Jersey Boys
Tim Waller has a lot of star power (CREDIT: The Record)
This is a nice birthday present for me: AP All-State New Jersey linebacker Tim Waller is coming to Columbia. And you can click here to read more about Waller.
Waller comes to us from Wayne Hills High School, a football program that's just as strong and often stronger than Bergen Catholic or Don Bosco.
So once again, we're seeing signs of CU recruiting successes in New Jersey, a region where we MUST get more influence.
posted by Jake @ 6:47:00 PM
37 comments
37 Comments:
Happy Birthday Jake. And nice present indeed as our recruiting efforts on the Jersey side of the Hudson River are really beginning to pay off with the committments of Nick Mistretta and Tim Waller in football and All-State shooting guard Noruwa Agho in basketball.
Maybe we've begun another Streak for the new century. We already have 8 down! Yippee!
Eight? I count only four -- Papas, Mulheran, Mistretta, Waller -- who are the others? (confirmed, please).
Meanwhile, catch this write-up of Nico Papas when he was recently selected for an All-Star team.
NICO PAPAS
BB&N The 6-foot, 230-pound senior was impressive on both sides of the ball. He led the team in tackles with 75 and added four sacks. A productive fullback, Papas averaged nearly 8 yards a carry and led the team in receptions with 22 for 412 yards and nine touchdowns. Papas leaves BB&N as the all-time leader in tackles with 202. He will play football at Columbia
We already have nine (9) commitments.
Can you list the nine committments? I know of only four. What about you, Jake?
Believe me the person who said we already have nine (9) commitments is pretty well connected with Columbia Football. NCAA rules prohibit releasing names, but I'm following his suggestion and searching the Internet for possible names. Go Lions!
Nico Papas sounds like a great player with tremendous talent. We welcome him, Waller, Mistretta, and the rest
of the Lion Committments. Men, you chose a Great College in the greatest city in the world.
going to state the obvious but we need to get bigger stronger players. Look at the two best teams of the last 20 years in the Ivies--Penn n Harvard-no coincidence they are also the biggest. It's fantastic we are getting good players out of these local powerhouses but we need 6ft 5 280ish linemen and 6 ft 2 230ish linebackers. We've seen what small n scrappy has got us the last year. Get bigger n stronger NOW should be the focus.
Agreed. We certainly need some huge offensive and defensive linemen with strength and agility. However, I am still very excited to know that we have two very talented First Team All-State linebacker types coming into Columbia next year from the Garden State. Also, I read somewhere that Mistretta is already at least 6'2" 220 and Waller goes about 210. That's big enough for me.
I hear this kid Waller is very fast and punishes running backs. Did a little research on Wayne Hills Football. This team has the longest winning streak in NJ at 40 They also just won their 4th straight state championship. Papas, Mistretta and Mulheran will all contribute to the future success of the Lions.
I have been watching Waller play since he was a freshman at Hills. I have never seen anyone at that level react to the play like him. Quite frankly I have not seen anyone hit as hard as he does. I think this kid will have an impact on helping the Lions get back to winning ways!!!
In response to bigger is better what the Lions really need is speed & strength,which will overcome the size factor.
More info on Waller
http://www.freethefan.com/headline/4211/Who-is-the-BEST-Linebacker-in-the-NY/NJ-area?
Also listed there along with Tim Waller as "Best Linebacker in NJ/NY area" is Nick Mistretta, plus 2 others. As the Scooter would say, "Holy Cow!" We got two of the four best linebackers with a 1-9 record! Who knows what we can get when we start winning??
Oops, looked again. Make that 2 of the 5 best. Still pretty darn good.
Waller is plenty big enough to play linebacker in the Ivies. If he is fast, strong and can hit, he'll be a real player for us. Rory Wilfork weighed about 180 as a freshman. And Des Werthman was probably around Waller's size.
I found some information on Wayne Hills regarding their 4th Straight State championship. The below quote is from the Star Ledger. This team knows how to win football games.
"The Wayne Hills defense was paced by senior linebacker Tim Waller, who recorded 15 tackles and a sack and was instrumental in stopping Dortch, Wayne Valley's standout senior slotback. Dortch rushed 13 times for 52 yards and a TD and finished his scholastic career with 31 touchdowns."
http://highschoolsports.nj.com/game/recap/57400/
Waller is listed at 5'10" in Maxpreps. Which means he's probably more like 5'9".
Sounds like more of the "small and scrappy" variety to me.
I guess you consider Zac Thomas the Linebacker from the Miami Dolphins who is listed at 5" 10" the small & scrappy variety to.
