The Numbers Game
It's getting crowded in our locker room!
With 18 of our class of 2013 players already publicly announcing that they're coming to Columbia, we're probably way more than halfway to whatever total number of recruits the Lions will be allowed to add this year.
I say that because last year's incoming class was rather large and the Ivy League has all kinds of rules about how many kids you can bring in every four year period.
But if we do bring in about 30 freshmen, that would put our roster total, (as of today), to about 120. For a team that just three years ago was struggling to keep 76 kids on the roster, this is a huge step up.
As much as some of us get excited about freshmen breaking onto the field and making an immediate impact, the best results of our bigger roster should be a starting lineup made up of more juniors and seniors than freshmen and sophomores.
We're just six days away from "National Letter of Intent" signing day, which is a much biggest event for the BCS schools, but it does help Ivy recruits come to their decisions as well. So we should get more names to add to our list in about a week or so. As it is, we're way ahead of previous years, and it seems like the rise of the Internet and the growing general interest in high school recruits is making it easier to find articles or other public reports about Ivy prospects.
Sobering Story
Speaking of publicly-reported recruits, it's important to remember that none of them are set in stone. Yale found that out the hard way recently when prized linebacker prospect Chris Wade changed his mind about coming to New Haven and is taking a scholarship offer from Miami of Ohio instead.
Snobby Ivy Leaguers like us may scoff at Miami as a school, but it is a VERY strong academic institution. In fact, Miami of Ohio is so good academically that Ben Roethlisberger's parents pushed him to go there rather than a lot of bigger football schools because they wanted him to get a strong education.
This is an scary reminder that just because we have more public information about recruits, publicity doesn't equal certainty.
But it's cold outside and we have 233 days until our season starts... so these kinds of stories are what we have to hang our hats on!
posted by Jake @ 3:30:00 AM
7 comments
7 Comments:
It will be interesting to see how many upperclassmen stick with the program this year as they clarify their academic and job goals, and see their eventual role with Columbia football.
They certainly won't have the pressure from the coaches and/or parents to stick it out for the $ (scholarship).
The improved retention rate of the upperclassmen says alot about NW and the Columbia program, and can only make the team better (more competition for positions, more depth to cover injuries, better practice scrimmages, etc.)
So let's try to support all the men on the team, and not just the 'stars'. They all put in an incredible amount of time to be members of the team, sacrificing most of their "free time". Congratulations to those-even non starters- who are sticking it out! I believe they will not regret it
in the years to come.
Excellent post; attrition tends to come from rising juniors and seniors who don't anticipate making the two deep. The challenge for the coaches is to let the entire roster know that they are a vital part of the success of the program. This weekend is huge for recruitng; we have a number of players coming in, so let's hope that we have a good turn-out at Levien.
While I agree that football recruiting is important, it'd also be nice to pick up a few Ivy basketball victories this weekend. First things first at Levien, in other words.
MJ's perseverance and success is a model for all to emulate.
In the dark about MJ...identity, anyone?
Not sure about MJ, but I would be interested in Jake's view on what our two deep is going to look like this year. The key questions are: who is playing QB; is MA going to be playing more of a tailback in a wildcat set; who is going to play tackle on offense; who has the edge as our feature back; do we think we have any potential first year starters; who do we think is likely to jump up on the depth chart.
oops: I meant MA!
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