Ryan Dickens Article Critical of UConn Football

[Jax Husky]

Ok how about Scooby Wright? Pretty sure he was an All American at 239 running a 4.9

And this kid is 200lbs with offers from URI and Cornell. Are you honestly trying to imply he could be a FBS all-American? Also, listing a 4.9 out of high school makes it much more likely he actually runs a 5.1

Scooby is also an in the box MLB

Scooby's Pro Day results show his athleticism:

40-yard dash: 4.87 seconds
Vertical: 35 inches

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

IIRC he was a grad assistant with the football program and once he graduated began blogging about the team regularly. I think it's great that we have people willing to dedicate the time to cover the program and product content. The problem begins when that content becomes clearly biased and not-so-subtlely vindictive to the athletic department for firing a coach you personally liked. That's what stopped me from reading anything he put out.

 

[Stainmaster]

I've seen some people on here go after him on a personal level and for me that's crossing a line. But the content he's putting out, in my opinion, has largely been biased nonsense.

Bad content I mind less, my real worry is him intentionally poisoning the well with recruits and their families.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Bad content I mind less, my real worry is him intentionally poisoning the well with recruits and their families.

I agree that it's starting to reach that point, but again that speaks to the content he's putting out both in his blog and on his Twitter account. However he continues to lose credibility with his readers the more he adds unnecessary personal commentary as opposed to just reporting the situation. He's just about lost the majority of this board, and with <1K followers on Twitter, he's not exactly raking in page views.

 

[huskymedic]

Every school recruiting against us has done this. Every one.

Other than the kid's own HS coach, I highly doubt any of them will really hold this against us.

Well, it seems the local NJ press is advocating different

Shore Sports Zone@ShoreSportsZone 37 mins ago
In the south, HS coaches would blackball a program that did something like this. Shore coaches take notice:


I'm not worried just pointing out the current noise that will dissipate.

 

[Jax Husky]

Well, it seems the local press is advocating different

Shore Sports Zone@ShoreSportsZone 37 mins ago
In the south, HS coaches would blackball a program that did something like this. Shore coaches take notice:

Ha, in the South, HS coaches would change their minds as soon as the next check cleared. This happens ALL THE TIME in the South

 

[Stainmaster]

Well, it seems the local press is advocating different

Shore Sports Zone@ShoreSportsZone 37 mins ago
In the south, HS coaches would blackball a program that did something like this. Shore coaches take notice:

Clown put "#boycottUConn" in his freaking Twitter bio...shows the level of people we're dealing with.

 

[Jax Husky]

Clown put "#boycottUConn" in his freaking Twitter bio...shows the level of people we're dealing with.

Haha, the re-tweet is a Cuse and Seton Hall alum....all credibility lost

 

[whaler11]

There is a rather large contingent of BY posters who have been strangely overly protective of him from day 1. There have been numerous red flags but the BY morality police would always step in to defend him. No idea why but I don't read any of his crap anymore.

He showed what he was right at the very beginning when he edited his posts and to this day won't admit it.

Just a liar from day 1 and literally no clue what he is talking about from a football perspective.

 

[whaler11]

Every program in the SEC oversigns kids and screws them them year.

At least UConn told the kid.

 

[Sprague03]

Same time last year, Michigan screws a kid that's been committed to Michigan for 2 years, it happens guys.

Michigan pulls plug on scholarship offer to Downers Grove South star

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Happened twice at Michigan last year. Pretty sure the southern high schools haven't blackballed Harbaugh.

U-M pulls football offer from Southfield RB commit
Recruit says he feels ‘used’ after Jim Harbaugh rescinds scholarship offer

 

[kibblesnbits]

Ha, in the South, HS coaches would change their minds as soon as the next check cleared. This happens ALL THE TIME in the South

I think he meant South Jersey, just as "Shore coaches" means Jersey Shore and not Gulf Coast.

