Football today!

[uconnbill]

I was not at the game today...decided to ski in Vermont one more time this year instead.

• Did anyone notice anything about our corners? Any better? Maybe a little more speed than last year but still a ways to gi
• Did they do kick off returns or punt returns and if so, did we see anything significant there? None but I understand why.
• McAfee - what did we see with him? He needs work on foot movement and getting rid of the ball
• Donovan Williams, did he have an action? Has talent to help and made a couple of nice catches
• How was overall team speed? Better but still needs work as Terry was burned on a long pass play. He is in the box safety
• How was the D on tackling? Nice with better form than last year still need some players to wrap up.

Babybsteps but improving

 

[gopher2]

Most entertaining spring game I can remember. Looks like the O will give us a puncher's chance in a few games but the D still has a long way to go. The first two games could be brutal if we don't shore up the D line. We will be favored against URI and maybe UMass but nobody else IMO.

 

[Tdaley]

Caleb Thomas made some nice plays but I didn't see much out either starting defensive end.

 

[Jaybird65]

I was not at the game today...decided to ski in Vermont one more time this year instead.

• Did anyone notice anything about our corners? Any better?
• Did they do kick off returns or punt returns and if so, did we see anything significant there?
• McAfee - what did we see with him?
• Donovan Williams, did he have an action?
• How was overall team speed?
• How was the D on tackling?

No KO/PR's.......too much risk of injury. Williams had some touches, looked fine; McAfee showed Pindell is ahead & in control for now. Offense will be better than last year, defense may not be

 

[huskymedic]

Fuller: Walk-on Donevin O’Reilly shines in UConn spring game

>>“It wasn’t like I was some guy sitting in my dorm room and heard of a tryout and maybe I’ll go,” said O’Reilly after rushing for 130 yards and two touchdowns and had six receptions for 49 yards and another TD. “I’ve played football since I was 6, got recruited out of high school. I’ve always been around football, a lot of my friends have gone Division I, so for myself to play on this level is great. They don’t really think the walk-ons on the team are really good athletes. We don’t get looked at as walk-ons, we get treated as scholarship players.”<<

>>“I had opportunity to choose where I wanted to be in college, so I thought there was no better place than UConn to be back home in Connecticut and follow my dreams of playing in the biggest state college in Connecticut,” O’Reilly said. “I had a lot of choices. I could have hung up the pads and hung up the cleats, called in a career, but I knew it I kept working, I would get my opportunity. When Coach (Randy) Edsall and his staff came in, it was really a blessing for me because it gave me the opportunity to play football again and show what I could do. For them to give me the opportunity is the best gift of my life.”<<

 

[Exit 4]

Fuller: Walk-on Donevin O’Reilly shines in UConn spring game

>>“I had opportunity to choose where I wanted to be in college, so I thought there was no better place than UConn to be back home in Connecticut and follow my dreams of playing in the biggest state college in Connecticut,” O’Reilly said. “I had a lot of choices. I could have hung up the pads and hung up the cleats, called in a career, but I knew it I kept working, I would get my opportunity. When Coach (Randy) Edsall and his staff came in, it was really a blessing for me because it gave me the opportunity to play football again and show what I could do. For them to give me the opportunity is the best gift of my life.”<<

Some good stuff in that story by Fuller about O'Reilly.

Also noted by Fuller:
Defensively, Darrian Beavers had 10 tackles and a fumble recovery, Eddie Hahn also had 10 tackles, 21/2 tackles for loss and a sack. Andrew Migliaccio had three tackles for loss.

 

[Woof 101]

View attachment 30678

Great post Mike, wanted to give you a like, but I could not give something so embarrassing / atrocious from our institution of higher education any kind of kudos.
Hard to believe this made it to print and got handed out to the public. Great fodder for other teams to post for sure.

Fraid so.

Again see above, I have a hard time liking something negative. ...But you are very correct. OK my disclaimer.....

 

[BugsyCT]

I think Mike is spot on w/ attendance (maybe a tad low but not much):

Looked like a little more than that but, mehh. Guess it's about right. Weather was perfect.

