Put together a list - Two deep is eye opening

[Forte]

Below I put together a list with FBS offers of our two deep. With our recent struggles I was curious about our talent level compared to opposing teams who seem to be faster and stronger with a higher football IQ. We keep saying/hearing we have FCS players on an FBS team.

At first glance it is pretty eye opening, especially the offense side of the ball where many have no FBS offers. Defense seems to tell a different story but it only takes one weak link to expose the entire unit. I recall when Diaco left Edsall was tasked with balancing out the depth chart because there were so many holes for certain positions based on whatever Diaco's recruiting strategy was..

Excuse the typo's ...misspelled names etc that may be on here.

Position	Player	Other FBS Offers
Offensive Line	Brian Keeting	none
Offensive Line	Ryan Van Demark	Liberty, Umass
Offensive Line	Rayonte Brown	None
Offensive Line	Dylan Niedrowski	None
Offensive Line	Christopher Fortin	None
Offensive Line	Christian Haynes	Air Force, Buffalo, FIU
Offensive Line	Sidney Walker	None
Offensive Line	Noel Ofori-Nyadu	Boise
Offensive Line	Chase Lundt	None
Offensive Line	Robby Rochester	None
Tight End	Jay Rose	Boston College, Maryland, WVU, NC State
Tight End	Jayce Medlock	Illinois, SMU
Running back	Kevin Mensah	None
Running back	Nate Carter	Army
Wide Receiver	Cameron Hairston	None
Wide Receiver	Kevens Clercius	None
Wide Receiver	Jahkai Gill	None
Wide Receiver	Aaron Turner	Hawaii
Wide Receiver	Heron Maurisseau	None
Wide Receiver	Keelan Marion	Houston, UAB
Quarterback	Steven Krajewski	Syracuse, Marshall, Georgia State
Quarterback	Jack Zergiotis	Umass
Defensive End	Eric Watts	None
Defensive End	Pierce Devaughn	Army
Defensive End	Kevon Jones	Boston College
Defensive End	Nick Harris	Temple
Defensive Tackle	Travis Jones	Rutgers, Boston Colege , Buffalo, Temple, Pitt
Defensive Tackle	Dal’mont Gourdine	Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Nebraska, UCF, FIU, Colorado State, Tulane, Troy, Western Kentucky
Defensive Tackle	Lawl Uguak	None
Defensive Tackle	Justin Moore	Rice, Air Force, Arkansas State, Houston, Texas Tech, Tulane
Linebacker	Ian Swenson	Ball state, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Fordham, Iowa State, Louisville, Nevada, Miami of Ohio, New Mexico, Western Michigan, Wyoming, Buffalo
Linebacker	Jordan Morrison	Army, Air Force, Navy, Temple Virginia
Linebacker	Omar Fortt	Army, Navy
Linebacker	DJ Morgan	Big offers transfer from ND
Linebacker	Jackson Mitchell	None
Linebacker	Hunter Webb	Army, Umass
Cornerback	Tre Wortham	none
Cornerback	Myles Bell	Akron, Cinci, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue, Syracuse, USF, Virginia Tech, WVU, Georgia tech
Cornerback	Jeremy Lucien	None
Cornerback	Stan Cross	None
Safety	Durante Jones	Boston College, Coastal Carolina, Akron, Colorado State, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Toledo, Troy, UAB, Western Michigan, Liberty, Marshall, UNLV
Safety	Malik Dixon	Bowling Green, Buffalo, Toledo, Tulane, Northern Illinois
Safety	Diamond Harrell	None
Safety	Jalon Ferrell	None
Special Teams - Kicker	Joe McFadden	Arizona, Army, Navy
Special Teams - Kick return	Devontae Houston	None
Special Teams - Kick return	Brian Brewton	None

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Hsynes had Virginia

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Senn was on 2 deep tranfer from Colorado. Chris johnson plays, multiple. Burns from miami. Quay Evan's played alot vs Purdue 5 p5 offers.
.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

That offer list is abysmal and should suprise nobody that we can't compete with FBS schools.

