Ivy League Football

Coach Mac brought Solo to CU... but couldn't find many more like him



Solomon Johnson '92

Greg Abbruzzese's running mate for four seasons at Columbia was the speedy Solomon Johnson, who began wowing the crowds at Wien Stadium as a Lion Cub freshman in 1987.

Johnson, or "Solo" as they called him, came to Columbia from East Orange, N.J., where he grew up the son of a football coach and starred at Montclair Kimberley Academy in football, lacrosse, basketball, and the school's jazz band.

As a frosh, he led the '87 Lion Cubs to their first-ever 6-0 season, rushing for 836 yards in those six games and scoring an amazing 16 touchdowns. His best game as a first-year was a 38-carry, 198-yard, 3-TD performance against Dartmouth.

As a sophomore on the varsity, Johnson had to split time with Abbruzzese in the backfield and they both had giant bullseyes on their backs for opposing defenses.

In a close Week 3 loss at Penn, Johnson was knocked out cold by the Penn defense as he was about to score the tying TD in the fourth quarter.

But he bounced right back the next week, helping the Lions end their 44-game losing streak with the stirring Homecoming win over Princeton.

Later in the year against Lehigh, Solo ripped off 179 yards in a loss.

Johnson finished 1988 with 707 yards rushing, which was good enough for fifth all time at Columbia at that time.

Then came the fateful 1989 season, where just a few weeks after Abbruzzese was lost for the year with a preseason injury, Johnson also had a season-ending injury.

He returned in 1990, but then Head Coach Ray Tellier was emphasizing passing by that time and he never dominated the offensive scheme again at CU.

Solo was more healed for his fifth year senior campaign of 1991, and he ended up leading the team with 522 yards rushing and a 5.0 yards-per-carry average on the year.

That season, he also became the third Columbia rusher to gain over 200 yards in one game, a 221-yard performance against Lehigh that was good for second all time in Columbia history at that point, (now third).

When I interviewed the man who recruited him, former Head Coach Larry MacElreavy, he told me if he had a few more Solomon Johnsons, Columbia would have won the championship every year.

Welcome to Camp Cavanaugh!


Just a reminder that Ivy League Media Day is this August 11th, (26 days away), and it will be a teleconference instead of a face-to-face event at the Yale Golf Club.

Over the past two years, there has been a live online broadcast of the event, but I'm not sure that will happen this year.

The big news we all like to see on media day is the release of the preseason Ivy poll by the members of the media. I will try to get and post that list as soon as it's released.


Mike Cavanaugh (1996)

Technically, Mike Cavanaugh was a quarterback, and while he was never a subpar passer, it was his prowess as a runner that made him so memorable at Columbia.

His efforts in 1994 were the single biggest factor in delivering the Lions their first winning season in 23 years.

Cavanaugh was a star QB at Bishop Foley High School in Troy, Michigan, but then head coach Ray Tellier wanted to put the 6' 195-pounder at wide receiver.

In his sophomore season, an injury to Chad Andrzejewksi (1994) thrust Cavanaugh into the emergency starter role and he paid some benefits immediately with two TD's in a win over Cornell at Ithaca.

Mike also returned punts that season!

In '94 he and passing QB Jamie Schwalbe (1994) shuttled at QB, and most weeks it really worked.

It started working big time in week two against Lehigh. Cavanaugh finished with 110 yards on just nine carries, including TD runs of 50 and 27 yards.

The game ended in a 28-28 tie when Lehigh blocked what would have been the winning PAT.

The following week Cavanaugh was even more spectacular, rushing for 188 yards on 12 carries with TD runs of 33 and 24 yards.

Columbia won again the following week at Fordham on the strength of a key 24-yard TD run by Cavanaugh.

By then, the Ivy League was sitting up and taking notice, and Cavanaugh's chances to run started to get squeezed. But he still made the most of his attempts and finished 1994 with 622 yards on 108 carries for a 5.8 yards per carry and six TD's.

