Foxx is a quarterback

[UConnDan97]

I have news for you. He's pretty much playing the best players and not panicking to use true frosh who should be redshirted like most programs do. If he starts to play them, then I would say he's panicking. It's the fans who are panicking.

I don't want to butt into this one, but by Diaco's own admission, this isn't true. It's why he has been bragging about the 55+ players that he was playing every game, and why he continues to rotate offensive linemen (a strategy that I hate because it disrupts continuity). So...no, he hasn't necessarily been playing the best players...

 

[ConnHuskBask]

I have news for you. He's pretty much playing the best players and not panicking to use true frosh who should be redshirted like most programs do. If he starts to play them, then I would say he's panicking. It's the fans who are panicking.

Diaco isn't panicking? He's playing the 2nd best wide receiver on the team as the quarterback!

I feel like I'm in a parallel universe talking with some of you guys.

 

[cohenzone]

You should look at the number of true freshman who have played. And then you should realize you have it totally backwards.

He's played 3 freshman running backs,

Diaco isn't panicking? He's playing the 2nd best wide receiver on the team as the quarterback!

I feel like I'm in a parallel universe talking with some of you guys.

Hmm. The game is lost, so he tries some things out. He didn't exactly experiment with the game on the line. I can only imagine the change of tune if this experiment turned the season into something that satisfies you. Now I know the Yancon wasn't the bigtime, but Ken Sweitzer led the team in passing and receiving in the same year. Not that I would advocate for that normally but, if under present conditions the team's 2nd best WR is the next best choice to having Boyle made into hamburger, then that just might be the case. I think you are indeed in a parallel universe of strange expectations. Watching the O line much? Maybe he'll play Boyle a lot next game. If he does and the kid gets racked up, I can't wait to read what you say about what Diaco should have done instead. If this O line can't be shaped up to somewhat respectable, the O is going nowhere fast.

 

[mets1090]

The game was well out of reach. There is a very high chance that one or both of the remaining QBs get hurt this year due to the fact that they play behind what is likely the worst FCS offensive line in the country.

Boyle will get plenty of snaps along the way. This was the time to get some in game snaps for the wild cat. This offense is a disgrace and putting Boyle out there to get sacked 7 times a game isn't going to fix it. It probably won't even help him develop for next year. Things are not magically going to get better by putting Boyle in for more snaps. I'd wager they would get worse.

Last week people were complaining that Diaco wouldn't deviate from his game plan. Well here you go, at least he's trying something.

Like it or not, Diaco took a step to limit the risk of being in a situation where this team has no QB and no experience running an alternative offensive set. He is not panicking. Panic would imply he had confidence to begin with and is shocked by the events we are witnessing. He knew with 100% certainty how bad this team was entering the season. People were mad when he kept saying the program was in it's infancy. That was his way of saying it was the least developed group of players he's ever coached.

And if you still want to define that as panic, then every person involved with this program, including coaches, players, and fans, should be in a state of uncontrollable panic. I'd put a water boy in at QB at this point but Bobby Boucher isn't walking through that door.

Look at how bad the team was last year. There's a very real chance based on everything we saw last year that there are true freshman that can outplay these upper classmen. Everyone knew the returning players were, for the most part, inept. They couldn't learn PP's systems in 3 years under that joke of a staff. Now we needed them to somehow erase all of the horrible coaching they received AND learn Diaco's systems AND be ready to execute them in his first season here. For all intents and purposes, the freshmen have as much experience playing winning college football as most of the starters do. So duck* it. Play them all and let's find out who shows the ability to learn from their mistakes instead of repeating them every single down.

Sorry for the rant. People need a reality check though. Trying something new in a game that was out of reach was far from the worst thing that could have happened. At least it puts one more thing on tape for the other team to disregard as they look right past us to their next game.

 

[Fishy]

I have news for you. He's pretty much playing the best players and not panicking to use true frosh who should be redshirted like most programs do. If he starts to play them, then I would say he's panicking. It's the fans who are panicking.

With all due respect, if that is your metric, he is not panicking so much as he is running through campus butt-naked screaming about the end of the world.

 

[cohenzone]

With all due respect, if that is your metric, he is not panicking so much as he is running through campus butt-naked screaming about the end of the world.