 

[UConnJim]

The list isn’t entirely accurate, but directionally it’s correct. One thing to also remember, UConn football recruits are not accurately reported on 24/7 (UConn does not have a paid site) or Rivals (not much effort and low number of subscriptions) so they can have more offers than listed. And, this is similar to RE 1.0. If the above is your recruiting strategy, linemen need to generally be 4th year juniors or 5th year seniors to be highly productive and UConn is not there right now.

some corrections:

Haynes: add Marshall, Navy, ODU, and Virginia

Ofori-Nyadu: add Louisiana Monroe, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Tulane

Moore: add Louisiana Tech and Louisiana Monroe

Uguak: add Fresno State

 

[UConnJim]

One more point. Look at the offer lists for the 2020 and 2021 classes and they are much better. But, not a lot of them are on the 2 deep yet.

 

[CTMike]

Give or take some minor corrections… this is 1000% our biggest issue.

 

[Bongo Fury]

Are the ones with offers better than the ones without? Not significantly that I can tell.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

We sign commits with offer lists like:

Bowling Green
Georgia Southern
North Texas
Ball State

and we get super excited because his offer list isnt

URI
Towson
Maine
CCSU

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Are the ones with offers better than the ones without? Not significantly that I can tell.

Myles Bell has the best list and might be our worst 2 deep player

 

[ZooCougar]

Below I put together a list with FBS offers of our two deep. With our recent struggles I was curious about our talent level compared to opposing teams who seem to be faster and stronger with a higher football IQ. We keep saying/hearing we have FCS players on an FBS team.

At first glance it is pretty eye opening, especially the offense side of the ball where many have no FBS offers. Defense seems to tell a different story but it only takes one weak link to expose the entire unit. I recall when Diaco left Edsall was tasked with balancing out the depth chart because there were so many holes for certain positions based on whatever Diaco's recruiting strategy was..

Excuse the typo's ...misspelled names etc that may be on here.

Position	Player	Other FBS Offers
Offensive Line	Brian Keeting	none
Offensive Line	Ryan Van Demark	Liberty, Umass
Offensive Line	Rayonte Brown	None
Offensive Line	Dylan Niedrowski	None
Offensive Line	Christopher Fortin	None
Offensive Line	Christian Haynes	Air Force, Buffalo, FIU
Offensive Line	Sidney Walker	None
Offensive Line	Noel Ofori-Nyadu	Boise
Offensive Line	Chase Lundt	None
Offensive Line	Robby Rochester	None
Tight End	Jay Rose	Boston College, Maryland, WVU, NC State
Tight End	Jayce Medlock	Illinois, SMU
Running back	Kevin Mensah	None
Running back	Nate Carter	Army
Wide Receiver	Cameron Hairston	None
Wide Receiver	Kevens Clercius	None
Wide Receiver	Jahkai Gill	None
Wide Receiver	Aaron Turner	Hawaii
Wide Receiver	Heron Maurisseau	None
Wide Receiver	Keelan Marion	Houston, UAB
Quarterback	Steven Krajewski	Syracuse, Marshall, Georgia State
Quarterback	Jack Zergiotis	Umass
Defensive End	Eric Watts	None
Defensive End	Pierce Devaughn	Army
Defensive End	Kevon Jones	Boston College
Defensive End	Nick Harris	Temple
Defensive Tackle	Travis Jones	Rutgers, Boston Colege , Buffalo, Temple, Pitt
Defensive Tackle	Dal’mont Gourdine	Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Nebraska, UCF, FIU, Colorado State, Tulane, Troy, Western Kentucky
Defensive Tackle	Lawl Uguak	None
Defensive Tackle	Justin Moore	Rice, Air Force, Arkansas State, Houston, Texas Tech, Tulane
Linebacker	Ian Swenson	Ball state, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Fordham, Iowa State, Louisville, Nevada, Miami of Ohio, New Mexico, Western Michigan, Wyoming, Buffalo
Linebacker	Jordan Morrison	Army, Air Force, Navy, Temple Virginia
Linebacker	Omar Fortt	Army, Navy
Linebacker	DJ Morgan	Big offers transfer from ND
Linebacker	Jackson Mitchell	None
Linebacker	Hunter Webb	Army, Umass
Cornerback	Tre Wortham	none
Cornerback	Myles Bell	Akron, Cinci, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue, Syracuse, USF, Virginia Tech, WVU, Georgia tech
Cornerback	Jeremy Lucien	None
Cornerback	Stan Cross	None
Safety	Durante Jones	Boston College, Coastal Carolina, Akron, Colorado State, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Toledo, Troy, UAB, Western Michigan, Liberty, Marshall, UNLV
Safety	Malik Dixon	Bowling Green, Buffalo, Toledo, Tulane, Northern Illinois
Safety	Diamond Harrell	None
Safety	Jalon Ferrell	None
Special Teams - Kicker	Joe McFadden	Arizona, Army, Navy
Special Teams - Kick return	Devontae Houston	None
Special Teams - Kick return	Brian Brewton	None

