2026 - the litmus test

[Jetskies]

In the ongoing chess game of getting UConn FB back to athletic prominence, some folks have seen me write about my 2-3 year roadmap for this team to accomplish the tall order of carrying the entire Athletic Department back to a power conference.

Looking ahead, I see 2025 as another, maybe even easier, version of 2024 -- only 2 P4 games. otherwise more winnable G5 games that will serve as testbeds of our quality. We must go 8-4 or better, with healthy 2 TD margins-of-victory as much as possible, to keep interest of the conference powers.

Now for year 3 - 2026 - this is the year i believe will be the first litmus test of where we are as a program being resurrected and whose brand otherwise is P4-worthy. 5 P4 games, 4 of which are in a row, will give the power conferences a small window to see how the upgraded huskies deal with a real P4 week-to-week grind. No breaks with FCS opponents or UMass'es. How we do in this year 3 will IMO set the tone for that following summer's discussions. 7-5 with 2 or 3 P4 victories gets us a serious consideration, maybe enough to strike the (financially sensible) deal finally. 5-7 with 1 or 2 P4 victories gets us a verrryyyyyy outside shot - a deal we strike might be difficult to swallow financially for the near-term (forfeit revenue, no BE exit fee help, no CBS buyout, etc), but possibly our only way in at that point. any worse and on we go in the indy desert.

let's get there I'm ready for a power conference patch on our jersey!

 

[UConnDan97]

We've got 3 more games this year. There's plenty of litmus to see still. Don't worry about 2026...

 

[ZooCougar]

I don't care about 2026. With the portal and realignment CFB is a year to year thing. You can from hero to FSU in less than one season.

 

[AllHusky]

Yeah, a lot of season left.

Good Masters degree project, but we gotta graduate first.

1-0

 

[Devland]

In this day and age, with NIL and the transfer portal, every year is its own entity. I think the days of developing and redshirting freshman are over. Let's face it right now if we develop someone into something special, they are most likely gone in the portal.

 

[Jetskies]

In this day and age, with NIL and the transfer portal, every year is its own entity. I think the days of developing and redshirting freshman are over. Let's face it right now if we develop someone into something special, they are most likely gone in the portal.

although you provided a counterpoint (totally valid), I appreciate you sort of replying to the spirit of the post.

the replies here make it seem like I don't know we need to go 1-0 this week. Bachelors before PhD, etc...
The spirit of this post is not to ignore today, but simply to think about the path ahead - which is not a case of me "missing the trees for the forest".

 

[Kembafan]

I think the thing we need to do is to be ranked. If that happens I think the big 12 would take us.

And it’s possible in 2025 if we get a good qb.

 

[uconnbill]

although you provided a counterpoint (totally valid), I appreciate you sort of replying to the spirit of the post.

the replies here make it seem like I don't know we need to go 1-0 this week. Bachelors before PhD, etc...
The spirit of this post is not to ignore today, but simply to think about the path ahead - which is not a case of me "missing the trees for the forest".

Let next year take care of next year as we finish this season first

 

[tiger8mush]

In the ongoing chess game of getting UConn FB back to athletic prominence, some folks have seen me write about my 2-3 year roadmap for this team to accomplish the tall order of carrying the entire Athletic Department back to a power conference.

Looking ahead, I see 2025 as another, maybe even easier, version of 2024 -- only 2 P4 games. otherwise more winnable G5 games that will serve as testbeds of our quality. We must go 8-4 or better, with healthy 2 TD margins-of-victory as much as possible, to keep interest of the conference powers.

Now for year 3 - 2026 - this is the year i believe will be the first litmus test of where we are as a program being resurrected and whose brand otherwise is P4-worthy. 5 P4 games, 4 of which are in a row, will give the power conferences a small window to see how the upgraded huskies deal with a real P4 week-to-week grind. No breaks with FCS opponents or UMass'es. How we do in this year 3 will IMO set the tone for that following summer's discussions. 7-5 with 2 or 3 P4 victories gets us a serious consideration, maybe enough to strike the (financially sensible) deal finally. 5-7 with 1 or 2 P4 victories gets us a verrryyyyyy outside shot - a deal we strike might be difficult to swallow financially for the near-term (forfeit revenue, no BE exit fee help, etc), but possibly our only way in at that point. any worse and on we go in the indy desert.

let's get there I'm ready for a power conference patch on our jersey!

I like your excitement

 

[FfldCntyFan]

This seems to be a good place to post something I've been working on, I haven't completed the defense yet but below is an overview of what we may be in store for next season on offense and of we lay the groundwork, in 2025, our offense should be exceptional in 2026.

2025 prospectus:


OFFENSIVE LINE

Returning Starters:

Wes Hoeh; Ben Murawski

Returning players who saw the field in standard offense:

Brady Wayburn; Kyle Juergens; Carsten Cassidy

Returning players who should be able to compete for starting role:

Tank Green; Jayden Bass; Danny Antolovich; Finn Wilkins; Diego Rodriguez; Toluwanimi Tunde; Diego Rodriguez; Torian Johnson; Jake Kiernan

We have two multi-year starting tackles to replace but we have a few kids with very intriguing size (Johnson 6’8” 330; Cassidy 6’7” 300; Murawski 6’7” 335) and a few with ideal size for guard (Wayburn; Rodriguez; Bass; Wilkins) along with a couple who played at other schools (Juergens; Green).

I’m not sure of who will play where next season but logically Hoeh will remain the starting center and the remaining positions should be fielded by guys who will have more than sufficient size and should be multi-year starters for us (as we have a number of linemen with multiple years eligibility remaining).

With our current offensive line coach (Sammis) I’m optimistic that our lines will continue to improve year after year.



WIDE RECEIVERS / TIGHT ENDS

Returning Starters (WR):

Skyler Bell; Jasaiah Gathings

Returning players who saw the field in standard offense (WR):

Shamar Porter

Returning players who should be able to compete for starting role (WR):

Unknown what Terrance Smith; Brock Montgomery; Zach Drawdy; Jackson Harper or Bryan Domino are capable of but at a minimum they should provide a good amount of depth to rotate in.

We should have a very talented three WR set (Bell; Gathings; Porter) with the ability to force a defense to worry about defending quite a bit of territory.

Returning Starters/players who saw the field in standard offense (TE):

Lou Hansen; Alex Honig; (I believe) Dominic Toy; James Larson

Returning players who should be able to compete for starting role (TE):

Bryce Anderson; Clemens Richter; Nader Chirchi

I will admit we did not use our TE’s anywhere near as much as many offenses do and I am not sure how large of a role they will play in the offense we want to run. We do have a good amount of size here and quite a bit of depth.



RUNNING BACKS

Returning Starters:

Mel Brown; Cam Edwards; Durrell Robinson

Returning players who saw the field in standard offense:

Victor Rosa

I listed the first three alphabetically (as they are all of equal value, albeit providing differing skillsets). With Rosa returning we are in a great place here. This is a strength of the team, should ease the development of the new starting offensive linemen and teams that can effectively run the ball usually do at worst reasonably well.


QUARTERBACKS

Returning Starters:

Nick Evers

Returning players who saw the field in standard offense:

Tucker McDonald; Cole Welliver

I listed McDonald first only because to date he saw more time. I truly believe that Welliver will end up being the starter next season, if not day one, then before the season is halfway completed. This is in part because he should have the highest ceiling of all roster QB’s but also due to lack of faith in how well anyone else on the roster would be able to perform.

In all candor, our near term prospects as a program will be as high as this kid can rise. Ideally he’ll be another Dan Orlovsky.