2019 Recruiting Thread

[Exit 4]

UCLA and Kanas state OV on the agenda for the speedy Youngblood.

 

[Chief00]

Some recruiting thoughts and observations by position. Randy mentioned he could envision a class as large as 25, so to that end, I've penciled out 10 more adds to our current group of 15 (I'm counting Ross and Haigler as part of the 15). 10 more adds would require 3 early departures. I'm sure I have missed many good names and leads, but these are the ones that stood out to me.

1. QB : Clearly the staff is determined to bring in a second QB after Jack Zergiotis. Yes they offered Messiah deWeaver (JUCO) and Dominic Mazotti (QB/TE), but to further the point Corey in particular has jumped on several of the major QB transfer announcements via twitter by following: Brandon Wimbush (leaving ND), Tate Martell (leaving Ohio State) and Braxton Burmeister (leaving Oregon). Corey, Zyskowski and Dunn have also been adding new QB follows since the early singing period for HS QBs as well. Some of the notable follows include Levi Williams (UH decommit) and Knox Kadum (3star from GA with interest from Rutty). One other candidate to monitor is CT's own David Summers who is waiting for Maryland to select an OC and firm up their mutual interest. Summers is a highly accurate pocket passer. He has few recent adds on twitter, but one of those recent few adds is David Harris (our recruiting coordinator) and the UMass recruiting coordinator. Seems like at a bare minimum Summers should be working on a back up plan if the new staff is cold to his pro style QB ability. I expect deWeaver and Mazotti to visit. Mazotti has said he plans to visit. I would think Mazotti is coming to UConn because its a chance to play QB and not TE.
2. TE (JUCO/grad). Nothing really to report with respect to adding a mature body to compliment Rose and D. Williams. Corey briefly followed Josh Weeks from UTEP who is out there actively hunting for a home for his final year of eligibility. Another kid Corey briefly checked in on is Alexander Marshall, a Boston kid playing at FSU that was in the transfer portal this fall. Marshall has indicated on twitter he is no longer planning to leave FSU. Marshal has not gotten onto the field in his first two years at FSU.
3. TE (HS): Corey has been active this week with a bunch of new follows. Can't take the time to list them all, but a few that stood out to me include: Alex Henton (6'5'') TE prospect from Fort Valley GA, Alex Henton on Hudl , Garmond Randolph (6'6'') TE prospect from Jefferson GA Garmon Randolph (@garmonrandolph5) | Twitter (had a lot of P5 interest before his senior season), and Jacob Johnson (6'4'') TE prospect from Mineola FL who is currently committed to Air Force. Its good to see the hunt is fully on for a HS TE. There is also Parker Thomas, kid from CA that did a PG year at East Coast Prep in MA. 6'4'' Thomas has five members of the UConn staff following him. Thomas did an OV to Temple just before the coaching changes. Parker maybe view more as a DE prospect.
4. OL: Seems like we are still hoping to land at least one of Wyatt Hummel, Will Rogers or Jeff Woods, and maybe even perhaps two of three. Doubt we could make room for all three. I still think the staff might see Rogers as a DT prospect as well. Woods could be viewed as an OT that can catch TD passes in the redzone. Jeff Woods is noted to be visiting this month (and Illinois too). No idea what Hummel is thinking, his recruiting has been quiet, although he did give a Rhett Lashlee New Years post a like. Randy still follows Hummel.
5. DL (JUCO/grad): Guys we seem to be checking out include James Rawls (Fullerton JUCO with Oregon State offer), Samuel Okuayinonu (JUCO with 3 years of eligibility remaining) and perhaps Sacred Heart's Chris Agyemang as a transfer. I really like Rawls and Okuayinonu. Okuayinonu is from Lowell MA with offers from USF (this past week!), UMass, Maryland, UAB, Akron, Bowling Green and Buffalo. If we dont offer this kid it will be more proof our admissions office makes us non competitive in the JUCO landscape. I think Okuayinonu is leaning towards UMass. Kid has a great motor, would really help us next year with an immediate impact. The staff is also following a few other JUCO DL prospects, but I dont get the sense any of those are going anywhere.
6. DL (HS): I'm excited to see there are some solid to excellent prospects still on the table. Dalmonte Gourdine 6'6'' 260lb DL from North Charleston SC is understood to be visiting this month (maybe this weekend). Other notable new prospects include: Richard Kinley II from Memphis TN (several G5 offers), Dorian Josey from Rockledge FL (Colorado St offer, had some P5 interest ahead of his senior season/this would be a Richardson recruit), Miles Dickens from Deerfield Beach FL (Long time UCF commit that didn't seem to have a seat at the table at signing day. Most recent offer is from Georgia State) and Zaylin Wood (Temple decommit with a recent offer from Akron). I absolutely love Zaylin Wood's tape. Interesting question here for the staff because there multiple intriguing DL prospects here so if more than one wanted to commit, that would be hard to turn down.
7. WR (slot 1): Raykwon Anderson is clearly a top target for slot WR. I think this weekend he is visiting App State. His recruitment is reminds me a bit of the pursuit of Deonte Sheffield from a couple years ago where on signing day he opted for a WO position at FSU (Two years in, Sheffield has no stats at FSU). The alternative to Anderson could be Ardell Brown Ardell Brown - Football - Seton Hill University Athletics , the speedy/shifty WR from Seton Hill DII program. He is a grad transfer with a single year of eligibility remaining. Lots of twitter activity with Brown and UConn. He even has Randy following and Randy only follows the highest priorities. Could be we haven't heard anything yet because of the grad application process.
8. WR (slot 2): The other top target is David Clayton, the highly productive WR from Grapevine TX. I think its reasonable to expect a visit this month and favorable odds to land his commitment. If we bust on Clayton, the staff seems to be looking at Georgia WRs in Dayton Wade and Deshon Stoudemire. Stoudemire is a WVU decommit. We have also offered Joshua Youngblood, but I think he is a heavy USF/Kanas State lean.
9. LB: The staff is not chasing any HS or JUCO level LBs, that is rather clear via twitter. I think we desperately need another LB, particularly a JUCO/grad level LB. Maybe we have something in the works for a grad transfer like Jarvis Miller (6'2'' 223lbs) who graduated from Penn State last month with one year of eligibility left. Miller went to Suffield Academy in Enfield CT. He has a lot of connections with our roster. Another door that remains open is would be to take a bold chance on Brendan Devera.
10. Wildcard: open slot for any late surprises including take an extra at any of the positions above like HS DL or WR (taking Brown, Anderson and Clayton) or perhaps taking a CB or RB.

