Let's Go Camping!

Training camp begins this Sunday as players report to Coach Wilson on Sunday before the opening practice on Monday. Usually, the updated weights for the players appear on the roster at GoColumbiaLions.com a few days later.

This is an exciting time as we're finally seeing the light at the end of the very dark tunnel that is our 10-month-long offseason. But I want to put forth a word or two of caution first:

1) We're most likely going to see some roster attrition before camp is over. It happens usually because of injury reasons and there's always going to be injuries. Remember that last year, we went through the season with just 74 guys on the roster. We start camp with 99 and I think there's an excellent chance we'll finish with about 90 guys at least. Know any other organizations enjoying 22% increases in personnel right now? I thought not.


2) There's going to be a lot of information no one but the coaches will be privy to throughout camp and we're just going to have to wait until game 1 at Fordham or the release of the two-deep 2-3 days before that before we're totally informed. Some secrecy must be protected to keep the team as competitive as possible. But there will probably be a few reports posted on the website before camp ends that are very informative. The piece written last year by offensive coordinator Vinny Marino was pretty helpful.


Fordham Update

Meanwhile our first opponent, Fordham, is deep into its training camp. This is a report on the Rams first scrimmage.

Last week, the Rams revealed they will use a "run and shoot" offense this season with sophomore QB Jeff Skelton at the helm and senior RB Jonte Coven as the main runner. I'm not sure it will work, but it will be interesting to watch. Fordham has two games, on the road at URI and then at home versus Albany before they take the Lions on, also at home.


Honors for DeFilippo

The new edition of Sports Illustrated mentions former CU asst. coach John DeFilippo, who is now with the Oakland Raiders. His stock is rising in the NFL, as it should. EVERY parent of an upperclassman played who I've talked to says DeFilippo was the biggest reason why they chose to come to Columbia. See the interview I did with Drew Quinn's dad Edward to find out more.


Tad Crawford '07 and the B.C. Lions go up against Anthony Gargiulo, Dartmouth '05, and the Calgary Stampeders tonight in Vancouver. The Lions won the first matchup a few weeks ago, 32-27 in Calgary.

Tad has been getting more playing time, while Gargiulo is a starter who has missed some games due to injury. But Gargiulo is expected to be back in the starting lineup tonight. The game begins at 10pm Eastern Time and you can catch the audio for free at Team 1040 radio.

Meanwhile, three Kansas City Chief QB's got into last night's 11-10 loss to the Dolphins in preseason NFL football. But none of them were named Jeff Terrell. I wonder if the 2006 Bushnell Cup winner is going to go the same way as the 2005 cup winner, Nick Hartigan who was cut by the Jets at about this time last year.

For what it's worth, I think Terrell has the kind of maturity rarely seen in an NFL rookie, and his value to the team might be huge in the long run. I'm certainly rooting for him.