Lehigh Football Nation

Earlier this week, the Lehigh athletic department released the long-awaited spring prospectus , giving us a bit of a closer look at Lehigh's football team for 2006. The first pieces of the puzzle are being put together, and some interesting battles are shaping up - as well as a few surprises. Here's my take on what I see as the three biggest surprises, and three things to take forward up to the Brown/White game on April 22nd (which, by the way, is free and open to the public). Biggest Surprises 1. New faces at LB. Some of the talent and depth on the "D" line has made the change to outside linebacker. Rising senior DE Matt Mohler and rising junior DE Joel Kriss are joining a hot battle for the outside spot along with rising sophomores Tim Diamond and Ben Pravata. Mohler has more experience, but Kriss is very athletic, so it will be interesting to see who will be the starters - and you can't count out the X-factors, the sophs, as well. On the inside, rising se...

Earlier last week, Ralph of I-AA Waves fame and I interviewed Lafayette football head coach Frank Tavani about Lafayette's upcoming year, the happenings over in Easton, and, of course "the rivalry". It airs tonight at 9PM EDT, and you can listen to the show online by following this link . Ralph and I are hoping to get other Patriot League coaches on the I-AA Waves radio show in the very near future, which will hopefully include coach Coen. In regards to spring practice, I, like you, are anxiously waiting for the official Lehigh website to post their spring prospectus and to get a feel for how the spring is going. I beleive practices are going on as we speak.

Are you ready for some spring football? Today's press release makes it official - spring football practice is here, and we'll get our first glimpse of Lehigh's 2006 football team! (And not just of senior TE Pete Morelli, pictured here!) Spring practice starts this Saturday and runs all the way through the Brown/White game on April 22nd. Practices are generally not open to the public on the Whitehead practice fields, but the Brown/White game is free and open to everyone. Over the coming weeks we'll get a glimpse of how the starting teams will look, of course, but with Andy Coen coming into his first spring and (for the most part) a new offensive and defensive staff, we may see some interesting and unexpected changes and tweaks to the team. Questions abound. Will there be change in offensive or defensive philosiphies? Will "Air Lehigh" be tempered by more running? Will our defense see some different looks? Those questions may start to be answered during...

You have to give Bucknell and head coach Pat Flannery a lot of credit - and a hearty "thank you" - for yet another amazing first-round win in the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament. Make no mistake, as amazing as last year's shocking win over Kansas was, this was even more amazing. Sure, Bucknell last year was a 14th seed, flying completely under the radar of a struggling Kansas team which was predicted to miraculously overcome their struggles to dispatch of a lightly-regarded Patriot League school that not only who weren't favored to win their league - they were representing a conference that many NCAA basketball fans would have argued to give up their autobid for another middling C-USA team. The Bison had shaken the mantle of obscurity this time. Anyone can get lucky in the NCAA Tournament once. Princeton won once. Vermont won once. Coppin St. won once. But to turn that into another win, with the weight of expectations on you, with every coach in America hav...

Tonight, Tuesday, March 7th, I'll be appearing on I-AA Waves, the only internet radio show solely devoted to I-AA. I'll be talking about my latest piece for I-AA.org, "Survivng the Offseason" . Tune in!

It's finally here - Lehigh and coach Coen have announced the class of 2010 ! A surprisingly big class with 29 new names and no transfers, coach Coen also surprised me with bringing in a couple of recruits from California - our first recruits from that state in quite some time. This is in addition to our normally strong showing in Lehigh Valley and NJ recruiting as well. Kudos to coach Coen for bringing together such a solid class even with the challenge of bringing a coaching (and recruiting) staff together at the same time. Unsurprisingly, coach Coen brought in some great-looking talent on the offensive and defensive lines, with 4 OL and 4 DL. Two of my five "Top faces to watch" in this class are linemen. There appears to be some good speed in the WR/DB's, but also some good playmakers as well. Some of the LB's on the list appeared to be converted offensive players (Heath Brickner, Al Pierce) on massively successful high school programs (Thomas Jefferson (PA), H...

If you're planning on going to the Lehigh/Lafayette men's basketball game this weekend, you have a chance to meet and greet new coach Coen . Show up at 12:30PM (a half-hour before tipoff) and you will be able to talk to the new coach! Also, next week we'll get our full list of recruits . According to the article, we'll get 30 new student-athletes, which is mighty impressive considering we went through a coaching transition through the entire coaching season! It's very encouaging to see that Lehigh seems well-known enough to attract great student-athletes in spite of the time it's taken to assemble the staff! Next week will be interesting! See you then!