Hofstra's Shuart Stadium... where I'll be tonight


Just a couple of quick notes tonight before I head out to the Empire Challenge high school all-star game and get a look at incoming frosh Carl Constant:

I spoke with a former Princeton player today who helped shed some light on a long-time question I've had about Tiger coach Roger Hughes. For the first five years of his tenure at Princeton, I was far from impressed with Hughes and thought he might be the worst coach in the Ivies. But starting in 2005 he had a miraculous turnaround in my eyes, and now I think he's one of the best coaches.

Well, the player told me that Hughes was a little too timid when he came to Princeton in 2000 and allowed his offensive coordinator to do the play calling. In 2005, Hughes started calling his own plays and that helped him establish his role as the true "top dog" in his players eyes.

Makes sense to me.

Sitting this One Out

Incoming freshmen place kicker/safety Joe Stormont
won't be participating in the Minnesota state all-star game after all because of a hamstring injury. I have some VERY good sources very close to Joe who assure me this is not a serious injury and he should be fine. But the fact that he is sitting out this game is a good example of his willingness to sacrifice for Columbia before he even gets there.


Honors

Super-linebacker prospect Andrew Kennedy has been honored as the top male athlete at his high school.

Adam Mehrer was honored http://www.westernchesterfieldexchange.com/npps/story.cfm?ID=1061 as a top scholar-athlete in his area, (this is basically the Richmond, Va area, another part of this country where I used to live). The short piece talks about some of the scary injuries he overcame last year. Adam sounds like a smart and tough kid.