Obi Melifonwu

[mattp]

On the brighter side of things, Obi Melifonwu looked great on thursday. If P doesn't keep him on the field somehow when Adams is healthy I might personally drive up to CT and kick him in the nuts.

 

[uconndogs]

Agree, Obi looked very good. He even looked very good in some difficult coverage situations. Runs very well for such a long guy. That said, Adams and Brown are good safeties as well, so that's one set of positions we seem to have well stocked.

Wonder if one of those guys could be a OT............?

 

[noeynox]

I barely noticed Tymeer's impact on Thursday. Obi was one of the few that stood out in a positive way on Thursday night. Yeah he lost contain on a long run, but the occassional mistake is to be expected from someone so inexperienced.

 

[metsfan2323]

I was going to start a thread on this, Obi is gifted and he was going to be on the bench if not for an injury. It begs the question, why wasn't he given an opportunity to win the open corner back position? They tried Ellis Marder out at CB but as far as we know Obi wasn't tried there. They need to get Adams and Obi on the field together. I have a hard time believing that Mack is a better CB than Obi could be. Obi looks to me like he could be another Blidi at CB.

Obi also had the best catch of the day with that diving interception caught about two feet off the ground (a spectacular play) which makes me wonder if he has skills as a WR. P himself compared him to Rob Moore, a first round pick at WR, If he is the best athlete on the team he needs to play somewhere.

 

[BoatShow]

I was going to start a thread on this, Obi is gifted and he was going to be on the bench if not for an injury. It begs the question, why wasn't he given an opportunity to win the open corner back position? They tried Ellis Marder out at CB but as far as we know Obi wasn't tried there. They need to get Adams and Obi on the field together. I have a hard time believing that Mack is a better CB than Obi could be. Obi looks to me like he could be another Blidi at CB.

Obi also had the best catch of the day with that diving interception caught about two feet off the ground (a spectacular play) which makes me wonder if he has skills as a WR. P himself compared him to Rob Moore, a first round pick at WR, If he is the best athlete on the team he needs to play somewhere.

Listen buddy, let's not get too creative with these ideas that may help the team win. PP is a man who sticks to PP's principles win or lose!!

 

[UConnDan97]

Agreed about Obi. He was one of the few shining spots in an otherwise putrid game. I'm feeling really good about him and can't wait to see how he grows into an NFL prospect...

 

[CL82]

I was going to start a thread on this, Obi is gifted and he was going to be on the bench if not for an injury. It begs the question, why wasn't he given an opportunity to win the open corner back position? They tried Ellis Marder out at CB but as far as we know Obi wasn't tried there. They need to get Adams and Obi on the field together. I have a hard time believing that Mack is a better CB than Obi could be. Obi looks to me like he could be another Blidi at CB.

Obi also had the best catch of the day with that diving interception caught about two feet off the ground (a spectacular play) which makes me wonder if he has skills as a WR. P himself compared him to Rob Moore, a first round pick at WR, If he is the best athlete on the team he needs to play somewhere.

Didn't want to crap on Mack (not that you did) so I didn't post but I was thinking the same thing.

 

[CL82]

Agreed about Obi. He was one of the few shining spots in an otherwise putrid game. I'm feeling really good about him and can't wait to see how he grows into an NFL prospect...

Shut up Dan. I am still pissed at you for getting my hopes up.

 

[UConnDan97]

Shut up Dan. I am still pissed at you for getting my hopes up.

So....am I hearing that you're not up for my new "12-1" motto???

 

[CL82]

So....am I hearing that you're not up for my new "12-1" motto???

Uh, a little...I'll be there by the MD kick off.

 

[ibleedhuskyblue]

i wonder if adams can play corner ??? that would take care of the mack problem

 

[UconnFamily]

How about Jhavon Williams? He had a great camp and was battling for the starting CB spot. I think they gave Mack the edge cause he has more experience, but I think its time to try Williams out. Mack gives up too many big plays.

Obi will be an All American if he continues to show out the way he did Thursday night.

 

[IMind]

The sad part of this whole thing is that outside of the lines and maybe CB this might be as talented a team as we've had as a whole (offense and defense) in a while. I also thought McCombs looked as good as I've seen him in a long time. When there was room he made the play. He's not an All-American but I think he gets too much blame on here. It's not the kids fault the line has played so poorly. It's not his fault he's over worked. I'm still not convinced the OL doesn't have talent either. Even with the horrid play of the lines if a couple of things swing the other way the game might have turned out different. The 50/50 call on McCombs near TD run. The dropped pass on 3rd and 4 by Deshon Foxx.

I think what is remarkable about the Paul Pasqualoni era is how many of these things go against us. I think it's because of how poor we are at fundamentals of the game. You'd think as an 'old school' coach we'd be better at this sort of thing. As boring as Edsall was at least he produced fundamentally sound teams.

