Outlow

[businesslawyer]

Beg to differ. You don't have real fans until they're following recruiting. It's just like in baseball, the best fans follow the "Hot Stove League" through the offseason and fantasize about being the general manager; and the most fanatical NFL fans follow the draft and roast their GMs for picks they disagree with; and fans play fantasy leagues in which they draft their own teams. UConn needs to get to the point where thousands of people in the state are following UConn football recruiting and the newspapers feel they have to give regular updates.

I see no reason why fan interest should be harmful to the college kids.

By the way, BCEagles24, thanks for sharing the news. I appreciate your info, even when it's disappointing for us. Congratulations on your big pickup.

LOL. Does the NFL or MLB ban general manners from talking about roster moves until a national signing day for the protection of 18 year old kids? If the answer is "yes," we can discuss further.

 

[pj]

I would rather have a back that wants to play for Uconn, who is talented, rather than a kid who signs with our rivals (BC). I really don't understand why a kid from CT would rather play for our rivalry school than represent there home state school though, it's ridiculous IMO.

I agree but if you're a prize recruit, that desire to play for your home state school can fade pretty quickly if it doesn't feel reciprocated. That's why it's so important for UConn to make the top in-state recruits to feel it really wants them. UConn should always be the first program to offer the top in-state recruits, the first program to talk to them, the most enthusiastic, and so on. It's what Schiano tried to do with New Jersey, with considerable success. You don't want Dazzler to position BC successfully as the program that wants CT recruits the most. He is charismatic and enthusiastic, so you don't want to let him be first to contact, first to offer, and contacting more often.

 

[pj]

LOL. Does the NFL or MLB ban general manners from talking about roster moves until a national signing day for the protection of 18 year old kids? If the answer is "yes," we can discuss further.

The NFL and MLB certainly do prohibit GMs from having contact with players whose rights are held by other teams. The NFL prohibits drafting players before a certain age. Those rules are parallel in motive and design to the NCAA recruiting rules. Not sure what argument you're trying to make here. My point was about fans, not about coaches/recruiters.

 

[businesslawyer]

The NFL and MLB certainly do prohibit GMs from having contact with players whose rights are held by other teams. The NFL prohibits drafting players before a certain age. Those rules are parallel in motive and design to the NCAA recruiting rules. Not sure what argument you're trying to make here. My point was about fans, not about coaches/recruiters.

Your first sentence is totally unresponsive. I understand from a fan's viewpoint why you would like to treat it as the same, but the fact is that following recruiting requires far more blind faith than following the offseason in pro sports because in recruiting all the information is coming from those associated with 17 and 18 year old boys.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Beg to differ. You don't have real fans until they're following recruiting. It's just like in baseball, the best fans follow the "Hot Stove League" through the offseason and fantasize about being the general manager; and the most fanatical NFL fans follow the draft and roast their GMs for picks they disagree with; and fans play fantasy leagues in which they draft their own teams. UConn needs to get to the point where thousands of people in the state are following UConn football recruiting and the newspapers feel they have to give regular updates.

I see no reason why fan interest should be harmful to the college kids.

By the way, BCEagles24, thanks for sharing the news. I appreciate your info, even when it's disappointing for us. Congratulations on your big pickup.

You really don't think people can be real fans unless they follow recruiting?

 

[pj]

You really don't think people can be real fans unless they follow recruiting?

Of course they can be real fans, but the more intense the interest, the more people want to follow all aspects of the team. You can be a fan of soccer without following David Beckham's romance with a Spice girl, but the more you are a fan, the more related topics interest you. Recruiting is definitely closely related to on-field performance.

When I said, "You don't have real fans until they're following recruiting," I didn't mean that all real fans follow recruiting. I meant that a significant fraction of real fans will follow recruiting, so if a program doesn't have people who follow recruiting, it doesn't have real fans. And if it doesn't feed the enthusiasm of the real fans who are interested in recruiting, they will lose enthusiasm; and their loss of enthusiasm will rub off on their neighbors. One of the best marketing steps UConn athletics could take is to generate more year-round conversation and media reports about recruiting. Make people think they should be interested in UConn football year round.