With all due respect, the fans think he can turn straw into gold with a paintbrush. What he's not good at for sure is being Lou Holtz. He's a young and hopefully he'll wise up, although Edsall never quite overcame his own rather obvious personality difficulties. I don't think he's panicked so much as he's trying to do a lot on the fly without too many older heads to counsel him and with too few good horses to ride.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

With all due respect, the fans think he can turn straw into gold with a paintbrush. What he's not good at for sure is being Lou Holtz. He's a young and hopefully he'll wise up, although Edsall never quite overcame his own rather obvious personality difficulties. I don't think he's panicked so much as he's trying to do a lot on the fly without too many older heads to counsel him and with too few good horses to ride.

Since when does gold equate to not wanting to see us getting pushed all over the field by FCS Stony Brook, abandoning the forward pass completely vs USF and getting blown out at home to Temple?

I barely thought we'd make a bowl game this season and that was pushing it. I don't care how bad everyone thinks this line is (and it is bad), but to think we don't have the head coach in place to put something together that he feels can adequately protect the safety of our QBs is insane.

The only thing more insane is people here suggesting that on the FBS level, that playing a WR at QB is a solution out of fear our line can't protect a QB in the most basic passing offense.

 

[cohenzone]

Since when does gold equate to not wanting to see us getting pushed all over the field by FCS Stony Brook, abandoning the forward pass completely vs USF and getting blown out at home to Temple?

I barely thought we'd make a bowl game this season and that was pushing it. I don't care how bad everyone thinks this line is (and it is bad), but to think we don't have the head coach in place to put something together that he feels can adequately protect the safety of our QBs is insane.

The only thing more insane is people here suggesting that on the FBS level, that playing a WR at QB is a solution out of fear our line can't protect a QB in the most basic passing offense.

Geez, he tried something in garbage time. Wrap your head around that. It was hardly meaningful. If he uses it in mid game that's another thing. But what if he does and what if it works? What then?

I sat at old Memorial Stadium when Edsall had been our coach for a few years. UConn was already laying the groundwork to move up. Edsall's teams were decidedly medicre. That particular game we played Northeastern, a program that had no intent of going 1a They shoved us all over the place. Edsall looked like a disaster of a coach to take us to 1a. The point being, Diaco is coming into a program in a downward spiral. The oldest players are Edsall recruits and the rest are PP guys. A few are decent. Unfortunately the O line is either inept or inexperienced and being coached everyone's favorite holdover assistant. The best QB is done. If anyone can draw any real conclusions yet about Diaco based on a realistic projection of this personnel, I'd say they had no basis to make anything on that was very favorable and Cichran going down pretty much sealed the deal. I don't know if Diaco is the guy or not. But outside of the fact that he canevin as a bit of a cheerleader, and I hope he rises up in his public statements, I would take away much about him just yet.

Maybe it was a mistake to take Jesus out of the huddle. Maybe he could have suited up at QB and turned the O line into the old Green Bay Packers.

 

[whaler11]

Take a cold shower and and call us in the morning.

So I decided to go with a hot shower but after some additional reflection... my initial post understates how ridiculous this is.

 

[cohenzone]

So I decided to go with a hot shower but after some additional reflection... my initial post understates how ridiculous this is.

Every hot shower is hot.
Some hot showers are very hot
Therefore all hot showers are cold. True or false

Answer to the syllogism, you took a hot shower which is not the same as a cold shower.

Foxx played QB in garbage time.
Foxx sometimes plays QB
Therefore Foxx will be our full time QB
True or false premise?

Forget the cold shower. Drink 3 jugs of amber, sleep it off and then have a great day. Go Huskies.

 

[whaler11]

Every hot shower is hot.
Some hot showers are very hot
Therefore all hot showers are cold. True or false

Answer to the syllogism, you took a hot shower which is not the same as a cold shower.

Foxx played QB in garbage time.
Foxx sometimes plays QB
Therefore Foxx will be our full time QB
True or false premise?

Forget the cold shower. Drink 3 jugs of amber, sleep it off and then have a great day. Go Huskies.

I am reacting to what they are aaying. Not that Foxx played against Temple.

 

[cohenzone]

I am reacting to what they are aaying. Not that Foxx played against Temple.

Fine. That isn't what your post or anything else you wrote said. Peace and love.

 

[whaler11]

Fine. That isn't what your post or anything else you wrote said. Peace and love.

Uh yeah it is. The title is a direct quote from the head coach.

