2022 Season Preview | Page 3 | The Boneyard

2022 Season Preview

When a team doesn't have a lot of coverage, a lot gets missed. Pretty much anything not by a UConn analyst will suck because they don't really recognize... anything
 
Idk where else to put this but at least someone in Vegas thinks we’re going to be drastically improved:
 
Bongo Fury said:
If they want it bad enough. Of course have to see if they have the capabilities they lacked last year vs Wyoming and Vandy.
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I think Cuse will drastically underestimate us like Illinois did in ‘19. Our improved depth early in the season will end up being enough to pull off a W in front of a (relatively) full Rent
 
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huskymedic said:

“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. <-
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The schedule is more difficult. Still, with the changes in the program I have a hard time believing we will end up right where we left off.
 
I can’t blame the writers or anyone who casts negatively on UConn. Every team tries to improve each year. Every team is all in or if you expect them to say differently? Every team has new energy every year. Until UConn shows it, the assessments are totally fair. I might be naïve but I am high on Charlton.
 
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We can beat Central, FIU and UMass and still exceed expectations.
 
Bongo Fury said:
I can’t blame the writers or anyone who casts negatively on UConn. Every team tries to improve each year. Every team is all in or if you expect them to say differently? Every team has new energy every year. Until UConn shows it, the assessments are totally fair. I might be naïve but I am high on Charlton.
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Just one small point. Those who pick UConn to win fewer games than many of us are usually not casting negativity on the program. Rather, most of the time they are just trying to make an honest assessment.

For instance, in the engineering profession, one is taught to rigorously see something from the outside in, taking care not to let how one would like things to be influence you, but to be brutally honest with oneself. Thus you may find many here with engineering backgrounds as well as others, not quite so high in their predictions for the program after a decade of results that are less than desired. It does not mean that we are not cautiously optimistic. Only that we are trying to be brutally honest.
 
RSTuthill said:
Just one small point. Those who pick UConn to win fewer games than many of us are usually not casting negativity on the program. Rather, most of the time they are just trying to make an honest assessment.

For instance, in the engineering profession, one is taught to rigorously see something from the outside in, taking care not to let how one would like things to be influence you, but to be brutally honest with oneself. Thus you may find many here with engineering backgrounds as well as others, not quite so high in their predictions for the program after a decade of results that are less than desired. It does not mean that we are not cautiously optimistic. Only that we are trying to be brutally honest.
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I always find it interesting that engineers think they are the only people on earth who have critical thinking as their default mode.

You seem to be critiquing assessments here and giving the incomplete and out of date assessments on these click bait articles a pass. Maybe you should attempt some brutal honesty.
 
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ZooCougar said:
I always find it interesting that engineers think they are the only people on earth who have critical thinking as their default mode.

You seem to be critiquing assessments here and giving the incomplete and out of date assessments on these click bait articles a pass. Maybe you should attempt some brutal honesty.
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You will have to explain. Incomplete and out of date click bait articles? Are you saying that some of the left out information should materially change their assessment? That UConn at 129 or whatever is totally inaccurate? Please explain.
 
RSTuthill said:
You will have to explain. Incomplete and out of date click bait articles? Are you saying that some of the left out information should materially change their assessment? That UConn at 129 or whatever is totally inaccurate? Please explain.
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I shouldn’t have to. If you were actually thinking critically then you would have already noticed it.

Notice how they cherry pick talent at certain positions? Glazing over or ignoring the fact that the roster has had huge turnover since last season? It’s hardly even the same team.

My favorite was from “Vegas Insider” where they said Jim Mora teams give up after getting off to tough starts. As if somehow UConn today had the same lofty as UCLA.

So pretty please, with a cherry on top. Quit pretending that you are the only one here thinking critically. Because all you are doing is taking lazy, out of date and incomplete assessments at face value.

All this team needs to do is win 3-4 games to exceed expectations and there is nothing unreasonable about that.
 
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.
 
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.
 
I think losing will be a rare exception this. Don’t care what some article or other “experts” think. Let’s go!
 
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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.
 
glastonbury50 said:
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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We sure didn't....We look a lot more mature now. That's gotta count for something
 
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RSTuthill said:
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.
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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.
 
glastonbury50 said:
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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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.
 
Guru13 said:
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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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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