Monday, March 25, 2019

Are you ready for some Lafayette football?



Spring football camp at Lafayette College begins on Tuesday. Coach John Garrett has not yet posted a preseason depth chart, but I can almost give him a pass this time because he has so many new coaches who haven’t had a chance to do any evaluations yet.

I can also say this. We can make some calculated guesses based on the starting lineups from the final game of the 2018 season against Lehigh. No one involved with the Leopards’ program wants to rehash that game, right? Neither do I.

But, for the record, Lafayette last-game starters who are back this year are: quarterback Sean O’Malley; wide receivers Julian Spigner and Nick Pearson; tight end Steve Stilianos; offensive linemen Jake Marotti, John Burk and Gavin Barclay; defensive linemen Malik Hamm, Harrison Greenhill and Demetrius Breedlove; linebacker Major Jordan and defensive backs Yasir Thomas and Eric Mitchell.

One other starter was wide receiver Tim Payne, but the freshman has decided he will leave Lafayette at the end of the current semester. The last sentence of his “goodbye note” on Twitter was a bit disconcerting to me. “My next goal is to find a school where I feel at home, comfortable, and will allow me to excel not only in track and football, but in life as well,” he wrote.

I thought that’s exactly what the Lafayette experience was supposed to be all about. In fact, I have always thought the Leopards were student-athletes, not athletic students. Have great Division I athletics exposure, but also work hard in the classroom and come away with a degree that will translate to success for a lifetime.