 

[RSTuthill]

Impressions: I got there late as I had the toy out of the garage for the first time and it has to be driven very slowly for about ten miles to get the flat spots out of the tires and melt the precipitates in the compound and let them diffuse. Once you do that it is difficult to curb your enthusiasm on a day like this for blasting around a favorite road course. Long way of saying I missed the first 9 minutes of the game and did not locate a lineup sheet until the half.

But what I did see confirmed in my mind that Pindel will be the starter. Bisack looks to be number two for now, Pindel is very very quick, and I had not fully appreciated that. Van Demark looked fine at LT but wasn't really tested by the D's corner rushers.

The long run by XS was aided and abetted by a D that could not tackle. He was hit at least four times, but no one could put him down. Once he saw some running room near the sideline he just ran away from the secondary. That is very concerning.

Someone mentioned team speed. No change really. These were almost all players we have seen anyway plus the redshirts from last season who would have played last year if they had outstanding speed.

I was left with the impression that most of the QB's could really sling it downfield. Timing was an issue that should get better. Most of the long pass interceptions were due to the receivers having to slow down and the coverage caught up. Either that or the QB's have to throw it further, but that would be a tall order.

I made my crowd estimate by guessing that the lower bowl holds approximately 22K out of the 40K. Half of it was blocked off. So I thought that about 50% of the remaining 11K was occupied at the height. Seeing some of the pix from the press box at about that time leads me to believe that was high. 3K to 4K would have been better. Lotta people tailgating though.

 

[Stainmaster]

Great post Mike, wanted to give you a like, but I could not give something so embarrassing / atrocious from our institution of higher education any kind of kudos.
Hard to believe this made it to print and got handed out to the public. Great fodder for other teams to post for sure.

Nobody tell this guy that the spring roster is available on the team’s website for the world to see.

 

[huskymedic]

Fuller: Walk-on Donevin O’Reilly shines in UConn spring game

>>“It wasn’t like I was some guy sitting in my dorm room and heard of a tryout and maybe I’ll go,” said O’Reilly after rushing for 130 yards and two touchdowns and had six receptions for 49 yards and another TD. “I’ve played football since I was 6, got recruited out of high school. I’ve always been around football, a lot of my friends have gone Division I, so for myself to play on this level is great. They don’t really think the walk-ons on the team are really good athletes. We don’t get looked at as walk-ons, we get treated as scholarship players.”<<

>>“I had opportunity to choose where I wanted to be in college, so I thought there was no better place than UConn to be back home in Connecticut and follow my dreams of playing in the biggest state college in Connecticut,” O’Reilly said. “I had a lot of choices. I could have hung up the pads and hung up the cleats, called in a career, but I knew it I kept working, I would get my opportunity. When Coach (Randy) Edsall and his staff came in, it was really a blessing for me because it gave me the opportunity to play football again and show what I could do. For them to give me the opportunity is the best gift of my life.”<<

 

[Storrs South]

 

[Chief00]

Great post Mike, wanted to give you a like, but I could not give something so embarrassing / atrocious from our institution of higher education any kind of kudos.
Hard to believe this made it to print and got handed out to the public. Great fodder for other teams to post for sure.



Again see above, I have a hard time liking something negative. ...But you are very correct. OK my disclaimer.....

It works fine for me! All that rooster information on one sheet.

 

[huskyblooz]

We need to get some grad transfers or unsigned JUCOs for that DL. Starters looked good. Backups struggled.

 

[BlueDogs]

Great day today. There were more than 2k fans. I’m guessing about 7k. Got a chance to chat with a LB recruit (Bonhomme) from Canada. Total stud. Great kid. Good student. Being heavily recruited by a few B1G teams. Did my portion convincing him UConn was the place to be.

Saw BS in the stands with his family great seeing him there.

Observations:

#49 (O’Reilly) was unbelievable at RB. Amazing moves, great vision and explosiveness. Can’t teach what I saw. We might have a great RB on our hands.

Tarbutt- kicked 54 yard and 5o yard FGs like nothing. Looked really good.

Pindell - looks solid. Still has poor downfield vision and makes some bad choices.

Xavier Scott - nice little RB. Has some really nice runs. Good balance, shifty and breaks tackles. Not sure he has good catch and run skills out of the backfield.

