2018 Season: #TimeToWork > Spring Game 4/14 @ Noon

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

Fuller: Walk-on Donevin O’Reilly shines in UConn spring game

>>“It wasn’t like I was some guy sitting in my dorm room and heard of a tryout and maybe I’ll go,” said O’Reilly after rushing for 130 yards and two touchdowns and had six receptions for 49 yards and another TD. “I’ve played football since I was 6, got recruited out of high school. I’ve always been around football, a lot of my friends have gone Division I, so for myself to play on this level is great. They don’t really think the walk-ons on the team are really good athletes. We don’t get looked at as walk-ons, we get treated as scholarship players.”<<

>>“I had opportunity to choose where I wanted to be in college, so I thought there was no better place than UConn to be back home in Connecticut and follow my dreams of playing in the biggest state college in Connecticut,” O’Reilly said. “I had a lot of choices. I could have hung up the pads and hung up the cleats, called in a career, but I knew it I kept working, I would get my opportunity. When Coach (Randy) Edsall and his staff came in, it was really a blessing for me because it gave me the opportunity to play football again and show what I could do. For them to give me the opportunity is the best gift of my life.”<<

 

[huskymedic]

Fuller: Walk-on Donevin O’Reilly shines in UConn spring game

>>“It wasn’t like I was some guy sitting in my dorm room and heard of a tryout and maybe I’ll go,” said O’Reilly after rushing for 130 yards and two touchdowns and had six receptions for 49 yards and another TD. “I’ve played football since I was 6, got recruited out of high school. I’ve always been around football, a lot of my friends have gone Division I, so for myself to play on this level is great. They don’t really think the walk-ons on the team are really good athletes. We don’t get looked at as walk-ons, we get treated as scholarship players.”<<

>>“I had opportunity to choose where I wanted to be in college, so I thought there was no better place than UConn to be back home in Connecticut and follow my dreams of playing in the biggest state college in Connecticut,” O’Reilly said. “I had a lot of choices. I could have hung up the pads and hung up the cleats, called in a career, but I knew it I kept working, I would get my opportunity. When Coach (Randy) Edsall and his staff came in, it was really a blessing for me because it gave me the opportunity to play football again and show what I could do. For them to give me the opportunity is the best gift of my life.”<<

 

[BNich]

So no game thread on the spring game this year?

 

[CTMike]

So no game thread on the spring game this year?

Medic has all the updates in the Football Today thread.

 

[BNich]

Medic has all the updates in the Football Today thread.

Thank you.

 

[uconnfan68]

Used to go to these, but opening day at golf started coming first. Appreciate the comments.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Husky25]

Something about this seems more damning with faint praise...about last year's team.

 

[uconnphil2016]

I wonder who all of these supposed cancerous guys from last year actually are. I sometimes wonder how much of this theme of last year's group being a bunch of lazy malcontents and this year being 'all in' is just marketing/coach speak and how much of it is reality

 

[huskymedic]

I wonder who all of these supposed cancerous guys from last year actually are. I sometimes wonder how much of this theme of last year's group being a bunch of lazy malcontents and this year being 'all in' is just marketing/coach speak and how much of it is reality

There were clearly kids who didn’t buy into the new regime/coaching change/change in schemes/new way of doing things... some of the kids went through the ringer while here for their 4/5 years.

 

[huskysupporter]

I wonder who all of these supposed cancerous guys from last year actually are. I sometimes wonder how much of this theme of last year's group being a bunch of lazy malcontents and this year being 'all in' is just marketing/coach speak and how much of it is reality

You can tell from the body language of some on the field last year (a “star” cornerback for example). Also in some interviews players mentioned that there were some players who didn’t buy in at all.

 

[Husky25]

I wonder who all of these supposed cancerous guys from last year actually are. I sometimes wonder how much of this theme of last year's group being a bunch of lazy malcontents and this year being 'all in' is just marketing/coach speak and how much of it is reality

Unfortunately, I think it was a little more obvious than most would care to admit.

 

[weyuo]

I look at the clips from Spring practices and the Spring game and I don't see the aggressiveness, the desire to be better than any other AAC athlete on the field, that killer instinct. They don't hit like they care, They don't move from one practice station to another with any sense of urgency. I watched some of the P-5 Spring games and the serious nature that those players had in every aspect of their time on the field was light years ahead of the general attitude of UConn's football squad. If you want to play and compete at a D-1 level than you damn better start putting in that kind of effort and attitude. Too much standing around and jogging from station to station. Really disappointed in what I see so far in effort. Somebody needs to light a fire under their asses. This eight year losing record streak they are on is getting really old and the fans don't deserve it.

