Preseason All-Ivy

Draft Daddy is by no means an official Ivy League related organization, but they come out with a helpful preseason All Ivy football list and here it is for 2008:

QB Chris Pizzotti ~ Harvard
RB Mike McLeod ~ Yale
RB Luke Siwula ~ Cornell
WR Matt Luft ~ Harvard (Jr.)
WR Austin Knowlin ~ Columbia (Jr.)
TE Colin Cloherty ~ Brown
OL James Williams ~ Harvard (Jr.)
OL Darius Dale ~ Yale
OL Alex Rapp ~ Dartmouth
OL Stephen Morse ~ Yale
OL Ryan Pilconis ~ Harvard

Defense

DL Peter Ajayi ~ Harvard
DL Phillip Mitchell ~ Columbia
DL Jim Develin ~ Brown (Jr.)
DL Desmond Bryant ~ Harvard
LB Bobby Abare ~ Yale
LB Drew Quinn ~ Columbia
LB Jason Colabella ~ Penn
DB Andrew Berry ~ Harvard
DB Tyson Maugle ~ Penn
DB Tim Bax ~ Cornell
DB Steve Santoro ~ Yale


Jake's Take: I don't agree with a lot of these choices, but most are spot on. Columbia's three reps are good smart choices, especially since they had to overlook Quinn's and Mitchell's tough injuries last season, (they both played through them, but lost a step).

Knowlin is a no-brainer. If he can stay healthy and click with whoever gets the new starting QB job he's got a real chance to be the Player of the Year this season and when he's a senior in 2009.

I like Pizzotti overall, but he had such a great line in front of him that I think he's a bit overrated. Brown's Michael Dougherty is my choice for #1 QB in the league and I think he's going to have a monster season throwing long passes to Buddy Farnham and short little flips to Bobby Sewall who will amass monster "yards after catch" numbers. Sewall deserves to be somewhere on the preseason All-Ivy list too, but he's kind of an old school flanker, and not a pure halfback or wide receiver.

Mike McLeod is another no-brainer, but Luke Siwula is really not the real deal. With future NFL'er Kevin Boothe and the spectacular running QB Ryan Kuhn running interference, Siwula had a great 2006, but since Boothe and Kuhn graduated Siwula has been average. I realize Siwula was injured most of last year, but I still don't think he will have a big year in 2008.

I do feel the Draft Daddy guys' pain though, because after McLeod there's not a lot of proven backs to choose from. But I think Dartmouth's Milan Williams brings a lot to the table, and Harvard's Cheng Ho has a spectacular line in front of him. I think both Williams and Ho will have better seasons than Siwula.