2024 Inside the Huddle/Open Practice (8/10/24 @Pratt & Whitney Stadium) | Page 3 | The Boneyard

2024 Inside the Huddle/Open Practice (8/10/24 @Pratt & Whitney Stadium)

Just returned home. Either we have Alabama level defense, or we are in for a long year on offense. McDonald was flat out awful. Evers was not much better. Also looked like he hurt his ankle and his wrist. How do you get hurt when you are no contact for the QB’s? Fagnano was solid. Not bad. Not great. But solid. Welliver was the best QB out there today. Defense looked great. Hopefully that is why the offense was so bad…
 
Marbles90 said:
Just returned home. Either we have Alabama level defense, or we are in for a long year on offense. McDonald was flat out awful. Evers was not much better. Also looked like he hurt his ankle and his wrist. How do you get hurt when you are no contact for the QB’s? Fagnano was solid. Not bad. Not great. But solid. Welliver was the best QB out there today. Defense looked great. Hopefully that is why the offense was so bad…
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Defense always looks better in scrimmages. They run vanilla plays and defense is ready.

Don’t agree they were awful. The offense moved the ball when Fagnano and Welliver were out there although Fagnano didn’t play well his last couple drives.

Welliver looked really really good. Made great decisions, has a rocket arm, had a few nice touch passes and his passes are accurate. And no really bad throws on the day. He just looks confident and has a presence. And had 3 TDs!! By far the best QB today!
 
Waquoit said:
Looked like he hurt the wrist on a running play. You could see him trying to shake it off like a batter taking one off the hand.
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A little late in the preparation cycle for a new QB to get sidelined. At least we have an experienced backup and a guy who did swelliver. Glad to hear the D is improved. I'll go with that take.
 
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The first team defense was head and shoulders better than the first team offense. Evers got dinged up and was limping within the second or third drive he was out there. Welliver and Durell Robinson were the best two offensive performers (in my opinion) but they were both going against the 2nds the whole way. I would've liked to see them play against the first team defense to get a better read. During the individual drills Evers and Welliver looked to have the best tools (McDonald looked like he could move but his arm was clearly 4th of the 4 top guys). Jackson Harper got a lot of run with the 1s.

Kicking felt like its going to be a problem, multiple kickoffs out of bounds and two missed field goals.


By my recollection the guys running the first offense at the skills positions were:
QB: Evers & Fagano
RB: Edwards & Rosa
TE: Chirchi & Hansen
WR: Bell, Harper & Anderson
 
Jimdish255 said:
A little late in the preparation cycle for a new QB to get sidelined. At least we have an experienced backup and a guy who did swelliver. Glad to hear the D is improved. I'll go with that take.
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And I thought the guys catching the ball showed some good hands.
 
Waquoit said:
Looked like he hurt the wrist on a running play. You could see him trying to shake it off like a batter taking one off the hand.
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Yes. A running play where the QB is wearing a red shirt and isn’t touched. That’s a bit concerning...
 
Huskydog45 said:
Defense always looks better in scrimmages. They run vanilla plays and defense is ready.

Don’t agree they were awful. The offense moved the ball when Fagnano and Welliver were out there although Fagnano didn’t play well his last couple drives.

Welliver looked really really good. Made great decisions, has a rocket arm, had a few nice touch passes and his passes are accurate. And no really bad throws on the day. He just looks confident and has a presence. And had 3 TDs!! By far the best QB today!
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Agreed. I said McDonald and Evers were awful. Fagnano was ok and Welliver was good. Evers was missing guys big time. His last possession, he over threw his guy by about 20 feet and the pass was intercepted by the safety. As for the defense, you may be right but the D played with tons of energy, got to spots/ball and tackled well. They “looked” good regardless of the results. The offense looked flat.

Just one guy’s opinion who was there…
 
McDonald looked great throwing the ball during route drills, but he was easily rattled during the scrimmage. He is also a red shirt freshman, so not like the sky is falling.

Evers had a terrible day, but he may be worn out and was definitely a little hobbled.
 
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There's no question that Welliver looked the best out there today. Granted, it was against the 2nd string defense, but the talent is clearly there and he looked incredibly comfortable. Evers looked mobile (at least until he hurt his ankle) and has a strong arm but made some really poor decisions and then didn't play half the scrimmage after he got hurt. Fagnano was fine, most of his yardage came from screens and flats. Some good throws and some really poor throws, but I will say he doesn't make many poor decisions. Very safe. McDonald had a rough day, throwing 3 bad INTs and would have taken multiple sacks.

As others mentioned the defense looked good...whether that means the defense is actually good, or a combination of the vanilla play calling during the scrimmage and a lackluster offense overall, remains to be seen. The defensive line bottled up the run game, and I'm cautiously optimistic about the 3-3-5. Pass defense looked better and made at least 5 INTs (often caused by a good pass rush). Defense played with lots of energy and tackled well, which was encouraging.
 
Marbles90 said:
Yes. A running play where the QB is wearing a red shirt and isn’t touched. That’s a bit concerning...
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I couldn't tell but I assumed he smacked it on a helmet. Seemed flukey.
 
It felt criminal that Cole didn't get to play with the top team. He was thriving today. I would worry about his mobility, but he was the only guy not s####ing his pants on the field today
 
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As mentioned alot in this thread there were some badly thrown balls by the most of the QB's to a bunch of different targets. But the biggest thing I noticed was this offense featured more 4 or even 5 wide sets, than I can recall seeing in years from a bunch of the previous Uconn OC's.

