Returning players to be positive about

[whaler11]

In an effort to talk about anything but firing the staff - and suck less energy I wanted to point out players with more eligibility that I'm excited about.

1. Whitmer - I think he has improved over time - if the team could block at all he'd look even better. Just needs to improve his decisions, but he has already shown he is a warrior - he has taken nasty hits and keeps on getting up. To me a clear piece to build around with the upside of an above average BCS QB.

2. Smallwood - already an excellent player - any more improvement and he's a lock for first team all conference his last two years.

3. Adams - had some hiccups against Syracuse but with little pressure d backs always look bad. Has a chance to be one of the better FBS UConn safeties.

4. DeLorenzo - used properly can be a valuable piece. Can run a guy over and be very useful in short yardage. Bonus for being local.

That's 4 - what obvious choices did I miss?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

We're going to get a good look at Gus Cruz these last 4 games. I don't think we've seen enough from Joe Williams, EJ Norris, or any other of the younger kids to make a judgement either way.

I appreciate your efforts to stop sucking energy though.

 

[Dann]

In an effort to talk about anything but firing the staff - and suck less energy I wanted to point out players with more eligibility that I'm excited about.

1. Whitmer - I think he has improved over time - if the team could block at all he'd look even better. Just needs to improve his decisions, but he has already shown he is a warrior - he has taken nasty hits and keeps on getting up. To me a clear piece to build around with the upside of an above average BCS QB.

2. Smallwood - already an excellent player - any more improvement and he's a lock for first team all conference his last two years.

3. Adams - had some hiccups against Syracuse but with little pressure d backs always look bad. Has a chance to be one of the better FBS UConn safeties.

4. DeLorenzo - used properly can be a valuable piece. Can run a guy over and be very useful in short yardage. Bonus for being local.

That's 4 - what obvious choices did I miss?

im not sold on delorenzo on being more than a ok piece to depth. agree on the 1st 3.

4) davis-maybe the best looking wr we have ever had this young into his career
5) phillips-solid wr and as a 2 or 3 wr depth wise is quality we may have never had here before
6)mccombs-i know ppl are upset here with him. i truly think that this OL and GDL combo have ruined him this year. hes small so the breaking tackles thing doesnt itch me like it does other here. i just think this staff is using him 100% wrong. with better blocking i like him running outside and i like him for short passed in space also. a new OC could do wonder to get him back to a big time piece on thsi team
7) i was big on frank and hes having a bad year, again with mccombs i think the OL and GDL combo thats killing this team has sent him into fb hell. i think hes lost in the scheme and as result isn't learning to pick up blitzes or block correctly as result

norris and samara should make the top 10 list of this talk also. fox, wilbert and stewart noteables also. we have talent here imho...

 

[whaler11]

im not sold on delorenzo on being more than a ok piece to depth. agree on the 1st 3.

4) davis-maybe the best looking wr we have ever had this young into his career
5) phillips-solid wr and as a 2 or 3 wr depth wise is quality we may have never had here before
6)mccombs-i know ppl are upset here with him. i truly think that this OL and GDL combo have ruined him this year. hes small so the breaking tackles thing doesnt itch me like it does other here. i just think this staff is using him 100% wrong. with better blocking i like him running outside and i like him for short passed in space also. a new OC could do wonder to get him back to a big time piece on thsi team
7) i was big on frank and hes having a bad year, again with mccombs i think the OL and GDL combo thats killing this team has sent him into fb hell. i think hes lost in the scheme and as result isn't learning to pick up blitzes or block correctly as result

norris and samara should make the top 10 list of this talk also

Davis is a good addition for sure. Im not as impress with Phillips as you are.

Well I'm going off what I've actually seen and some of those guys we haven't seen.

I like Mike O at FB better than Frank myself and almost added him as #5. I just get a vibe that he's a player.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Not sold on Delorenzo either. Davis and Phillips are good, and only sophomores. I like Stephen a lot as well. I think David Stevenson can play also, he looked good in the spring game and had impressive senior film. I don't know why he hasn't been in the rotation a little bit more.

 

[noeynox]

Shamar Stephen. Geremy Davis, Shakim Phillips as compliments to Whitmer. Tyler Bullock I've liked this year. Hopefully the nucleus of Whitmer, Davis, and Phillips will be enough to focus on emphasizing the passing game, if we can the o line to a respectable level.