 

[Adios]

Anyone with half a brain can see that Edsall made the right move. I mean, if this kid is FBS talent, why would Monmouth turn him down? Thanks to the family for at least telling everyone that, too.

 

[Carrkus]

Edsall was wrong to do this because he told him his scholarship was safe.

"Edsall called on New Year’s Day to assure Dickens the school still wanted him and his scholarship was safe, his parents said."

Then he sent his lb coach to NJ tell him he still had a scholarship

"UConn linebackers coach Jon Wholley even met with Dickens at Raritan Thursday to talk about signing day and his upcoming visit to UConn on Jan. 20"

and then three days later he tells him he doesn't have a scholarship.

Once you give your word you keep it. Period. End of story.

You are basing this assurance from Edsall on one side of the story - the kid and his family. Edsall can't comment on it yet, and probably won't. We don't know what was said exactly. If Diaco was still coach the kid would probably still have his scholarship here, but Diaco is gone. The shoe can be on the other foot sometimes - coaching change, now the kid doesn't want to go and re-opens his commitment.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

And local high school coaches. And every school recruiting against us . . .

It's now made the front page at cnn.com.

He was having problems getting kids out of NJ the last few years when he was first here.. This may cinch it.

 

[Wise2]

I think Diaco should honor his commitment to the kid by offering him a ship to Nebraska

 

[Chuck]

Happened twice at Michigan last year. Pretty sure the southern high schools haven't blackballed Harbaugh.

U-M pulls football offer from Southfield RB commit
Recruit says he feels ‘used’ after Jim Harbaugh rescinds scholarship offer

But this is UConn. We take what we're given and don't complain! In all seriousness, that is the attitude that some of these high school coaches have. They are like the law clerk that thinks he's important because he has the ear of the judge he works for. I watched it happen with Rutgers when Schiano came in. The NJ coaches wanted him to take some of their players that didn't have big offers. The coaches threatened that if RU didn't take care of their crappy guys they'd push the stars elsewhere. Schiano sucked and he is a jerk, but he got plenty of solid recruits after those threats.

Unfortunately, the coaches can influence kids. The staff is just going to have to own these decisions and push forward.

 

[FDNY99]

My buddy that lives down in that part of NJ says that Scott Stump is well respected and has weight :
Scott Stump ‏@Scott_Stump 1h1 hour ago
I hope all Shore recruits notice how UConn ruthlessly dropped Raritan's Ryan Dickens and steer clear of Edsall

 

[Jax Husky]

My buddy that lives down in that part of NJ says that Scott Stump is well respected and has weight :
Scott Stump ‏@Scott_Stump 1h1 hour ago
I hope all Shore recruits notice how UConn ruthlessly dropped Raritan's Ryan Dickens and steer clear of Edsall

Meh, as I said earlier, as soon as UConn wins again and puts some more kids in the NFL, none of this will matter.

 

[Exit 4]

Meh, as I said earlier, as soon as UConn wins again and puts some more kids in the NFL, none of this will matter.

It would be a different story if we pulled the scholarship w/o a change in coaching, but here - with a change - its totally legit to reassess recruits, just like the recruits are given unlimited time to assess the school/staff.

 

[BlueDogs]

Not how UConn should conduct its business. Totally unacceptable and reflects poorly on the ethical values of the school. This is part and parcel of RE's personality flaw - inability to understand loyalty and commitment. You take the kid and make the best of it.

 

[jazyj]

UCONN getting bashed on CFB live on ESPN

 

[Exit 4]

UCONN getting bashed on CFB live on ESPN

Horray, we are worthy!?!?!

 

[Tenspro2002]

It is kind of nice to see UConn acting like a seedy program that only gives a damn about winning. Refreshing.

Does it make me a bad person that this was my first thought as well?

We want to look "big time", right? What's more big time than telling a borderline recruit that they're not good enough for our program?

That said, I do feel bad for the kid and agree with others that this also reflects badly on Diaco for handing out scholarship offers like they're Halloween candy to kids who nobody else thinks can play at this level.