Andrew Kennedy Profile
An anonymous reader sent in a link from the Westport News to a nice article about incoming freshman Andrew Kennedy.
Kennedy may be the top prospect in this recruiting class, but we can't forget how tough it is to make the transition from high school to college for linemen. Usually you can't expect very much until junior year. But the Columbia coaches could throw Kennedy into the mix as a linebacker first and see how he develops.
In any case, I'm still very concerned about the loss of Todd Abrams and Darren Schmidt from the front three. Replacing them may be defensive coordinator Lou Ferrari's biggest challenge for 2007.
WELCOME BACK
And some eagle-eyed Columbia fans have pointed out that Ryan Mettee and Bayo Aregbe are back on the Columbia football roster. This is great news as total participation is always a problem for the Lions and we'd like to keep the total number of players as close as possibe to 90-to-95 all season.
Most fans will remember Mettee as the man who returned a blocked punt against Fordham in the 2004 opener at Wien Stadium, (Columbia almost erased a 17-0 deficit in that game before falling, 17-14). He's been out the last TWO seasons mostly due to injury, but if he if is truly healthy again he will be a big help in a secondary that lost Tad Crawford to graduation and Chad Musgrove, (presumably for personal reasons).
I think a combination of injuries and other reasons kept Aregbe off the team last season, but he played in all 10 games in 2005. If he bulks up a bit, he has the speed and the height to be a big contributor in the linebacker corps.
posted by Jake @ 9:04:00 PM
12 comments
12 Comments:
If I understand it correctly, our defensive scheme is such that it requires a considerably greater than average expenditure of energy in that our players are constantly shifting right up to the snap. We thus actually seem to play the two-deep in each game, which we don't seem to do offense, except for WRs and, to a lesser extent, RBs. If Kennedy makes the two-deep, he will probably get a fair amount of time. What's most impressive about him is the 95 tackles. That's very high for a D lineman and suggests a good amount of quickness and agility.
That's a very good point. And incidentally, despite all the hyper-movement for our defense last season, can anyone remember a game where they started to look tired or just "let down" at the end? I sure can't. Talk about great coaching and conditioning.
It has been noted previously that our system is based upon the premise that it is hard to recruit huge DLs but relatively easier to recruit LBs who can run. We basically play with 7 LBs (sometimes 8). The only "true" non-LB who started last year was Phil Mitchell at DE, who could probably be an LB in some schemes. The scheme works so well because we don't try to overpower 300 pound OLs at the point of attack on a one on one basis but rather swarm to the ball, relying upon our superior speed. Kennedy and Bayo are perfect for that system. Mettee was a great prospect as a freshman before he was hurt and left school.
Columbia's defense last season was very impressive with outstanding performances from practically every starter and several back-ups. What was particularly impressive was the play of the freshmen, Shalbrack, Masorti, Miller and Barlow, all of whom contributed right away. If Kennedy and one or two other of the very promising incoming freshman recruits can make the same type of contribution, the Lions will be in great shape on "D." Moretto, Holloway, Otis and several others seem to have the size and speed to make an immediate impact on defense. My concern is offense. We have some nice returning talent at quarterback, running back and wide receiver, but very little depth. Hopefully, there will be a breakaway runner or two and another speedy wide receiver in the final group of recruits.
We have the nucleus of a very good offense; we have 3 returning OLs in Partain,Brune and DiBernardo who have seen time/started for two years now, and the latter two will only be juniors. We have some promising rising sophomores on the OL, plus the returning rookie of the year in Knowlin, Stoll with some real experience, Davis with two years of starting experience although only a junior, a healthy Rangel, two talented TEs who have not yet hit their potential, anf the returning 2nd team all Ivy QB if he is healthy.
The QB will be ready to go. He is making great progress in his therapy sessions.
Great news about our QB. Does anybody know what the coaches plan to do with MA during spring practice? Will we see him in a slash type role? We need to get him on the field in some capacity or other.
I agree with the comments about M.A. He is so explosively fast that we need to get him on the field in some capacity with regularity next season. Something tells me the coaches feel the same way.
Regarding the offense, can anyone explain why Stoll didn't get any carries and why we didn't throw to Evangelist? Is it that they were thought not to be ready or were injured or what?
With Evangelist, there definitely was an injury situation. I;m not sure about Stoll and not getting carries, but he was impressive with what he did as a blocker for Jordan Davis in the final two games. Stoll could reprise that role this season and perhaps cross up opponents a bit with a few carries per game too.
I think that the coaches wanted to bring Stoll on slowly. He was one of our top recruits and was responsible for opening up our running game as a lead blocker. He was a safety valve on a few passes to the flat last year, but I think we'll see a lot more from him this year. Evangelist needed to gain strength and to stay healthy. Our TE situation was very frustrating last Fall. Jamal looks like Shannon Sharpe but suffers from the dropsies (we would have won that Princeton game if he had managed to hold on to three drops). His game improved tremendously as the season went on.
Is there an update on Chad Musgrove?
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