Lehigh Football Nation

Last week, I took a look at Lehigh's spring offense - and the huge challenge of fielding a spring offense with only three of the faces that suited up last fall for the White team. This week, I take a peek at the spring defense, and unlike the offense, the Brown team will see a lot more continuity this spring. With a now-veteran defensive backfield, led by senior CB Gabe Johnson , senior SS Billy O'Brien and LFN fave senior CB Bryan Andrews , the onus will be to develop the replacement for the graduating all-American  LB Mike Groome - a player whose epic goal-line stands and never-stopping motor is difficult to envision replacing completely.

Last Friday, the first step of Lehigh's quest for the threepeat began . The two-time Patriot League champions showed up for the first spring practice of the year a week ago, signalling the end of the 2011 victory laps in the form of banquets, awards, and even pro days. Though the beginning of the spring season was kicked off with some fun with the team - a strongman competition to show off the team's offseason weight training gains - the truth of the matter is this will be the most challenging and eye-opening Mountain Hawk spring season of the last three years. That's what happens when you need to replace four of the top players in the Patriot League last year, including the Walter Payton award runner-up, QB Chris Lum , and two more all-Americans.

When Lafayette president Daniel H. Weiss announced to the world that the Patriot League would be allowing schools to allow merit-based aid - i.e., allowing the same types of athletic scholarships that other FCS schools can offer - there was a lot of rejoicing  with Patriot League fans for a variety of reasons. "We make this decision in recognition that we believe that it will help the league to remain strong and competitive." he mentioned in his opening statement, "We believe over time what this decision is in the best interest of the league because it will help us with future membership prospects." This past week, a subtle change to the Patriot League website seems to indicate that perhaps, just perhaps, that future membership prospects might be happening sooner rather than later. Could a new member be joining the Patriot League by the 2013 season?

It's starting to become a habit. For the second straight year, Lehigh hosted a Pro Day for three athletes, QB Chris Lum, WR Jake Drwal , and TE Troy McKenna , as well as some other athletes from the area as well. While it wasn't the same as last year, where Will Rackley had a slew of NFL scouts travel to Bethlehem to see his numbers, the trio did bring a very solid performance on a beautiful day in front of a crowd of well-wishers and fans.

When you're a 6'4, 280 lb offensive tackle in college, the three letters "NFL" don't usually enter your thought process. Unless, of course, you're senior OT Troy McKenna . When many players at all levels of football were hanging up their cleats for good after the season, Lehigh's FCS All-American tackle never stopped working to pursue a dream - making it to the NFL. As a tight end. The dream of making an NFL training camp continues for three former Lehigh football players tomorrow with a Pro Day at the University: McKenna, QB Chris Lum , and WR Jake Drwal .

It's never easy on a coaching staff when you lose a great assistant coach or coordinator. And when Dave Kotulski announced that he was going to be headed to Stanford, head coach Andy Coen announced that he would be searching for new candidates "immediately". Fortunately for all Lehigh fans, the best possible solution was reached in terms of replacing Kotulski - involving promotion of two existing coaches to co-defensive coordinators - and the return of a familiar face.

I've got a confession to make: March 16th, 2012 did not start out well for me. It was not a day that felt like history was going to be made, starting with a sleepless night, and another long workday ahead after already logging more than forty hours at the office. But by the end of the night, all the stress, all the frustration and all the hard work of the last week were gone. There was nothing else but the extraordinary achievement of this very, very special Lehigh men's basketball team. The best Lehigh basketball player I've ever seen out-performed one of the best guards in the ACC - and played a huge part in writing the Mountain Hawks into NCAA tournament history.