Archive For April 29, 2016
People rightfully can paint me as an FCS football fan. I love Football Championship Subdivision, the section of Division I where Lehigh and the rest of the Patriot League competes. I find the quality of the games tremendous, and the emphasis on football and competition as the exact right balance.
From that fact, some might also think I’m performing cartwheels around my office now that the University of Idaho, after they were unceremoniously cast out of the Sun Belt as football-only members, have decided that their only choice to retain football is to join the rest of the Big Sky in sponsoring football at the FCS level, starting in 2018.
You’d be wrong about that.
What Idaho’s decision really should be telling us is that the process for switching subdivisions is a senseless, conference-driven exercise that forces schools into making tough decisions that they shouldn’t be forced to make.
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| (Photo Credit: Gaby Morera/B&W Staff Photographer) |
Before we close the book on spring ball, I wanted to pass on my thoughts and observations about the spring session and the prospects for the 2016 season.
But before I do, I also need to share one of the great traditions of the Lehigh spring game – the announcement of the recipient of the Jim Gum scholarship.
Presented by the non-profit Jim Gum Foiundation, the scholarship award is presented in the name of Jim Gum, a three-year starter for Lehigh in the 1980s and Penn Argyl standout. He died due to complications from ALS in 2006.
Senior RB Kenny Crawford was the recipient of this year’s award in what is always a heartwarming yet humbling ceremony on the field.
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You might have thought that Lehigh’s Brown defense, fresh off a strong performance in the spring game, might have let themselves let up a little once it was deemed that the morning practice was complete.
Instead, in front of a swarm of fans who watched Saturday’s scrimmage on a picture-perfect April day at Murray Goodman stadium, the defense were doing running drills.
As junior DE Tyler Cavenas explained, this was no accident.
“That’s our new thing now,” an out-of-breath Cavenas told the assembled media. “If we’re not running to the ball after every single play, it counts as a lack of effort and we need to run after practice.”
The surprise of the running drills aside, the defensive effort that resulted in eight sacks while only yielding one late touchdown, could have been the most striking aspect of the Brown and White game on Saturday,
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This Saturday, Lehigh football fans will finally get a chance to get a free sneak peek at the 2016 Mountain Hawks at Murray Goodman stadium.
Scheduled to start at 11:00AM, it will be a bit of a different spring game than usual, due to the fact that it will be a no-tackling practice, unlike the one I happened to catch that was partial tackling.
“We never had a full practice that was all tackling,” head coach Andy Coen told Lehighsports.com. “I picked about three practices where he had at times, full contact. We never put ourselves in a situation where we were doing too much. I do believe if you want to get good at these things, you have to practice them. We’ve been using a lot of the techniques that the Seattle Seahawks have utilized over the last couple of years, and those techniques have been very productive for us. We’re getting a lot better with our technique and are coaches are doing a great job of staying on top of our kids regarding technique.”
So considering that this spring game will be a little bit different than other ones we’re used to, what can we expect to learn? Plenty, fortunately.
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From early in practice on Friday, when the 2016 Mountain Hawks were performing tackling drills on what looked like huge red padded human-sized donuts, the defense brought the energy to the practice field on what was a beautiful Friday afternoon in the Lehigh Valley.
From the drills to the scrimmages, rising senior LB Colton Caslow and rising senior CB Brandon Leaks stood out in terms of their energy level, flying to the ball.
On one play during the scrimmage I saw, Caslow nearly took out someone holding up a down marker as he left his feet, trying to get at the offensive player.
On another, Leaks made a break on his receiver to give the Brown side a chance to crow against the White-jerseyed offense.
Though the contact has been “very limited”, coach Coen said the tackling practices have been making a difference thus far in the spring season.
“I was very happy with our defense,” head coach Andy Coen told me. “I believe our veteran players really took the bull by the horns and were very good leaders during practice.”
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| Coach Andy Coen at football practice (Morning Call) |
Lehigh’s spring session has been underway for several weeks now – the period of time where Patriot League championships are won.
It’s a spring season where, frankly, there’s not that much drama, especially on offense.
There’s no drama at quarterback, where senior QB Nick Shafnisky is firmly ensconced as the starter, and proven sophomore QB Brad Mayes right there next to him on the depth chart.
It’s very clear that sophomore RB Dominic Bragalone will be a big part of next year’s offense, health willing, as well as junior WR Troy Pelletier and a many players from last year’s offense that led the Patriot League in total offensive yardage.
So what is the big story halfway through the spring?
Whether there will be enough healthy bodies to have a spring game.
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