New Name -- Bryce McNeal

[businesslawyer]

Actually, Bryce McNeal is an old name. IIRC, he was a three star wide out from Minnesota, whom we were recruiting for a while. Went to Clemson. Redshirted his true freshman year ('09). Started for Clemson and had 19 catches last year. Started this season, but got pushed out of the lineup and left the team after three games.

Per Dez, he will be at the game on Saturday. Better yet, he is set to graduate from Clemson this spring, in his third year, meaning that if he enrolls in grad school at UConn he will be immediately available next year with two years of eligibility remaining.

This would be a huge get. We lose both Moores, but with Michael Smith back, and add McNeal to Phillips who is redshirting this year after transferring from BC, and there is every reason to think we can be stronger at WR next year than we are this year. Now, remember that we return 7 of 11 starters on O. If you have upgraded WR despite the losses, we only have two holes to fill on the OL and two at DT (which we know will be Stephen and Wirth although the depth behind them is unknown) and next year can be very good indeed. Add improvement at TB, from McCombs getting stronger and more experienced, DJ being back and maybe someone else getting in the mix (be it Dobbs, Hyppolite, Foxx, Delorenzo or Lee) and imprvement at QB just because we don't lose anyone, and next year could start shaping up to be promising.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Very good news. Good to see that he was at least good enough to get into the Clemson rotation.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Ranked 75th in the country in 09 according to rivals.

 

[Dann]

coach P is not around on the recruit/transfer trail. love it so far.

 

[uconnflyer88]

isn't Isiah Moore a RS Junior?

 

[businesslawyer]

isn't Isiah Moore a RS Junior?

I don't think so. And he's listed on the roster as a RS Senior.

IIRC, he didn't touch the field his first two years, and started playing as a RS Soph in '09.

 

[rich1122]

Thanks BL finally some football news!!

 

[uconnflyer88]

yeah my bad, rivals has him listed as a RS Jr, but the schools webiste has him as a Sr........I'll believe the schools website

 

[uconndogs]

Not a big fan of loading up with too many transfers.

I would not be surprised if DJ doesn't stick around. If Dobbs is the real deal I don't think there are any carries for him.

 

[NutmegState]

DJ Shoemate will be at UConn next year, per a tweet from him within the last week.

 

[Sean]

One thing I am liking about PP is his apparent willingness to go the transger/JC route. I think your first option should always be kids you recruit straight out of HS and train in your system, but as you find that some of those aren't quite panning out or need more time, JC's make for great band-aids.

 

[whaler11]

Shoemate seems to just want to play. He seems like he'd come back just to play specials.

 

[BlueMAB]

Shoemate seems to just want to play. He seems like he'd come back just to play specials.

He's great on specials too. If he would stop fumbling the ball he'd get 15-20 carries a game. High character kid, the kind of guy you love to have on your team. I wish he'd watch some film of Tiki Barber late in his career and learn how to secure the ball.

 

[HuskyFan16]

Would love to lock down recruit Ryan Brodie thats visiting this weekend as well.

 

[businesslawyer]

Shoemate seems to just want to play. He seems like he'd come back just to play specials.

DJ was not built to be a FB in Edsall's offense. Just not big enough. In DeLeone's, however, I think he would ve much more effective (as he would have been in USC's). If he can't get on the two deep, I think he starts at FB next year.

That having been said, I expect Dobbs to redshirt and I expect DJ to compete with McCombs for carries.

 

[NutmegState]

I would be shocked if Dobbs redshirts Biz. He already prepped for a year, and this team has no depth at RB.

 

[uconndogs]

I agree. I just don't see where DJ has shown anything as a tailback. The point on the FB position makes sense, but I fully expect Dobbs to compete day one and if we need a bigger 3rd down back I have to think Hypolite will be given a chance.

 

[MarbleheadHusky]

I second NutmgeState's sentiment. Dobbs just played during his "redshirt" year at Milford Academy. We will need him and he will be playing on Saturdays next year. It would not surprise me in the least bit if he is the #1 RB.

I remember following McNeal's recruitment a few years back. What caught my attention then and gave me a glimmer of hope of landing him when he was a senior in high school was the fact that his girlfriend played on the basketball team for Geno. Anyone else remember this and what her name was?

 

[Carl Spackler]

Non-medical redshirts are a luxury people. A luxury of a deep depth chart. THis is a fundamental concept that needs to be released from how redshirts were viewed in the past, to where we're going for the future.

