2022 Season Preview | Page 4 | The Boneyard

2022 Season Preview

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That year off was a mistake and RE made that decision which was gutless. My optimistic outlook bought into that they have to get bigger stronger better older with the extra preparation? They were worse. As for the transfers, hope they add improvement but will find out when the season is played.
 
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I think losing will be a rare exception this. Don’t care what some article or other “experts” think. Let’s go!
 

glastonbury50

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One thing I've noticed is a lot of these new transfers that that Mora is bringing in like Roberson and Will Knight really look like grown men. We did not see a lot of that during the RE2.0 era.
 
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One thing I've noticed is a lot of these new transfers that that Mora is bringing in like Roberson and Will Knight really look like grown men. We did not see a lot of that during the RE2.0 era.
We sure didn't....We look a lot more mature now. That's gotta count for something
 
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Let the outrage flow forth and the flames begin as I say that, taking an analyst's view, this is probably an OK assessment. No place to go but up. No mention of Zion Turner's arrival or the graduation of Ryan Van Demark, but that's OK, I think their assessment still holds until further data show otherwise.

I think that a realistic analyst's goal for this year would be three wins and an end of year ranking higher than 115. Stretch goals of four wins and ranking higher than 100. Fanboy territory would be five wins or higher, which is fine. It's a big tent.

No mention of Tyler Phommachanh. I’ll take the under. New players, new staff, new scheme. We will be better than that. What a lazy assessment.
 
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One thing I've noticed is a lot of these new transfers that that Mora is bringing in like Roberson and Will Knight really look like grown men. We did not see a lot of that during the RE2.0 era.
I would like to point that RE2.0 did not retain a lot of the guys that were starters when he cleaned house and replaced them with a lot of freshmen instead of hitting the portal and finding grown men like @glastonbury50 stated. If you look at the roster now compared to 2019/21. We’re much more older, improved. The biggest downfall I believe we’ve had is the quarterback position where there is only 1 scholly quarterback from RE2.0. This is much more concerning because Steven isn’t going to be a starter at Georgia State till next year I believe, unless he balls out at camp. Jack Z went to FCS Merrimack. So now we have uncertainty at the QB like we’ve always had since RE2.0, but I like the roster of qb’s we have and believe they’re better than RE2.0. Another thing I want to point out, we had no fluid system for our qbs. Bringing Noel Mazzone, exposed how flawed our offensive system was, reason I say this is because we had no system for any of our QBs to succeed in except Mazzone tailoring our offense around who we had on the O-Line and to Tyler.P strengths. No wonder Lashlee did much better with Pindell at Q. Maybe just maybe a lot of the fault isn’t on the O-Line, I’m not sure what Edsalls philosophy on the O-Line was, but O-line was a weakness but they played their best games with Tyler at helm and I wonder if it’s because of the scheme change. One interesting thing if anyone notice was how they switched out Dylan N for Nyadu on the left side the first game Tyler started m. Nyadu is much more quicker on his feet than Dylan was, and he pulls really well and would be downhill on the second level a lot more quicker which was something I didn’t see out of Dylan N. LT, I think RVD gave it all he had, he wasn’t as quick but he had his moments when it came to 1on1 match up’s. One particular game that I believe he balled out was against Wyoming but against Clemson that was his worst game of his career and reminded me of his freshmen year. RG… not much need to be said Haynes is a very solid mauler and can hold his own. LT and RT is going to be a wildcard position this year because we aren’t sure if Chase will be back and if he is, there is going to be 4-way battle between Chase-Fortin-Brown and maybe a freshmen. LT Valentine is going to have a good year I anticipate, during the Spring game him he held his own, but of course we gotta wait and see till the season start. Center is immediately an upgrade, RE2.0 bringing in Walker was an alright move, but as a backup not a starter. I partially blame half of the sacks giving up by the team on him simply because he could not hold his own weight when it came to 1 on 1 matchups and at times you could tell the o-line were confused on the blocking play because he calls the direction and which way to pull on the o-line. Some games will see a defender just blow right past the o-line untouched almost as if the defender was a ghost. Guidone should be an upgrade and I think he will get the job done. Other than that, the WR group seems to be huge positive this year and we have a solid red zone target this year, whoever is the Qb, is gonna have tons of options on the Field, we just need that one WR that defenses will key on. RB is going to be a fun position to watch, I liked Mensah his first three years but I like Nate better just because he is much quicker, has change of direction, and is faster. Will Knight is going to have a good amount of carries goal-line situation. TE this year, I’m not sure who is going to step up to be the player. I wish Jay Rose had another year of eligibility is all I’m going to say. That’s all I have on the offense for today.
 
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Nemienski was pretty good last year, probably as good as Rose (Diaco recruit originally). BC is pretty well hyped so don’t see a victory til Haffley leaves. Feel better about FCS standout transfers to those that did not play at prestigious FBS.
 

