Jimmy Bennett Plans on Returning for 2013

[huskymedic]

NHRJimFuller 7:31pm via TweetDeck
#UConn OT Jimmy Bennett plans on returning for '13 season after being granted 6th year of eligibility Post original url/X96c6N

Good quick read

>>Jimmy Bennett left no doubt what his plans are after he was granted a rare sixth season of eligibility by the NCAA.
“That was the idea when I applied for it,” Bennett said. “I had shoulder surgery (on Dec. 17). I want to come here in the summer, work as hard as possible, start playing and see how it goes for the future.
“I just found out today. I had heard through the grapevine and I found out from compliance (Thursday). I was freaking excited. I was kind of surprised. I have lost so much time due to injury that it kind of felt like I needed that extra year.”<<

>>Bennett is encouraged by what he has heard from new offensive coordinator T.J. Weist. “He is taking us in a really good direction,” Bennett said. “We still have a lot of our coaches with us and it is going to help with. I think it is really going to work out well for us this year.”<<

 

[mattp]

awesome news

 

[UConnDan97]

Welcome back, Jimmy!

 

[Palatine]

Nice news. Jimmy deserves some good news. Nice to know Mr. Bennett will be back with us next year.

 

[Woof 101]

awesome news

+1

 

[sportsart]

This is great news.

Has Jimmy even played 24 games yet? Counting the 12 last year I've lost track of total games he played before that.

I can't believe he has played more than 24 so for all intent and purposes he will be a junior this coming year.

I think we will see the Jimmy Bennett we've been waiting for. It had to be tough coming back and walking into GDL's system.

By the way. Does the new OC tell the OL coach this is the offense we are going to run so this is the type of blocking schemes we need to work on?

Should be an interesting dynamic between Weist and GDL. If GDL is even with the team come Sept. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[jdb50]

Great news, the NCAA did something right for a change. Looking for a big year from him after getting back into the mix and getting experience last year.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

Happy for him. Most likely good news to the program . . . now if he can just

1) Cut way back on the penalties (blocking from behind after someone has just intercepted CWs pass? Didn't even know that was possible).

2) Remember that he is mammoth and play like it. Maul the players on the other side of the LOS. Mandatory viewing should be UConn line versus Notre Dame '09, second half. Now that is how an offensive line dominates a game.

 

[uconndogs]

....... Remember that he is mammoth and play like it. Maul the players on the other side of the LOS. Mandatory viewing should be UConn line versus Notre Dame '09, second half. Now that is how an offensive line dominates a game.

Exactly right and it was done with a bunch of guys that ND would not have even allowed to step on campus as pedestrians let alone prospective recruits. A bunch of 2 star nobodies who where very strong, physical, well conditioned and COACHED. These coaches absolutely screwed that line up this season and in the process we couldn't run or protect our QB.

Watch the second half and OTs in that ND game. The ND defense was so physically beat up I could have run in for the winning score, let alone Dre who just added to their misery.

Personally, I think P signed his own buyout keeping GDL in charge of the OL. I hope I am wrong.

 

[coachRD]

Exactly right and it was done with a bunch of guys that ND would not have even allowed to step on campus as pedestrians let alone prospective recruits. A bunch of 2 star nobodies who where very strong, physical, well conditioned and COACHED. These coaches absolutely screwed that line up this season and in the process we couldn't run or protect our QB.

Watch the second half and OTs in that ND game. The ND defense was so physically beat up I could have run in for the winning score, let alone Dre who just added to their misery.

Personally, I think P signed his own buyout keeping GDL in charge of the OL. I hope I am wrong.

GREAT call on the end of that ND game. There was NO way they were stopping our OLine....that was phenomenal and is one of my best UCONN football memories for sure. Not just beating ND, but HOW we beat them. I remember reading in the paper that the Head of Officials called HCRE on the plane to apologize for the 2 "Holding" calls against UCONN at the end of the game as the refs tried to bail out ND. It didn't matter. Our team was stronger, more conditioned, and TOUGHER. They weren't losing that game.
I like the offseason move to bring in the OC but agree with you about GDL's "teaching" of the OL being a concern moving forward. Foley had that thing moving in the right direction for sure and was ready to take it to the next level for UCONN. Damn.