Because he was not a pure QB or running back, Cavanaugh didn't even make honorable mention All Ivy, still one of the most stinging omissions for Columbia fans to accept, even after all this time.

Cavanaugh moved effortlessly into the single QB system in 1995 after Schwalbe graduated.

He had the Columbia offense humming with a 22-point per game average and plenty of passing to compliment his running.

The highlight of 1995 came against Penn, as Cavanaugh scored a long running TD to spark a 24-14 win.

Two weeks later against Yale in a heavy rain storm, he calmly squeezed 21 points out of his Lion mates in a 21-7 win.

Then came the horrific leg break against Princeton, and Columbia's march to a potential Ivy title came to an abrupt end.

Because he missed the last 3 1/2 games, Cavanaugh was relegated to the Honorable Mention All Ivy team, another real snub that still hurts.

Mike is currently spending some time this summer coaching at a free youth summer football camp run by his father and many of his other relatives who all played collegiate football (including his brother John '01, who played at Columbia).

The Sporting News has come out with it's preseason predictions for the 2009 Ivy Season. Here's how they see it:

1. Harvard
2. Penn
3. Yale
4. Brown
5. Princeton
6. Columbia
7. Cornell
8. Dartmouth


Phil Steele's preseason magazine has it like this:

1. Harvard
2. Penn
3. Princeton
4. Columbia
5. Brown
6. Yale
7. Cornell
8. Dartmouth


And as Bruce Wood of the Big Green Alert Blog points out, Steele is bullish on a large number of returning Lion players, putting a total of eight of them on his first or second All-League teams, behind only the nine total players he acknowledges from Harvard and Penn.

The eight Columbians recognized are actually seven, because Austin Knowlin made it as a wide receiver and a punt returner. The others are:

Lou Miller—Defense First Team

Alex Gross—Defense First Team

Andrew Kennedy—Offense Second Team

Owen Fraser—Defense Second Team

Andy Shalbrack—Defense Second Team

Adam Mehrer—Defense Second Team


You can see the full release here from Ivyleaguesports.com.

What's my take on these lists?

Let's just say I not only like Phil Steele's final standing prediction more than the Sporting News, but I also don't think Harvard is winning the title this year.

As far as the Columbia players getting recognized, you would have to say that Adam Mehrer and Andrew Kennedy stand out as surprises, but nice ones at that.

Mehrer didn't get much publicity for his outstanding season at safety last year and an impressive freshman campaign in 2007. He really deserves to be on that list.

Kennedy hasn't had much of a chance to shine as a pass receiver, simply because that's not how the Lion offense has been structured during his first two seasons. I'm not sure that will change, but his effort has been good and he's provided some spectacular catches in both of his seasons.

I'm thinking the folks making that list are betting on Kennedy's potential.


Mike Goldman '84

The John Witkowski years at Columbia were all about passing, right? Well, almost.

In Witkowski's senior year, fellow classmate Mike Goldman had one of the best years for a running back in Columbia history.

Goldman came to Columbia from Evergreen, Colorado but he grew up as a child in nearby Long Island and his dad was a Columbia grad.

Coming off a junior year in 1982 when he carried the ball just 38 times, Goldman was thrust into the number one spot and was used like a John Riggins-style single back for much of 1983.

The Lions were forced to play all their games at neutral sites or on the road that year as Wien Stadium was being built. But it was in one of those tougher road trips that Goldman really stood out.

Against Yale at the Bowl in Week Five, Goldman carried the ball 30 times for 120 yards. That helped put the Lions over the top in a 21-18 win. Columbia wouldn't win another game for five years.

Mike finished the '83 season with 726 yards rushing and a 4.2 yards per carry average. At the time, that was good enough for third all-time for a single season at Columbia.

Doug Jackson entered the Bristol Hall of Fame in 2006


A lot of us are trying to find out what we can about week two first-time opponent Central Connecticut State.

But it doesn't take long to figure out that the Blue Devils are all about running the football.