Along with actual attempted passes over the middle and down the field. Almost zero of the rugby scrum/ rhino sets with 1 WR and the 9 guys on top of the QB they ( NC ) have been using, alot. So spreading the field and the opponents D seems part of the plan, which gives me hope that it's at least a thought of opening things up and giving the talent a chance to play in space.

Still alot to be seen with what a game day plan looks like, but this seems to tie into the Mora comment, at the pre-event, of now needing 8 or 9 WR's that can play.
 
Viet Vet said:
Another boring season of crappy offense?
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Well it wasn't zone read left, zone read right , bubble screen, punt every series.. so that part was more enjoyable to watch.

That said, the defense was everywhere and really seemed to be covering their zones well. There weren't a lot of windows to throw into and a few times it seemed like the QB's were throwing into triple coverage, the way the defense just collapsed on the receivers. Welliver had one throw where he was under pressure, threw to where the pressure came from before the receiver was even out of his break and when the receiver turned and looked, the ball was just in his hands. Didn't reach or anything.. it was just delivered and all he had to do was squeeze. I don't know if that was luck or something he's doing consistently, but got an audible Holy $*** out of me
 
Hamms30 said:
Welliver had one throw where he was under pressure, threw to where the pressure came from before the receiver was even out of his break and when the receiver turned and looked, the ball was just in his hands. Didn't reach or anything.. it was just delivered and all he had to do was squeeze.
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Yep, IIRC that was to the 6-2/235 LB, now turned RB John Bechtle who surprisingly made a couple of downfield grabs on the day.
 
Hamms30 said:
Well it wasn't zone read left, zone read right , bubble screen, punt every series.. so that part was more enjoyable to watch.

That said, the defense was everywhere and really seemed to be covering their zones well. There weren't a lot of windows to throw into and a few times it seemed like the QB's were throwing into triple coverage, the way the defense just collapsed on the receivers. Welliver had one throw where he was under pressure, threw to where the pressure came from before the receiver was even out of his break and when the receiver turned and looked, the ball was just in his hands. Didn't reach or anything.. it was just delivered and all he had to do was squeeze. I don't know if that was luck or something he's doing consistently, but got an audible Holy $*** out of me
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That play was excellent
 
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Assisted access <<

-> UConn hopes to turn it around this season as the Huskies held their second annual Inside the Huddle workout here Saturday. For the freshmen and transfers, it was their first time seeing action at Rentschler Field after workouts at the practice fields on campus and at the Mark R. Shenkman Training Center the last 10 days. For the veterans, it was like a homecoming. <-

-> "Today was something to just get out of our comfort zone from being at the practice fields and at Shenkman where we usually practice at," UConn senior defensive tackle Jelani Stafford said. "It's good to come here and just practice on our home field. This is where we're going to play six games straight this year. So I think it's good that we got to come out here and play together and compete. It won't be a shock when we come here and play Merrimack on the seventh of September."…

…"There's always work to do, that's the mentality we have," Stafford said. "You can never be too high. You can never be too low. You want to stay even-keel. When you're too high, that's when you get punched in the mouth. When you're too low, you lose your confidence. We're working our way up and you'll see it when we kick off at College Park in Maryland.
"This is my last ride. I would say there's an urgency to make sure where we're supposed to be so that when it's time to play, the anxiety is gone." <-
 
huskyblooz said:
Its an open practice. No wrinkles. As someone mentioned earlier, you're calling a very vanilla offense.
Anyone who was dinged up (Buckman & Mel) were held out.
You could be right. But, I will wait to pass judgement.
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How does a vanilla offense for scrimmage cause a quarterback to overthrow wide receivers by 20 yards? Durante has been vocal saying he's been calling it from early on with Weliver while admitting he's not an offensive mind (neither have most of our past OC's outside of Lashlee been either). I hope that coaches don't stick with safe and comfort and try to change/figure things out when its too late.
 
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Hamms30 said:
Well it wasn't zone read left, zone read right , bubble screen, punt every series.. so that part was more enjoyable to watch.

That said, the defense was everywhere and really seemed to be covering their zones well. There weren't a lot of windows to throw into and a few times it seemed like the QB's were throwing into triple coverage, the way the defense just collapsed on the receivers. Welliver had one throw where he was under pressure, threw to where the pressure came from before the receiver was even out of his break and when the receiver turned and looked, the ball was just in his hands. Didn't reach or anything.. it was just delivered and all he had to do was squeeze. I don't know if that was luck or something he's doing consistently, but got an audible Holy $*** out of me
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Not to sound like a smart ass, but did the WR catch the ball?
Dropped balls has been a hallmark of UConn WR's for long time now.
 
Forte said:
How does a vanilla offense for scrimmage cause a quarterback to overthrow wide receivers by 20 yards? Durante has been vocal saying he's been calling it from early on with Weliver while admitting he's not an offensive mind (neither have most of our past OC's outside of Lashlee been either). I hope that coaches don't stick with safe and comfort and try to change/figure things out when its too late.
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because the windows are very small. and scrimmages really dont allow QB's to take off.
From what i witnessed after the open spring practice on campus and yesterday was
Welliver 1. Fagnano 2.
 
Chin Diesel said:
Not to sound like a smart ass, but did the WR catch the ball?
Dropped balls has been a hallmark of UConn WR's for long time now.
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he did. it was like a 15 yard handoff. Throw caught him by surprise, but literally just squeezed and he had possession of the ball.
 
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