 

[Chief00]

GREAT call on the end of that ND game. There was NO way they were stopping our OLine....that was phenomenal and is one of my best UCONN football memories for sure. Not just beating ND, but HOW we beat them. I remember reading in the paper that the Head of Officials called HCRE on the plane to apologize for the 2 "Holding" calls against UCONN at the end of the game as the refs tried to bail out ND. It didn't matter. Our team was stronger, more conditioned, and TOUGHER. They weren't losing that game.
I like the offseason move to bring in the OC but agree with you about GDL's "teaching" of the OL being a concern moving forward. Foley had that thing moving in the right direction for sure and was ready to take it to the next level for UCONN. Damn.

Quite frankly, the offensive line is the foundation of any offense, along with the QB. With GDL's blocking philosophy you just don't produce the aggression a team needs to consistently run the ball. That needs to be our identity and other things built on it. With GDL still onboard it is difficult to see how that happens.

 

[uconndogs]

Quite frankly, the offensive line is the foundation of any offense, along with the QB. With GDL's blocking philosophy you just don't produce the aggression a team needs to consistently run the ball. That needs to be our identity and other things built on it. With GDL still onboard it is difficult to see how that happens.

Could not agree more. These clowns took the core of this team and threw it out the window. Not only that, they did it in a season where our defense was so good and the schedule so manageable, that having solid OL play and the ability to run the ball (solid, not great) would have won us a ton of games.

We nee a north-south run game and play action in the worst way. If we can get back to that I think CW and the defense will be good enough to win some games next seaon. We continue with the blocking schemes of last season and McCombs as our workhorse back, given what we lost on defense and a much tougher schedule, and it will be one hellish season. 2-3 wins of hell.

I stated before, I think by keeping GDL with the OL that P signed his own buyout. Really hope I'm wrong.

 

[ZooCougar]

This is encouraging.

Pasqualoni basically set the program back two years insisting that Deleone run the offense.

 

[coachRD]

Quite frankly, the offensive line is the foundation of any offense, along with the QB. With GDL's blocking philosophy you just don't produce the aggression a team needs to consistently run the ball. That needs to be our identity and other things built on it. With GDL still onboard it is difficult to see how that happens.

I still can't think about how GDL's offensive "philosophy" and teaching prowess of said philosophy decimated our "lunch pail" OLine without my blood pressure rising.

The fact that we have a new OC, I am greatly encouraged though. Based on the offense he puts in, GDL has to implement whatever blocking scheme Weist says-that means he can "only" screw up teaching what should otherwise be a sound system....last year he was able to put in his crappy system AND apparently do a poor job of teaching it. I still think PP came up short by not doing what he SHOULD have done, which is to turn the OL back over to Foley, but I do expect the offense to move in the right direction now.

 

[UConnPete]

Good to hear because he has some experience but he needs to step his game up. I watched him at times this year and there were many plays where he blocked for 2 seconds and gave up on the play. I never saw him pursue a defensive player beyond the first guy he made contact with. Look up old highlight videos and you'll always see Beatty, Petrus, Hicks, Hurd, and many other linemen pursuing the play and making big blocks at the end. Granted, there weren't many big runs last season, but this guy needs to show some tenacity out there.

 

[jdb50]

The whole line was guilty of this last year. 2nd level blocks were rare. On some plays we had as many guys blocking air as we had hat on hat. I'm not happy that GDL is still in charge of the O-line. When they rolled out the he's working 25 hours a day to get things right you knew we were in trouble. It shouldn't take that to get your guys on the same page with a plan they understand and can execute. Since life is about redemption I'm hoping GDL can show us all we were wrong. With the extra year Bennett can take his experience and really step it up a level. I assume that by using this 6th year he wants to keep playing after he's done here. If so the motivation level will be high.

 

[Excalibur]

Good to hear because he has some experience but he needs to step his game up. I watched him at times this year and there were many plays where he blocked for 2 seconds and gave up on the play. I never saw him pursue a defensive player beyond the first guy he made contact with. Look up old highlight videos and you'll always see Beatty, Petrus, Hicks, Hurd, and many other linemen pursuing the play and making big blocks at the end. Granted, there weren't many big runs last season, but this guy needs to show some tenacity out there.

I'm not sure that it was a "give up" issue as it was an inability to move laterally. It's possible that this will improve another year removed from his injuries.

The entire line had issues getting second-level blocks, probably because they couldn't figure out where to go in the GDL clusterf^ck blocking schemes.