2009 Awards Announced

Rookie of the Year Brackett finds MVP Knowlin


By all reports, last night's football banquet was a great event. The highlight was having former Captain John Alex '89 give the keynote address. John has been a Columbia icon, pretty much from the time he stepped on campus and he always draws a crowd whenever he returns.

The award winners list is below:


Phil Fusco Award: M.A. Olawale (Sr., QB)

Maniatty-Remmer Unsung Hero Award: Derek Jancisin (Sr., WR)

John J. Cirigliano Ironman Award: Taylor Joseph (Sr., WR)

Lou Little Coaches Most Improved Award: Jared Morine (Sr., CB)

Ken Germann Freshman Award: Sean Brackett (Fr., QB)

Special Forces Award: Augie Williams (Jr., SS)

Most Valuable Offense: Austin Knowlin (Sr., WR)

Most Valuable Defense: Lou Miller (Sr., DE)

Jack Armstrong Outstanding Offensive Lineman: John Seiler (Sr.)

Sid Luckman Most Valuable Player Award: Austin Knowlin (Sr., WR)

Campbell-Murff Captains Award: Alex Gross (Jr., LB), Taylor Joseph (Sr., WR), Austin Knowlin (Sr., WR), Lou Miller (Sr., DE), M.A. Olawale (Sr., QB), John Seiler (Sr., OL)


I think I would have to agree with Knowlin getting the overall MVP award. He scored a lot of TD's this year and made an incredible statistical jump from last year, when the Lion QB's struggled to get him the ball.

Lou Miller as the defensive MVP is a no-brainer. Well done. Also well done was the obvious choice of QB Sean Brackett as Freshman of the Year.

What makes me even more delighted are all the special awards to the unsung heroes on the team. Derek Jancisin got the actual "Unsung Hero" award, but the nods to Jared Morine, Augie Williams, and even John Seiler gave recognition to guys you didn't always hear enough about this season and in the past.

Usually, I like to write up my own set of awardees for the season but this official list of winners pretty much steals my thunder.

The only players I think who were left out in a way were sophomore Jeff Adams, who was dominant at left tackle, and safety Andy Shalbrack. My own Sophomore of the Year Award goes to Jeff, and if I could invent a Four Years of Consistent Excellence Award it would go to Andy. Of course, Knowlin would be a strong contender for that award too.

My own Junior of the Year Award would be a close battle between Adam Mehrer, Andrew Kennedy, Mike Stephens and Ian Quirk. In the end, I have to give the nod to Mehrer who led the team in interceptions and seemed to make a big play in every game.

Here's hoping every award will have a ton of tough contenders next year as the Lions hope to reload for 2010.



Hofstra's newly unemployed Cohen


Hofstra Transfers

Rutgers is the first school with a confirmed transfer from the now deceased Hofstra football program. That transfer is the highly regarded offensive lineman Matt McBride. McBride is 6"6 and 280 pounds and played his high school ball at Holy Trinity High School just about 10 minutes from my house on Long Island.

Meanwhile, a Cape Cod native who hit a 54-yard field goal for Hofstra last season has not made any transfer choices yet.

Of course, the most important potential Hofstra "transfer" may not be a player at all. What about Hofstra Head Coach Dave Cohen? Could he possibly be in the mix for the vacant Princeton head coaching job?

Virginia has already ended its coaching search, reaching just 60 miles northeast and grabbing Richmond Head Coach Mike London to replace Al Groh. My gut tells me that as soon as the big BCS schools like UVA, Notre Dame and Kansas finish out their coaching searches, the Princeton search will be completed... but NOT before.