Ashiru

[Carl Spackler]

My two cents, going back to pre season camp, Ashiru kind of drew the ire of the staff. When someone mentioned Ashiru to Poindexter, his comment was he wished he would hit like Stewart. I don't think Ashiru's playing style was this staff's cup of tea from a physicality standpoint. Stewart will make a big hit from time to time, but from a playmaking standpoint I would take Ashiru all day, you are hard press to remember one big hit from Jeff Ashiru.

Wish this young man the best. I was a big fan of his ability and liked how he seemed to have good range and speed. I think in an ideal defense for us, Ashiru would be OLB in a 3-4, with Vann and Joseph playing ILBs.

I think an ideal linebacker is Ashiru's smarts with Stewart's speed and violence. You determine where the ball is going, and you get to the ball, and when you get there, you get there with anger.

 

[uconnbill]

None of us know all the facts, nor will we ever.

The writer is looking to sell papers and get folks talking. Again this is part of big time college football. You all ought to read the Knoxville papers during last season. It would make most of you blush

 

[whaler11]

I'm not going to make the effort to type it, as to why, but once again, this is the very first sign, that I think we are actually on the way to building a champion again. Best of luck to Jefferson, I hope he learns from this. Get yourself up and go, and communicate.

It's also a repeated and recurring sign, that the media that covers football, specifically college football in CT, has no idea WTF is involved in this sport, and I hope that Diaco learns from this.

Edsall actually made the effort to bring media people into a film room at one point not too long ago. You hear me Bobby? Media people don't know sh---t about this sport in this state.

I hope your first paragraph is right.

I had a sinking feeling all day last Saturday that things weren't going to go well.

This coming Saturday looks to be an apocolypse.

 

[whaler11]

None of us know all the facts, nor will we ever.

The writer is looking to sell papers and get folks talking. Again this is part of big time college football. You all ought to read the Knoxville papers during last season. It would make most of you blush

LOL yeah we are just Yankee rubes who have no grasp of what goes on in college football.

 

[whaler11]

I think an ideal linebacker is Ashiru's smarts with Stewart's speed and violence. You determine where the ball is going, and you get to the ball, and when you get there, you get there with anger.

My ideal linebackers look a lot more like Smallwood, Moore, Lansanah and Fincher. When you watch them play the name Graham Stewart never crossed your mind.

 

[noeynox]

My ideal linebackers look a lot more like Smallwood, Moore, Lansanah and Fincher. When you watch them play the name Graham Stewart never crossed your mind.

I was more of a Bama Wilson, Greg Lloyd, Scott Lutrus guy, but I think that is splitting hairs.

 

[whaler11]

The one thing I think I understand about Diaco is that almost everything he says is for a reason.

His comments about cleaning out lockers and kicking people off the team was a desperate attempt to get their attention.

I can't shake the idea that come he!! or high water he was chasing an upperclassman from the team over those two weeks.

So here is the problem: It didn't work. It didn't come close to working. It was the opposite
of working.

It blew up horribly in his face and the team completely no-showed at home. (And if you are going to tell me they put in an effort - that is even worse - at least you can fix quitting).

It happens - these aren't his players and he's made it clear he's not responsible for how poorly they play - but it does mean even if Diaco can recruit and coach this mess is a long way from getting fixed.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Reading this again here is the worst thing said about Diaco:

""He said Diaco and the coaches were coming up to him at practice, yelling at him, and asking him, `Do you love football?! Do you love football?"

WTF, That's it? That's what Diaco is guilty of? That's the smoking gun?

Reading that makes me think Diaco is too soft.

If this is his father's best example of "berating" then I'm inclined to believe he's more of a Mr. Oriakhi than someone presenting a serious issue.

 

[whaler11]

I was more of a Bama Wilson, Greg Lloyd, Scott Lutrus guy, but I think that is splitting hairs.

Lloyd and Fincher are actually my two favorites. So many good linebackers. What the he!! happened.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Lloyd and Fincher are actually my two favorites. So many good linebackers. What the he!! happened.

Marquise Vann is no slouch

 

[noeynox]

Lloyd and Fincher are actually my two favorites. So many good linebackers. What the he!! happened.

About ten years ago I ran into some guys from Glenn Mills, PA that worked at that place down there with the troubled youth. They happened to be HS football coaches down there. They were telling me Tino Sunseri was the premier HS QB in the nation (slight exageration on their part I suppose). The converstation, as any FB conversation I have turned to UConn. They told me how they tried sending a kid, I think Nate Williams was his name, to UConn to play LB, and that Todd Orlando really tried to convince Edsall but that Randy wouldn't pull the trigger on an offer. The kid went to Northwestern then onto the NFL. I only share this as a reminder of the caliber of LB play we've had that we could turn a way a kid that good, and we probably ended up with a better player in his place.

