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.

I think Lafayette President Alison Byerly and athletic director Sherryta Freeman should have a heart-to-heart chat with Payne to determine where things went wrong for him. He was injured a good part of the football season, but he did have four catches against Lehigh; then, he had a number of indoor track performances that were among the best in college history. But that wasn’t enough for him.

When I spoke with Coach Garrett on Sunday, I told him I was surprised by the Payne decision, and Garrett said, “What are you referring to?” Surely, he already knew because Payne is not listed on the roster and a note on his Twitter page told the world about his decision to look for another opportunity, another school. I told Garrett I had read the note.

“That’s this day and age,” Garrett said, although I felt he really didn’t want to discuss it. “With the NCAA transfer rule, you can do that. He hasn’t made any decision yet, but we can’t stand in his way or anything. Sometimes guys just want to research other opportunities; we’ll see what happens. It all depends on the opportunity he gets elsewhere. We just have to deal with it the way they’ve set it up with the NCAA rules now.”

It sounded to me like the coach thought there was still a chance that Payne, if he didn’t get another suitable offer, might elect to stay at Lafayette. I’m not saying that’s what Garrett said, just that I took it that way. But I have to say that that was not the impression I got from Payne’s note.  So, we’ll see where that goes.

A FACT CHECK

When we discussed the quarterback situation, Garrett was happy to share the fact that it would be “open” competition involving Sean O’Malley, Cole Northrup and Troy Fisher. Then he used the phrase “Just like last year.”

“Sean and Cole split time; they had equal reps in spring; they had equal reps during training camp,” Garrett said. “They came out almost a dead heat and they split time the first four games of the season. Not many people remember that. They split time. They were going in series, series, series, and not until Sean’s excellent performance against Central Connecticut State, where his was 24-for-36, 343 yards and three touchdowns, did he really pull away.”

 I remembered the two then-sophomores playing in the season opener against Sacred Heart, but thought the whole experiment blew up shortly after that game. I decided to check.

According to the play-by-play charts, against Sacred Heart, O’Malley and Northrup were on the field for six offensive series each. O’Malley 32 plays, Northrup 28 plays.

The following week, against Delaware, O’Malley had seven offensive series to four for Northrup. Thirty-seven plays for O’Malley; 13 for Northrup.

But the situation turned. Against Monmouth, Northrup didn’t play. Zero series. O’Malley was on the field for all 10 series, including touchdown drives of 12 and 15 plays – the latter 96 yards. Sixty-four offensive plays. In Week 4 against Colgate, O’Malley ran the offense the first 10 series; Northrup got one throw-away series in the fourth quarter. Forty-eight plays for O’Malley, six for Northrup.

In the Central Connecticut State game, which produced Garrett’s first non-conference victory, O’Malley did have his best game of the season. The stats: 30-for-41, 328 yards, 1 touchdown.

Just sayin'.

WALKING WOUNDED

It’s inevitable that spring practice is played with a small number of players because you’ve got only three classes instead of four. But then you have any number of players who are still rehabbing from offseason surgeries or have other ailments that will keep them from performing at 100 percent.

Garrett said he didn’t have the actual count from the training staff (he said he expected that today), but he did share the following list of players who are presently on the not-ready list. Offensive tackle Jake Marotti, shoulder injury; offensive tackle Austin Pyne, unspecified; tight end Jake Taggart, ankle surgery; defensive lineman Ian Grayson, shoulder surgery; defensive back TayJon Martin, unspecified; defensive back Jordan Anderson, wrist; wide receiver Aziz Diamonde, hip; defensive back Eric Mitchell, both shoulders. Garrett said Mitchell is “progressing pretty well” and might take part in some contact situations.

THE ROSTER

Six players will be changing numbers this season. They are: Yasir Thomas, going from #4 to #1; TayJon Martin, going from #21 to #2; Keith Earle, going from #92 to #9; Billy Shaeffer, going from #81 to #21; Jack Lamb, going from #59 to #45; and Ed Rogowski, going from #54 to #56 … The roster includes two walk-ons who are already in school. They are running back Devon On and offensive lineman Eli Rouse … Kevin Hutchinson will be switching from linebacker to defensive back.  Zadok Scott, who started out as a wide receiver, is now a tight end. … I did not yet have a depth chart, so I tried to think of some new way to show the roster. I decided to break it down by position and secondarily, by class. It is not intended to be a depth chart because it shows seniors first, then juniors and sophomores. The incoming freshmen are in BOLD. It proved to me to be an interesting way to see how many players are listed, by position group. So, here it is.

QUARTERBACKS           

            Sean O’Malley, Jr.

            Cole Northrup, Jr.

Reed Aichholz, Jr

Shane Davis, So.

            Troy Fisher, So.

            Keegan Shoemaker, John Paci

RUNNING BACKS

            Mike Dunn, Sr.

            Selwyn Simpson, Jr.

            J.J. Younger, Jr.

            Devon On, So. (walk-on)

            Jaden Sutton, John Gay IV

OFFENSIVE LINEMEN

            Jake Marotti, Sr.

            Colin Bradley, Sr.

John Burk, Jr.

            Taron Hampton, Jr.

            Gavin Barclay, Jr.

            Austin Pyne, Jr.

            Mike Hughes, So.

            Casey McCollum, So.

            Joe Grundhoffer, So.

            Matt Fiume, So.

            Joshua Roberts, So.

            Ben Wild, So.

            Eli Rouse, So. (walk-on)

            Alex Barshaba, Nathan Slater

WIDE RECEIVERS

            Nick Pearson, Sr.

            Julian Spigner, Sr.

Jake Liedka, Sr.

            Quinn Revere, Jr.

            Michael Moriarty, Jr.

Logan Whelan, So.

            Aziz Diomande, So.

            Dan Byrnes, Ryan Dengler, Joe Gillette, Jordan Hull, K.J. Rodgers, Chris Webb, Julius Young.

TIGHT END-FULLBACK

            Blake Meyer, Sr.      

            Ryan Monteyne, Sr.

            Jake Taggart, Jr.

Zadok Scott, So.

Christian Rollinson

DEFENSIVE BACKS

            Yasir Thomas, Sr

            Tre Jordan, Sr.

Eric Mitchell, Sr.

Kevin Hutchinson, Sr.

Colin Thorne, Sr.

Otis Thrasher, Jr.

Clennie Murphy, Jr.

Jordan Anderson, So.

TayJon Martin, So.

Romeo Wykle, So.

Tessema Haskins, So.

Caleb Burr, So.

Joe Egan, So.

Daron Gilbert

LINEBACKERS

            Jack Lamb, Sr.

            Ryan Dickens, Jr.

            Major Jordan, Jr.

            Billy Shaeffer, So.

Ty Hranicka, So.

            Christian Hollar, So.

            Blamassi Meite, Marco Olivas, Luke Ragone, Brian Reilly, Jyaire Stevens,

KICKERS-PUNTERS

            Jeffrey Kordenbrock, Jr.

            Ryan O’Hara

DEFENSIVE LINEMEN

            Keith Earle, Sr.

            Ryan Barnett, Sr.

            Demetrius Breedlove, Sr.

Harrison Greenhill, Jr

Malik Hamm, So.

Ian Grayson, So.

            Colin Hurlbrink, So.

            Tristan Tritt, Damon Washington  

LONG SNAPPERS

            Stewart Hackleman, Sr. (also DL)

Ed Rogowski, So.