This is some really solid work.

One of the big Tropes that we all believed is that the transfer outs were terrible because of where they went when they left here. Turns out those schools are probably better than us.

All I know is that the next coach doesn’t need to come in and belittle these guys. I think Edsall set a really negative tone irt to Diaco’s guys.

 

[uconnbill]

I will say this. Offensive lineman in the past have not had big offers in most cases. A couple exceptions to this and having coach Foley as the offensive line coach. I think that is the biggest thing missing is a coach like Foley. He excelled at it and now we have a offensive coordinator is a the line coach. That is and was a mistake from the time it happened. There are other issues but that is a huge issue.

 

[uconnfan68]

Below I put together a list with FBS offers of our two deep. With our recent struggles I was curious about our talent level compared to opposing teams who seem to be faster and stronger with a higher football IQ. We keep saying/hearing we have FCS players on an FBS team.

At first glance it is pretty eye opening, especially the offense side of the ball where many have no FBS offers. Defense seems to tell a different story but it only takes one weak link to expose the entire unit. I recall when Diaco left Edsall was tasked with balancing out the depth chart because there were so many holes for certain positions based on whatever Diaco's recruiting strategy was..

Excuse the typo's ...misspelled names etc that may be on here.

Position	Player	Other FBS Offers
Offensive Line	Brian Keeting	none
Offensive Line	Ryan Van Demark	Liberty, Umass
Offensive Line	Rayonte Brown	None
Offensive Line	Dylan Niedrowski	None
Offensive Line	Christopher Fortin	None
Offensive Line	Christian Haynes	Air Force, Buffalo, FIU
Offensive Line	Sidney Walker	None
Offensive Line	Noel Ofori-Nyadu	Boise
Offensive Line	Chase Lundt	None
Offensive Line	Robby Rochester	None
Tight End	Jay Rose	Boston College, Maryland, WVU, NC State
Tight End	Jayce Medlock	Illinois, SMU
Running back	Kevin Mensah	None
Running back	Nate Carter	Army
Wide Receiver	Cameron Hairston	None
Wide Receiver	Kevens Clercius	None
Wide Receiver	Jahkai Gill	None
Wide Receiver	Aaron Turner	Hawaii
Wide Receiver	Heron Maurisseau	None
Wide Receiver	Keelan Marion	Houston, UAB
Quarterback	Steven Krajewski	Syracuse, Marshall, Georgia State
Quarterback	Jack Zergiotis	Umass
Defensive End	Eric Watts	None
Defensive End	Pierce Devaughn	Army
Defensive End	Kevon Jones	Boston College
Defensive End	Nick Harris	Temple
Defensive Tackle	Travis Jones	Rutgers, Boston Colege , Buffalo, Temple, Pitt
Defensive Tackle	Dal’mont Gourdine	Coastal Carolina, Georgia State, Nebraska, UCF, FIU, Colorado State, Tulane, Troy, Western Kentucky
Defensive Tackle	Lawl Uguak	None
Defensive Tackle	Justin Moore	Rice, Air Force, Arkansas State, Houston, Texas Tech, Tulane
Linebacker	Ian Swenson	Ball state, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Fordham, Iowa State, Louisville, Nevada, Miami of Ohio, New Mexico, Western Michigan, Wyoming, Buffalo
Linebacker	Jordan Morrison	Army, Air Force, Navy, Temple Virginia
Linebacker	Omar Fortt	Army, Navy
Linebacker	DJ Morgan	Big offers transfer from ND
Linebacker	Jackson Mitchell	None
Linebacker	Hunter Webb	Army, Umass
Cornerback	Tre Wortham	none
Cornerback	Myles Bell	Akron, Cinci, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Penn State, Purdue, Syracuse, USF, Virginia Tech, WVU, Georgia tech
Cornerback	Jeremy Lucien	None
Cornerback	Stan Cross	None
Safety	Durante Jones	Boston College, Coastal Carolina, Akron, Colorado State, Kansas, Kentucky, Ohio, Toledo, Troy, UAB, Western Michigan, Liberty, Marshall, UNLV
Safety	Malik Dixon	Bowling Green, Buffalo, Toledo, Tulane, Northern Illinois
Safety	Diamond Harrell	None
Safety	Jalon Ferrell	None
Special Teams - Kicker	Joe McFadden	Arizona, Army, Navy
Special Teams - Kick return	Devontae Houston	None
Special Teams - Kick return	Brian Brewton	None

