The 2005 season was a turning point for tailback Luke Siwula, as well as the entire football program. Finishing with its first overall winning record (6-4, 4-3 Ivy) since 1999, optimism was on the rise. Cornell, however, was hoping for more than the last few years have brought.

The Red’s secondary has a little bit of everything — an all-Ivy caliber player, a consistent starter and inexperience. The unit will be headed by two-time All-Ivy selection senior Tim Bax at the free safety position and three-year starter Gus Krimm at the rover spot.

You can learn a lot of things at Cornell, but the one thing that you can’t learn is speed. You either have it or you don’t. Junior wideout Bryan Walters is one of the few who has it.

Remember when Kordell “Slash” Stewart played quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers and he also lined up as a wide receiver and running back? Cornell junior Stephen Liuzza is made from the same mold.

The offensive line has focused on strength over conditioning this offseason in order to take back control of the line.

On the last day of the 2007 season, Yale and Harvard met at the Yale Bowl with the Ivy League title on the line. Yale seemed like the favorite after rolling over nearly all of its opponents, but with All-League running back Mike McLeod hampered due to injury, the Crimson won in a blowout. Now both teams are back for more, tied atop the preseason media poll.

Senior defensive lineman Dario Arezzo is still smarting from the way the Red ended the 2007 season — a 45-9 loss to Penn in which the defense gave up 449 yards, 329 of which were rushing yards.

Senior Luke Siwula and junior Randy Barbour will both get carries at running back this year.

When football head coach Jim Knowles ’87 said that senior linebacker Graham Rihn knew how to “handle himself socially,” it was hard to know exactly what he meant.

In “the league where they play for pay,” wide receivers such as Terrell Owens, Randy Moss and Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco) are often regarded as less than team players. Don’t throw them the ball and these prima donnas turn into spoiled brats. In contrast, Cornell’s senior signal caller, Nathan Ford, is blessed with a bevy of downfield targets who understand a team-first ap­proach is necessary to keep the chains moving toward victory.