Been hearing really good things about Donovan Williams. Cinci marks half the season. We lose some key players on offense next year. I've seen plenty of programs start true freshmen with success. We currently have 3 losses, the season isn't over so why not put Williams in and burn his redshirt. I understand its ideal to let players develop but if you have raw talent whats the harm in playing him now and recruiting additional QB's going forward. We have McAffee coming in next year... where if Williams is as good as advertised will allow McAffee to redshirt. Boyle came in early and I don't think the early start ruined his whole career. As a player you either have it or you don't .... we learned quickly that Boyle didn't which sometimes its better to know those things up front. Think about what we have this year vs. what we will have next year. Whats the real advantage here to playing it safe with the redshirt over getting some game time experience with eligibility into 2020? Are we really in a position to have the luxury of redshirting?
Honest Question on Donovan Williams
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What about having more upside and growth potential to surpass and become better... with GAME time EXPERIENCE. We all hear they look good in practice ... maybe its time to see who can handle the game. If he plays this year he has 3 years left.. a lot can happen to a football program in 3 years...
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I'm really hesitant to throw a true freshman into the QB role unless the talent gap is night and day. The truth is that Shirreffs is probably a league-average American Conference QB. Williams would have to be significantly better than that to justify the move at this point.
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If I was Diaco and my position was on the line and if this kid has the goods, I'd play him. In 2 more years Diaco may not be around. Williams could save his bacon.
CL82
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Unless Bob is treating this year as pre-season again.
Look at this way, Diaco's not getting fired before the third game 0f the 2017 season. With that in mind your optimization strategy is to play Bryant, play conservative hoping to steal enough games to become bowl eligible (and that isn't looking likely at this point), continue to build the team and give Williams a year to develop. Next year you have a new QB, new (modern) up tempo style of play, the base gets excited and a 7 win season gets you another extension.
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I would agree if Whtimer was the QB. If we didn't have a QB that could produce some Ws, I would agree.
But Sherriffs for his many faults does have enough to produce victories for the Huskies. And Williams, if he is not ready, will almost certainly produce defeats.
If the coaching staff thinks he is better than Sherriffs, he should play. But I'm not ready to concede the season just to get Williams reps.
Jax Husky
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Confidence would be my only concern. Not him having it, but possibly losing it with some struggling. All QBs have to struggle a little in the beginning, and you want to make sure a kid is mentally ready to accept that, because he's gonna turn the ball over, take dumb sacks, miss reads, etc. Don't want those things to hurt him mentally.
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We didn't hire the guy to steal some wins. He's supposed to have been building a strong program. Ergo year 1 and 2. If he makes year 4 (an intolerable thought absent a literal miraculous team transformation), he essentially has 100% of his team on the field. The line will be the QB needs a season (year 5). Then it will be something else. Recognize we are being played by a con man who just believes if he keeps at it long enough a little luck is on his way.
The Shirreffs hatred on this board is getting ridiculous. Sitting him for a true freaking freshman?
Yes, BS missed a couple of throws last night in the first half. But given the more open nature of the first-half playcalling compared with the rest of the season, to me it's understandable. BS did start hitting the deeper throws in 2nd half (BTW love Noel's passion, think that might make BS better). Let's see more open playcalling next week vs. Cincy.
I guess the only place where the 2nd string QB is not the most popular player on the team is Gillette Stadium.
Yes, BS missed a couple of throws last night in the first half. But given the more open nature of the first-half playcalling compared with the rest of the season, to me it's understandable. BS did start hitting the deeper throws in 2nd half (BTW love Noel's passion, think that might make BS better). Let's see more open playcalling next week vs. Cincy.
I guess the only place where the 2nd string QB is not the most popular player on the team is Gillette Stadium.
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If you're going to burn his redshirt at this point, he'd better be a significant step up from Shirreffs. If was, he'd be playing by now. Burning his redshirt now would be a fireable offense. One of the things that he has improved on is not recklessly burning redshirts. Let's hope that trend holds.
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Absolutely not. Throw a true freshman behind a trauma inducing o line for what purpose? Hopefully getting to 6-6 so that we can face Middle Tennessee State in the Bahama Bowl? Develop him so that in four years we have a good senior QB
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Haven't we seen too many examples in UConn's recent past where red shirts have been burned only to the detriment of the program. Let the kid have his red shirt to learn the system & develop physically. Then Lets see what we have in the spring game. If he's as good as advertised, I have no problem with starting him next season if he wins the position. UConn needs to build roster depth.
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that's been all the HC's that we've had at the FBS level M O... Tight lipped about the QB position in terms of depth... but honestly, it looks like we've improved there, depth wise over the years. Just not enough... clearly... but then again, it could be how they are coached. It's hard watching when the majority of our pass plays seem to be one read plays... Also shows how good our OL is (yikes)....
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IMO, that's more of a political move. He was the homegrown kid thrown into the fire... Not only did we find out he wasn't ready. We found out that maybe he wasn't a FBS level QB... talented still...
Better to find out sooner rather than later right? Do you really think not starting as a true freshman would have made him the next big thing? Playing as a true freshman destroyed his entire career as a QB?
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Not one QB we've had in the FBS level was better than Dan O. Not one... That should've changed by now... Shirreffs isn't so lets hope Donovan Williams turns out to be our Donovan McNabb.
Have you been watching his throws? We have some good receivers who make some serious adjustments out of stride to make catches. All I'm saying is if you have a player with more upside why not start the process? Are we really going to weigh everything on Tim Boyle not becoming our next Dan O? We are acting like we haven't seen true freshmen QB's play for programs and be successful.
Will the Oline be better next year?
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Agreed 100000% . and if we are worried, then we better work on our recruiting efforts...
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