 

[Dann]

as far as future talk, i think in 2014 we may se the best set of wr's this school has ever had or dreamed about. in 2014 we will have the follwoing on O
whitmer-sr
davis-sr
phillips-sr
gutz-rs so or jr
bradley-so or rsfr
noel-so or rsfr
lyle-sr
other rbs?
frank-sr

among others overall. i think its important that we get a new coach pronto as 2014 could be a monster year fo us. thats also why warde needs to get going on that years schedule. its lacking compared to ever other year up to 2017 and it may be our most important ever. by that time our d will be very solid also again with vets. we will have several juco d kids as jr or srs that year, smallwood would be a sr if he stays, graham would be a sr, adams etc etc...

 

[FDNY99]

We have some talent returning that is for sure. I like our returning depth at dl..promising young deoth at lb...secondary worries me (safties have regressed I think...Mack and Stephenson will be basically untested and a LOT smaller than Gratz & Blidi Wreh). I'm also interested to see how Osiecki at FB and DeLorenzo and Williams can do at rb. OL will be pretty young too. Off will be determined by who OC and OL coaches are.

 

[whaler11]

as far as future talk, i think in 2014 we may se the best set of wr's this school has ever had or dreamed about. in 2014 we will have the follwoing on O
whitmer-sr
davis-sr
phillips-sr
gutz-rs so or jr
bradley-so or rsfr
noel-so or rsfr
lyle-sr
other rbs?
frank-sr

among others overall. i think its important that we get a new coach pronto as 2014 could be a monster year fo us. thats also why warde needs to get going on that years schedule. its lacking compared to ever other year up to 2017 and it may be our most important ever. by that time our d will be very solid also again with vets. we will have several juco d kids as jr or srs that year, smallwood would be a sr if he stays, graham would be a sr, adams etc etc...

Des just DMed you to let you know you left off Jones

 

[UconnFamily]

5. Geremy Davis - Big physical receiver 6'1 214 lbs with good hands - a player Whitmer trusts!

6. Shakim Phillips - People may feel he hasn't shown anything, but this is his first year on the field and he's progressing had 7 catches for 100 yards against Temple - another big receiver at 6'1 200 lbs - He was the #1 player coming out of the state of NJ - roommates of Whitmer so I think they will start gelling!

 

[whaler11]

I'll point out the obvious issue with Phillips. To date - Alligator arms.

 

[noeynox]

I'll point out the obvious issue with Phillips. To date - Alligator arms.

True. He has pulled up on a couple of noticeable occasions. He is tall, runs well, and has good hands.

I know its not fair to the seniors, but I'd like to see more of Tebucky Jones Jr., and Deshon Foxx, and less of Mike Smith and Nick Williams.

This season is done, let's see what some of the younger kids could do in game situations. Won't happen and probably shouldn't, but selfishly I'd like the younger guys to play over the graduating ones.

 

[Dann]

I'll point out the obvious issue with Phillips. To date - Alligator arms.

i have seen this at times also i will say but i dont think its a all day thing from him, just a in traffic habit that can be shook. he has done some good things and i think he will develope more in time. as whitmer develops more and davis becomes a obvious #1 threat to opposing d's, phillips will get many chances.

 

[Dooley]

I really like what I see from the passing game in the past few weeks when 1) our OL can hold their blocks for longer than 1 second and 2) our nervous nelly of an OC calls for a pass play. Whitmer is a tough kid and I like his effort. Also love the way G Davis is improving from a week to week basis. I think S Phillips will be fine next year.

On defense, everything evolves around Smallwood. Absolutely have a mancrush on that guy!

 

[Waquoit]

I think Angelo Pruitt has been pretty good to date. He has 3 more years.

OTOH, I'm not sold on any WR yet. We need a more consistent effort from all of them.

 

[jdb50]

Seems to me our wideouts slow down on deep routes once the ball is in the air, I want to see us take some shots deep and get the timing down better than we have. I know the protection is a factor on success here. Pruitt has been solid and McBryde looked like he should be ready by next year. Need to see more of J Williams, with the reports out of spring ball why the lack of PT? Vann should be a starter.

 

[Excalibur]

I think Angelo Pruitt has been pretty good to date. He has 3 more years.

OTOH, I'm not sold on any WR yet. We need a more consistent effort from all of them.

If he can move back inside, Pruitt will be solid. I remember being impressed with his strength during the open practice.

Others that may not have been mentioned:

I think McQuillan will be very good if he can recover from the injury.

