Report Day & a New Commit

For the players, coaches, and the rest of the CU Football personnel, the season starts today as the team reports for the beginning of training camp. Real practices won't start for the next couple of days, but this is where it starts to get real. 

Barring any major surprises, it's no exaggeration to say this is the most talented and deep team the Lions have brought into a season in decades. I don't write that to put pressure on anyone. I do it just to state the facts. 

New England Grappler

6-3, 300 pound OL/DL Jaden Hinton from Ames HS in South Easton, MA has committed to the Lions. Hinton is also a wrestler, and many of us have long been fans of football players who also wrestle, like the great Lions Daniel DeLorenzi '20 and Lou Miller '10, just to name two. 

Hinton will be the first Ames grad to come to Columbia Football. 

So our unofficial commit list is up to 14 names:

1) Qwincy Amos 5"11 170 lbs. DB Warren HS San Antonio, TX

2) Terell Battle 6"3 190 lbs. Mountain View HS, Lawrenceville, GA

3) Jaylen Carter 6"0 180 lbs. Taft School Watertown, CT

4) Christian Carti WR 6"1 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic HS Oradell, NJ

5) AJ George LB/RB 6"2 190 lbs. Ottawa Hills HS Toledo, OH 

6) Chase Goodwin QB 6"2 200 lbs. Memorial HS Houston, TX

7) Quinn Herlihy DL/LB 6"3 238 lbs. Cheshire Academy/Shrewsbury HS Worchester, MA

8) Jaden Hinton OL/DL 6"3 300 lbs. Ames HS South Easton, MA

9) Baily Kornegay-Douhadji DE 6"3 230 lbs. East Caweta HS Sharpsburg, GA

10) Keelan Kornegay DE 6"3 230 lbs. East Caweta HS Shapsburg, GA

11) Braeden Marceau-Olayinka DL/OL 6"3 262 lbs. Melrose HS Melrose, MA 

12) Mikey Nabbout DE/TE 6"3 245 lbs. St. John's Prep Danvers, MA 

13) Chase Newton WR/DB 6"3 195 lbs. Walter Payton Prep Chicago, IL

14) Nik Winzer OL/DL 6"6 285 lbs. Matawan Regional HS Matawan, NJ

The Green Light

Not all Ivy League Media days are created equal.

Well, usually the league's remote news conference, (it went all remote well before the COVID era), is just chock full of cliches, rehashed material, and boredom. 

But during Columbia's turn at bat at today's preseason conference, Columbia fans in the know heard exactly the substantial information that we wanted to hear.

That would be the comments Head Coach Al Bagnoli made about junior QB Joe Green, last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year. Bagnoli started by telling us the story we all know well about how Green did not have the luxury of spring practice or preseason workouts in 2021, but still managed to win the starting job in training camp and have such a stellar season.

Then, Bagnoli said what many of us were waiting to hear: that now that Green has had more time the offense will feature more of what he can do and open up its attack.

That was music to many fans' ears, after it appeared that Green was held back too much from throwing as much as he could have. Green's miniscule interception total (just three for the whole season) and general passing accuracy had many of us wondering about what might have been.

Just as melodious to our ears was Bagnoli's praise for the wide receivers and other weapons Green has to work with this fall. That was as close as we'll probably get to Bagnoli telling us that guys like juniors Marcus Libman and Wills Meyer, and sophomore Bryson Canty are going to be a formiddable set of weapons at WR. 

The QB position is so vital, and Columbia got a good one in Green last year and managed to squeeze a 7-3 season out of him despite keeping him somewhat under wraps.

Last year, Green took a key leadership role on this team. This year, he should be one of the leaders in this league.

 

Texas CB and Filling the Open Slot!

 

Qwincy Amos

5-11 170 pound CB Qwincy Amos has committed to the Lions out of Warren HS in San Antonio, TX.

Amos will be the first Warren grad to come to Columbia Football, but he will join a long list of San Antonio natives who have played for the Lions, That includes current Freshman Xae Huerta, and current senior Andrew Pruske. The best Lion from San Antonio was DL Ryan Murphy '13. 

So our unofficial commit list is up to 13 names:

1) Qwincy Amos 5"11 170 lbs. DB Warren HS San Antonio, TX

2) Terell Battle 6"3 190 lbs. Mountain View HS, Lawrenceville, GA

3) Jaylen Carter 6"0 180 lbs. Taft School Watertown, CT

4) Christian Carti WR 6"1 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic HS Oradell, NJ

5) AJ George LB/RB 6"2 190 lbs. Ottawa Hills HS Toledo, OH 

6) Chase Goodwin QB 6"2 200 lbs. Memorial HS Houston, TX

7) Quinn Herlihy DL/LB 6"3 238 lbs. Cheshire Academy/Shrewsbury HS Worchester, MA

8) Baily Kornegay-Douhadji DE 6"3 230 lbs. East Caweta HS Sharpsburg, GA

9) Keelan Kornegay DE 6"3 230 lbs. East Caweta HS Shapsburg, GA

10) Braeden Marceau-Olayinka DL/OL 6"3 262 lbs. Melrose HS Melrose, MA 

11) Mikey Nabbout DE/TE 6"3 245 lbs. St. John's Prep Danvers, MA 

12) Chase Newton WR/DB 6"3 195 lbs. Walter Payton Prep Chicago, IL

13) Nik Winzer OL/DL 6"6 285 lbs. Matawan Regional HS Matawan, NJ

New Coms Chief

For those of us bemoaning the lack of official updates and material coming out of the team's official website, it looks like relief is here. 