 

[noeynox]

Marquise Vann is no slouch

He is not. He is also maybe a have tick below those guys and that is not a knock. All of those other guys have spent time on NFL active rosters. For a program like ours, that is absolutely kick legit.

 

[whaler11]

Marquise Vann is no slouch

I like Vann. He is probably my favorite player on this team.

I also like the cut of Diggs' jib.

Vann would get my second place vote for Team MVP behind Foxx.

I don't feel like figuring it out but he's probably like the 11th or 12th best LB since 2000.

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

Brian Koonz

Not that the Greenwich Time covers UCONN sports too much, albeit perhaps via some Stamford Advocate/Hearst articles, but it's interesting for Koonz to suddenly appear. Perhaps Jefferson Ashiru was pushed hard by UCONN, and maybe they questioned his commitment in practice despite some strong performances at times.

Acknowledging that possibility, Koonz always seemed to have something against UCONN when he covered the hoop team for the Danbury newspaper. Noting no reference to even reaching out to any coaches or school officials (not that they'd respond), maybe Koonz's historic chip is relevant in reading his piece. Grain of salt, perhaps given the source. Regardless, good luck to Ashiru in his future.

 

[huskysupporter]

I like Vann. He is probably my favorite player on this team.

I also like the cut of Diggs' jib.

Vann would get my second place vote for Team MVP behind Foxx.

I don't feel like figuring it out but he's probably like the 11th or 12th best LB since 2000.

I think Vann is overused by the staff. He is such an intense player, he looks utterly exhausted by the end of the game. I love that whether the score is tied or UCONN is getting obliterated, he takes on o linemen head on to maintain his gap. And if you watch closely, aside from Campenni, he gets the most attention from opposing offenses.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

I think an ideal linebacker is Ashiru's smarts with Stewart's speed and violence. You determine where the ball is going, and you get to the ball, and when you get there, you get there with anger.

Troy Ashley

 

[Kgun7]

I like Vann. He is probably my favorite player on this team.

I like Vann as a player as well .... but now I like him even more as a leader.

 

[Confident Carl]

He has barely played for BC this year, and lately only becasue their entire secondary was hurt. Philips has played more, but still not a lot.

I was listening to the BC - FSU game on XM radio and in the second quarter Ty-Meer Brown intercepted Jameis Winston's pass and after that Shakim Phillips caught a 49 yd TD pass in a 20-17 BC loss to FSU.

I hope that Jefferson and the coaching staff can work things out. Very difficult year. Ashiru is a good football player. Hopefully we will see him back in a UCONN uniform. Hopefully this is not a lost cause and Marquis Vann and staff can work things out with Jefferson.

 

[mauconnfan]

Bet the truth is somewhere in between but...

Brian Koonz: UConn football player deserved better from Diaco
http://www.greenwichtime.com/uconn/...025.php?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Obviously Brian was a PP fan. I mean to write about his accomplishments at the Cuse and dismiss the fact he couldn't win the last few years there either is plain awful reporting, bias to say the least. He was looking for something and found it, good for him!

 

[businesslawyer]

My ideal linebackers look a lot more like Smallwood, Moore, Lansanah and Fincher. When you watch them play the name Graham Stewart never crossed your mind.

I'd settle for Wilson, Lutrus and either of the two Lloyds.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Obviously Brian was a PP fan. I mean to write about his accomplishments at the Cuse and dismiss the fact he couldn't win the last few years there either is plain awful reporting, bias to say the least. He was looking for something and found it, good for him!

It's the second hit job this Cuse hack has written about UConn football.

 

[Jimdish255]

So what that article is saying is that Ashiru is a good football player, good person off the field, good student, and had a year of eligibility left, but for some odd reason the coaches wanted their exact prototype of a player not to play there anymore? Seems a bit fishy on the part of the author of the article and Ashiru's dad, and possibly Ashiru. Why on earth would a coach want a player who meets all of his criteria off of the team? That's what makes no sense.

Why on earth would people on this board come to the conclusion that a guy who's played football for many years is suddenly not tough enough to handle coaches yelling at him as they would any other player? If they were riding him they are smart enough to know they risked riding him off the team. At this level football is too tough a sport to come to practice and have to deal with that if it was happening. Everything just seems to point to a perception being created that we're losing because we have the worst collection of athletes and football players in FBS. When Coach D came in one of the things I liked about his approach was building up the players and how positive he was about his interactions with the guys. That led me to believe we wouldn't see a huge housecleaning and the transition would go smoothly instead of the tearing down the house approach we see now. To me that is not a positive development.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Tearing down the house was always the plan.

 

[CTBasketball]

Any news where he's thinking of transferring?

 

[RedStickHusky]

Tearing down the house was always the plan.

I believe that - and it's not hard to imagine that 'finding out who wants to play' has been a theme all season. It's been clear to me since the "exhibition" season that winning games was not a focus area for this season. That's tough on the fans, especially those buying tickets and braving tough weather to show support. Hopefully, two or three years in, we can forgive, if not forget, this season.