Lehigh University Athletics
From Head Coach Pete Lembo
4/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Dear Alumni and Friends,
Our spring game weekend began with a successful "Career Night" event in Lewis Lab on Friday night. Many thanks to Jay Lacke '64, Tom Stine '78, Dave Szablowski '82, Sal Marinello '84, Mike Marinello '89 and Brant Hall '02 for taking the time to return to campus to speak to our current team members about their Lehigh experiences, their professional careers and for providing advice for skill development.
Part of the career night tradition is to announce the captains for the 2005 team at the beginning of the meeting. Our players voted before practice on Wednesday, and I am very pleased with their choices. Congratulations to FS Kaloma Cardwell, QB Mark Borda, LB Anthony Graziani and OG Adam Selmasska for being recognized by their peers for their leadership ability. As has been the case in many recent years, our staff felt comfortable that eight or nine rising seniors had the ability to be successful captains. My hope is that we have several seniors who hold themselves to the same high degree of program ownership and responsibility that these four individuals certainly will in the coming months.
The Lehigh Valley was pounded with showers on Friday night and early Saturday morning. However, the skies let up with perfect timing - creating a window between 11am and 3pm for us to scrimmage. Just as we wrapped up, it began to pour again, and by the end of the day Bethlehem had received about two inches of rain.
The scrimmage itself was productive, balanced and entertaining. Our staff spent all of Monday morning grading the tape, much like we do on Sundays during the season. Some of the scrimmage highlights included:
- rising junior kicker Justin Musiek went 4-for-4 on field goal attempts.
- our run defense and pursuit was very solid all afternoon.
- several receivers made tough catches, including Winfred Porter, Lee Thomas and Kevin Zebluim.
- starting quarterback Mark Borda had another strong day and all three back up QB's were able to move the offense down the field.
- we incurred no major injuries this spring season - a testament to the strength staff, sports medicine staff, and the players' work ethic in practice each day.
After the conclusion of the Brown and White game, a reception was held at the Goosey Gander by teammates and friends of Jim Schultze '78, who passed away earlier this year. It was a pleasure to see some familiar faces as well as other football alumni that have been away from the program for some time. I hope they enjoyed coming back to campus and that we can keep them better connected with Lehigh football from here on out. In addition, I am pleased to report that the fund raiser held for Brett Snyder '00 in conjunction with the game has already raised over $1000. I anticipate that this figure will increase in the coming days.
Today, our position coaches will have individual meetings with each player in their position group. From Wednesday through Monday, I will meet with each player in the program to wrap up the year and discuss goals for the future. While this takes place, our assistants will prepare for junior recruiting, which begins with a combine at Penn State on Saturday. Beginning next week, we will have seven coaches on the road for three consecutive weeks, covering territory from Connecticut to Texas. The players will return to the weight room four days a week for the next two weeks, and final exams begin on May 3rd.
The spring season gave us an opportunity to improve our skills and access our strengths and weaknesses heading into summer workouts and pre season camp, which begins on August 9th. We anticipate that many upperclassmen will remain in Bethlehem for the summer, but some are still looking for employment. If you can be of assistance in this area, please contact me immediately via email at jpl5@lehigh.edu or by phone at 610 758-4356.
Despite a very difficult schedule that features six away games and at least three ranked teams, 2005 promises to be another exciting year for the football program. Your continued support is needed and appreciated.
Best Wishes,
Pete
