Archive For The “Laquan Lambert” Category
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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| Lehigh QB Nick Shafnisky (Morning Call) |
Junior QB Nick Shafnisky spent Patriot League media day telling the gathered media about haters drinking the haterade.
Well, he didn’t exactly say it like that. But he did talk about proving the haters wrong.
“I love having people either be there for me or count me out,” he said. “Personally, I love it all. I love haters. I was just saying to my dad – the more people are talking bad about you, the more people you have to prove wrong. I love proving people wrong, and making my coaches from high school proud.”
Now finally healthy, Shafnisky finally has the chance to prove a lot of people wrong – those that doubted his ability to recover from a Rivalry game he’d rather forget, those that thought he might not get over the injury that severely limited him last season, those that picked Lehigh to finish fifth, sixth, or even seventh in the Patriot League.
Despite an infections optimism that carried all the way through the preseason, you could see the chip forming on Shafnisky’s shoulder that day, as well as junior LB Colton Caslow‘s.
How Shaf and Caslow perform with that chip on their shoulder is going to play a big part in the 2015 season.
“We want to show that the 3-8 team you guys saw last year is not what Lehigh’s about, and it’s not what Lehigh football is about,” Shaf said. “When they announced that we were picked fifth, Colton and I just looked at each other, and said, ‘We’ll see.’ Everyone has a different chip on their shoulder to prove everyone wrong.”
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| LB Colton Caslow (NJ.com) |
Three of four starters return in Lehigh’s linebacking corps in 2015, which is why Lehigh Nation sees this area as one of Mountain Hawk strength in 2015.
Only one senior on the two deep, team captain LB Isaiah Campbell, graduates, meaning the the potential seems high.
With five guys on this unit next season in the top ten in tackles, hopes are high that head coach Andy Coen and defensive coordinator Joe Bottiglieri can craft this group into a more dominating unit this upcoming season.
This spring, many are looking to see how many linebackers take a step forward.
There have been times this season that Lehigh has been agonizingly close to winning games they have ended up losing.
It’s as if they’ve been stuck with bad karma; that they’ve been oh-so-close to winning, but some bad karmic event keeps them out of the victory column.
Against the Big Red on homecoming this weekend, the Bad Karma seemed to be at Schoellkopf Field for Lehigh once again.
A well-defended pass bounced into the hands of Cornell WR Collin Shaw set up one Big Red touchdown. and a low snap to punter junior P Austin Devine set up another, making a 17-0 Mountain Hawk become a very slim, thin-feeling 17-14 spot for Lehigh.
But then just like that, the Lehigh offense seemed to have finished with its bad karma, with senior RB Rich Sodeke leading the charge to set up one big touchdown, and scoring the final exclamation point on Lehigh’s first win of the season.
It all added up to a satisfying return to winning for the Mountain Hawks.
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In my first edition about Lehigh’s spring football season, I take a look at one of the parts of the team that I’ll be watching closely when the Brown vs. White game gets played on April 19th: the secondary.
While one might naturally start one’s focus on Lehigh’s spring season on the offense, and the reps that rising sophomore QB Nick Shafnisky will be taking, I’d argue that it’s equally as important to focus on the battles happening in the Mountain Hawk secondary.
For the first time in a long time, it’s not a foregone conclusion as to whom will be starting come September.
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(Photo Credit: Brown and White via Lehigh Valley Live)
It’s 27 days until the start of the 2013 season. Can you believe the start of classes at Lehigh is right around the corner?
At no. 27, we find sophomore DB Laquan Lambert as our highlighted Lehigh football athlete in today’s countdown.
(Photo Credit: Kevin Mingora/The Morning Call) I love the picture of this sack by senior DE Anthony Verderame on Bucknell QB Brandon Wesley – a huge sack during the game.It's a part of the Morning Call's pictorial of the Bucknell game this past…
On a perfect homecoming afternoon, the South Mountain skyline something right out of a fall landscape painting, the stage was set for a perfect Lehigh victory – something that Mountain Hawk fans have been looking for all season.They didn't get that…
