Jim Mora’s new staff coming together…

[huskymedic]

-> Recruiting is the priority at the moment for Jim Mora and his assistants, with the start of the NCAA early signing period fast approaching on Dec. 15. Marinelli visited close to a dozen Connecticut high schools over his first couple days on the job.

“We’re late into the game,” Marinelli said. “We’re all new, and we’re trying to fill up our ’22 class. We haven’t really started to hit ’23s yet. We’ll get there.” <-

-> “People are so thirsty for UConn, and the high school coaches are so thirsty to have a connection with the state university,” Marinelli said. “The people I talked to say they feel like a weight’s been lifted off their shoulders. They finally have a place and a person and a staff that, I think Coach Mora said it, this is what they’ve always wanted.” <-

-> The staff has handed out several offers lately, many of which have gone to players at schools the previous staff didn’t recruit much, if at all. They want to show they’re serious about investing in local talent.

“There’s such things as political offers. We’re not political offers,” Marinelli said. “Part of my job is going to be having hard conversations with coaches that are going to push their players on me. They think that they’re D-I athletes, and I’m going to have a hard conversation with those coaches and say, ‘Look, we don’t think so or it’s not the right fit.’

“Everyone that we’ve offered we think is a legitimate Division I football player through their film and character evaluations and academic performance. We feel like those kids are worthy of an offer from us and we want to build our class around local talent. We want to continue to build every class with local talent. Connecticut has good football.” <-

 

[coachcap]

I have a feeling we are just offering so many kids to get off on the right foot. The real talent upgrade will be transfers and JUCOs. I doubt we're hitting 8 person CT classes every year 2-3 years from now unless we're getting all of the highest rated kids which seems unlikely

HCJM & Co. giving offers to multiple prep school athletes can have benefits for both sides. For UConn it offers easier inroads to local prep athletes who might otherwise sign with out of state schools. Randy was famous for shunning local preps.
For the prep coaches, it makes it easier to recruit higher caliber athletes as they can show that players on their current roster are getting a lot of interest & being placed on FBS teams.

 

[Palatine]

HCJM & Co. giving offers to multiple prep school athletes can have benefits for both sides. For UConn it offers easier inroads to local prep athletes who might otherwise sign with out of state schools. Randy was famous for shunning local preps.
For the prep coaches, it makes it easier to recruit higher caliber athletes as they can show that players on their current roster are getting a lot of interest & being placed on FBS teams.

I completely agree that offering local products improves the local product. It's more than establishing good relationships. It's helping schools to build interest in football that translates into better football (and players) with the bonus of increasing interest in UConn.

 

[Exit 4]

I think everyone should calm down. Mora (and Benedict) want to change the environment with in state football. It has to be a place where there is active dialogue again and all the old grudges cleared. It has to be place were mutual respect replaces mutual distain.

Of these recent offers, I really like Cam Edwards, Joly, Gonzalez and Allen. Spearman has intriguing size for S, Schwibel has decent straight line speed and a frame. I would characterize the other local/area offers as more developmental- but I am just a guy at home- let’s let the staff do their thing in this short period.

 

[huskysupporter]

I think everyone should calm down. Mora (and Benedict) want to change the environment with in state football. It has to be a place where there is active dialogue again and all the old grudges cleared. It has to be place were mutual respect replaces mutual distain.

Of these recent offers, I really like Cam Edwards, Joly, Gonzalez and Allen. Spearman has intriguing size for S, Schwibel has decent straight line speed and a frame. I would characterize the other local/area offers as more developmental- but I am just a guy at home- let’s let the staff do their thing in this short period.

We strongly disagree on two of the offers you said you like (won’t say names). Their hudl highlights looked like FCS players to me. I also really like Spearman as a safety.

 

[JohnFSilver]

I agree if you limit the definition of “in-state offers” to only CIAC schools. I’m not sure it’s so nuts if you include the prep schools as “in-state offers”. Win and they will come…

Prep schools are on fire in CT for football.