Your first sentence is totally unresponsive. I understand from a fan's viewpoint why you would like to treat it as the same, but the fact is that following recruiting requires far more blind faith than following the offseason in pro sports because in recruiting all the information is coming from those associated with 17 and 18 year old boys.

And your observations are non-responsive to mine; it seems we are talking past each other.

To reiterate, I made two points:

• "UConn needs to get to the point where thousands of people in the state are following UConn football recruiting and the newspapers feel they have to give regular updates." As I argued to Jimmy above, you need a core of hard-core fans who are interested in the program year-round to generate enthusiasm for the program.
• "I see no reason why fan interest should be harmful to the college kids." There is nothing intrinsic about our following recruiting that harms college kids. They themselves put out plenty of information on Twitter, or to local media or to analysts for the recruiting sites. If people and media here pass info along to the fans and that promotes interest in UConn football, it does no harm to the kids and benefits us.

Your point -- "following recruiting requires far more blind faith than following the offseason in pro sports because in recruiting all the information is coming from those associated with 17 and 18 year old boys" -- may be true and it may be a reason you don't want to follow recruiting, but it may actually heighten the interest for some other fans, since thinking about what statements deserve credence requires personal insight into the character of the source, and fans may care about the character and personality of their teams' recruits. In any case it is irrelevant to my point that better reporting on recruiting would increase interest in UConn football.

 

[UConnRock]

It is likely difficult for the BCU fans to get excited about an early commit. BCU was on their way to a respectable recruiting class in the spring and summer of the past year. They had a long list of in-state kids they were focusing on with Montelus, Hurst, McDonald, O'Neill and Montgomery and only ended up with one. They had commits from the folowing who ended up elsewhere: Boyle (UConn), Jasudowich (UConn), Andrew Isaacs (Maryland), Lashun Daniels (Iowa), Michael Geiger (Michigan St.), Dan Monteroso (Purdue), Coggins (prep).

I do not think BCU will suddenly become a recruiting magnet because of Addazio, but he will likely do better than Spaziani who was probably the worst recruiter of all BCS head coaches. Addazio has to prove it on the field and I have doubts that field success will be happenning too soon. BC has limited depth at multiple positions due to very weak Spaziani classes for the last two years. I also think BCU will have a very bumpy transition to the Donald Brown scheme. UConn certainly had bumps in the road implementing his scheme even with two CBs and multiple LBs that will likely end up in the NFL.

That being said, the CR albatross hangs heavily over UConn's head and gives BCU and others a significant recruiting advantage over UConn. Weitz and Buggs should add some significant spark to UConn recruiting with their connections and history.

 

[Dann]

Shai Mckenzie: (4*) 6'0/212
Robert Martin: 6'0/190
Brice McAllister: 5'11/195
Johnathan Thomas: 5'11/195
David Hood: 5'11/190
J.T. Blyden: 5'10/190

I'm sure there will be a lot more RB's added to the list in time. I understand HFD the staff takes there time offering big time talent with in-state recruits, but as you can see on the list above there's a grand of talented big backs still available. I would rather have a back that wants to play for Uconn, who is talented, rather than a kid who signs with our rivals (BC). I really don't understand why a kid from CT would rather play for our rivalry school than represent there home state school though, it's ridiculous IMO.

and how many of those kids will have offeres from tosu, florida and bama and then state he wants to stay within driving distance????? listen bc had issues under spaz, its a new day under dazzler. if we didn't suck so much and we landed him dont u think we could hang on to him??? fans would be on him daily and friends would all be also. coach has a easy drive any week to see him. its a different ball game if we actually gave 2 shi*ts on the trail. the staff got a little lucky and a little extra lucky late and the state loves them now, i know how things really went down and all u do also. they slept at the wheel. let me know the next time a 6 foot rb from ct has offeres from florida, tosu and bama to say the least and wants to stay home. im a young guys so i'll still be around for u to tell me so 20 years from now.

 

[pj]

and how many of those kids will have offeres from tosu, florida and bama and then state he wants to stay within driving distance????? listen bc had issues under spaz, its a new day under dazzler. if we didn't suck so much and we landed him dont u think we could hang on to him??? fans would be on him daily and friends would all be also. coach has a easy drive any week to see him. its a different ball game if we actually gave 2 shi*ts on the trail. the staff got a little lucky and a little extra lucky late and the state loves them now, i know how things really went down and all u do also. they slept at the wheel. let me know the next time a 6 foot rb from ct has offeres from florida, tosu and bama to say the least and wants to stay home. im a young guys so i'll still be around for u to tell me so 20 years from now.

Seems like PP hasn't updated his recruiting protocol from the 1990s. Seems like his goal is to finish the 2013 class before evaluating 2014 players and to finish evaluations before extending offers. By the time they give out offers, 4* players have already been recruited elsewhere for 9 months and are committing.

 

[Dann]

Seems like PP hasn't updated his recruiting protocol from the 1990s. Seems like his goal is to finish the 2013 class before evaluating 2014 players and to finish evaluations before extending offers. By the time they give out offers, 4* players have already been recruited elsewhere for 9 months and are committing.

yup. just so fustrating to watch its hard man...ppl talk about how the game has passed him by on the field, well its on the trail also...times have changed and he isn't willing to go with the new flow. just another reasoin why warde has his head of his ass if he can't see this as a former fball player himself. the whole camp this makes me want to blow a hole in my roof. i understna dseeing players and stuff, but thats why film is what it is today. he uses the camp excuse on every kid from the northeast. its getting a bit to much now. every southern kid he just hands a offer 2. its to obvious the bs going on. some schools coaches dont even hold camps. meanwhile not only do we hold 1 but we make kids go to get offers meanwhile those same kids are getting offers from 5 othe schools. now how does that make us lokk? every kid returned from jr day saying the same thing. greatschool, ppl were nice, food was good, nice pf. but then i asked about a offer and the coach said zxy come to camp and get one. unreal. the only kids your now going to wion at camp are kids under radar a bit with slim or no offers. heres a gem question for some 1 here, what kids did we land from camp this year???? now look at there offer sheets...

the #uptick is a combo of not going after RE types(he knew his style and it was what it was...), the school being older and kids growing up with uconn being relevant and fans on social media showing a pulse. the rise could be so much more with a actual staff put together. just another poor leadership in storrs example.

 

[uconnbill]

who? and what were the chances we land that rb. kid is a legit 6ft big back. not a small apb. wanted to stay local close to home even tho every program possible offered. florida and tosu types were talking. but uconn has higher rated backs on the chart????

we didn't recruit him until late. staff blew it big time. everyone here knew about him last summer. the staff schould have known about him prior to us all. blew chumps.

landing some 1 like newsome is great and i hope we do get him. but were talking 2 different types of players here. uconn of late is struggling to recruit a big back that actually has other offers, let alone offers from the royal programs.

pretty quickly the stuf rb class just got a bit thiner this year. unless we land a thomas or mcalister with newsome, count me as upset over this. i'm not sure if he ends up going elsewhere down the road for a big boy, but he seems very interested in staying close to home. he passed on florida and tosu so there are not many bigger or better than that. dazzler just took a poop on our staff way to quick.

The Dazzler hasn't been at BCU long and his offer wasn't long ago as well. The OSU was more than likely a take it now or forget it.

As for bigger backs just look who visited UConn this past weekend for Junior day.

Time to move on.

 

[kris1]

I agree with most...take the VERBAL for what it's worth. Things, as we've seen, can certainly change in a year. Honestly, this is a bigger deal to the BC alumni and fans, then it should be to the UConn faithful. Addazio needed to save face. Too many kids flipped. He needed to start bringing in "his" guys. He went after a local kid, who was high on BC already, and had major offers. It was a smart move on his part. But I don't think it's heart-breaking to UConn Football. Yes, Outlow is highly rated. But, he's not the best back in the NE. Hell, he's not even the best back in CT.

As for the whole big-back thing, it's way over-rated. Does Size Matter For Running Backs? It's great to have a bigger guy for short yardage and goal line situations, but they limit your offense, and their ability is limited. They're not as agile, quicker, or more productive. Smaller backs average more yards per carry, fumble less, and have the ability to stretch a defense with their speed. We've had enormous success with smaller backs. Let's focus on the O-Line, because without them, it won't matter.

Outlow is off the board (for now)......NEXT??

 

[rich1122]

Maybe the kid just never had any interest in UCONN and we did not pursue. We offered Newsome maybe with at least a little interest on both side. Who knows what the kid thought.

My inclination is to trust these guys. They have showed that they can win some recruiting battles out there. Don't count them out.

 

[Dann]

keith i respect your opinion but i really think outlow is the #1 back in new england this year. newsome and thomas are close 2nds. then u have the kid from nh, mcalister, cooper, phillips, sewell and a few others lower than that group.

 

[kris1]

keith i respect your opinion but i really think outlow is the #1 back in new england this year. newsome and thomas are close 2nds. then u have the kid from nh, mcalister, cooper, phillips, sewell and a few others lower than that group.

Based on interest, absolutely. He has the combination of size and speed schools look for. Like I said in the other thread, he's very good. But, having seen the CT kids. Newsome and Cooper are both more talented then Outlow, in my opinion. I wouldn't be surprised to see Outlow on the defensive side of the ball at the next level. Honestly, if Cooper ends up in the right situation. Big "IF". He has a chance to be the best of the group because of his blend of agility, strength, and speed.

 

[businesslawyer]

yup. just so fustrating to watch its hard man...ppl talk about how the game has passed him by on the field, well its on the trail also...times have changed and he isn't willing to go with the new flow. just another reasoin why warde has his head of his ass if he can't see this as a former fball player himself. the whole camp this makes me want to blow a hole in my roof. i understna dseeing players and stuff, but thats why film is what it is today. he uses the camp excuse on every kid from the northeast. its getting a bit to much now. every southern kid he just hands a offer 2. its to obvious the bs going on. some schools coaches dont even hold camps. meanwhile not only do we hold 1 but we make kids go to get offers meanwhile those same kids are getting offers from 5 othe schools. now how does that make us lokk? every kid returned from jr day saying the same thing. greatschool, ppl were nice, food was good, nice pf. but then i asked about a offer and the coach said zxy come to camp and get one. unreal. the only kids your now going to wion at camp are kids under radar a bit with slim or no offers. heres a gem question for some 1 here, what kids did we land from camp this year???? now look at there offer sheets...

the #uptick is a combo of not going after RE types(he knew his style and it was what it was...), the school being older and kids growing up with uconn being relevant and fans on social media showing a pulse. the rise could be so much more with a actual staff put together. just another poor leadership in storrs example.

Per Rivals, we've already offered approximately 40 kids in the class of '14. Given how early it is, it is safe to assume that we (like everyone else) has offers outstanding that Rivals doesn't know about.

So, as much as I hate that you are pushing me to the defense of P and his staff, you are talking out of an incorrect orifice. Please stop.

 

[pj]

247sports offer numbers, random assortment of schools, ordered low to high:

UConn http://connecticut.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 37
Syracuse http://syracuse.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 45
UMass http://umass.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 50
Pitt http://pitt.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 52
Virginia http://virginia.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 64
BC http://bostoncollege.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 76
Alabama http://alabama.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 77
Rutgers http://rutgers.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 78
Miami http://miami.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 82
Maryland http://maryland.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 86
Notre Dame http://notredame.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 86
Michigan http://michigan.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 89
West Virginia http://westvirginia.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 96
NC State http://ncstate.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 106
Florida St http://floridastate.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 111
Ohio State http://ohiostate.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 114
North Carolina http://northcarolina.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 119

Nearly every school playing 1-A football has more offers out than UConn, most of our peers have more than double UConn's number of offers out, and some schools have triple UConn's number of offers out.

Unless you truly believe the sites are better at picking up UMass offers than UConn offers, then P is slower than most to make offers.

 

[businesslawyer]

247sports offer numbers, random assortment of schools, ordered low to high:

UConn http://connecticut.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 37
Syracuse http://syracuse.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 45
UMass http://umass.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 50
Pitt http://pitt.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 52
Virginia http://virginia.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 64
BC http://bostoncollege.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 76
Alabama http://alabama.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 77
Rutgers http://rutgers.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 78
Miami http://miami.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 82
Maryland http://maryland.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 86
Notre Dame http://notredame.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 86
Michigan http://michigan.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 89
West Virginia http://westvirginia.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 96
NC State http://ncstate.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 106
Florida St http://floridastate.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 111
Ohio State http://ohiostate.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 114
North Carolina http://northcarolina.247sports.com/Season/2014-Football/Offers 119

Nearly every school playing 1-A football has more offers out than UConn, most of our peers have more than double UConn's number of offers out, and some schools have triple UConn's number of offers out.

Unless you truly believe the sites are better at picking up UMass offers than UConn offers, then P is slower than most to make offers.

You did the work -- I will take your point. Thank you.

 

[uconndogs]

Beg to differ. You don't have real fans until they're following recruiting. It's just like in baseball, the best fans follow the "Hot Stove League" through the offseason and fantasize about being the general manager; and the most fanatical NFL fans follow the draft and roast their GMs for picks they disagree with; and fans play fantasy leagues in which they draft their own teams. UConn needs to get to the point where thousands of people in the state are following UConn football recruiting and the newspapers feel they have to give regular updates.

I see no reason why fan interest should be harmful to the college kids.

By the way, BCEagles24, thanks for sharing the news. I appreciate your info, even when it's disappointing for us. Congratulations on your big pickup.

I follow our recruiting. I enjoy it. My point is that folks put way too much credence in following these recruiting sites and blogs. That a BC poster has to run over to this site and share his news I find a little bizzare.....and now Dan is convinced that our recruiting is going to hell because we don't have enough offers out.

 

[J187Money]

Frankly, the folks who follow the recruiting this closely and the recruiting sites in general are a classic symptom of a lot that is wrong with big-time college athletics. 17 year old kids, most of them anyway, are in way over their heads on thsi stuff and their are too many folks in the process to potentially take advantage of them. My 2 cents............

I know a guy that wants to talk about 16 year old hoops prospects re: UCONN every time I see him. When I ask him about the ACTUAL UCONN games etc he has nothing to say. I've always found that strange, but apparently there are a lot of people that are so much more interested in the process than the actual games on the field.

 

[Dann]

You did the work -- I will take your point. Thank you.

double down on sitting bl and his argument down and now let him know we are offering kids up the wazzu from down sotuh. some with barely or no other offers. meanwhile up north were telling kids to camp. kids that literally have multiple othern offers from our home state still dont have a uconn offer. its a bit silly whats going on right now to say the least.

last year the media had jr day news, not this year. last year we also offered kids remember? not this year... WTF!!!!

 

[uconnflyer88]

the real question is why did it take us to last week to offer. everyone here knew about him last summer. staff out to lunch. horay!

You said the same thing about Jordan Fuchs for 6 months.....that was accurate

 

[Dann]

You said the same thing about Jordan Fuchs for 6 months.....that was accurate

what did i say about fuchs??? we tracked him for a few months after he first came on radar. i talked to his dad. then thr trail on him went wuiet for a month and then he gave us a verbal. we didn't discover him to early fall and now hes a uconn signee. what am i missing here? outlow is a 2014 recruit. were talking way different discovery aspects also.

 

[upstater]

Seems like many here are certain he received offers from Alabama and Ohio State and the like. I find that incredibly hard to believe that BC, in its current state, pulled a kid like that early. NFW!

 

[uconndogs]

Seems like many here are certain he received offers from Alabama and Ohio State and the like. I find that incredibly hard to believe that BC, in its current state, pulled a kid like that early. NFW!

You mean the internet could be wrong............???????????