The BC Pipeline is Alive

6-1, 220-pound LB Christian Gonzalez from Bergen Catholic HS has committed to Columbia. 

He also had an offer from Lafayette. 

According to my LionFeeders database Gonzalez will be the 16th Bergen Catholic grad to come to Columbia Football. He was also join BG grads Christian Carti '27, Pat Colicchio '25, and Malachi Mercer '27 on the Lion roster. 

So the list of known commits grows to 12:

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) Christian Gonzalez LB 6"1 220-lbs. Bergen Catholic HS Oradell, NJ

5) Miron Magee DB 5"10 160 lbs. Lake Highlands HS Dallas, TX

6) Carter McCray DB 6"0 185 lbs Cornerstone Christian HS San Antonio, TX

7) Emanuel Nazy OL 6"4 280 lbs. Hackensack HS/Don Bosco Prep Hackensack, NJ

8) Casey O'Sullivan TE/DE 6"3 245 lbs. Seton Hall Prep West Orange, NJ

9)Sam Pearman K 6"0 180 lbs. Los Gatos HS Los Gatos, CA

10) Xavier Phipps WR 6"5 190 lbs. Dekaney HS Houston, TX

11) Benny Sasso OL 6"3 270 lbs. Wall Township HS, Wall, NJ

12) Caleb Solomon DB 6"1 180 lbs. Miramar HS Miramar, FL 

 

Welcome to 2010!

Coach Poppe's Twitter profile pic

One of the major adjustments we're going to have to make in the Jon Poppe era is that now we have a coach who is personally active on social media, in particular Twitter/X. 

This is hardly a new medium for college coaches, even in the Ivies. But Columbia has never had a football head coach who maintained his own active account.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm NOT complaining that Al Bagnoli didn't have his own accounts. At his age, it would been kind of transparently pathetic had he chosen to do so. AND I am aware that Mark Fabish was active on his account, both as an assistant for years and last season as interim head coach.  

But Poppe is a next-level social media guy, as he even reposts statements by recruits and makes it clear that he's watching. 

One of those Poppe reposts is an extremely promising looking QB recruit from Northern Calitornia. This tells me Poppe has his priorities straight. 

Okay, I know this is all old news for almost anyone else, but I applaud this bold leap into the last decade! 

Penn Exposed?

Speaking of things everyone's known for a long time, we know that offering coveted slots at Penn's undergrad Wharton program has long been one of the most effective recruiting tools in all the Ivies. 

But according to one disgruntled Penn donor, the Quaker athletics department has been doing more than offering slots. Saul Rosenthal is suing Penn for allegedly using some of his donations to improperly fund scholarships for athletes. 

As if Penn and all the other Ivy schools weren't under a lot of justified donor scrutiny as it is, this is the first instance of the recent Ivy controversies potentially touching athletics. 

Au Revoir Augie

We still haven't seen the official announcement that Seitu Smith will be the new offensive coordinator. But we have learned that Augie Hoffmann is leaving the pride to return as head coach of St. Joseph Regional HS in New Jersey. 

So, in addition to the official announcement on Smith's appointment still on the table we also await the names of our new defensive line and tight ends coaches... among other things. \

Post-It to the People

 

This pic snapped this weekend, would indicate that my sources have been correct with their reports to me that former Harvard star WR Seitu Smith has been hired to be Columbia's new Offensive Coordinator and QB coach. 

Since graduating in 2016, Smith has coached at Dartmouth, Brown, Yale, and with the Cleveland Browns. Smith's most recent work has been with the Elis, where he's worked as the assistant head coach and running backs coach. 

He is considered a serious up-and-comer in the coaching world, and rounds out what is definitely the youngest coaching staff in Ivy football history. 

Tall Receiver

A commitment I missed from two days ago is Xavier Phipps, a 6-5, 190-pound WR from Dekaney HS in Houston. 

Phipps had offers from Fresno State, East Carolina, Penn. and UT Rio Grande Valley (are we stealing their offerees or are they shadowing us?).

He will be the first Dekaney grad to come to Columbia Football. 

So the list of known commits grows to 11:

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) Xavier Phipps WR 6"5 190 lbs. Dekaney HS Houston, TX

10) Benny Sasso OL 6"3 270 lbs. Wall Township HS, Wall, NJ

11) Caleb Solomon DB 6"1 180 lbs. Miramar HS Miramar, FL 

Taking Shape

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.