Our program is not in a position to redshirt anyone.

[HuskyHawk]

So who is our QB that you believe we can win with? Because most of us don't know we have one.

We don't know we do and we don't know we don't. Williams, in a solid system, with good blocking, might be fine. He also might develop significantly from last year. McAfee could come in and look fantastic. We could get a Juco or grad transfer. I'm more worried about the OL.

 

[microfich]

This thread has me dying laughing. especially the arguing between freescooter and pal...this place is awesome.

I always thought Pal was a mod phake to get the juices flowing.

 

[RSTuthill]

The issue is not so much about freshmen, it's rather whether or not there is gonna be a "practice season" as someone put it. That is exactly what Diaco did his first year. Handed out PT to guys he wanted to develop for the following season. Sat some guys who coulda been more effective and gotten more wins that first year. Then the second year everyone stood back in awe and marveled at the improved record. I doubt like heck that is gonna happen this time. Way too much pressure. Serious business. Trying to save a program.

 

[Skiblets]

You watch this staff being put together and you can just tell Randy's executing a good plan. Young staff plus some with Uconn roots. Eastern seaboard and southern recruiting ties. Some NFL Cred. Most importantly. No head scratchers. No need to ask who's going to call plays? Think it was @Fishy who said we got a grown up running this thing again. It's pretty evident early on.

 

[FDNY99]

You watch this staff being put together and you can just tell Randy's executing a good plan. Young staff plus some with Uconn roots. Eastern seaboard and southern recruiting ties. Some NFL Cred. Most importantly. No head scratchers. No need to ask who's going to call plays? Think it was @Fishy who said we got a grown up running this thing again. It's pretty evident early on.

I would call the Crocker hire a bit of a head scratcher.

 

[Stainmaster]

I would call the Crocker hire a bit of a head scratcher.

Everyone else on staff pales in comparison to Lashlee. Given the way things have gone with the program you have every right to be circumspect, but I don't think this guy will be a dud at all. He's not a big, flashy name, but his defenses put up really good numbers in FCS. With a guy like Edsall in his ear, I think he'll be able to find success at this level.

 

[whaler11]

Palatine got to happy hour early today. He managed to start 10 idiotic threads across all the boards.

Don't redshirt anyone is as dumb as redshirt everyone.

Gee maybe let the coaches weigh the cost benefit and make decisions accordingly.

 

[Nostical]

This team could be the most important in our history. The talent will absolutely have to produce competitive efforts and wins to justify the buyout and fill the seats. There's no way Lashlee can/will prove his worth and trigger those incentives by sitting the best offensive performers if they happen to be freshmen. In fact, if word gets out that talented frosh receivers, running backs, DB's etc will be given a genuine opportunity at UConn to compete for playing time rather than receive an automatic redshirt as in some programs, we just might pick up some unexpected gems.

 

[FDNY99]

Everyone else on staff pales in comparison to Lashlee. Given the way things have gone with the program you have every right to be circumspect, but I don't think this guy will be a dud at all. He's not a big, flashy name, but his defenses put up really good numbers in FCS. With a guy like Edsall in his ear, I think he'll be able to find success at this level.

I hope you are right. I just find this hire...after bringing in guys like Richardson..and to an effect Wholley..a HUGE question mark and a reach. The guy runs a defensive scheme in a 3-3-5 that doesn't fit what is on this roster by any means (except for maybe LB) and has run that scheme for 4 years. For him to come here and run a 4-3 is not gonna be second nature to him. Only saving grace is that IMHO it's easier to change a D scheme than a offense.

 

[whaler11]

By the way -- 2018 is the year that good 'ole Bob having played every true frosh he had in year 1 is going to bite us in the rump, because this is now their 4th and last year.

The following is a list of those we won't have in '18 because Bob blew a year of eligibility on practice games:

Newsome, Johnson, Bloom, Rutherford, Hashemi, Luke, Diggs, McAllister and Summers. Of them, Newsome and Johnson contributed (although with Max and Mariner there was really no need to play both of them), and Bloom and Luke (although they would both be much better with age), but the rest were really just playing special teams.

Bob is the gift that keeps giving. He can go 2-10 and burn all the redshirts.

Another winning strategy by Pal.

 

[whaler11]

This team could be the most important in our history. The talent will absolutely have to produce competitive efforts and wins to justify the buyout and fill the seats. There's no way Lashlee can/will prove his worth and trigger those incentives by sitting the best offensive performers if they happen to be freshmen. In fact, if word gets out that talented frosh receivers, running backs, DB's etc will be given a genuine opportunity at UConn to compete for playing time rather than receive an automatic redshirt as in some programs, we just might pick up some unexpected gems.

Did weyou hijack your account?

 

[whaler11]

We are going into year 15 as a full FBS member. It's amazing how clueless many in our diehard fanbase are.