CCSU ran the ball about 50 times a game last year compared to just about 18 pass attempts per game.

The big ball carrier is rising senior James Mallory, who had 1,520 yards rushing last year, 15 TD's and a 5.3 yards per carry average.

Despite the ball control offense, the Blue Devil defense was not entirely dominant. CCSU gave up about 210 yards passing per game and 19 TD passes in 2008.

It's impossible to truly gauge just how good Central Connecticut is compared to Columbia's Ivy opponents. But it seems like the Blue Devils will be a tougher challenge than teams like Iona or Marist were for the Lions in recent years.


Doug Jackson 1976

I have Connecticut on my mind today, so I thought I'd focus on one of Columbia's best ever Connecticut products, Doug Jackson out of Bristol.

Columbia's first-ever Bushnell Cup, (Ivy Player of the Year), winner didn't exactly come out of nowhere, but he really had a breakout season as a senior in 1975. Before that super year, Jackson hadn't been one of the team rushing leaders.

Jackson powered for 914 yards on 174 carries for a 5.3 yards per carry average. He also scored 10 TD's.

His two best games were against Harvard where he had 179 yards in a close loss to the Crimson, and then later in the season when he had 194 yards in a win over Penn. That performance helped the Lions avoid the cellar and clinched the MVP award for Jackson, who also ended up with spots on the All Ivy, All-East, All-ECAC and All-American teams.

Jackson got a chance in the NFL as a back-up/practice squad player for four years with the Cowboys and Giants.

After his playing days, Jackson coached as an assistant at Penn and then back at Columbia before going back to the high school coaching ranks.

Harper and Oluwole looked liked Mack trucks to most defenders


I was unable to keep up yesterday with the 100 Players in 100 Days pace, mostly because it was just too nice a day not to get outside.

So, you get two players today for the price of one.

Both were big backs who played big roles in surprisingly good seasons for the Lions.

First off, we look at John Harper 1996 who came from Cleveland's Garfield Heights High School just in time to play the final year of freshman football in the Ivy League. He caught everyone's eye as a Lion Cub, with some long TD runs against Brown and Penn.

John only had 11 carries as a sophomore, but averaged a hefty 4.7 yards-per-carry and had a 38-yard run versus Dartmouth.

As a junior, Harper became the featured fullback in the Lions shuttle offense that alternated passing QB Jamie Schwalbe 1995 and running QB Mike Cavanaugh 1996.

Somehow Harper didn't get lost in that shuffle and he ran for 417 yards on just 104 carries and score 3 TD's. Combined with the 622 yards Cavanaugh racked up that season, the two made for a formidable backfield.

In 1995, the 6-foot 2-inch Harper bulked up to 240 pounds and kicked it up a notch, running for 526 yards and 11 TD's and landing a spot on the All Ivy Second Team. A highlight for him that season had to be scoring the winning TD with 19 seconds left at Harvard to defeat the Crimson, 28-24. Harper was also a key cog in the 24-14 win over Penn which remains the last time the Lions defeated the Quakers at Wien Stadium.

Harper became so popular that they even made a "Harper Trucking Co." banner on the old electronic message board at Wien and showed it everytime he ran the ball.

Ayo Oluwole 2005

One of the most pleasant surprises Columbia has ever had at the running back position came after an unexpected disaster.

Columbia's 2002 leading rusher Rashad Biggers suffered a bad injury in a preseason scrimmage, pushing Ayo Oluwole, a man who had actually quit the team a year before, into emergency starting duty.

Ayo started out nicely with a 61 yard, four yards-per-carry, one TD performance against Fordham in the opener. Then he exploded for 110 yards on 21 carries with another TD in the week 2 win at home against Bucknell.

Ayo played well almost every week in 2003, but his two standout games other than Bucknell were a 166-yard performance in a tough loss to Lafayette and a 138-yard day in a great win over Cornell.

He finished the season with 903 yards rushing, still 4th all-time in Columbia history, and 5 TD's. He was also named to the All Ivy Second Team.