ShakyTheMohel

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I would like to point that RE2.0 did not retain a lot of the guys that were starters when he cleaned house and replaced them with a lot of freshmen instead of hitting the portal and finding grown men like @glastonbury50 stated. If you look at the roster now compared to 2019/21. We’re much more older, improved. The biggest downfall I believe we’ve had is the quarterback position where there is only 1 scholly quarterback from RE2.0. This is much more concerning because Steven isn’t going to be a starter at Georgia State till next year I believe, unless he balls out at camp. Jack Z went to FCS Merrimack. So now we have uncertainty at the QB like we’ve always had since RE2.0, but I like the roster of qb’s we have and believe they’re better than RE2.0. Another thing I want to point out, we had no fluid system for our qbs. Bringing Noel Mazzone, exposed how flawed our offensive system was, reason I say this is because we had no system for any of our QBs to succeed in except Mazzone tailoring our offense around who we had on the O-Line and to Tyler.P strengths. No wonder Lashlee did much better with Pindell at Q. Maybe just maybe a lot of the fault isn’t on the O-Line, I’m not sure what Edsalls philosophy on the O-Line was, but O-line was a weakness but they played their best games with Tyler at helm and I wonder if it’s because of the scheme change. One interesting thing if anyone notice was how they switched out Dylan N for Nyadu on the left side the first game Tyler started m. Nyadu is much more quicker on his feet than Dylan was, and he pulls really well and would be downhill on the second level a lot more quicker which was something I didn’t see out of Dylan N. LT, I think RVD gave it all he had, he wasn’t as quick but he had his moments when it came to 1on1 match up’s. One particular game that I believe he balled out was against Wyoming but against Clemson that was his worst game of his career and reminded me of his freshmen year. RG… not much need to be said Haynes is a very solid mauler and can hold his own. LT and RT is going to be a wildcard position this year because we aren’t sure if Chase will be back and if he is, there is going to be 4-way battle between Chase-Fortin-Brown and maybe a freshmen. LT Valentine is going to have a good year I anticipate, during the Spring game him he held his own, but of course we gotta wait and see till the season start. Center is immediately an upgrade, RE2.0 bringing in Walker was an alright move, but as a backup not a starter. I partially blame half of the sacks giving up by the team on him simply because he could not hold his own weight when it came to 1 on 1 matchups and at times you could tell the o-line were confused on the blocking play because he calls the direction and which way to pull on the o-line. Some games will see a defender just blow right past the o-line untouched almost as if the defender was a ghost. Guidone should be an upgrade and I think he will get the job done. Other than that, the WR group seems to be huge positive this year and we have a solid red zone target this year, whoever is the Qb, is gonna have tons of options on the Field, we just need that one WR that defenses will key on. RB is going to be a fun position to watch, I liked Mensah his first three years but I like Nate better just because he is much quicker, has change of direction, and is faster. Will Knight is going to have a good amount of carries goal-line situation. TE this year, I’m not sure who is going to step up to be the player. I wish Jay Rose had another year of eligibility is all I’m going to say. That’s all I have on the offense for today.
Friendly tip:. Paragraphs are your friend ;)

I do think QB is the big question mark. I keep thinking about the fact that Roberson was highly recruited and got playing time at Penn State. I know it didn't go well, but you would think he would have the inside track.

Hopefully Charlton's system is strong enough that all QBs will be positioned to succeed.
 
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How can you possibly make that statement? Do you have any data? There are any number of teams in the schedule who have the potential to do that. I sure hope you are right but I wouldn't bet the farm on it.
It's a gut feeling. Should've posted it that way. We've made a lot of changes indeed but this time it looks a lot different. We have guys coming in from the portal that are a little better than years past, not a bunch of 1st year kids still growing into their bodies. The biggest change we mustn't discount is we have a staff full of proven commodities. Our staff was a joke before. No disrespect to the previous coaches, but it's concerning when you have guys learning on the job full-time when they've never coached those spots (OC, QB coaches,, even RB coach in particular) at this level (they probably did a small high school program) and our program has aspirations (along with the facilities) to ascend the FBS ranks. We had zero shot at getting the commits we've picked up over last 9 months if we had that old staff...Zero....sad stuff. We should see marked improvement...
Time for a little more cautious optimism instead of the same old same old... the "bigger, faster, stronger" motto is out the door. We have a lot more to work with all around now....
 
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I guess that my point is that you have no data that say it won't turn out the way those guys predict -- one win and 129th. The two best players are gone from a 1-11 team. There has been huge turnover, and that MIGHT be a good thing or it might not be, you don't know. Neither do I. I am on record several times now predicting 3 wins. But it is probably more likely to be 2 wins than 4 to be quite frank. The situation is exactly what is was in the fortnight leading up to Fresno State when people were screaming about bigger stronger faster. Making all these predictions of going to bowls and how much UConn was gonna win by. Then we saw their two deep and compared it to UConn's and it slowly began to dawn on the UConn faithful. Not gonna be a cake walk. Thats fine. As I said, it's a big tent. But those who predict otherwise are not casting negativity or shade. They are merely making a considered prediction.

Btw, 3 wins would be a solid accomplishment this year. A bar at that height is not too low. And if 3-9 actually happens, we should all be grateful and say the turnaround has begun.