 

[whaler11]

I hope you are right. I just find this hire...after bringing in guys like Richardson..and to an effect Wholley..a HUGE question mark and a reach. The guy runs a defensive scheme in a 3-3-5 that doesn't fit what is on this roster by any means (except for maybe LB) and has run that scheme for 4 years. For him to come here and run a 4-3 is not gonna be second nature to him. Only saving grace is that IMHO it's easier to change a D scheme than a offense.

Half the defense seemed to be playing out of position the last two seasons. Other than the defensive tackles there were constant matchup issues.

With Lashlee - Edsall can spend 90% of his time on defense. And maybe Edsall is advanced enough to find an assistant who can help him plot a defense against a spread run by a talented QB.

 

[FluxTZ]

This is pal's shtick. Along with insisting the #2 quarterback should be playing. The good thing about that one though is if the #2 doesn't play well he can call for the former guy, especially if he is now #2.

Pal is the Skip Bayless of the Boneyard.

 

[RedStickHusky]

Half the defense seemed to be playing out of position the last two seasons. Other than the defensive tackles there were constant matchup issues.

With Lashlee - Edsall can spend 90% of his time on defense. And maybe Edsall is advanced enough to find an assistant who can help him plot a defense against a spread run by a talented QB.

and maybe transition to the idea that modern defense is about getting stops/turnovers and not just trading points for time... a plan to win 35-30 is a lot more likely than a plan to win 13-10.

 

[Stray_Dog]

By his high school numbers and the fact Diaco called him electric in pre-season practice. He'll play this year as he sat all last year. But I believe we could have used him last year.

I was more anti-Whitmer than pro-Boyle. Whitmer had proven he couldn't win, eventually the coaches came around to my way of thinking. So basically, I was just a few games ahead of the coaches. I'm intuitive like that.

Your intuition is "special"

 

[gtcam]

Hey, stupid. Pal trusts Diaco's evaluation of Skanes. If he played we would've gone bowling. Are you new at this football thing?

Can you post anything without calling someone a derogatory name?
Try it - you might like it

 

[Huskyforlife]

Can you post anything without calling someone a derogatory name?
Try it - you might like it

The joke


Your head

 

[businesslawyer]

I hope you are right. I just find this hire...after bringing in guys like Richardson..and to an effect Wholley..a HUGE question mark and a reach. The guy runs a defensive scheme in a 3-3-5 that doesn't fit what is on this roster by any means (except for maybe LB) and has run that scheme for 4 years. For him to come here and run a 4-3 is not gonna be second nature to him. Only saving grace is that IMHO it's easier to change a D scheme than a offense.

I understand your point, but we have no speed on D. If I take your logic to an extreme, should we have eliminated all candidates who base their schemes on speed? I would think you would hire the best candidate and then recruit more team speed, which we all know is what we have to do

Whoever comes to a new situation has to figure out how you modify what you want to run to what you can run until your recruits start coming through the system.

 

[RSTuthill]

I understand your point, but we have no speed on D. If I take your logic to an extreme, should we have eliminated all candidates who base their schemes on speed? I would think you would hire the best candidate and then recruit more team speed, which we all know is what we have to do

Whoever comes to a new situation has to figure out how you modify what you want to run to what you can run until your recruits start coming through the system.

Agreed, but no coach is gonna be able to get many of his recruits fully integrated into the team as 1's or 2's if the first couple or three years are disastrous. HCRE might get an extra year pushing it to a minimum of four based on his prior record. But that is about it. So the coaching staff must be adaptive, analytical, none of this is the best system is this and that is what we are gonna install irregardless of the personnel. They will also have to be quick thinking. All that right out of the box. The pressure is on immediately. No training wheels like the last go-round.

One final point: speed and quickness are not quite the same thing. The Huskies need both.

 

[FDNY99]

I understand your point, but we have no speed on D. If I take your logic to an extreme, should we have eliminated all candidates who base their schemes on speed? I would think you would hire the best candidate and then recruit more team speed, which we all know is what we have to do

Whoever comes to a new situation has to figure out how you modify what you want to run to what you can run until your recruits start coming through the system.

I agree whole heartedly with this post BL...how ever it will take at least 3 seasons to get in enough D-lineman to play a 3 man front, especially for the 3-3-5. I am hoping the 3-3-5 is now a wrinkle along with the 4-2-5 with a base 4-3 bringing pressure in any look when needed. That would give this team the best shot to win right now on D while allowing them to recruit the kinds of players needed to run that type of scheme down the road.

 

[JMick]

I agree whole heartedly with this post BL...how ever it will take at least 3 seasons to get in enough D-lineman to play a 3 man front, especially for the 3-3-5. I am hoping the 3-3-5 is now a wrinkle along with the 4-2-5 with a base 4-3 bringing pressure in any look when needed. That would give this team the best shot to win right now on D while allowing them to recruit the kinds of players needed to run that type of scheme down the road.