All in all, there is a real opportunity to finish strong here. Especially if we pull in a solid second QB, the right DL talent, the targeted WR talent and some TE help.

Thanks for the excellent breakdown and analysis. My take from reading this is that there is still a chance to turn this year's recruiting class around. I like the interest in JUCO’s and transfers and agree it’s time for the admissions office to play ball. Don’t get Chief going on that topic.

 

[huskymedic]

Zion Carter chose to go Ivy:

 

[Exit 4]

Zion Carter going Ivy may have been what gave Witter a ticket to BC.

 

[huskymedic]

LB: The staff is not chasing any HS or JUCO level LBs, that is rather clear via twitter. I think we desperately need another LB, particularly a JUCO/grad level LB. Maybe we have something in the works for a grad transfer like Jarvis Miller (6'2'' 223lbs) who graduated from Penn State last month with one year of eligibility left. Miller went to Suffield Academy in Enfield CT. He has a lot of connections with our roster. Another door that remains open is would be to take a bold chance on Brendan Devera.

NJ LB Juwan Mitchell attending Butler CC followed by DDC and Mike Zyskowski:

 

[huskymedic]

NJ LB Juwan Mitchell attending Butler CC followed by DDC and Mike Zyskowski:

Maybe not a 2019 option - have to see what shakes out.