 

[huskysupporter]

Prep schools are on fire in CT for football.

This is why I am glad offers are going out to prep school kids like crazy. I know Coach Marinelli is saying there are no “political offers” but seeing some of the highlights of a few players I don’t believe that and I think that is absolutely fine for this class. Build those relationships with all of the CT Prep Schools who send lots of kids to FBS.

 

[UConnJim]

Prep schools are on fire in CT for football.

Agree. I think people are underestimating the talent at the prep schools in Connecticut and not all of the kids are from Connecticut: Taft, Loomis Chaffee, Choate, Avon Old Farms, Suffield, Cheshire, St. Thomas More, Kingswood-Oxford,...

And, there is another positive aspect of building CT HS relationships: transfers. If you have relationships with a CT kid and his HS coaches who is playing at a P5 school or blows up at an FCS school and wants to transfer, UConn will have a shot.

 

[Exit 4]

I know Coach Marinelli is saying there are no “political offers” but seeing some of the highlights of a few players I don’t believe that

Agreed. Some of these are political offers - it has to be - but of course you can't acknowledge that anywhere. There is room on this roster for the "right kind" of developmental kid. Not sure how many slots....just a few.

 

[RSTuthill]

Agree. I think people are underestimating the talent at the prep schools in Connecticut and not all of the kids are from Connecticut: Taft, Loomis Chaffee, Choate, Avon Old Farms, Suffield, Cheshire, St. Thomas More, Kingswood-Oxford,...

And, there is another positive aspect of building CT HS relationships: transfers. If you have relationships with a CT kid and his HS coaches who is playing at a P5 school or blows up at an FCS school and wants to transfer, UConn will have a shot.

Many have an extra year of development since the preps, at least those mentioned above, are academically advanced by about a year. A common route is to repeat the junior year. Some do accept PG's, but others do not.

 

[giddyup]

Mora can do more than one thing at a time. We can chase CT players and also hit the portal. I’ll reserve judgment.

 

[huskysupporter]

Agreed. Some of these are political offers - it has to be - but of course you can't acknowledge that anywhere. There is room on this roster for the "right kind" of developmental kid. Not sure how many slots....just a few.

Without question, especially since they are likely bringing in 32 kids this year and next.

 

[gioff2323]

Agreed. Some of these are political offers - it has to be - but of course you can't acknowledge that anywhere. There is room on this roster for the "right kind" of developmental kid. Not sure how many slots....just a few.

Nothing wrong with taking the first step. Hoping JMs leadership helps bridge a divide that has been in place for far too long.

I know my kid prepped and the HC was adamant that none of his kids were going to UConn.

 

[huskysupporter]

Mora can do more than one thing at a time. We can chase CT players and also hit the portal. I’ll reserve judgment.

Absolutely. I am interested to see his strategy and how it plays out. If he misses out on a lot of portal players then it’s time to get worried.

 

[UConnJim]

Totally agree with you. Texas and Florida have averaged 320+ players a year (2008-2019). Connecticut: 10.2. Over that 12 year period the most we had was 18 which happened once. So in a typical year, even if we locked up every FBS player in the state, we need just as many from “ away.” And of course we are never getting 100% for a host of reasons, some ours, some having to do with the kids. Maybe one is a receiver at a time we are not Looking for one. Maybe one is the son of a Michigan grad and has wanted to play there his whole career. Maybe one is not a good fit for the system we use. Recruiting needs to be tailored to what UConn needs and want to do, not to what zip code a player hails from.

Right now, there are >55 players from Connecticut (HS or Prep which inflates the numbers) that are playing FBS football not including UConn. UConn has 19 including walkons, so that's >75 kids playing FBS football from Connecticut. So, I think the number of Connecticut kids going FBS is 15 to 20+ each year (don't rely on the recruiting services with CT players as they miss many of the preps) so I think getting to 7 to 8 to go to UConn each year is an achievable goal. Look at the Connecticut QBs playing out there: Will Levis at Kentucky, Drew Pyne at Notre Dame, Tyler Van Dyke at Miami, Taisun Phommachanh at Clemson, Tyler Phommachanh at UConn, David Summers in the portal at Syracuse.

