike Roussos and Wills Meyer out of some games. 

I also think the coaches were a little too cautious with QB Joe Green, especially after he proved himself early in the season. I don't think it's a stretch that will change in 2022, especially after Green gets even more time to prepare with spring practice around the corner. 

One of the pluggers last season at WR, Marcus Libman, already proved he can be relied on as a weapon, and we know about Canty and Meyer. If Mike Roussos decides to return to CU for his senior year the Lions will already have a strong receiving corps to work with, but everyone will need to step it up. 

So What's Next?

Now that the Super Bowl is over, those of us facing the reality of no more football for a long time can take solace that Columbia spring practice (COVID allowing) is less than two months away.

Hopefully, that means we'll have a spring game that's open to the public as well.

Another bonus is that by then, we should also have the always-competitive Columbia baseball team in action and often they schedule the spring game to coincide with a baseball home game just down the hill from the football stadium.

By that time, we should also have a handle on who is and isn't really coming back to CU Football this fall. I suspect we may get one or two more players who were on the transfer portal to return to the Lions after all. We saw that with Ryan Young already, will key players like KR/WR Mike Roussos follow suit? 

Until then, we still have some incoming commits for 2022 to learn about and two assistant coaching jobs to fill. 

We also have a lot more stats and analysis of the 2021 season to get through, so this is hardly cold turkey time! 

Stat Sheets 2: The Front Five

Offensive Line Coach John McLaughlin

Another stat from the 2021 season that stands out is, well it's a series of stats, that are heavily connected to the play of the offensive line.

The Lions allowed just 12 sacks this season, down from 21 the season before and second least in the Ivies.

In rushing yards, Columbia had 1,580 net yards. That's up from 1,092 the previous season. The Lions also had the second most rushing yards in the Ivy League. 

Here's the kicker: Depending on what senior Center Tyler Worrell decides to do, the Lions could return their entire starting offensive line in 2022. That's something that simply doesn't happen more than once in a lifetime in college football, and even less often in the Ivy League. (I do believe Cornell returned about all of its O-line two or three seasons ago, but it was actually a subpar unit both years). 

Yes, some part of the O-line's success in 2021 was due to the amazing talents of RB's Dante Miller and Ryan Young. It also benefited from QB Joe Green's better-than-expected ability to avoid sacks. The O-line also has to take some responsibility for the Lions not scoring enough red zone TD's in 2021. 

But by any standard, this was and is a very good front five. There are just too many strong stats proving that to ignore it. And getting four or five of these starters to return in 2022 with the same QB and one of the two key RB's is a positive scenario Columbia has not experienced... well maybe ever.