You’re going to include the longsnapper as oline? That’s a cheap shot.

 

[metsfan2323]

and I bet our offer lists are much better than Holy Cross'. Coaching has been our biggest problem.

Yes we have a MAC level roster but somehow we would not be competitive in the MAC even though we would have the best facilities. Coaching, coaching, coaching.

Imagine what Pindell might have accomplished if we played read/option offense when he was here.

Kind of a bullcrap time to be kicking dirt at our our current players who are still laying it on the line for the school, especially when the offer list given is inaccurate, I get the point but geez tell us something we don't know.

# Delete this thread.

 

[CTMike]

No one is kicking dirt on anyone. The players are doing their best but they are not as big/strong/fast as one would need to be an average or bottom tier FBS squad. Bill Belichek isn’t going bowling with this team.

Yes ultimately this goes back to coaches too since they recruited them but coaches can’t make them stronger and faster. Supposedly we did that the last year and a half and here we are.

 

[UConnJim]

What the poster did not list are the classes of the players. The OL is very inexperienced as here are the starters:
SR, RSo, FR, RSo, RFr.

In a development program, the OL needs more time to develop. The starters are too young. You never saw this level of inexperience on the OL during Edsall 1.0. And, it doesn’t help that the OL coach is also the OC.

 

[Nostical]

It doesn’t help that the OL coach is also the OC.

And vice versa.

 

[Bongo Fury]

What the poster did not list are the classes of the players. The OL is very inexperienced as here are the starters:
SR, RSo, FR, RSo, RFr.

In a development program, the OL needs more time to develop. The starters are too young. You never saw this level of inexperience on the OL during Edsall 1.0. And, it doesn’t help that the OL coach is also the OC.

Shows an inability to develop and retain players. Shouldn’t be this way.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

No it shouldn't take this long to see some improvement and development. The mistakes made early set things back. Not going to get it done in time.

 

[gioff2323]

This is flawed data, period. The team is bad and we don’t need to fudge data to make that point.

 

[ConnHuskBask]

and I bet our offer lists are much better than Holy Cross'. Coaching has been our biggest problem.

Yes we have a MAC level roster but somehow we would not be competitive in the MAC even though we would have the best facilities. Coaching, coaching, coaching.

Imagine what Pindell might have accomplished if we played read/option offense when he was here.

Kind of a bullcrap time to be kicking dirt at our our current players who are still laying it on the line for the school, especially when the offer list given is inaccurate, I get the point but geez tell us something we don't know.

# Delete this thread.

If we had a MAC level roster, wouldn't you expect the majority of the players to have MAC offers?

And look, I'm not going to boo the guys in person, but this is a message board and when you haven't scored an FBS touchdown yet this season and have given up nearly 100 points in those two games, it's pretty much fair game.

 

[UConnJim]

I think some of you are missing the point about UConn being a development program. Historically, under Edsall 1.0, UConn signed under the radar athletes who either were smaller and/less developed than the prototype but had athleticism or speed that would benefit from years of college coaching. High school athletes that are underdeveloped typically don't attract FBS offers.

A prime example would be Kendall Reyes from New Hampshire. His only offer was UConn. He was a 6'4" 220 lb. LB who was probably too slow to be an FBS LB, but he developed into a DT at UConn. His weight progression: RFr 262 lbs, RSo 286 lbs, RJr 298 lbs, RSr 295 lbs.