We're not program building in 2001-2002. It's 2011-2012, and our depth chart needs to be taken to a new level if we're going to continue to grow. I don't think it will take a long time to kick it up another notch, but for at least a year or two, especially at skill positions on the field, the redshirt luxury for skill spots is out the window.

Much like Mike Nebrich, I highly doubt that Dobbs gets a redshirt, there's not enough people in front of him on the depth chart, and my gut feeling is that he's good enough to earn a spot on the game day rosters as freshmen.

I could be wrong about that. The guys we already have are going to have a year up on him in the system, and there's a lot more to laying RB in d-1A than just carrying the pill.

But again, like Nebrich, only way the kid wears a shirt, is if he earns that shirt by not being good enough to make the roster.

 

[mattp]

say what you will about P, but he is killing it on the recruiting trail. i have a feeling if Edsall were still here people would be complaining that we haven't seen the bump in recruiting we'd have expected after a Fiesta Bowl appearance, and i'd probably have been making excuses for him.

 

[businesslawyer]

Nothing shows people's belief that the guy they haven't seen play is better than the guys they have seen play more than this thread.

Do I think Dobbs has the chance to be a really good player at UConn? Yes, I do. Will I be shocked if he plays next year? No, I won't (although I will stand by my prediction that he won't).

But to keep some perspective, we will be returning a player at TB who is likely to lead the Big East in rushing this year as a freshman. And another who was even with him on the depth chart before losing the year to injuries. And we redshirt players who had an extra year of prep school all the time.

 

[TouchdownHusky]

I would be shocked if Dobbs redshirts Biz. He already prepped for a year, and this team has no depth at RB.

Agreed. Will need better depth at TB sooner (please, not this year) or later (hence the reason Dobbs needs to be on the field next season).

 

[Carl Spackler]

I don't know if thos BL comments were directed at me or not, probably. I'm not saying anything negative about any players we've got right now, and I do believe that the way redshirts were often used in the past isn't happening anymore. The concept of players needing significant time to develop to be able to compete on the practice and game field is gone. That's my belief.

Nor did I conclude positively that any player coming in to the program will defintiely be productive. We are who we are right now in 2011, and who we'll be in 2012 will sort itself out next year.

I'll jsut say that McCombs has become one of my all time favorite players. The kid had a very, very shaky start to his year, never mind the season, he started this year wondering if he would be on the team at all, and has come back strong, i hope he is doing as well in the classroom as he has done in the spotlight around football. He is like one of those weeble wobble punching bags. He gets hit, he goes down, he comes right back up, and not only is he tough, he's consistently improving in his ability to read the field, find space and run to daylight and make people miss. I hope he has his best game of the season saturday after getting some time to rest the legs.

 

[businesslawyer]

I don't know if thos BL comments were directed at me or not, probably. I'm not saying anything negative about any players we've got right now, and I do believe that the way redshirts were often used in the past isn't happening anymore. The concept of players needing significant time to develop to be able to compete on the practice and game field is gone. That's my belief.

Nor did I conclude positively that any player coming in to the program will defintiely be productive. We are who we are right now in 2011, and who we'll be in 2012 will sort itself out next year.

I'll jsut say that McCombs has become one of my all time favorite players. The kid had a very, very shaky start to his year, never mind the season, he started this year wondering if he would be on the team at all, and has come back strong, i hope he is doing as well in the classroom as he has done in the spotlight around football. He is like one of those weeble wobble punching bags. He gets hit, he goes down, he comes right back up, and not only is he tough, he's consistently improving in his ability to read the field, find space and run to daylight and make people miss. I hope he has his best game of the season saturday after getting some time to rest the legs.

No, not directed at you and not directed at Dobbs. Dobbs may very well be a special player and you haven't said anything here I disagree with. I am just remarking how easy it is to think the next guy will be better than the current guys, so much so that people are doing it even though we have a TB who is likely to win the Big East rushing crown as a freshman.

 

[gioff23]

If Dobbs gets on campus in January and shows himself to be a student in the class, practice, and film room, he should be able to play. I don't think the discussion is whether he is better, but whether we would be better off relieving McCombs of all the running duty.

And I agree that the days of redshirting every kid "because" are over, at least temporaily. I think DeLeone just expressed what the staff has been aware of all along (as have we all), the cupboard was left bare at the skill positions and this year is a sort of triage.

As I have said in other posts, one can not criticize this staff for the work they are doing on the recruiting trail. In my business, one can not say past performance is an indication of future results, so saying transfers have not worked out well in the past is an argument I choose to ignore. If the staff feels a kid can come in an either contribute or provide depth, I defer to them.