UConn came into the last few weeks of the recruiting season with a pretty lengthy list of "needs" and "wants"
Needs were - OT, CB, OLB, DT
Wants were - 2nd QB, another playmaking WR, 2nd RB,
UConn didn't hit on all these positions so far, not having a 2nd DT to go with Fatukasi and seeming on the outside looking in for Laray Smith as another RB, but in all other areas the staff has done a great job finishing the class. The huge difference I am seeing is that most of commits over the last few weeks have held at least one and in some cased many BCS offers.
Wright at OT had NC State and Penn St offers
Britton at OLB has a Pitt greyshirt offer
Boyle at QB had BC, Pitt, Florida, Syracuse
Lemelle at WR had over 6 BCS offers
You can also addin Fuchs who is a hybrid WR/TE with great size who also had BCS football offers from Rutgers and Iowa St.
The one kid without a BCS offer is Branford at CB. I know he is a hoops player making the transition to football, but based on this little blurb I found from a Penn. paper he doesn't lack a desire to make contact and seems to have a great upside in football. This is apparently a really good "flyer" to fill a position of need.
1. Heavy Hitter- Jalen Branford has to be the hardest hitter we’ve seen this season. My goodness, he is everywhere on defense and delivers jarring hits on a regular basis. He did miss a few tackles on what appeared to be run-blitzes, but all and all he is one of the more impressive athletes this county has to offer. If you doubt his hitting ability, just ask Exeter QB Kyle Yocum, whom he hit so hard it echoed throughout Shirk stadium. That was a huge collision, as Yocum is as big as his offensive lineman.
For the first time in its history UConn will potentially have has 4 3-star QBs on the roster (the only ? is whether Lagow waivers with Boyle competing). Whitmer is a JR, Cochran as a RS Fr, and Boyle and Lagow as Fr. That is a huge step for a program that has always scraped the bottom of the BCS barrel for QBs, most of whom had limited if any other BCS interest (i.e. Casey Turner, Nebrich, Hernandez, ect...). Having 4 legit BCS level QBs is a huge positive for this program.
Just a side note - many here wanted Adazzio as the HC because of his percieved recruiting prowess, especially in the northeast. Adazzio has recieved only 1 commit since taking over the reigns at BC in early December and has lost 4 players with BCS offers. Apparently, Adazzio was good at selling a Florida program to northeast kids. Whether that is truly great recruiting is still to be determined.