 

[weyuo]

I look at the clips from Spring practices and the Spring game and I don't see the aggressiveness, the desire to be better than any other AAC athlete on the field, that killer instinct. They don't hit like they care, They don't move from one practice station to another with any sense of urgency. I watched some of the P-5 Spring games and the serious nature that those players had in every aspect of their time on the field was light years ahead of the general attitude of UConn's football squad. If you want to play and compete at a D-1 level than you damn better start putting in that kind of effort and attitude. Too much standing around and jogging from station to station. Really disappointed in what I see so far in effort. Somebody needs to light a fire under their asses. This eight year losing record streak they are on is getting really old and the fans don't deserve it.

The Spring Game is supposed to be a showcase of what they have achieved since the end of last season. It's supposed to be a promise to UConn Nation that buying tickets and supporting the program will be rewarded with top notch Div-1 play. Did anybody see that?

 

[Husky25]

I look at the clips from Spring practices and the Spring game and I don't see the aggressiveness, the desire to be better than any other AAC athlete on the field, that killer instinct. They don't hit like they care, They don't move from one practice station to another with any sense of urgency. I watched some of the P-5 Spring games and the serious nature that those players had in every aspect of their time on the field was light years ahead of the general attitude of UConn's football squad. If you want to play and compete at a D-1 level than you damn better start putting in that kind of effort and attitude. Too much standing around and jogging from station to station. Really disappointed in what I see so far in effort. Somebody needs to light a fire under their asses. This eight year losing record streak they are on is getting really old and the fans don't deserve it.

How did you feel when Paul and George used the first 25 minutes of "game" time for goaline offense out of the endzone?

 

[huskysupporter]

The Spring Game is supposed to be a showcase of what they have achieved since the end of last season. It's supposed to be a promise to UConn Nation that buying tickets and supporting the program will be rewarded with top notch Div-1 play. Did anybody see that?

I don’t think you understand the purpose of spring games. They are glorified practices.

 

[Stainmaster]

I don’t think you understand the purpose of spring games. They are glorified practices.

He’s just upset that the spring game doesn’t occur under Pasqualoni’s direction anymore.

 

[BlueandOG]

They're just handing eighteen pizzas over to a single person as if it's a gift lol. What are you even supposed to do with that?

When Randy shows up on the elevator and is awkwardly just like hey, I lost it

All but one of the boxes were empty. They gave a gift card worth the value to him.

 

[Husky68]

You can tell from the body language of some on the field last year (a “star” cornerback for example). Also in some interviews players mentioned that there were some players who didn’t buy in at all.

I mentioned this quite a while ago but I'll sort of repeat my "hypothesis". "The star cornerback" had played for some good awful coaches, is now in his final year and gets this retread FHCRE with a Div1a gimmicky 3-3-5 defense that they try and install which all the defensive players see is not suited to the senior laden defense. Quickly becomes evident that this is a throw away year record wise to build a better defensive team down the road (learn 3-3-5). No pass rush, vanilla defensive scheme that a brain dead opponent OC could pick apart, young guys wondering around as can't understand what to do (mostly defensive backs).
This is quite a downer final year for all the senior guys on defense. Why would a senior on defense buy into this?

HCRE was in charge of the strategy to get buy in for 2017. It's on him if he didn't. How a new coach couldn't get buy in from some after the absolute mess that was the final few games of 2016 after the QB and OC change is on him.

Maryland was 9-4 year before HCRE took over. His 1st year were 2-10. Don't know specifics of what happened but sure looks like "throw away year until get my players who will buy in". Next years were 4-8, 7-6, 7-6, 2-4. Sure looks like the ol' "make 1st year clean up year, hell with record, after that next few years will look better by comparison". Maybe needed to do what he did there but let's say you were a senior his 1st year at Maryland, how much buy in would you have for being part of that 2-10 disaster type season and losing last 9 games?

In 1st year at Maryland in 10 losses gave up 37, 38, 21, 56, 41, 28, 31, 45, 31, 56 and lost last 8 in a row.

In 1st year at UConn in 9 losses gave up 38, 41, 49, 70, 52, 37, 49, 39, 22(to offensive challenged Cincinnati) and lost last 5 in a row.

See a pattern here, and buying into the "HCRE vision" as a senior defensive guy in HCRE's 1st year sure seems like it would be a challenge.

 

[Husky25]

I mentioned this quite a while ago but I'll sort of repeat my "hypothesis". "The star cornerback" had played for some good awful coaches, is now in his final year and gets this retread FHCRE with a Div1a gimmicky 3-3-5 defense that they try and install which all the defensive players see is not suited to the senior laden defense. Quickly becomes evident that this is a throw away year record wise to build a better defensive team down the road (learn 3-3-5). No pass rush, vanilla defensive scheme that a brain dead opponent OC could pick apart, young guys wondering around as can't understand what to do (mostly defensive backs).
This is quite a downer final year for all the senior guys on defense. Why would a senior on defense buy into this?

HCRE was in charge of the strategy to get buy in for 2017. It's on him if he didn't. How a new coach couldn't get buy in from some after the absolute mess that was the final few games of 2016 after the QB and OC change is on him.

