Roster Moves
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Josh Martin (CREDIT: Columbia Athletics)
Changes
With less than three weeks to go before training camp begins, we're starting to see some movement on the Columbia football roster.
Numbers have now been allotted to each player except for Colton Bishop for some reason. I'm sure that will be rectified soon.
Incoming transfer DL Wells Childress gets #79, which was the number his College Football Hall of Fame inductee dad wore for the Houston Oilers, (Dad wore #53 at Texas A&M).
For a look at the significance of some of Columbia's most important numbers, you can read this short post I wrote about that several months ago.
But here are some highlights:
The lucky incoming frosh getting Lions all-time leading rusher Johnathan Reese's #7 is Percee Goings.
Freshman Josh Keiles will wear legendary Lion captain, coach, and current Chairman of the Board of Trustees Bill Campbell's #67.
Martin Moves... and More
The biggest news is returning junior All Ivy defensive end Josh Martin is moving to linebacker. This shift should truly suit a player of Martin's ever-increasing skill in Columbia's new 3-4 defense.
Also moving... again... is Brian DeVeau. He started at CU as a DB, switched to WR last year, and now he's back to DB.
Kevin Lenehan moves from QB to TE.
Basketball Splash
Columbia men’s basketball will begin the 2011-2012 season at defending national champ UConn on November 11th.
That game should be very interesting to say the least.
Top 100 Moments of 2010
#46: 4th and Goal Redux
Thanks to a great punt to the Columbia one and a subsequent Lion three-and-out, Dartmouth began its second possession of the second half sitting pretty at its own 49 yard line.
It only took five plays for the Big Green to get a 1st and goal at the CU seven, but then the Columbia defense stiffened… just not enough.
An eerie replaying of the near goal line stand from a week earlier at Penn played itself out over the next five plays.
On 3rd and one from the one, Nick Schwieger was stopped for no gain by defensive backs Neil Schuster and Calvin Otis to force 4th down.
Trailing 7-3, Dartmouth could have easily chosen the field goal to make the game virtually tied.
But Head Coach Buddy Teevens cast a major vote of confidence in Schwieger and gave him the ball again.
This time, he scored easily and the Green had their first lead of the game.
posted by Jake @ 7:25:00 AM
15 comments
15 Comments:
Martin is an outstanding football player with huge potential and moving him from defensive end to linebacker will serve to strenghten the Lions greatly on defense. Having a 235 pound + linebacker with his mobility will make the Lions much bigger and faster on defense. With Martin at linebacker, the Lions could line up on defense with a front three averaging well over 265 pounds, and a linebacking corps averaging about 230. If some of the very talented, but smaller returning linebackers have gained some weight, that would also be a huge plus. DeVeau and Lenihan are both very good athletes who could become key players at their new positions for the Lions.
The key will be having the front 3 at 270+. If we have the 240-250 guys in those positions (yes they were faster) on 1st team like last year teams like Penn will destroy us with the run again. A 290+ O lineman will have no problem pushing a 245 D lineman as was very apparent last year in the last half of the season.
Does anyone know why Childress is the only one on the rooster without a bio? It makes you wonder.
Take the weights with a grain of salt. Where they are at when they weigh in for camp will be a better indicator. Most of the weights on the rooster haven't changed since last fall.
Let's not make too much of Martin's move. It would be one thing if he were to conintue on DL in a 3-4 as a DT. In this scenario, we'd have to worry becuase of his size. However, if this means that Martin will play OLB --which is what I think we're talkng about--he will in effect be playing defensive end. Harken back to Lawrence Taylor. As a result, we should see him lining up at the line of scrimmage regularly to stop the run and rush the passer. I doubt (and hope) that we won't see him dropping back in the hook zone to defend against short passes too often. (BTW, this is exatly the defense Penn used against us last year. They played both OLBs on the line as DEs to stop run and put pressure on Brackett--which unfortunately they did both very well.)
The advantage to this move is that we'll be better prepared to stop run and also to blitz more effectively. The potential downside is that it will put more pressure on our DBs in coverage situations and make the draw and screen more dangerous.
What the John Maddens of the world have preached is that for the 3-4 to work, the nose guard must be super tough and block up the middle and hold his ground even agaisnt double teams. If we can get our NT to perform at this level, our defense will be OK and Martin shold do great.
I agree that having a front 3 at 270+ is a key factor in stopping the run. However, the linebackers are the guys who make the most tackles so that group is equally important. Shifting Martin back to his high school position of linebacker seems to me to be a very smart move. Columbia should have a very strong linebacker group now with Martin as the leader.
