Lehigh Football Nation

Most years, it's a gimme to pick last year's champions to repeat the following year.  But admittedly, last year wasn't just any old year for the Holy Cross Crusaders. Last year,  QB Dominic Randolph , currently in camp with the NFL's New York Giants, was at the helm of the Crusader offense, well on his way towards shattering every significant passing record in the Patriot League.  His choice to return for his final year of eligibility sent shockwaves through the rest of the league, as it should have.  His decision making ability and skill to find the weak spot on the opposing defense was unbelievable. It might be understandable to believe that the loss of Randolph to the NFL would cause a dropoff.  But a dropoff to being picked 4th in the preseason rankings, behind Lehigh and Lafayette?  4th, with two of Randolph's biggest receiving targets returning? 4th, with the preseason player of the year returning on defense? "I guess we'll have to prove it on t...

Patriot League Media Day is supposed to be all about the players and coaches, and the excitement of the upcoming football season. But with the subject of football scholarships sucking out the air in the room to some degree - and the absence of last year's offensive superstars like QB Dominic Randolph - caused some of the emphasis to be, wrongly, diverted from the coaches and student-athletes. Lost in the issues of Craig Haley's controversial report on media day and my observations of the scholarship proceedings was what the media was supposed to be there for: the upcoming 2010 fall season. And this year has no shortage of interesting storylines and compelling personal stories. To net it all out you need to just start with the preseason picks as to who is going to be in contention.  In Part One of the roundup of Patriot League Media Day, we focus on Lafayette, Colgate and Holy Cross.   (more)