D - looks pretty weak. Nothing notable stood out. One pick 6 on a terrible throw. Otherwise soft on run, limited penetration and very spotty coverage.

All in all, it was a fun day.

Note to Crocker- time to earn your pay. D intensity and speed need to seriously pick up. Got to get some nasty in these kids.

 

[RSTuthill]

It works fine for me! All that rooster information on one sheet.

I actually liked that. Very eady to use. But why did we have to look for them?

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskyrob1]

Impressions: I got there late as I had the toy out of the garage for the first time and it has to be driven very slowly for about ten miles to get the flat spots out of the tires and melt the precipitates in the compound and let them diffuse. Once you do that it is difficult to curb your enthusiasm on a day like this for blasting around a favorite road course. Long way of saying I missed the first 9 minutes of the game and did not locate a lineup sheet until the half.

But what I did see confirmed in my mind that Pindel will be the starter. Bisack looks to be number two for now, Pindel is very very quick, and I had not fully appreciated that. Van Demark looked fine at LT but wasn't really tested by the D's corner rushers.

The long run by ZS was aided and abetted by a D that could not tackle. He was hit at least four times, but no one could put him down. Once he saw some running room near the sideline he just ran away from the secondary. That is very concerning.

Someone mentioned team speed. No change really. These were almost all players we have seen anyway plus the redshirts from last season who would have played last year if they had outstanding speed.

I was left with the impression that most of the QB's could really sling it downfield. Timing was an issue that should get better. Most of the long pass interceptions were due to the receivers having to slow down and the coverage caught up. Either that or the QB's have to throw it further, but that would be a tall order.

I made my crowd estimate by guessing that the lower bowl holds approximately 22K out of the 40K. Half of it was blocked off. So I thought that about 50% of the remaining 11K was occupied at the height. Seeing some of the pix from the press box at about that time leads me to believe that was high. 3K to 4K would have been better. Lotta people tailgating though.

Good to see former walk on Bisack getting PT. His hard work is finally paying off. Let's hope another Fairfield QB is giving Uconn a look.

 

[RSTuthill]

One final observation: HCRE2.0 was quoted in the JI this morning as saying the QB's would line up under center this year "mostly". We didn't see that at all today.

 

[huskymedic]

One final observation: HCRE2.0 was quoted in the JI this morning as saying the QB's would line up under center this year "mostly". We didn't see that at all today.

My overriding sense was that today was more about nobody getting hurt than anything else... shotgun formations were a means to that end.

 

[Scrutineer]

It works fine for me! All that rooster information on one sheet.

Lots of errors though. Check the class listings for example.

 

[RedSoloCup]

I actually liked that. Very eady to use. But why did we have to look for them?

LOL, to get you to the ticket sales team... they were all about that engagement. They know they need the fan in the seat and are going to work to get the word out.

 

[Palatine]

Best thing. The offense moved very quickly and decisively. It looked like a group that knew their assignments and played fast.

Worst thing. I never saw the defense set an edge. The running backs ran easily around the corner often untouched for a dozen yards.

 

[Hornet22]

Great day today. There were more than 2k fans. I’m guessing about 7k. Got a chance to chat with a LB recruit (Bonhomme) from Canada. Total stud. Great kid. Good student. Being heavily recruited by a few B1G teams. Did my portion convincing him UConn was the place to be.

Saw BS in the stands with his family great seeing him there.

Observations:

#49 (O’Reilly) was unbelievable at RB. Amazing moves, great vision and explosiveness. Can’t teach what I saw. We might have a great RB on our hands.

Tarbutt- kicked 54 yard and 5o yard FGs like nothing. Looked really good.

Pindell - looks solid. Still has poor downfield vision and makes some bad choices.

Xavier Scott - nice little RB. Has some really nice runs. Good balance, shifty and breaks tackles. Not sure he has good catch and run skills out of the backfield.

D - looks pretty weak. Nothing notable stood out. One pick 6 on a terrible throw. Otherwise soft on run, limited penetration and very spotty coverage.

All in all, it was a fun day.