Maryland was 9-4 year before HCRE took over. His 1st year were 2-10. Don't know specifics of what happened but sure looks like "throw away year until get my players who will buy in". Next years were 4-8, 7-6, 7-6, 2-4. Sure looks like the ol' "make 1st year clean up year, hell with record, after that next few years will look better by comparison". Maybe needed to do what he did there but let's say you were a senior his 1st year at Maryland, how much buy in would you have for being part of that 2-10 disaster type season and losing last 9 games?

In 1st year at Maryland in 10 losses gave up 37, 38, 21, 56, 41, 28, 31, 45, 31, 56 and lost last 8 in a row.

In 1st year at UConn in 9 losses gave up 38, 41, 49, 70, 52, 37, 49, 39, 22(to offensive challenged Cincinnati) and lost last 5 in a row.

See a pattern here, and buying into the "HCRE vision" as a senior defensive guy in HCRE's 1st year sure seems like it would be a challenge.

I'll take, "The type of attitude for which NFL GMs are jumping over each other to give millions of dollars for 800," Alex.

 

[Exit 4]

I mentioned this quite a while ago but I'll sort of repeat my "hypothesis". "The star cornerback" had played for some good awful coaches, is now in his final year and gets this retread FHCRE with a Div1a gimmicky 3-3-5 defense that they try and install which all the defensive players see is not suited to the senior laden defense. Quickly becomes evident that this is a throw away year record wise to build a better defensive team down the road (learn 3-3-5). No pass rush, vanilla defensive scheme that a brain dead opponent OC could pick apart, young guys wondering around as can't understand what to do (mostly defensive backs).
This is quite a downer final year for all the senior guys on defense. Why would a senior on defense buy into this?

HCRE was in charge of the strategy to get buy in for 2017. It's on him if he didn't. How a new coach couldn't get buy in from some after the absolute mess that was the final few games of 2016 after the QB and OC change is on him.

Maryland was 9-4 year before HCRE took over. His 1st year were 2-10. Don't know specifics of what happened but sure looks like "throw away year until get my players who will buy in". Next years were 4-8, 7-6, 7-6, 2-4. Sure looks like the ol' "make 1st year clean up year, hell with record, after that next few years will look better by comparison". Maybe needed to do what he did there but let's say you were a senior his 1st year at Maryland, how much buy in would you have for being part of that 2-10 disaster type season and losing last 9 games?

In 1st year at Maryland in 10 losses gave up 37, 38, 21, 56, 41, 28, 31, 45, 31, 56 and lost last 8 in a row.

In 1st year at UConn in 9 losses gave up 38, 41, 49, 70, 52, 37, 49, 39, 22(to offensive challenged Cincinnati) and lost last 5 in a row.

See a pattern here, and buying into the "HCRE vision" as a senior defensive guy in HCRE's 1st year sure seems like it would be a challenge.

Out of curiosity, who did you want to see taking this job? Many good and even great coaches have final seasons that look awful.

 

[gioff23]

I mentioned this quite a while ago but I'll sort of repeat my "hypothesis". "The star cornerback" had played for some good awful coaches, is now in his final year and gets this retread FHCRE with a Div1a gimmicky 3-3-5 defense that they try and install which all the defensive players see is not suited to the senior laden defense. Quickly becomes evident that this is a throw away year record wise to build a better defensive team down the road (learn 3-3-5). No pass rush, vanilla defensive scheme that a brain dead opponent OC could pick apart, young guys wondering around as can't understand what to do (mostly defensive backs).
This is quite a downer final year for all the senior guys on defense. Why would a senior on defense buy into this?

HCRE was in charge of the strategy to get buy in for 2017. It's on him if he didn't. How a new coach couldn't get buy in from some after the absolute mess that was the final few games of 2016 after the QB and OC change is on him.

Maryland was 9-4 year before HCRE took over. His 1st year were 2-10. Don't know specifics of what happened but sure looks like "throw away year until get my players who will buy in". Next years were 4-8, 7-6, 7-6, 2-4. Sure looks like the ol' "make 1st year clean up year, hell with record, after that next few years will look better by comparison". Maybe needed to do what he did there but let's say you were a senior his 1st year at Maryland, how much buy in would you have for being part of that 2-10 disaster type season and losing last 9 games?

In 1st year at Maryland in 10 losses gave up 37, 38, 21, 56, 41, 28, 31, 45, 31, 56 and lost last 8 in a row.

In 1st year at UConn in 9 losses gave up 38, 41, 49, 70, 52, 37, 49, 39, 22(to offensive challenged Cincinnati) and lost last 5 in a row.

See a pattern here, and buying into the "HCRE vision" as a senior defensive guy in HCRE's 1st year sure seems like it would be a challenge.

Thanks for sharing. Now, what’s a kid going to do in the real world when his manager changes or his company get bought out? Yes, it’s on the coach. But quitting, like every other bad habit, becomes easier over time. Fighting through, now that takes effort. Who do you think an NFL GM will listen more to - a former league coach or some whining 20 year old? I’ll cue up the jeopardy theme song.