The Millennium Club?
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My favorite item today comes from the “Outlet” section.
It’s this GREEN Columbia t-shirt made for Saint Patrick’s Day.
No offense to the holiday, but I have an underhanded reason for liking this item.
Columbia is Dartmouth’s Homecoming opponent up in Hanover this October 22nd.
Wouldn’t it be funny for a group of Columbia fans to mingle with the crowd all clad in green but upon closer examination, they’ll be in Columbia attire?!?
Okay, maybe not laugh out loud funny, but silly enough to get me interested!
Nick Schwieger
Speaking of Dartmouth, a lot has been written here and elsewhere about all the returning veteran QB’s in the Ivies for the 2011 season. But only Dartmouth has a returning 1,000-yard rusher in Nick Schwieger.
That’s kind of a tricky fact, because there were only two 1,000-yard rushers last season in the Ivy League last year and the other one, Harvard’s Gino Gordon, is graduating.
Still the two 1,000-yard rushers in 2010 were two more than the league had in 2009, and that makes the rising senior Schwieger that much more of a commodity for the coming fall.
Almost as important as Schwieger’s raw yardage, was his scoring prowess. He led the league in scoring in 2010 with 14 TD’s.
The rest of the top 5 running backs returning are:
Lyle Marsh, Penn
Marsh was hurt most of last year but he made a big impact in his 2009 freshman year. The chances he’ll get 1,000 yards this fall are still a bit slimmer since Penn really runs the ball by committee and it has so many talented backs. But I still think he’s more dangerous than Brandon Colavita, who was darn good as a 2nd team All Ivy back in his own right last season.
Treavor Scales, Harvard
On almost any other team, Scales would have logged a lot more carries and yards by now. But behind Gino Gordon, Scales has had to wait his turn. Now, it’ll be his turn and the rest of the league better be ready. Scales averaged six yards per carry last season!
Alex Thomas, Yale
Some Yale fans had this kid pegged as the second coming of Calvin Hill a few years back, and he has hardly been that. But he logged a career-high 137 yards on the ground against Columbia last year on his way to 2nd Team All Ivy honors. He has a good move to the sidelines and can be really dangerous.
Mark Kachmer, Brown
Kachmer had 557 yards, a 4.2 average per carry, and most importantly eight TD’s last year. Some of the banged up backs who were out for much of 2010 for Brown will be back this fall, but my money’s on Kachmer to remain the premiere runner for Phil Estes in 2011.
I really love Columbia’s overall running attack too. Our offensive line combined with a running and gunning QB like Sean Brackett and speedsters Nick Gerst and Marcorus Garrett make me very optimistic about the Lion ground game for 2011. But I really just don’t see any one of our backs getting the ball often enough to take a serious crack at a 1,000 yard season. It’s total touches, not total ability that mostly stands in the way of our ball carriers.
As for Princeton and Cornell, there isn’t any real known top talent there to even recklessly predict a 1,000 yarder for 2011. Besides, I think both of those teams will be focusing more on the pass anyway.
posted by Jake @ 12:10:00 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
The key to Penn's running game last year was its outstanding fullback, who has graduated. If Gerst stays healthy he will probably get more touches than Garrett. If he does get the touches he will be the best RB in the league and rush for 1,200 yards. He is much faster than Schweiger, who is primarily a cut-back runner. Our outstanding and seasoned OL will be opening big holes all year.
Granted that Gerst looked very good last year and Garrett showed potential flashes .... but let's face it, based on their size (not huge bruisers) and their level speed and quickness (excellent), you would not expect your offensive philosophy built around running them primarily between the tackles (which seemed to be how they were used) .... you would think the offense needs to have some quick hitting plays outside to get them into a position where "speed kills" ... the threat of outside-then-inside would be exciting to watch in the Fall .... of course, if we have the big fullback to block inside then, just hand Gerst/Garrett the ball and sit back and be entertained this Fall ....
FrankF '70C
Garrett seems to be more of an outside threat, and Gerst seems to be more of a cut back guy. But we have the best LT in the league and a very big and agile group of OLs this year, plus a QB who can also run. So long as our receivers can step up, we will be dynamite on offense.
Any body that has seen Gerst behind a very average offensive line at Columbia has seen flashes of brilliance. He is the real deal when healthy. Agreed the play selection is the only thing holding this kid back and the number of touches.
Hopefully Columbia will learn to get the best kids on the field regardless of age.
GO LIONS
Having Mike Stephens back at wide receiver for a fifth year is huge. If defenses key on our running game, Stephens will burn them. And if defenses try to double team Stevens, then Williams, Havas, Rothschild, Andrada, DiNova, et. al will make them pay. Also, we can expect much production from our kickoff and punt returners. On top of everything else, our incoming freshman class has size and speed at the skills positions. I would not be surprised if one of the freshmen contributes immediately on kickoff returns.
I would expect the Lions to open up the field on offense this year now that they have at least three wide receivers (DeVeau, Havas and Rothschild) who played quarterback in high school or college.
Remember the old asage ... offense wins games, defense wins CHAMPIONSHIPS ... a more potent offense won't make us tremendously better than last year whereas a more solid defense will !!! LET BRACKETT BE BRACKETT is a good idea .... STOP THE RUN is an even better one !!!
A little kudos to the conditioning at Columbia. My son Chris came in 4th place (there was more than 4) for his age group in a 5K charity run this weekend. I think it was somewhere in the 90s overall. The big guys can show some speed. I couldn't resist bragging a little and thought this is a good example of the continued conditioning he gets at Columbia.
Karl Groth
The charity is The Live Like Andi Foundation http://www.livelikeandi.org/
Wow! I doubt that I could even run five miles today and I weigh 100 pounds+/- less than Chris.
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