In 2004, Oluwole had to share time with the returning Biggers, and he wasn't able to get back into a rhythm. He finished his senior season with just 304 yards rushing and two TDs.

But the exciting 2003 season was due in large part to Ayo's fantastic job coming off the bench and making an impact.

Alex Gross stalks his prey (CREDIT: Columbia Athletics)

A nice piece of recognition for Austin Knowlin today as he has been named to the Sports Network FCS All-America First Team as a punt returner.

The full story and roster is on the TSN site here.


Gross Gains

The last linebacker I'll spotlight on our 100 players in 100 days countdown is current standout Alex Gross '11.

The Kettering, Ohio product made a huge splash in his freshman year of 2007, getting into the starting lineup, leading the team in tackles, and finishing the season as Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

The thing is...there were so many players making emergency starts during the great injury-riddled campaign of 2007, that I didn't really notice just how good Gross was until very late in the season.

By week 10 against Brown I did realize he was a strong candidate for Rookie of the Year, but I almost missed the boat. Incidentally, Gross clinched the award with a 15-tackle performance that day.

Sophomore jinx? Not so much.

Gross led the team and the entire Ivy League in tackles last season with 101 and ended up on the All-Ivy First Team at linebacker.

He had his best performance in Columbia's best game of the season. In the 17-7 win over Cornell in week 9, Gross had 15 tackles, an interception, a sack, and a pass breakup.

But stats really don't tell the whole story. When Gross is on the field, it seems like opposing ball carriers never have a chance to get around that left end of the Columbia defense. He's also a very disruptive force in the short passing game week after week.

With the graduation of Drew Quinn, I suspect Gross will become the de facto leader of the linebacking corps, and I think they're in good hands.

Drew Quinn last season (CREDIT: Columbia Athletics)

I swear, swear, swear that I was going to recognize Drew Quin '09 today even before his dad commented on my previous post just a few hours ago.

But it was nice to see that Drew's father Ed is still a reader even though his son played his last game in a Lion uniform more than seven months ago.

Drew came to Columbia in 2005 after serving as a captain on the perennial high school football powerhouse, St. Xavier in Cincinnati. Quinn made an impact right away, playing in all 10 games as a freshman and even making an interception in the Homecoming game against Penn.

But Drew really made everyone sit up and take notice in his sophomore year when he made the weekly Ivy Honor Roll after forcing a fumble and returning an INT for a game-icing TD in the season opener win against Fordham.

Even more impressive, Quinn became the defensive field general even at his young age. He was a key cog in Columbia's surprising 5-5 2006 campaign. He finished the season with 82 tackles and two interceptions (his second pick also iced a win, this time against Cornell).

Then came "the great injury epidemic of 2007."

Like Rory Wilfork, Drew became one of those rare juniors to be named a team captain. But an injury sustained in training camp slowed Quinn's ability to make as much of an impact as he did in 2006. He still finished with 62 tackles and an interception, but the Lions' ability to plug up the middle on defense was noticeably weaker without Quinn at 100 percent.

Drew was much healthier throughout 2008 and it showed. Once again, he started the season with an interception returned for a TD against Fordham, and finished the season with 88 tackles and a spot on the All-Ivy Second Team.

While Columbia's defense looks very strong coming into this season, my number one concern about the 2009 defense is how it will respond to Quinn's graduation. The Lions need to replace, not only Quinn's athletic abilities, but also his leadership skills.

No matter how well Quinn's replacement does this season and beyond, we'll miss him.

In all my years of interacting with Columbia's athletic department, no one has been more warm and welcoming than Associate Athletics Director Jackie Blackett.

And in all my conversations with Columbia athletes and their families, all I ever hear are nice words about Jackie.

So I was very happy to see that she is being named the Jostens Administrator of the Year by the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision.

I think I can speak for all the readers here when I send my congratulations to Jackie.

Speaking of administrators, the Ivy League's new Executive Director officially took over today. We wish Robin Harris good luck and the wisdom with which to make the best decisions for our league.