Don't forget about that other small & scrappy guy Elvis Dumervil from the Denver Broncos the smallest defensive end in the NFL at 5'11" who's recorded 11 sacks and 4 forced fumbles this year. I like these small & scrappy guys.
they'll switch him to strong safety or Rover.He is too short to play linebacker at this level-trust me. Yeah Zach Thomas,Sam Mills and a few others are certainly the exception to the rule. Des Werthmen and John Alex were vertically challenged but neither of them were 5ft 9...League is getting bigger and faster--they'll find a spot for this kid but middle linebacker will not be it.
How about the Linebacker Larry Izzo #53 from the New England Patriots who attented Rice University. 5'10". C'mon guys height doesn't make the player, it's the heart, passion, speed, tenacity and the intelligence of the player to read the play. That makes the difference. Good jop CU keep those smart Jersey boys close to home.
I think we should try not to get too hyped about the incoming kids again. It's just not reasonable to think that freshmen will instantly turn your team into a winner. I think we did a really good job with last years incoming and sounds like we are off to a good start this year too, but 1st year guys may show promise like a lot have but they are not ready to make you a chamnpionship contender. Look for improvement next year in our underclassmen, maybe some of the linemen will emerge from the shadows as sophs. and hopefully we have a good full recruit class this year. I would look for improved competitiveness next year and hopefully we can start playing for the title in 09. Realistically this would be a very quick turnaround if NW could accomplish this.
It will all depend on our OL. It starts and ends with the OL. The OL permits the offense to stay on the field and it keeps the defense from getting winded. We will have four starters back. Hopefully they will step up. this is one area in which first years are almost never able to contribute.
As far as height/effectiveness at linebacker, just look at Alex Gross. He's 5'10" at the most at we all know what happened with him. Des Werthman, one of best ever at CU, was also 5'10". Linebacker is Waller's natural position -- that's where he should play.
let's hope we don't need so many freshman starting on D as we did last year.
While I agree, in general, with the comment that freshman offensive linemen cannot be expected to contribute immediately, my understanding is that at least one freshman offesnive lineman -- Ben Gaston--started the last four games of the season for us this year and played very well. If I'm correct, then maybe there are exceptions to the rule as long as you are 6'3", 295lbs. and a powerful former high school wrestler in the State of Washington.
While it's encouraging that the coaching staff thinks enough of that many freshmen to start them I'll bet not one of the players will tell you that they are competing at a championship level yet. This will take more maturing and I'm hopeful that all the young guys that contributed last year will just get better and better.
I agree with dabull. It's very encouraging to see so many talented freshman players on the field, but in order to be competitive in the race for the Ivy League Championship next year a very high percentage of the players from this year's team must return next year, and everyone needs to come back in the best physical condition possible which of course is part of the maturing process dabull mentioned. If the current players do that and Columbia brings in an outstanding freshman class with some impact players on both offense and defense, I believe we will be a very good football team.
All starts at the QB position. Not sure if that guy is Kelly/Havas etc but we absolutely need more consistent play at QB. Not going to blame all of it on Hormann as we were playing from behind virtually every game with zero ground game. His lack of mobility and poor decision making in alot of key moments certainly didn't help the cause. That and a decent running game would be tops on my 08 wish list as I think the D will be in good shape next year.
I'm still waiting for M.A. Olawale to make an impact. He's just too good a runner not to be included in the mix. It seems to me that all four of our returning quarterbacks are pretty mobile guys so I wouldn't be surprised if we tried something different next year such as options and rollouts.
Agree that the Offense we run this year will be different, and quite frnkly im excited about the prospect of roll-outs and options. MA and Rangel may give us a new slant on this. Havent seen enough of Kelly to get an impression just yet but he appears to give us more mobility as a passer.
Do you really have to be 6'+ to make an impact?
Look at ILB #52 Eric Schultz a junior from Harvard stands at
5'11" and led his team in total tackles for the 2007 season with 54Our own Alex Gross at 5'11" led the Lions in tackles. Lets go Lions in 2008.
Nice story today regarding Wayne Hills HS Football that's where Waller played.
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2JmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MjQwNDQy
I looked for some video films on some of the recruits that were mentioned on this forum. Only was able to found some on Waller. Looks like an aggresive kid that hits hard.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLs-6c-WuHE
Wilson said at half-time of the American BB game: 11 commnits (no names, natch), 32 is the max; QB open but expects more mobility there; Knowlin needs to be better at keeping to routes, recruiting will get intense next weeks.
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