 

[UConnDan97]

The sad part of this whole thing is that outside of the lines and maybe CB this might be as talented a team as we've had as a whole (offense and defense) in a while. I also thought McCombs looked as good as I've seen him in a long time. When there was room he made the play. He's not an All-American but I think he gets too much blame on here. It's not the kids fault the line has played so poorly. It's not his fault he's over worked. I'm still not convinced the OL doesn't have talent either. Even with the horrid play of the lines if a couple of things swing the other way the game might have turned out different. The 50/50 call on McCombs near TD run. The dropped pass on 3rd and 4 by Deshon Foxx.

I think what is remarkable about the Paul Pasqualoni era is how many of these things go against us. I think it's because of how poor we are at fundamentals of the game. You'd think as an 'old school' coach we'd be better at this sort of thing. As boring as Edsall was at least he produced fundamentally sound teams.

You brought up some good points here. If I looked at each unit in terms of what type of talent I think we have in comparison to last year, I would probably say:

QB: As good or better (hopefully better if the TO's go down...the one against Towson was semi-ridiculous)
RB: As good or better (on a day where we couldn't run the ball, he still averaged over 4 per carry)
OLine: Without Friend = worse, With Friend = same (I was hoping for much better)
TE: Much worse (McQuillan will get better, but boy do we miss a blocking TE!)
WR: Better (lost Smith and Williams, but Davis and Phillips look pretty damned good)

DL: Slightly worse (Wirth was a big loss, but the other guys are a year older. Lost Trevardo and got back Joseph).
LB: Slightly worse (Stewart and Donohue aren't quite Moore and Johnson, but they are good....if you forget about that brutal missed tackle from Stewart that led to 7).
Secondary: Not nearly as good (Obi is strong, but the corners are nowhere near Gratz and Blidi. Can't put them on an island anymore).

Here's my view on the situation. Edsall succeeded here because we controlled the line of scrimmage on offense, and more importantly, the time of possession. We could then play a "bend-don't-break" defense to encourage turnovers and give up yards but not points. We were going to make the yards back on the ground when we got the ball. Now that we can't seem to establish the run, AND we are going back to a bend-don't-break defense (we almost have to without strong corners), it puts us in a VERY precarious situation. Gotta hope that the passing game can turn into what the run game used to be so that we can flip the fields again...

 

[IMind]

Gotta hope that the passing game can turn into what the run game used to be so that we can flip the fields again...

The problem is our head coach (and our OL coach) seem completely incapable of adapting their game plan to the talent we have. That act as if there's only one way to win a game... and if you can't win that way it's the players fault... because they don't execute or the 'cupboard is bare.' Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Des is just parroting what PP says about the team in private.

 

[UConnDan97]

The problem is our head coach (and our OL coach) seem completely incapable of adapting their game plan to the talent we have. That act as if there's only one way to win a game... and if you can't win that way it's the players fault... because they don't execute or the 'cupboard is bare.' Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if Des is just parroting what PP says about the team in private.

Yeah, that OLine. THAT OLine!!! All of my strong feelings about this year were predicated on that OLine. They certainly pass the "eye-ball" test, but damn it all, they look lost. There's an old adage that a great coach can beat you with his guys and then beat you with your guys. Unfortunately, it's clear that PP isn't that guy...

 

[BoatShow]

Yeah, that OLine. THAT OLine!!! All of my strong feelings about this year were predicated on that OLine. They certainly pass the "eye-ball" test, but damn it all, they look lost. There's an old adage that a great coach can beat you with his guys and then beat you with your guys. Unfortunately, it's clear that PP isn't that guy...

My group and I couldn't get over how much bigger we were than them on the line and how the Huskies were just getting manhandled.

 

[Husky68]

I guess I just don't see it at running back with LM. He had one good run where he fought for yardage and almost scored. Other than that, not much. Watching lot of football on tv and thought most teams had at least 1 and most at least 2 running backs who would (change that to should given PP) start over LM if they were at UConn. Starting with Towson. Put the other way, can't think of a game on tv where said "LM would start on this team and be way better than that guy who they are starting". Same, but to lesser extent, goes for QB. You couple that with in game play management (LM on short yardage) and how will UConn score or even get 1st downs.
Many, many times rb's on tv were hit early and broke plays or at least got couple yards, lot of OL's have at least one guy get beat or formation/slants fool some of the blocking, rb needs to make stuff happen. Have DB, Todman, Dixon, even Fry and win this game. Almost no other team has one RB get all the carries, only UConn; 17 carries by running backs all LM. Where have I seen this movie before? The Delorenzo kid gets 90+ yards one game he starts last year and can't earn a single carry this year?
Who was calling plays, making substitutions? If that was our new OC doing his thing, UConn is going to need defensive/special teams td's or hold opponents to under 20 points to win any games.