Note to Crocker- time to earn your pay. D intensity and speed need to seriously pick up. Got to get some nasty in these kids.

Excellent summation pal. Couldn’t have been more spot on with your assessments. The defense definitely looked a tad slow flowing toward the ball. And when they arrived I didn’t see the ball carrier going backwards. I didn’t see the aggression that I had hoped to see. Milling about on the field seems like the defense might have been nervous or a bit apprehensive out there (game setting as opposed to practice). If so, that needs to change becaus the lights will be much brighter on Aug 30th with ESPN on the scene.
Pindell looked like he will be a headache in the field. His legs are very dangerous. O’Reilly reminded me a lot like Woodhead. Very shifty and hard to tackle. Between he and Pindell I see a lot of either short down and distance or first downs picked via the scramble. QB threw the ball well enough for me to surmise that we could be effective with several 4 minute or longer drives which should help things on the other side of the ball. We won’t be a one or two play score kinda team rather I can see a dink and dunk and scramble accented by an occasional big play to our WR’s kinda offense. Which I’m fine with. Running the read option with Pindell, O’Reilly and Scott will force the defense (ends and LB’s especially) to have to be very disciplined. Any bad reads or assignment busts could lead to big plays with our legs.
On the defensive side, the LB’s seemed ok. They all need to hit the weights throw spring and summer and get a bit more nasty and the point of attack.
The Secondary....after seeing what I saw, I believe the incoming freshman have a true opportunity to play if they come in with a plan of aggression. Too many low impact collisions and lots of hanging onto the backs of ball carriers and going for a bit of a ride. Again, like I’ve always maintained, when hungry freshman come in and start to challenge for time, it raises the level of competition amongst the group.
Swann and Co better be ready. There are some good looking and big DB’s coming in.
Finally, Fortt and Coyle held their own and look like they should have a good season if they stay healthy.
In two years, the defense will be one of the best in the conference with the experience. They’re still awfully young and a bit hesitant.
Can’t wait until all the players are together in the Summer. That’s when the true competition begins.

 

[Palatine]

Excellent summation pal. Couldn’t have been more spot on with your assessments. The defense definitely looked a tad slow flowing toward the ball. And when they arrived I didn’t see the ball carrier going backwards. I didn’t see the aggression that I had hoped to see. Milling about on the field seems like the defense might have been nervous or a bit apprehensive out there (game setting as opposed to practice). If so, that needs to change becaus the lights will be much brighter on Aug 30th with ESPN on the scene.
Pindell looked like he will be a headache in the field. His legs are very dangerous. O’Reilly reminded me a lot like Woodhead. Very shifty and hard to tackle. Between he and Pindell I see a lot of either short down and distance or first downs picked via the scramble. QB threw the ball well enough for me to surmise that we could be effective with several 4 minute or longer drives which should help things on the other side of the ball. We won’t be a one or two play score kinda team rather I can see a dink and dunk and scramble accented by an occasional big play to our WR’s kinda offense. Which I’m fine with. Running the read option with Pindell, O’Reilly and Scott will force the defense (ends and LB’s especially) to have to be very disciplined. Any bad reads or assignment busts could lead to big plays with our legs.
On the defensive side, the LB’s seemed ok. They all need to hit the weights throw spring and summer and get a bit more nasty and the point of attack.
The Secondary....after seeing what I saw, I believe the incoming freshman have a true opportunity to play if they come in with a plan of aggression. Too many low impact collisions and lots of hanging onto the backs of ball carriers and going for a bit of a ride. Again, like I’ve always maintained, when hungry freshman come in and start to challenge for time, it raises the level of competition amongst the group.
Swann and Co better be ready. There are some good looking and big DB’s coming in.
Finally, Fortt and Coyle held their own and look like they should have a good season if they stay healthy.
In two years, the defense will be one of the best in the conference with the experience. They’re still awfully young and a bit hesitant.
Can’t wait until all the players are together in the Summer. That’s when the true competition begins.

Bold mine. I got the impression that the defense was told not to blow anyone up. There were a number of occasions where a defender would arrive in a hurry and let up rather than deliver a big hit. So that is one less thing to worry about. There are plenty of other issues on the D.