Then you misunderstand the concept. It can look like all of those things - that's the whole point

 

[FDNY99]

Then you misunderstand the concept. It can look like all of those things - that's the whole point

I'm not misunderstanding anything...what I am basing my non-like to this hire is the fact that he ran his 3-3-5 for 90% of the game when Nova was at the Rent for opening day 2 years ago and they lost 20-15 with a team containing Cherry at LB and Robertson at QB. The team that scored 20 pts on this 3-3-5 scheme was the same team we slammed here and saw get absolutely smoked by Marshall in a bowl game. I wasn't impressed with watching Crocker's D that day with my own eyes, and I won't be impressed until I see him do something different.

 

[JMick]

I'm not misunderstanding anything...what I am basing my non-like to this hire is the fact that he ran his 3-3-5 for 90% of the game when Nova was at the Rent for opening day 2 years ago and they lost 20-15 with a team containing Cherry at LB and Robertson at QB. The team that scored 20 pts on this 3-3-5 scheme was the same team we slammed here and saw get absolutely smoked by Marshall in a bowl game. I wasn't impressed with watching Crocker's D that day with my own eyes, and I won't be impressed until I see him do something different.

 

[FDNY99]

I guess you didn't go to the 2015 opener against Villanova.

 

[businesslawyer]

I guess you didn't go to the 2015 opener against Villanova.

No one believes the DC is the splash hire that the OC is, but I think this is a real overreaction, especially if it's based on one game. We scored 20 points, not 35, and if I remember the game we gained less than 350 yards, and we won primarily because we won the turnover battle and got one huge out of the blue play from Tommy Meyers. But it's not like we did anything like shredding their D.

 

[FDNY99]

No one believes the DC is the splash hire that the OC is, but I think this is a real overreaction, especially if it's based on one game. We scored 20 points, not 35, and if I remember the game we gained less than 350 yards, and we won primarily because we won the turnover battle and got one huge out of the blue play from Tommy Meyers. But it's not like we did anything like shredding their D.

That's my point...we scored 20 points on that D scheme with that offense. I'm not claiming anyone believes the DC hire is the same as the lash lee hire by any means...but take off the rose colored glasses and look at reality. Houston ran the 3-3-5 because they had some sick athletes on the D line and at LB that allowed Orlando to do that and get his best athletes on the field, those athletes aren't here. For every CAA coordinator that moves up and does well..there are others that crash and burn...I give you Kirk Ciarocca at RU as my main example. Crocker may be the man...but as of right now I hope RE is elbows deep involved in this D because I'm not sold one bit on Crocker.

 

[businesslawyer]

That's my point...we scored 20 points on that D scheme with that offense. I'm not claiming anyone believes the DC hire is the same as the lash lee hire by any means...but take off the rose colored glasses and look at reality. Houston ran the 3-3-5 because they had some sick athletes on the D line and at LB that allowed Orlando to do that and get his best athletes on the field, those athletes aren't here. For every CAA coordinator that moves up and does well..there are others that crash and burn...I give you Kirk Ciarocca at RU as my main example. Crocker may be the man...but as of right now I hope RE is elbows deep involved in this D because I'm not sold one bit on Crocker.

We hired what was unquestionably one of the Better DCs in I-AA, who happens to be from the Northeast as well. We added to the staff a much less experienced I-AA DC coaching in the Northeast with UConn experience. And we know from history that Edsall will be more involved in the D than the O. Again, in filling 8 slots with a budget limited compared to Rutgers and BC and Syracuse, you didn't expect every hire to be a pure home run. Lashlee and Richardson and Wholly, to me, are pure home runs. This hire is fine, and is part of a staff that overall is taking shape probably better than I would have hoped for.

But you are entitled to your opinion -- Time will tell.

 

[JMick]

That's my point...we scored 20 points on that D scheme with that offense. I'm not claiming anyone believes the DC hire is the same as the lash lee hire by any means...but take off the rose colored glasses and look at reality. Houston ran the 3-3-5 because they had some sick athletes on the D line and at LB that allowed Orlando to do that and get his best athletes on the field, those athletes aren't here. For every CAA coordinator that moves up and does well..there are others that crash and burn...I give you Kirk Ciarocca at RU as my main example. Crocker may be the man...but as of right now I hope RE is elbows deep involved in this D because I'm not sold one bit on Crocker.

This comparison and "thought" is disingenuous at best and utterly stupid at worst. You have your expectations for him set by one game where we played them and only managed to score 20 points - and for that very reason you don't like the 3-3-5 or Crocker.

Nevermind the fact that he was, you know, coaching an FCS team, with FCS players.

 

[FDNY99]

We hired what was unquestionably one of the Better DCs in I-AA, who happens to be from the Northeast as well. We added to the staff a much less experienced I-AA DC coaching in the Northeast with UConn experience. And we know from history that Edsall will be more involved in the D than the O. Again, in filling 8 slots with a budget limited compared to Rutgers and BC and Syracuse, you didn't expect every hire to be a pure home run. Lashlee and Richardson and Wholly, to me, are pure home runs. This hire is fine, and is part of a staff that overall is taking shape probably better than I would have hoped for.

But you are entitled to your opinion -- Time will tell.

Check your PM inbox @businesslawyer