Injuries Deplete Wide Receiver Corps

NEW YORK, N.Y.—Harvard coach Tim Murphy has often said that his team, in its present form, is not the same as it was when the original depth charts were drawn up prior to the season’s first snap.

On Saturday, the squad on the field for the final offensive snap barely resembled the one that handled the first.

Junior wide receiver Rodney Byrnes came up lame after running one of his routes, in the process reaggravating the high ankle sprain that plagued him during the season’s early stages, significantly curtailing his playing time. If his recovery speed mirrors that displayed the first time he sustained the injury, his return for this Saturday’s game against Penn is unlikely.

Fellow junior wideout James Harvey’s progress will not be measured in days or weeks, but months after he sustained a season-ending injury to his ACL. On the treacherous Astroturf of Wien Stadium, Harvey damaged the ligament while covering a punt on special teams.

The seriousness of the injury could jeopardize his availability as far down the road as spring practice and, should complications arise, beyond.

“We really struggled without Ryan Fitzpatrick, Rodney Byrnes and James Harvey,” Murphy said. “The two receivers got knocked out in the first quarter....We really struggled to throw the football without those people in there. And it’s obviously just a very, very difficult way to lose.”

With senior receiver Kyle Cremarosa’s season ended during the preseason courtesy of a broken ankle, the Crimson employed its No. 6 and No. 7 receivers in sophomore Corey Waller and senior Adam Gordon, better known as the team’s placekick holder.

Live Long And Prosper

Columbia cornerback Prosper Nwokocha, who reeled in both interceptions for the Lions in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter, came into Saturday’s game with a mission—to exact revenge on the coach and program he felt had scorned him in the recruiting process.

“Before coming here, Harvard was my number one choice,” Nwokocha said. “I just wanted to take this game and just shove it [in their faces].”

Nwokocha’s older brother, Okechukwu Nwokocha ‘01, was a four-year letterman and tailback for the Crimson beginning in 1997. As his brother was thriving at Harvard, Murphy told the current Columbia back that he would recruit him when he was as young as a seventh-grader.

Despite the apparent rapport between the pair, when it came time for the younger Nwokocha to pay a visit to Harvard, Murphy was less receptive, breaking off communication a week prior to his scheduled visit, according to Nwokocha.

Baffled by the stunning turn of events, Nwokocha signed with his second choice and had itched for the opportunity to exact a measure of revenge on his brother’s alma mater.

After Saturday’s clutch performance, he can consider that itch scratched.

Struggling to be Special

Despite small gains on special teams, Harvard’s greatest weakness reared its ugly head once again against the Lions.

Sophomore kicker Jim Morocco, benched earlier in the season due to a poor performance, struggled mightily, missing one of his two extra points and his only field goal attempt.

Morocco pushed the first of his extra-point tries off the right upright and his botched 36-yard field goal flew wide of the right upright as well.

Senior punter Adam Kingston shone when he didn’t suffer from lack of protection.

Three times Kingston’s kicks were deflected by oncoming Lions as a result of poor coverage on the line of scrimmage.

“It was a nightmare,” Murphy said. “I don’t think there’s any other way to put it.”

Each time, however, Kingston managed to get the kick away, though each travelled less than 30 yards.

“We talk about dagger plays,” Columbia coach Bob Shoop said. “We talk about being fundamentally sound and technique conscious in the kicking game and we talk about just one aspect of another team’s kicking game that we feel like we can exploit....We saw some things in their punt protection that we thought we could take advantage of.”

When Kingston had the chance, though, he boomed his kicks, knocking two longer than 55 yards and twice trapping Columbia inside its own 10-yard line—once at the eight, once inside the one.

Though the kicking suffered, the Crimson did manage to visit some of its own suffering upon the Lions, blocking an extra-point try on the first touchdown of the game.

—Staff writer Timothy J. McGinn can be reached at mcginn@fas.harvard.edu.