 

[Bubba1957]

Went to look at Yale's roster to see if the QB from Southington was with the team. I counted 5 freshman QBs on their roster. I'm sure they are not all viable options, but it seems like we could have brought a few more in this year.
Like several others have said, I think they should go to the spread/west coast style. It seems to be the best way move the ball without a big physical Oline. They could do some interesting things with Newsome in the slot. Get all your best playmakers on the field together. We probably won't see it because it is not the long term offense Diaco wants to run, but I wished he'd rethink that. Big men who can play OL are the rarest types of humans.

 

[Sean]

The thing that some in here don't get - if we must go the Wildcat route to win games in this rebuilding year...why not find some freshman or sophomore who can do it? Then, god forbid something crazy happens and it works, we still have the guy next year. Even Kamal Abrams, I always thought was our emergency QB...has a year left.

 

[Stinger92860]

I don't want to butt into this one, but by Diaco's own admission, this isn't true. It's why he has been bragging about the 55+ players that he was playing every game, and why he continues to rotate offensive linemen (a strategy that I hate because it disrupts continuity). So...no, he hasn't necessarily been playing the best players...

Davis on the sidelines for the first drive INT on 3rd and long. How does anyone justify that? I find it insane.

 

[Stinger92860]

Like several others have said, I think they should go to the spread/west coast style. It seems to be the best way move the ball without a big physical Oline. They could do some interesting things with Newsome in the slot. Get all your best playmakers on the field together. We probably won't see it because it is not the long term offense Diaco wants to run, but I wished he'd rethink that. Big men who can play OL are the rarest types of humans.

I believe that is the offense Diaco wants to run. That's why he brings in Shireffs and Davis.

 

[Tdaley]

We all know the o-line has great problems pass blocking although there has been some improvement in run blocking the last couple of games. If you watch and re-watch each every game and pay attention to what the other team's defenses are doing to us you come to the inescapable conclusion that its not entirely the offensive line's fault. There are anywhere from 5 to 7 defenders at the line on every play. The lineman are facing blitzes on almost every down with different linebackers and cornerbacks rushing our quarterback. We are running slow developing pass plays which have little chance of succeeding against that kind of defensive pressure. The question is how do we stop our opponents from playing this type of defense against us? Even screen passes aren't all that effective because there is so many people rushing from so many direction. Last year we had some success at the end of the year with spreading the field with 4 wide receivers, operating out of the shotgun and using a quarterback who had a very average arm but who possessed a great skill in reading defensive coverages and throwing quickly to the right guy. We don't have that guy anymore. Both our remaining quarterbacks are immobile and are slow to react to the defenses that they are reading. I frankly think that there is very good chance that Shirreffs beats out Boyle next year simply because his legs gives us another way to succeed. Its hard to win with win with a immobile quarterback, a below average pass blocking line and no explosive wide receiver who can actually catch the football (Geremy Davis is great but not explosive and Fox has trouble catching the football ). Having an athletic quarterback who can run and throw puts a lot of pressure on the other team's defense. If we had Temple's quarterback I think most of you would agree that we most likely would have won at least 2 more games this year even with our inexperienced o-line. Playing Fox at quarterback may cause teams to change their defenses against us because of his speed and his ability to get outside. Going forward, playing both Boyle and Fox may be the best way for this team and its fans to get through this torturous season. Boyle will get some reps so he can continue to develop. Lucas will replace Fox as starting wideout so he can develop. Brian Lemelle might get a little more playing time too. Fox will run enough plays to keep the other team guessing and back on their heals a bit. We will run the ball frequently so our young backs will continue to improve and pass the football infrequently( most the time to Geremy Davis ) so that we get through the season with concussion-free quarterbacks. We will find new ways to get Newsome the ball in space. It might also be a good idea to retire Chandler Whitmer for the rest of the season. The poor kid has taking a lot of big hits and his skill set has never fit well with the talent (or lack of talent ) we have here at UConn.

 

[Dooley]

The thing that some in here don't get - if we must go the Wildcat route to win games in this rebuilding year...why not find some freshman or sophomore who can do it? Then, god forbid something crazy happens and it works, we still have the guy next year. Even Kamal Abrams, I always thought was our emergency QB...has a year left.

Same argument applies to the wildcat QB as does the Boyle vs Whitmer argument. If the coaches thought Boyle was their guy, he would have beaten out Whitmer already and, at the very least, be playing right now. I'd love to see more Boyle but, for whatever reason (Boyle's progression, our awful OL, etc), the coaches just aren't comfortable with him out there.