As for the offer lists that were posted above, here are the FBS offer lists of the UConn players that were drafted by the NFL since 2008 (with the caveat that Rivals historically has not reported all offers to UConn commits).

Tyvon Branch - none
Donald Thomas - none
Donald Brown - Wisconsin
Darius Butler - none
William Beatty - none
Cody Brown - Akron, Eastern Michigan, North Carolina, Purdue
Marcus Easley - none
Robert McClain - none
Lawrence Wilson - none
Jordan Todman - BC, Purdue
Greg Lloyd - UCF
Anthony Sherman - BC
Kendall Reyes - none
Dwayne Gratz - Cincinnati, Maryland, Michigan St., Temple
Sio Moore - none
Blidi Wrey-Wilson - Akron, Buffalo, Toledo
Trevardo Williams - none
Ryan Griffin - none
Shamar Stephen - none
Yawin Smallwood - none
Byron Jones - none
Geremy Davis - Air Force, Kent St., Louisiana-Monroe, Western Kentucky
Obi Melinfonwu - none
Folorunso Fatuksai - Buffalo
Matt Peart - none

So, since 2008, UConn has had 25 players drafted and here was their FBS offer breakdown:

16 - no other FBS offer
4 - one other FBS offer
2 - two or three other FBS offers
3 - four other FBS offers

The players benefited from development and coaching and got drafted by the NFL which is what a development program does. For UConn to be a competitive football program, you have to redshirt almost all freshmen and develop them over 5 years. Offensive linemen should potentially start playing during their 3rd or 4th season with the program. Unfortunately, UConn is not there yet on the O-line and the problem is being negatively impacted by the OL coach being the OC at the same time. They need more attention!

Look at the OL 2 deep depth chart:

Starters
LT - SR
LG - rSO
C - FR
RG - rSO
RT - rFR

Backups
LT - rFR
LG - rFR
C - JR
RG - rSO
RT - FR

That is a young OL! Fortunately, I think they will get better with experience, but they need better coaching. What has hurt UConn this year was the Diaco/Edsall transition recruiting class of 2017. There were 4 OL recruits, 3 were Diaco's (Hubbard, Tunstall, and Van Demark) and 1 was Edsall's (Holmes). Three left and they are still playing college football although only 1, Holmes is an FBS starter at RT for Arkansas St. Hubbard is a backup C at James Madison and Tunstall is a backup LT at Cincinnati. Still, they would be starting this year at UConn or at worst provide experienced backups.

Personally, I would point to coaching, especially the OC, is the biggest problem right now, not the players. There is no excuse for losing to Holy Cross, but you are not going to win against anyone with the QB committing 4 turnovers.

 

[Nostical]

You are not going to win against anyone with the QB committing 4 turnovers.

Thanks for the research. Those FBS offer statistics are eye opening and certainly highlight the developmental nature of our program. However, as you rightly point out, no matter the number of FBS offers or stars by their name, rare is the team that can overcome an inaccurate, turnover prone QB.

 

[Palatine]

Starters
LT - SR
LG - rSO
C - FR
RG - rSO
RT - rFR

Backups
LT - rFR
LG - rFR
C - JR
RG - rSO
RT - FR

That is a young OL! Fortunately, I think they will get better with experience, but they need better coaching. What has hurt UConn this year was the Diaco/Edsall transition recruiting class of 2017. There were 4 OL recruits, 3 were Diaco's (Hubbard, Tunstall, and Van Demark) and 1 was Edsall's (Holmes). Three left and they are still playing college football although only 1, Holmes is an FBS starter at RT for Arkansas St. Hubbard is a backup C at James Madison and Tunstall is a backup LT at Cincinnati. Still, they would be starting this year at UConn or at worst provide experienced backups.

Personally, I would point to coaching, especially the OC, is the biggest problem right now, not the players. There is no excuse for losing to Holy Cross, but you are not going to win against anyone with the QB committing 4 turnovers.

The bigger problem is the transfer portal poaches our best players when they are finally developed as seniors.

 

[hardcorehusky]

The bigger problem is the transfer portal poaches our best players when they are finally developed as seniors.

We haven't had that problem yet!