Also, I think you have to take some other factors into account when looking at Connecticut talent. In general, they are not as developed as kids in Texas or down south, but that is slowly changing. And, I think people underestimate FCS football as there are plenty of kids playing FCS that can play FBS as there are ~100 FCS players on NFL rosters this year. Here's a crazy stat: There are as more FCS programs in New England and NY as there are in Georgia, Florida, Texas, and California combined.

 

[huskysupporter]

Nothing wrong with taking the first step. Hoping JMs leadership helps bridge a divide that has been in place for far too long.

I know my kid prepped and the HC was adamant that none of his kids were going to UConn.

What an indictment of the Coach, things like that tick me off to be honest. A coaches role should be to guide a student athlete through the process, not shut off a school because you don’t like the coach.

 

[JMick]

I think everyone should calm down. Mora (and Benedict) want to change the environment with in state football. It has to be a place where there is active dialogue again and all the old grudges cleared. It has to be place were mutual respect replaces mutual distain.

Of these recent offers, I really like Cam Edwards, Joly, Gonzalez and Allen. Spearman has intriguing size for S, Schwibel has decent straight line speed and a frame. I would characterize the other local/area offers as more developmental- but I am just a guy at home- let’s let the staff do their thing in this short period.

I like Cam Edwards. I'm not saying he is or will be Kory Sheets but his running style reminds me of him. Idk if he will even play RB here but he's a good athlete

 

[huskysupporter]

I like Cam Edwards. I'm not saying he is or will be Kory Sheets but his running style reminds me of him. Idk if he will even play RB here but he's a good athlete

From his highlights I don’t see him playing running back at the fbs level. I do see him possibly developing as an in the box safety.

 

[UConnJim]

Agreed. Some of these are political offers - it has to be - but of course you can't acknowledge that anywhere. There is room on this roster for the "right kind" of developmental kid. Not sure how many slots....just a few.

What's funny is that since 2004, UConn has had 28 players drafted by the NFL, so I'll call them our best players. Of the 28, 14 are from New England, 2 others had CT ties but went to HS in other states, and 7 were from NY, NJ, and PA. Also, of the 28 kids drafted, only Yawin Smallwood was considered one of the top 30 historical recruits to go to UConn by 247 Sports. Granted the rating system has changed over time with more grade inflation for recent recruits, but recruiting rankings for Northeastern kids has not been a good historical indicator of talent that has gone to UConn.

 

[ScottVib]

From his highlights I don’t see him playing running back at the fbs level. I do see him possibly developing as an in the box safety.

I think most of the quotes I've seen envision him as a defensive back.

 

[gioff2323]

What an indictment of the Coach, things like that tick me off to be honest. A coaches role should be to guide a student athlete through the process, not shut off a school because you don’t like

You can argue the point all you want (and I’m not advocating his view), but this has been THEE common view amongst local HS coaches. You can look back and be mad; I like looking forward. And I like JM leading by example.

 

[gioff2323]

Bring the dazzler in as OL coach.

 

[huskysupporter]

You can argue the point all you want (and I’m not advocating his view), but this has been THEE common view amongst local HS coaches. You can look back and be mad; I like looking forward. And I like JM leading by example.

I think it’s a poor reflection on the coaches, that’s all.

 

[ZooCougar]

Mora can do more than one thing at a time. We can chase CT players and also hit the portal. I’ll reserve judgment.

Like he said in the millions of interviews he’s given since taking the job, the portal is like improving through free agency and high school kids are like improving in the draft.

 

[HuskyNan]

Sorry if this is already posted, I just came across it