Question on in-game coaching of O-Line answered...

[huskymedic]

Dez asked - PP responded.

Desmond Conner ‏@desmondconner
While #UConnFootball OC George DeLeone is in booth calling plays @PaulPasqualoni said he and former OL coach Foley talks to unit on field...

Desmond Conner ‏@desmondconner
And if DeLeone needs to speak with OL players during game he gets them on headsets #UConnFootball


Also DeLeone as a coach from the Ryan Griffin perspective:

"Sometimes I'll sit down and watch games from four years ago, like the Notre Dame game, and I look like a different tight end now," Griffin said. "And that's a credit to the coaches. You know, I just try to be coachable. They know what they're doing and it's working out for me; have to give it to the coaches. [Offensive coordinator and tight ends coach George] DeLeone helped me a lot. He's worked with some good coaches and some good players. Coach [Paul] Pasqualoni coached Jason Witten [with the Dallas Cowboys] so you have to listen to what they're telling you — and I've learned from my mistakes.

"To be honest with you, my freshman year, I wasn't a very good player when I look at it now. Technically, I wasn't very sound; my stance was all messed up, a bunch of little things. In this game, you always try to get better every day and that's what I tried to do."

He had to get better mentally, too. That's where DeLeone came in.DeLeone, who likes to tweak players, took Griffin on early as a project. He didn't make it easy on him. He liked what he saw in Griffin when he arrived and tried to build up both Griffin and Delahunt.

The proof is in their progress. Griffin is on the John Mackey Award watch list. The award goes to the nation's top tight end."Tweak, huh?" Griffin said, laughing. "That's a good word, 'tweaked.' At the time I didn't know it was for a reason. He can be a mean guy. Everyone knows that and I got the brunt of it a couple times. He means well. He really just wants to see players develop and you've got to love him for that.

"When he first came here he laid down the law — hard. I didn't get the message but I got the point. You have to step it up and stop being a boy. Be a man. I would say after last season I saw the changes in my game and the opportunity that I could be a good player."

Remember all those passes he struggled to hold over the middle when wide open? Well, when was the last time you saw him drop one of those?

http://www.courant.com/sports/uconn-football/hc-uconn-football-feature-1017-20121016,0,1605996.story

 

[jdb50]

Saw Day and Foley in front of the group when they were on the bench. Foley with the line and/or TE's. Never saw PP over there. Pass pro went south as game went on though. Interesting comments by Ryan. When the natural ability is through the roof it comes down to the mental part as to whether you make the most of it. The over achievers are pushing themselves to keep up and prove themselves. It's working with players to maximize their abilities that keeps most coaches in the profession I would think. To get paid well to do it doesn't hurt.

 

[pj]

That's great but I'd be more impressed if Griffin had more than 12 receptions after 7 games. He's a big target, seems like if he's improved his game so much he should be catching more than 2 balls a game.

 

[UConnDan97]

That's great but I'd be more impressed if Griffin had more than 12 receptions after 7 games. He's a big target, seems like if he's improved his game so much he should be catching more than 2 balls a game.

I was thinking the same thing. This kid had a lot of pre-season headlines about him, and you would think that DeLeone would have made him a more integral part of the gameplan, especially since we have someone that can get him the ball. The Temple game was proof of that. Let's hope GDL wakes up from his Rip Van Winkle stupor and involves Griff and Delahunt a little more in the offensive ideology...

 

[uconnkelly]

Thanks to Dez for asking the question...

Coach Foley was with the O Line a bit more--but not much-- during the Temple game than previous games. He gave the headphones to Jimmy Bennett once, I didn't see them on anyone else. HCPP talk to them on the sidelines? Not when I was watching during the Temple game. Foley still looks like he's watching the neighbor's kids: he's gotta say something when they do something wrong but they're not his kids, so it's not the same. I know that ultimately they're all the same team and everyone should support everyone else, but there are limits to that.

Do they need handholding? No. Does every coach need to be Coach Brown--shoulder pad smacking, white board drawing, high energy on the sidelines? No. Whatever they need, I hope they get it. Sounds like RG94 is saying that it's worth waiting for.

 

[huskymedic]

That's great but I'd be more impressed if Griffin had more than 12 receptions after 7 games. He's a big target, seems like if he's improved his game so much he should be catching more than 2 balls a game.

If he and Delahunt didn't have to stay in so much to run block/pass block I would tend to agree with you more... Our single biggest problem isn't GDL and play calling, It's the O-Line. Folks can blame the "scheme" but the talent has regressed or just wasn't there.

Ryan is a class A kid and comes from good stock but I still think he may not have been so complmentary of PP and GDL if he had a problem with them (IMO).

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I'm actually ok with this. The further GDL is from these kids the better.