Mike Kowalsky has been hired as the new Associate Athletic Director overseeing Football and Fencing. 

Here';s hoping Mike will be busy this fall writing stories about lots of records for wins, touchdowns, and sacks being broken. 

Polls & Recognitions

The Ivy League released the results of its annual media poll Tuesday and Columbia was picked fifth. 

I know I and a lot of the longtime readers of this blog and its original incarnation  used to get our noses bent out of shape over poll results that seemed to really disrespect the Lions. But now that the team has had three actual winning seasons out of the last four years, preseason polls seem less important all the time. 

What new fans need to know is that most of the people who cover the Ivies are either too used to seeing Columbia lose, or they are new at their jobs and just tend to vote for the league to finish roughly like it did the year before. 

What everyone else needs to know is that Columbia went 7-3 last year, has many key returning players, the reigning Ivy Rookie of the Year as its QB, and a very good offensive line that returns 4 of its main starters from last year and two other players with significant starting experience. 

To put it in the words of some of the most experienced and fair experts on this league, the Lions should be in contention for the title this year. 

"Steeley" Reception

Speaking of that offensive line, it was surprising that not one member of the Columbia OL made it onto the Phil Steele Preseason All Ivy 1st or 2nd Team list when it was released earlier this week. 

Again, this is essentially the O-line that produced the best rushing attack in the Ivies last year and allowed very few sacks or sustained pressure on the QB.

But there was some good recognition in other areas. It was very good to see LB CJ Brown placed on the 2nd Team Defense, since I would put him among the players who did very well in their first years on the field and seem likely to step it up this fall. That pairs Brown with LB Scott Valentas who was named to the 1st Team Defense, and makes for an encouraging core of talent at that position.

Also, the fact that QB Joe Green was named to the 2nd Team Offense behind Dartmouth's running/passing QB Nick Howard would seem to indicate that Steele's folks see Green as the best pure passing QB in the Ivies for this year.

But no other non-special teams player, including 5th year standout RB Ryan Young, and many others got their deserved recognition.

Again, this isn't meant to be a bitter comment, it's meant to help keep the readers of this blog much more informed about the Lions than they can possibly be anywhere else. 

As soon as the first reports come out of Columbia Football training camp (which starts in roughly 10 days), I'll have more annual assessments/predictions on the Lions and the whole Ivy League. But until then, here's a reminder of what things looked like for 2022 from just a couple of months ago. And here's a look at some key newer names to keep an eye on.

Another Good Get

 

Terell Battle

The 2023 freshmen class continues to look very good at these early stages, and now it's looking better with the addition of Terell Battle, a 6-3 190 pound WR/DB from Mountain View HS in Lawrenceville, GA.

Here's a quick article about Battle reporting on his commitment. He has great size, speed, and hands.

Battle will be the first Mountain View grad to come to Columbia Football, but two players on the current team, Aaron Brebnor '25 and Will Hamilton '23, are from North Gwinnett HS very nearby. 

So our unofficial commit list is up to 12 names:

1) Terell Battle 6"3 190 lbs. Mountain View HS, Lawrenceville, GA

2) Jaylen Carter 6"0 180 lbs. Taft School Watertown, CT

3) Christian Carti WR 6"1 190 lbs. Bergen Catholic HS Oradell, NJ

4) AJ George LB/RB 6"2 190 lbs. Ottawa Hills HS Toledo, OH 

5) Chase Goodwin QB 6"2 200 lbs. Memorial HS Houston, TX

6) Quinn Herlihy DL/LB 6"3 238 lbs. Cheshire Academy/Shrewsbury HS Worchester, MA

7) Baily Kornegay-Douhadji DE 6"3 230 lbs. East Caweta HS Sharpsburg, GA

8) Keelan Kornegay DE 6"3 230 lbs. East Caweta HS Shapsburg, GA

9) Braeden Marceau-Olayinka DL/OL 6"3 262 lbs. Melrose HS Melrose, MA 

10) Mikey Nabbout DE/TE 6"3 245 lbs. St. John's Prep Danvers, MA 

11) Chase Newton WR/DB 6"3 195 lbs. Walter Payton Prep Chicago, IL

12) Nik Winzer OL/DL 6"6 285 lbs. Matawan Regional HS Matawan, NJ