Now to the Portal

[TheDrifter75]

Exactly. My statement was that I would like one more OL guy at or above Merk/Murawski rating. We already had Rivera when I posted that. OL is shaping up nicely, more is better!!

Hoping for a killer Offensive lineman still, a guy who'd be one of the top 2-4 players on the team. Think Murawski might have been it, have we gotten a Murawski or better yet?

Interesting. If I’m not mistaken and the ratings haven’t changed UConn has had at least 3 3 star OL commitments this go round.

 

[AllHusky]

Really positive. Both lines shaping up, quality and depth.

Andrew Laurichs recentcommitment makes 18 DL ON ROSTER if my counting is accurate

 

[ZooCougar]

A few in particular come to mind.

More

 

[UCFBfan]

Folks have to also keep in mind that the recruiting rankings are not only a "guess-timate" at best, but they also seem to change based on which team grabs you.

I'm pretty sure that I saw the QB from Tennessee go from a 4-star to a 3-star after he chose UConn. Don't get me started on that nonsense, please.

So it comes down to this: Do you believe that your head coach and coaching staff are capable of making a fairly accurate assessment of the talent? Based on Candle's history of winning and getting people to the NFL, I'd say we're in pretty good hands...

I also think that offers out of high school that a transfer portal kid got out of HS are a stupid measure to use. For some of these kids those offers are two+ years old. The one thing that shows me the quality of transfers, especially the ones who come from P4 schools, are what schools are recruiting them out of the Portal. If the kid has higher level programs wanting him and we beat them out, that shows me something.

 

[AllHusky]

New RB commit Dashun Reeder 10.84 100m hs, Victor Rosa was 11.2ish in hs. Pretty good speed, nowhere near elite, but not bad.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Overall mix of portal players leads me towards optimism for the the health of the program and perception of the program.

One of the few benefits of the wild, wild, west environment of NIL and revenue sharing is money talks.

UConn as gotten several P4 and G5 players who have taken snaps and have game film.

UConn has also gotten commits from P4 kids who were highly recruited but haven't yet cracked a P4 depth chart.

Both those groups of players almost assuredly had other offers. Plentyof P4 schools have more money than UConn to offer, so it seems UConn is using something other than 2026 top dollar to attract this talent.

My best guess is a system and chance for immediate playing time to build game tape for future earnings.

The only other options I see is UConn all of a sudden is flush with NIL cash from donors. Possible but low probable.

Or, every P4 and other high G5 spenders looked at these players and decided they weren't worth the amount UConn offered. Still possible, but also still low probably IMO.

The commits from kids coming off injuries, lower G5, or FCS are a different bucket and my best guess is they are happy for an opportunity.

 

[Kolumbo]

Overall mix of portal players leads me towards optimism for the the health of the program and perception of the program.

One of the few benefits of the wild, wild, west environment of NIL and revenue sharing is money talks.

UConn as gotten several P4 and G5 players who have taken snaps and have game film.

UConn has also gotten commits from P4 kids who were highly recruited but haven't yet cracked a P4 depth chart.

Both those groups of players almost assuredly had other offers. Plentyof P4 schools have more money than UConn to offer, so it seems UConn is using something other than 2026 top dollar to attract this talent.

My best guess is a system and chance for immediate playing time to build game tape for future earnings.

The only other options I see is UConn all of a sudden is flush with NIL cash from donors. Possible but low probable.

Or, every P4 and other high G5 spenders looked at these players and decided they weren't worth the amount UConn offered. Still possible, but also still low probably IMO.

The commits from kids coming off injuries, lower G5, or FCS are a different bucket and my best guess is they are happy for an opportunity.

There are so many different scenarios for kids transferring so the key must be this is the best opportunity for each kid for whatever reason. I'd think playing time and believing in what HCJC can do at UConn. Exciting times for the program

 

[KryHavok]

Overall mix of portal players leads me towards optimism for the the health of the program and perception of the program.

UConn as gotten several P4 and G5 players who have taken snaps and have game film.

UConn has also gotten commits from P4 kids who were highly recruited but haven't yet cracked a P4 depth chart.

Both those groups of players almost assuredly had other offers. Plentyof P4 schools have more money than UConn to offer, so it seems UConn is using something other than 2026 top dollar to attract this talent.

My best guess is a system and chance for immediate playing time to build game tape for future earnings.

I made a post on SC the other day that we currently have 22 incoming P4 players, hence ~20% of our team is of P4 caliber, the rest a solid makeup of G6 with some FCS. For us as an independent, that's not bad at all, on paper at least. If Coach Candle can get them to mesh, we could be in for a real treat next season. I hope these players are coming in hungry, wanting to prove themselves as that would be mutually beneficial. From the gloom of late November, I'm hopeful and...

 

[AllHusky]

We are a program that was gutted by graduation and portal transfers. The outlook for that program wasn't very positive until Candles hiring. His apparent strengths developing a program long on loyalty and esprit de corps to go with an eye for overlooked or undervalued talent in recruiting gives us a punchers chance for a good year next year. My bet is we are going to be much better than anyone(outside of the Boneyard) expects.

 

[ZooCougar]

Overall mix of portal players leads me towards optimism for the the health of the program and perception of the program.

One of the few benefits of the wild, wild, west environment of NIL and revenue sharing is money talks.

UConn as gotten several P4 and G5 players who have taken snaps and have game film.

UConn has also gotten commits from P4 kids who were highly recruited but haven't yet cracked a P4 depth chart.

Both those groups of players almost assuredly had other offers. Plentyof P4 schools have more money than UConn to offer, so it seems UConn is using something other than 2026 top dollar to attract this talent.

My best guess is a system and chance for immediate playing time to build game tape for future earnings.

The only other options I see is UConn all of a sudden is flush with NIL cash from donors. Possible but low probable.

Or, every P4 and other high G5 spenders looked at these players and decided they weren't worth the amount UConn offered. Still possible, but also still low probably IMO.

The commits from kids coming off injuries, lower G5, or FCS are a different bucket and my best guess is they are happy for an opportunity.

We upgraded.

 

[AllHusky]

We upgraded.

From the top down

 

[superjohn]

I don't follow football recruiting nearly as closely as I do basketball recruiting but it seems like Candle has blown away what Mora did in the portal in the past couple portal seasons. Our two highest rated recruits ever in the Ohio State edge rusher and the Tennessee QB along with a bunch of 3 star kids from P4 schools and the players have more size than what we're used to.

I know things are different now and kids don't want to sit behind other kids at major schools like they used to but this is a pretty impressive start in terms of who we are attracting.

 

[ArtTheFan]

I don't follow football recruiting nearly as closely as I do basketball recruiting but it seems like Candle has blown away what Mora did in the portal in the past couple portal seasons. Our two highest rated recruits ever in the Ohio State edge rusher and the Tennessee QB along with a bunch of 3 star kids from P4 schools and the players have more size than what we're used to.

I know things are different now and kids don't want to sit behind other kids at major schools like they used to but this is a pretty impressive start in terms of who we are attracting.

I was wondering what is the percentage of P4 incoming this year versus Jim Mora's last year. I'm going to do research to see how many P4/P2 we got last year, but I think we got more this year.

I know we lost some players this year (graduation and transfers) more than the prior year, but I don't think we got many P4 players that we have this year.

The future looks bright...