100 Players in 100 Days: The Linebackers

Moving from the defensive backfield to the linebacking corps, I'd like to focus on 10 memorable Lion linebackers in the next 10 days, beginning with the great Rory Wilfork.

Wilfork came to Columbia from Miami with good football blood flowing in his veins. His dad Roy was star linebacker for Mississippi Valley State and played with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1969 and 1970.

As a freshman in 1993, he was among the first Ivy League footballers to be allowed to play for the varsity as a freshman. He made a bit of a splash in Week 9 with a big tackle to help preserve a 29-24 win over Cornell in Ithaca.

But Wilfork broke out big time as a sophomore in the 1994 season. He exploded for 127 tackles, 16 of them for a loss. He was an easy choice for First-Team All-Ivy, as the Lions posted their first winning season in 23 years.

Wilfork's presence on and off the field were good enough to earn a spot as co-captain of the team as a junior in 1995—he was the first junior captain in 59 years at Columbia.

The 1995 season was really a testament to Wilfork, as fellow star Marcellus Wiley sat out the season. That put a huge degree of the defensive pressure on Wilfork, and he responded with 141 tackles.

With Wiley back in the fold in 1996, Wilfork could "relax" as a senior, as he posted 103 tackles and 15 for a loss in that final season.

When he was done, Wilfork would be named as a First-Team All-Ivy member all three of his final years, only the 13th player in Ivy history at the time to achieve that feat.

What set Wilfork apart was his speed, the kind of speed that current standout linebacker Alex Gross exhibits, but Wilfork was just as fast and with more size on him.

Wilfork is now a managing director at Goldman Sachs.

John Witkowski's passing records don't bother me

I love looking through the Columbia football record book from time to time.

I'm not pouring over the data to win at Columbia Football Jeopardy, or to feed my inner math geek.

Actually, I do it for two reasons: 1) I want to be aware in the broadcast booth if and when a Columbia record is about to fall and 2) I like to remind myself of those Columbia records that are long overdue to be broken.

Breaking some of those older records could really be the key to a great season this year and beyond.

Here are my top five LEAST favorite Lion records:


5) Single Season QB Completion Percentage: Archie Roberts .616, 1963

The great Archie Roberts holds this record, (which requires a minimum of 75 attempts), set during his junior season of 1963 when that kind of completion percentage was pretty high. But now, it's not exactly breathtaking. If a regular Columbia starter at QB breaks that record in the coming years, that would probably mean big-time offensive improvement.


4) No HYP Season Sweep

Columbia has never, and that's never in over 130 years or so, defeated Harvard, Princeton and Yale in the same season. Doing so in any given year would probably mean that the Lions are really contending for a title. And sweeping the "big boys" would always be nice.


3) Career Receptions: Don Lewis 176, (1981-83)

Austin Knowlin entered the 2008 season with 118 catches, and I thought he had a really great chance to bust that record last year. But he finished with 39 receptions and his career total now stands at 157 and third on the all-time list. Knowlin can't leap over Lewis and Bill Reggio in the three-year totals, (Reggio has 170), but he should break the overall record this year for sure.

I realize Columbia's offense changed when Craig Hormann graduated, but I dream of Knowlin getting about seven receptions per game at least.


2) Single Season Receiving Yards: Don Lewis 1,000, 1982

I swear I have nothing against Don Lewis! But it seems like someone should have shattered this record a long time ago. Knowlin came darn close in 2007 with 988 yards, and I can remember 2-3 long receptions that were negated by penalties that would have put him over the top.


1) Best Home Winning Streak at Wien Stadium: Three wins, 1996-97

It's all about winning, and you want your team to have a real homefield advantage. Columbia won a pair of emotional games against Cornell and Brown in 1996 to close out the season and then won the home opener against Towson in 1997. That's the best we've done since Baker Field became Wien Stadium in 1984.