Keep moving those goalposts Tuthill
 

UCFBfan

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“Per article DISCLAIMER: “This is not a preseason 131 ranking of teams going into the season. Instead, this ranking takes into account where we project teams to finish after the national championship in January. Athlon Sports projects where every team will finish in the final rankings at the conclusion of the upcoming season”


-> 129. UConn - The Huskies are just 4-32 over their last three seasons (did not play in 2020), and with a ’22 slate featuring four Power 5 opponents along with tough matchups against Utah State, Fresno State, Liberty and Army, there’s no easy fix for new coach Jim Mora. New play-caller Nick Charlton inherits an offense that averaged 15.8 points a game last season and only 4.04 yards per snap. Two transfers – Cale Millen (Northern Arizona) and Ta’Quan Roberson (Penn State) – are the front-runners to start at quarterback. If the staff can solidify the line (40 sacks allowed in ’21), and the quarterback play is better, UConn has capable skill talent to generate overall improvement. Nathan Carter (578 yards) and junior college transfer Will Knight anchor the backfield, with Keelan Marion, Cameron Ross, Nigel Fitzgerald and Kevens Clercius headlining a solid receiving corps. The Huskies allowed 38.5 points a game and finished ’21 by giving up 40-plus points to each of their last four opponents. Replacing lineman Travis Jones won’t be easy, but Mora and coordinator Lou Spanos added a couple of talented transfers – including former Kentucky linebacker Marquez Bembry – to give the defense a boost. The return of linebacker Jackson Mitchell (120 tackles) is another reason of optimism for UConn this fall. <-

Interesting that for QBs they mention Millen as one of the two. Roberson I expect to be mentioned but I feel like we haven't heard a peep about Millen. Seemed like he was a ghost because of his absence in the Spring and all the talk of the other QBs.

Just found it interesting that he's the one listed. Maybe they just saw that he was the only other QB with experience?
 
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Interesting that for QBs they mention Millen as one of the two. Roberson I expect to be mentioned but I feel like we haven't heard a peep about Millen. Seemed like he was a ghost because of his absence in the Spring and all the talk of the other QBs.

Just found it interesting that he's the one listed. Maybe they just saw that he was the only other QB with experience?
More like Millen had a higher ranking coming out of HS, like Roberson did. Plus the pedigree (dad playing QB in the NFL)... Tyler P has more playing experience at this level than he does at this point.
 
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That year off was a mistake and RE made that decision which was gutless. My optimistic outlook bought into that they have to get bigger stronger better older with the extra preparation? They were worse. As for the transfers, hope they add improvement but will find out when the season is played.
So true and looking back, all Edsall did was buy himself another years salary at over 1 Mil+ so he didn't have to play games & answer more questions about losing. The other thing that's crazy is the public disdain the old curmudgeon had for guys in the portal, while playing a bunch of FR, who were the exact opposite of what he said he needed to compete. ( bigger, etc....)

Moving forward as you said we'll find out, but at least Mora is making an attempt to get older/developed players. With 41 new members on the roster, and If my counts are correct, 24 are non freshman and 17 that were actually scholarship guys at FBS level programs. FWIW, RE had a grand total of 3, last year.
 
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It's a gut feeling. Should've posted it that way. We've made a lot of changes indeed but this time it looks a lot different. We have guys coming in from the portal that are a little better than years past, not a bunch of 1st year kids still growing into their bodies. The biggest change we mustn't discount is we have a staff full of proven commodities. Our staff was a joke before. No disrespect to the previous coaches, but it's concerning when you have guys learning on the job full-time when they've never coached those spots (OC, QB coaches,, even RB coach in particular) at this level (they probably did a small high school program) and our program has aspirations (along with the facilities) to ascend the FBS ranks. We had zero shot at getting the commits we've picked up over last 9 months if we had that old staff...Zero....sad stuff. We should see marked improvement...
Time for a little more cautious optimism instead of the same old same old... the "bigger, faster, stronger" motto is out the door. We have a lot more to work with all around now....
I hope you are right. I am getting the same feeling. But I keep telling myself that the Who were probably right. Won't get fooled again.
 
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Keep moving those goalposts Tuthill
Did I ever say something different? I don't think so. But if you can find it, I will retract the post above. Not holding my breath, though.
 
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So true and looking back, all Edsall did was buy himself another years salary at over 1 Mil+ so he didn't have to play games & answer more questions about losing. The other thing that's crazy is the public disdain the old curmudgeon had for guys in the portal, while playing a bunch of FR, who were the exact opposite of what he said he needed to compete. ( bigger, etc....)

Moving forward as you said we'll find out, but at least Mora is making an attempt to get older/developed players. With 41 new members on the roster, and If my counts are correct, 24 are non freshman and 17 that were actually scholarship guys at FBS level programs. FWIW, RE had a grand total of 3, last year.
It's a whole new world out there. This time we're actually participating in it.
 

Incursio007

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I'm relatively optimistic on the season honestly. First time I can say that in a while --- I think winning 4, maybe even 5 games is a real possibility. Gives the program some momentum & cements the decision to go independent as a wise one. I give this staff a lot of credit in that they hit the ground running on the recruiting/transfer portal. Here's hoping that carries over into early season success.
 

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