On the Field!!

The Proving Grounds


The Columbia football team is back on the field and practicing today for the first time since spring practice wrapped up several eons ago. It's hot, but not so humid at all today in New York City and I'm guessing the breezes up by Wien Stadium are making it a lot better for the players.

I'm starting to see some changes in the weights on the Columbia roster. I don't think every player has been updated yet, but here are some highlights SO FAR:

OT Jeff Adams up 5 pounds to 290

OL Sam Cecil up an inch and 16 pounds to 6-5 and 266

RB David Chao up 14 pounds to 199

OT Dan Cohen up 10 pounds to 290

OL Carl Constant down 10 pounds to 305

OL Ben Evans up 26 pounds to 295

DL Chris Groth up 11 pounds to 300

LB Vaughn Hodges up 11 pounds to 226

LB Marc Holloway up an inch and down three pounds to 6-0 and 230

K Tai Izawa up 13 pounds to 168

WR Austin Knowlin up an inch and three pounds to 5-11 and 193

OT Will Lipovsky up 16 pounds to 290

DE Lou Miller up 10 pounds to 230

CB Ross Morand up 12 pounds to 182

QB M.A. Olawale up four pounds to 224

FB Nico Papas down 10 pounds to 220

DL Micheal Poage up 10 pounds to 300

DL Ben Popeck up 10 pounds to 250

OL Ian Quirk up 19 pounds to 298

CB Neil Schuster up an inch and 15 pounds to 6-0 and 200

WR Mike Stephens up an inch and eight pounds to 5-11 and 188

DE Matt Stotler up 15 pounds to 258

CB Kurt Williams up an inch and nine pounds to 6-1 and 189

SS Augie Williams up and inch and eight pounds to 5-11 and 200

LB Josh D. Williams up 10 pounds to 235


Again, I'm not sure these are at all the final updates for training camp. But these are the notable changes I've seen so far today.



Day 26: Darren Schmidt '07

Darren Schmidt came to Columbia from the respected University School in Cleveland in 2003.

While he was here shattered a great big handful of stereotypes in his years at Columbia. Here's a list of the biggest myths he debunked:

1) You need to be at least 240 lbs. to be an effective defensive lineman, even in the Ivy League.


WRONG! Schmidt came into his senior season somewhere between 213 and 220 lbs.


2) You can't just emerge as a defensive or offensive lineman, it takes years of practice to "get there."

WRONG! Schmidt was a lightly-used strong safety his first three seasons with the Lions before moving to defensive end his senior season and exploding for 50 tackles, 16 tackles for a loss and seven sacks in 2006.


3) Lineman are big dumb guys who grunt more than study.


WRONG! Schmidt was a stellar student all four years at Columbia, winning several scholar-athlete awards and the Class of 1913 Cup for the best GPA on the team in 2006.

The swarming defense that really defined the exicting 2006 season for the Lions needed Schmidt to help put the exclamation points on a number of big plays throughout the season. Time after time, he was there to make the stop when a big rush forced an opposing QB or tailback to try to find daylight off-tackle.

After a very quiet first three years, Schmidt provided the final piece to the puzzle as the Lions made a respectable 5-5 run in Coach Norries Wilson's first season. For his efforts, Schmidt was named to the Honorable Mention All Ivy Team... but some people thought he deserved more.