Columbia's home winning streak right now stands at two with the victories over Dartmouth and Cornell last year. To break the record, the Lions would have to beat a tough Central Connecticut team in the home opener and then Penn at Homecoming. Achieving that would certainly bring the program to a higher level... at least for 2009.

I like breaking things.

So someone on the public Ivy message board has decided to deride our Austin Knowlin (pictured above), saying he isn't among the top five receivers in the Ivies.

I beg to differ, but I'm willing to put up or shut up with my own top-five list.

But there's a catch. (Get it?!?!)

Some of my top five are really too much a part of a total wide receiving crew to fairly separate as individual players.

Hey, it's a team game.

5) Tim McManus, Dartmouth

Tim McManus wasn't just the most valuable players for the Big Green last year, he was one of the most valuable players in the whole league. Dartmouth may have gone 0-10, but McManus made about every physical and emotional sacrifice to keep that from happening.

And he even was willing to sacrifice some of his receiving stats to play QB when he was needed.

Dartmouth will probably continue to struggle this season, but expect McManus to put up bigger receiving numbers in 2009.

He led the team in yards and was the go-to guy on just about every 3rd-and-long or 3rd-and-goal. As a rising junior, he has a lot of upside.  Whoever becomes the starting Big Green QB next season will surely see McManus as his best friend.





4) Matt Luft (and company), Harvard

Luft may not be as quick or elusive as many other wide receivers in this league...but he doesn't have to be.

Luft is 6'6" and 225 pounds, so even when he's covered, he's not really covered.

However, a big reason for his success was the rhythm he established with now-graduating QB Chris Pizzotti and that won't be there automatically with the new QB this season.

Luft also benefitted and will continue to benefit from his fellow receivers, like the very elusive Adam Chrissis and the tough Chris Lorditch, both of whom joined Luft in ripping the Columbia secondary apart when they faced the Lions last season.

But the big question mark is whether Luft and company will remain as dangerous without a QB as talented and tough as Pizzotti.




3) Austin Knowlin, Columbia

"AK" saw his numbers fall last season, but none of the other top receivers in this league has had to play with three different starting QB's and radically different systems over the past two seasons. And he's the only one of the top receivers with a QB who runs as often and as well as Millie Olawale.

Knowlin's ability to get open, even when everyone in the stadium knows the play is to him, is his best attribute. He's also a great breakaway threat and can often bounce off tacklers despite his smaller size.

Knowlin has some good supporting cast members in Taylor Joseph, Mike Stephens, and Nico Gutierrez (when healthy, especially in 2007), but he has nothing like the help Luft enjoys at Harvard and the receivers at Brown enjoy.

Knowlin's added role as a killer punt and kickoff returner isn't technically what makes him a great wide receiver, but it helps.





Buddy Farnham



Bobby Sewall


1) and 2) Buddy Farnham and Bobby Sewall, Brown

Buddy Farnham is the anti A-Rod. He puts up huge stats and delivers in the clutch. In key wins over Harvard and Penn last season, Farnham was the guy who had the big scores at the crucial moments.

Farnham keeps in the family as the son of Brown all-time great receiver Mark Farnham, class of 1980.

Bobby Sewell is equally "clutch" and his ability to line up almost anywhere on the line of scrimmage and move around a lot before the snap drives opposing defenses crazy.

Some of Farnham and Sewell's shine might wear off this season with a new QB at the helm, but what they've accomplished in two varsity seasons already has made them Brown legends.

Unless head coach Phil Estes pulls a Nick Hartigan clone out of a hat this summer, expect Brown's "Killer B's" to rack up big stats again as receivers and as runners on trick plays and reverses.

Honorable Mentions

Bryan Walters, Cornell

Walters is a better kick returner than a receiver, but he's dangerous and often gets open down the sideline. He's another player who will have to cope with a new QB this season.


John Sheffield and Jordan Forney, Yale

Another tandem that works better as a team. Neither one really knocks your socks off alone, but together they should give Yale's new starting QB a decent weapon this fall.