I was thinking the same thing in regards to hitting the recruiting wall. Things have really slowed down. There's alot of work that still needs to be done in particular, OL, CB, DE. Lost two of our best pass rushers: Two tall CBs with man coverage skills. And we saw how weak the OL was. Staff didn't really trust the 1st and second year lineman. These positions are critical. WR should be good with Davis, Phillips, Gutierrez, Green, Thomas and Bradley . I expect development from our wide receivers based on Jeremy Davis improvement and Phillips improvement throughout the season. )
As far as play-makers with speed, agility (and good size) , there is always a spot for them at all positions. I don't think stars are that important nor do they predict how good a recruit is. Its just recruiting politics, a recruiting line of sorts. Trying to predict the most impactful and college ready players. But johnny football was a three star recruit. And a bunch of 2 star recruits break records and become all conference players. I'm more interested in the ability of a football player to play early and become a starter and upgrade the competition . We need players that can create mismatches for opponents. As far as the roster we need more elite speed. OL we need Levy, Rugg, Bockeloh, Samra, Hemingway to step up.
Which recruits were reaches last year and this year. hopefully you don't consider Hadley or Levy?
I thought you would have to consider Levy a reach only because he has played very little football. Maybe into his 4th year like a Jennings but for different reasons, he would contribute on gameday..
i consider him filler. he was a late add and we needed the spot depth wise to have a capable body that had potential to be something in time.
a reach is when we offer a kid from maryland over the summer who has a fcs upgrade team offer and nothing else at a spot where we were after some big fish and had others local with better offeres that we didn't push for. thats a reach to me.
Which recruits were reaches last year and this year. hopefully you don't consider Hadley or Levy?
There is no doube that guys like Clax, Vinci and Stephens were total reaches at the end of last year's recruiting class. They had no other offers and were really not in positions of need....
Shortell is another total reach.
There is no doube that guys like Clax, Vinci and Stephens were total reaches at the end of last year's recruiting class. They had no other offers and were really not in positions of need. All three are LBs, with Vinci and Clax also getting looks at fullback. My only thought was that DeLeone was trying to restablish ties in NJ and thought that grabbing 4 NJ kids (Levy was also a NJ commit) would help in ensuing years. That doesn't seem to be the case as UConn has taken a few steps backwards in NJ recruiting this year with only Jamar Summers.
Shortell is another total reach. If you are bringing in a JUCO with only 2 years of eligibility then the guy should make an impact. Not giving up on him as UConn will need some impact play from new TEs next year with the loss of Griffin and Delehunt.
Far too early to call anybody a reach this year. No OLs commits can be considered reaches as there is going to be great competition at all poistions. UConn has certainly hit a recruiting wall as the mass of visitors at the end of the season resulted in only the Krill commit. The negatives associated with the expansion talk has to be having a big impact. It is and will be very difficult for UConn to compete against any BCS offer given the conference situation.