Lehigh Football Nation

It used to be - once upon a time - that the spring was my quiet season, when I didn't really comment that much about sports.  But with Lehigh making it into both the men's and women's NCAA basketball tournament, it's been a lot more compelling to follow all the action and keep a close eye on the proceedings.  (Even though my Villanova/Temple Final four pick seems, in retrospect, crazier than picking Lehigh to upset Kansas in the first round. ) Usually by this time of the tournament, my NCAA pools are busted wide open, the out-of-control athletics departments at, say, North Carolina or Kentucky are looking at winning the national championship, and I'm busy breaking down the offensive and defensive spring rosters for Lehigh football. But a funny thing happened on the way to inevitability: Butler won me over.  Maybe it's because I'm the fan of a "smaller conference", or maybe it's because I'm genetically programmed to root for the underd

With spring football starting in earnest this past weekend, the first look, inevitably, is at the offense .  The defense, like the offense, is loaded with returning lettermen and also filled with a bunch of players that were starters last year. But when you look closer at what Lehigh needs to replace on defense, it seems like the hole is much greater than just the counting of players on the two-deep that were seniors. Three of the top five tacklers on the team need to be replaced - who accounted for 24 1/2 tackles for loss in 2009.  One is a potential NFL player, senior LB Matt Cohen , and two more, senior SS Jesse Sanchez and senior DT B.J. Benning , who were the emotional core of last year's stifling defense.  It feels like a lot more than just a lot of bodies to replace. (more)