If Joseph comes back and is healthy obviously that's a positive.

Stewart and the RS Fr. linebackers Vann and Ashiru are potential positives. With Smallwood and Donahue we could have a very good linebacking unit.

However, we may be very weak at corner next year.

 

[businesslawyer]

What happened to McQuillan -- I either missed it or forgot?

 

[huskymedic]

What happened to McQuillan -- I either missed it or forgot?

Ankle injury... think it was like last week of summer.

 

[huskysupporter]

As soon as I saw the title of the post, I immediately though of Adams. Like all safeties, he is going to go through growing pains, but he has talent, and a nose for the ball.

I think DeLorenzo is misused. He needs to be run between the tackles. He is not playing well on sweeps or stretch plays. But once he squares up, he is a load to bring down. That is why he needs to be given the ball on straight handoffs.

Geremy Davis struggles with consistency, but I think with experience, he will just get better and better.

Smallwood is Smallwood. A load at the point of attack. I want to see him playing OLB next year. Underrated pass rusher.

 

[Bootsthemonkey]

I'd personally like to see McCummings moved to TB. He's already proven to have speed, power and vision. You get a 6'2" 225lb running back. In the wildcat defenses aren't kept honest because there's little to no threat to pass. Put him in with Whitmer and the dynamic changes. Just my humble opinion.

 

[mattp]

Osiecki reminds me a lot of Anthony Sherman. Not quite as athletic, and a little stockier but he's got soft hands and runs pretty well. It doesn't seem like he's on the field enough.

I like Geremy Davis's aggressiveness towards the ball. I always thought Easley's best attribute was the way he snatched the ball out of the air and I think Davis catches like that. Phillips seems to wait for it to land in his hands.

I think if we can get our OLine together we could have a pretty good offense on the field. I think McCombs can be effective again if we can get our line figured out. He really needs to be put into position where he can get the ball in space. In reality I think you could make a case for any of our current RBs to be the starter, I'd like to see the back ups get some more time on the field this season to figure out who's the best long term solution there.

Our corners will be a big question mark, but I'm excited to see how Mack and Stevenson will do as starters. They're not as big as BWW and Gratz, but they've both made a lot of athletic plays in the time they've been on the field. I am worried that the new trend has been towards bigger WRs, but I think they'll do a very good job for us. I have no idea who will be behind them, so depth could be an issue.

 

[ktuck911]

Seems to me our wideouts slow down on deep routes once the ball is in the air, I want to see us take some shots deep and get the timing down better than we have. I know the protection is a factor on success here. Pruitt has been solid and McBryde looked like he should be ready by next year. Need to see more of J Williams, with the reports out of spring ball why the lack of PT? Vann should be a starter.

R
Bull doonkie regarding the WRs slowing up on deep calls. GDL has called one friggin deep ball play all season. How cam we find out if one or any of our WRs can 'go get it' if the plays never been run?

Players I'm looking fwd to seeing in the future: Whitmer - he'll be better, OL- Cruz, Samra, Rugg, Gifford, Hemingway, Nwokeji, Boleckoh, Levy, and any other OL we have coming back or in (HS or JUCO). We gotta right that ship up front or else this thing gets blown up. Hopefully next yr won't be bad like this one. If our OL showed ant kahunas everyone would be praising Whitmer more. Kid delivers a nice catchable ball. Makes bonehead plays at times (throws into anywhere from double to quadruple coverage in the middle of the field eye he tries to help our team fight back late in games when we are losing, overall, with time, he can pick a D apart. My two cents.

 

[Waquoit]

R
Bull doonkie regarding the WRs slowing up on deep calls. GDL has called one friggin deep ball play all season. How cam we find out if one or any of our WRs can 'go get it' if the plays never been run?

Wrong. There's been a handful of deep tries and I've seen receivers quit on routes several times in person. Who are these guys to quit on a route even once? Your QB is getting pounded, he keeps coming back for more and you can't even be bothered to run another 10 yards? Our WR's have to do better, try harder.

 

[ktuck911]

Wrong. There's been a handful of deep tries and I've seen receivers quit on routes several times in person. Who are these guys to quit on a route even once? Your QB is getting pounded, he keeps coming back for more and you can't even be bothered to run another 10 yards? Our WR's have to do better, try harder.

If u saw it live I can't argue with you on that bro... fact is, though, the OL has got to be better. I think we'll see much better results from performances of our skilled guys if that happens ( WRs, RBs )