Ryan Murphy has also moved to LB
Peter is generally correct, about the technical aspects of moving Martin to linebacker, but I would not underestimate the importance of the move, as it shows that the Lions are starting to do some creative things on defense. Keep in mind that the Penn defensive model also provides for a small linebacker and defensive back to blitz the quarterback. That's what killed us you know last year in Philly. I wouldn't be surprised if we try to do the same thing this year as we have some very quick linebackers like Ollinger and Murphy and a number of talented defensive backs.
Zach Olinger will be a force, especially if he comes in at around 220. Josh Martin will be a wrecking crew. If Owen Fraser and Chris Groth can alternate at the NT and are at full strength we will have a great defense. I expect monster years from Popeck and Mistretta.
One of the great things about Brackette is that he is able to adjust to almost any defensive formation. His ability to read the defense better than almost any other quarterback at this level should really help the Lions this year.
Agree with you about Mistretta and Popeck. Also, I expect big years from Adebayo, Cooper and now DeVeau on defense. Two or three of the freshmen are probably going to be in the mix on the special teams and possibly at wide receiver. Thaxton, Nelligan,Coffinger and Skalitzky are my choices to see some varsity action this fall.
New Assistant Coaches coming to Morningside:
NEW YORK – Bill Lund and Mike Neuberger have joined the Columbia football coaching staff as assistant coaches. Lund will serve as the defensive line coach while Neuberger will work primarily with the tight ends.
Lund is a 15-year veteran college coach who most recently served as the defensive coordinator at St. Norbert College in 2010. During that season, the Green Knights' defense led all of Division III in takeaways (46) and won its first conference title in four years under Lund's tutelage.
Prior to his stop at St. Norbert, Lund was a defensive assistant for two seasons at Buffalo, where he was part of a coaching staff that led the Bulls, who play in the Football Bowl Subdivision, to the first MAC championship in the program's history. In 2008, the Bulls were first in the nation in fumbles recovered and seventh in takeaways.
Lund was the defensive coordinator at Carleton College from 2006-07 and also spent six years at Colby College and three at St. Anselm College.
A two-time participant in the NCAA Expert Coaching program, Lund was named to American Football Monthly's Hot List of up and coming coaches and also has experience as a strength and conditioning coach during his time at Colby. He played football and competed in track and field at Lawrence University, from which he graduated in 1997 with a degree in biology. At Lawrence, he played on both sides of the ball and started at center in his final two years. As a senior, he earned the college's most dedicated senior athlete award.
Neuberger comes to Morningside Heights after he spent the past two years as a graduate assistant coach at Maryland, which had a 9-4 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2010.
Working with the offensive line in 2010, Neuberger helped guide a Terrapin unit that averaged 32.2 points per game, which ranked 29th in the nation. Neuberger also served as a special teams assistant and scout team coordinator for defense and special teams. On special teams, Maryland produced the fourth-ranked punt return unit in the country, averaging nearly 17 yards per return.
Prior to his tenure at Maryland, Neuberger spent three years coaching at Dayton, his alma mater. During his time at Dayton, Neuberger coached tight ends and assisted with the offensive line. He helped develop Matt Champa, an Associated Press second team All-American tight end that was part of an offense that ranked fifth in the nation in passing and sixth in the nation in scoring in 2007.
Neuberger began his coaching career as a student assistant at Dayton, where he was the scout team coordinator for defense and special teams and a special teams assistant. He also was a strength and conditioning assistant coach while he finished his bachelor's degree in education in 2005.
Columbia begins the 2011 season at Fordham on Saturday, September 17 at 1 p.m.
Who is Cooper?
Marquel Cooper. a very promising sophomore defensive back who played with poise in the spring intrasquad scrimmage.
I believe you mean Marquel Carter.
Martin has very special athletic ability running somewhere close to a 4.6 forty and benching well over over 400 pounds. With that combination of size, strength and speed, LB is the perfect position for him. Can't wait to see how he does.
I agree with Stevens and a couple other posters. Martin's move should be a big plus.
I also think the comments on NT are right on. I do think Frasher (if healthy) will rotate at DE with Popeck and others. Maybe Popeck will move to LB. He has the speed and skill. He could do some damage especially blitzing from that position. I also think if you look at how he has played the last 3 years Groth will be a key at NT. Not the fastest kid, but, no one has been better at plugging up the middle especially against the bigger OLs. Why he wasn’t in more last year still mystifies me.
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