Class of 2019 LB signee Juwan Mitchell won't play for Rutgers, will return to Butler junior college

 

[huskymedic]

East High School in Rochester NY

 

[huskymedic]

Sickles High School in Keystone Florida (outside Tampa):

 

[Coach J]

Everyone want good news? Cam Ross has updated his twitter profile to indicate he is coming to UConn. Many of us thought when Edsall said he was sitting on a couple of signed LOIs he cannot talk about we thought it applied to Ross and possibly Rian Haigler. Looks like Ross didn't want to hide any longer.

Cam Ross has an underrated senior tape. Sigh of relief we have landed an athletic WR.

Cam Ross (@camross07) | Twitter



btw - Haigler's account still says nothing about UConn - but it also says virtually nothing about any other personal recruiting which I take as a good sign.

Ross is fast! Also he's smart enough to come back or turn up on broken plays depending on the situation. This is a real nice get for us.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[ktuck911]

2 JUCO QBs to ODU???? Wow

 

[Da_Aisijimo_Gou]

deWeaver is on campus for his official visit....

@huskymedic @Exit 4 When deWeaver left Storrs, any reason to believe he still had an official offer?

 

[huskymedic]

@huskymedic @Exit 4 When deWeaver left Storrs, any reason to believe he still had an official offer?

I guess anything is possible from a “not clicking w/ staff” perspective but I haven’t heard/seen anything that said he didn’t still hold an offer.

 

[huskymedic]

Clearwater Academy - Clearwater Florida

 

[Stainmaster]

Clearwater Academy - Clearwater Florida

Dimitrios Gkountoudis, Clearwater Academy International, Offensive Guard

Potential target?

 

[huskymedic]

Dimitrios Gkountoudis, Clearwater Academy International, Offensive Guard

Potential target?

Yup... OL Coach Giufre, DDC, and Eddie Allen all following.

 

[Scrutiner]

ODU? ODU? How many times can I say ODU?
How does someone turn down UConn for ODU? What division do they play in? Are they a Power Five? Is he thinking he'll be playing in the National Championship game in the next year or two by going to ODU? What would attract a player to ODU over UConn?
Sorry if I seem annoyed at this kind of stuff.

 

[Stainmaster]

ODU? ODU? How many times can I say ODU?
How does someone turn down UConn for ODU? What division do they play in? Are they a Power Five? Is he thinking he'll be playing in the National Championship game in the next year or two by going to ODU? What would attract a player to ODU over UConn?
Sorry if I seem annoyed at this kind of stuff.

These recruits look at the world through a vastly different lens than you do.

 

[uconnbill]

Still unusually for two JUCO quarterbacks to attend the same school at the same time

 

[huskymedic]

Still unusually for two JUCO quarterbacks to attend the same school at the same time

Yeah but the starting QB and the backup QB aren’t returning and Wilder/Whitcomb have put an unheralded QB in the NFL - that might have been intriguing to them. They obviously both think they can win the job.

 

[gioff2323]

I’d not look to far into the messiah signing. Besides, it’s time for Washington and krajewski to step up and lead this team. Let’s focus on big boys, speed on outside, a rb and hitters in back 7 as we fill out this class.

 

[YoungFree]

Raykwon Anderson is at Georgia State this weekend but new frontrunner Colorado State grabbed a visit for 25 Jan.

 

[ktuck911]

Raykwon Anderson is at Georgia State this weekend but new frontrunner Colorado State grabbed a visit for 25 Jan.

He's a better fit here than either of those schools..

 

[YoungFree]

He's a better fit here than either of those schools..

Losing him (if we had him to begin with) sucks a little. I'm more "upset" that Mazotti most likely won't even take a visit out to Storrs....but based on some of his tweets it seems a school in Cali is where he will end up so he can be happy regardless of playing time.

 

[huskymedic]

Corey rutting around Texas: