Practice Week #2

[ktuck911]

It's upon us... With 3 weeks until game day this has to be an instense week for us. A depth chart should be in place by Sunday/Monday... and, potentially attrition could occur.. We have a ton of underclassmen DBs.. Somebody's gonna be put on the backburner.

All in all though, it's going to be interesting to see how the depth chart lays out at (my top 3 other than QB) LB, DL, & WR... I included WR because I'm praying that some of our bigger kids at the position stand out... Right now, always we heard rumblings about are Ardell Brown, Heron Maurisseau, & true frosh Cam Ross... Hoping to hear more about the likes of guys like Donaldson (veteran), Hairston, Drayton, Jeffreys, and Clercius... We need BIG bodied guys to step up and stand out.. Also, still rooting for Skanes to do a little something. .. DL needs to be/must be improved. I'm pretty sure we're set on the interior with T Jones and C Thomas.. but not so sure about the ends... We need more of a speed edge rush presence on the weak side.. Pace and Uguak is a combo I like at the ends, but if either one hasn't improved their speed (which probably isn't realistic) they might be better used on the same side in more of rotational aspect, and also used at the same time in passing down situations.. This is where Watts and DeVaughn come into play, backed up by either Gardner (also moved from LB and up to 244lbs) and K Jones (LB to DL.. although I kinda liken him to more of a strong side presence)... Dang! I'm still kinda PO'd that Hinton spurned us for Tulane... I think he would've given us somethings this year.. Hopefully the young pups (like poor man Clowney - Dalmont Gourdine) can fill the void... That leaves LB - like the fact that Jackson Mitchell (true frosh) stood out early.. reminds me of the throw back FBS days here when we had 3 LBs (underclassmen) pretty much grow together as starting LBers... BUT I think we might see some transfers make an impact earlier on in DJ Morgan & Dillon Harris.. One thing we lacked on this squad were TRUE linebackers.. which leads me to guy that's been here awhile, and I wouldn't be surprised if he sneaks up on everybody and grabs a signifcant spot in the rotation.. That guy is none other than Ryan Gilmartin. I envision he and Hunter Webb, along with Mitchell, battling it out for that 3rd starting LB position...

My two cents on D's front 7 and WRs on O...

Thoughts???

Also, who's got their view on the Offense other than WR? Please share...

 

[BlueDogs]

At this stage of the game, you can only work on heart and execution. Building speed, size, strength and skills are off season things. My single hope is the D unit is much more cohesively aggressive with guys flying to the ball. I'm looking for more unintentional aggression related penalties early on as a sign of progress...they need to be savages first, then tamed. You can't do it the other way around.

 

[HurricaneDave]

Ostrout's article says that Harris was working with the d line. There's a lot of bodies there when you consider he's the 3rd LB moved there and Edsall likes an 8 man rotation. I expect lots of "ORs" in the first depth chart on the line and Edsall/Spanos to see how the younger/inexperienced guys play the first 2-3 games before they tighten up the rotation and make any RS decisions.

Same article also says Fort played a lot with the 1's next to DJ Morgan. Concerning due to his size and makes me wonder what kind of defense Spanos is running. Sounds like 2 LB's again. If that's the case, there have to be 2 LB's with size and who can tackle or else teams will run at will. Seems to me that linebacker recruiting needs to step up. There are too many of these tweener players who are undersized and can't tackle. I like Morgan and think Jackson Mitchell can be a good player. I also agree that Gilmartin should get a shot. He looked good at the end of 2017.

 

[uconnbill]

I just want the best players on the field and for UConn to win games. I think the next couple of weeks will sort all of that out and we will see the best team on the field for Wagner.

Size is nice at wide receiver but speed kills.

 

[hardcorehusky]

The last guy that recruited for size...…….

 

[formerlurker]

If size doesn't matter but speed does, I need to update my match.com profile immediately.

 

[uconnbill]

If size doesn't matter but speed does, I need to update my match.com profile immediately.

Stick with size there, because speed will get you laughed at