Same thing applies to wildcat QB. If there was a FR or SO able to run it, there would be. Can't throw a guy in at wildcat QB just because he's a FR/SO. You also have to worry about things like moving the football and scoring points. This team needs confidence in the worst way and would really benefit from being able to string some scoring drives together. If that means wildcat with Foxx, then so be it. Keep this in mind: you're not just trying to develop QBs. You also have to develop our young RBs and running wildcat read-option could mean some nice yardage totals for FR like Newsome and Johnson...two guys that I think we all agree have a tremendous amount of talent.

 

[Husky25]

Uh yeah it is. The title is a direct quote from the head coach.

Those words were indeed spoken by the Coach and in that order, but I looks like you are taking them out of context. The rest of the quote talks about Foxx not just being a runner, He can make some of the throws as well.

Here's a direct quote from Foxx himself:
“It is the end of the game, you don’t want to risk anything happening to your two quarterbacks,” Foxx said. “I have been doing it here or there.”

It looks like it is just a wrinkle, but if this offense is deployed in during the heat of the battle and is successful in helping UConn win, then so be it.

 

[whaler11]

Those words were indeed spoken by the Coach and in that order, but I looks like you are taking them out of context. The rest of the quote talks about Foxx not just being a runner, He can make some of the throws as well.

Here's a direct quote from Foxx himself:
“It is the end of the game, you don’t want to risk anything happening to your two quarterbacks,” Foxx said. “I have been doing it here or there.”

It looks like it is just a wrinkle, but if this offense is deployed in during the heat of the battle and is successful in helping UConn win, then so be it.

So everything all along has been to build for the future.

But after 5 games it makes sense to skip Boyle who hasn't gotten a shot to install a package for a senior WR at quarterback.

They can't block for the offense to date - somehow they can install more wrinkles? A few weeks ago it was simplifying things. Now it's adding additional complexity.

How is this anything but a panic move to try and squeeze a few wins out of 2014?

 

[Husky25]

So everything all along has been to build for the future.

But after 5 games it makes sense to skip Boyle who hasn't gotten a shot to install a package for a senior WR at quarterback.

They can't block for the offense to date - somehow they can install more wrinkles? A few weeks ago it was simplifying things. Now it's adding additional complexity.

How is this anything but a panic move to try and squeeze a few wins out of 2014?

Oh, Please!

This is like having a position player pitch the ninth inning of a 12 run blow out, or playing the walk-ons for the last 2 minutes. UConn has 2 Scholarship quarterbacks. TWO!!! At the very least, I was entertained (You do realize that is the primary purpose of sports and the chief reason most people attend games, right?) for a few minutes during a thoroughly and decidedly unentertaining 4th quarter.

The purpose of the wrinkle is so other teams' coaches have to be prepared for it. Foxx may never line up under center again, but the time it takes coaches to at least consider the possibility is time taken away from other aspects of their game plan.

 

[whaler11]

Oh, Please!

This is like having a position player pitch the ninth inning of a 12 run blow out, or playing the walk-ons for the last 2 minutes. UConn has 2 Scholarship quarterbacks. TWO!!! At the very least, I was entertained (You do realize that is the primary purpose of sports and the chief reason most people attend games, right?) for a few minutes during a thoroughly and decidedly unentertaining 4th quarter.

The purpose of the wrinkle is so other teams' coaches have to be prepared for it. Foxx may never line up under center again, but the time it takes coaches to at least consider the possibility is time taken away from other aspects of their game plan.

Yeah major league teams spend a lot of their limited practice time on position players entering blow outs.

Same exact thing.

Yeah if he can do that without spending time on it practice that's helpful. To make it part of the gameplan when you haven't even given Boyle a chance is puzzling WHEN EVERYTHING YOU CLAIM TO BE DOING IS FOR THE FUTURE.

 

[Sean]

The Edsall apologistas deserve an apology. The Diaco apologistas are far beyond anything we ever experienced in the Edsall years. At least the Edsall's had SOME reason to feel the way they did. Diaco could declare war on Great Britain and half this board wouldn't question it right now.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

The Edsall apologistas deserve an apology. The Diaco apologistas are far beyond anything we ever experienced in the Edsall years. At least the Edsall's had SOME reason to feel the way they did. Diaco could declare war on Great Britain and half this board wouldn't question it right now.

You would've thunk by now the Edsall detractors would offer up some form of a mea culpa. No chance.