Ryan Dickens Article Critical of UConn Football

[UConnJim]

End of the day, Diaco screwed up the DE/LB/TE recruiting.

First on the defensive side. We have 2 returning scholarship defensive linemen that are <265 lbs and 9 returning scholarship LBs that are 240lbs or more. Diaco recruited size over speed, but Edsall usually recruited speed. With a new attacking defense, UConn's defense needs more athletic LBs and DEs with speed.

As for TEs, UConn already has 5 TE/Fs on the roster and they are generally on the bigger/heavier side.

So, the first 2 kids who decommitted from the new coaching staff were LB/TE types. Not surprising as we already have lots of DE/LB/TEs and the kids probably didn't fit the new schemes. The new coaching staff is actually doing these kids a favor by letting them know that they don't fit the new schemes and that they should find a better fit at another school. It's better to find out now than to find out when you are on campus.

 

[IMind]

What's the kid got to worry about... if he's so great the Nebraska offer should be coming any minute, right?

 

[noeynox]

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

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

Holy shet? Cnn.com?

 

[Stainmaster]

Holy shet? Cnn.com?

Scroll down to "Sports":

"CFB team withdraws scholarship at last minute"

 

[huskymedic]

Good journalism? Haha, that makes me laugh. You really think that would fit the agenda?

Speaking of good journalism... http://deadspin.com/report-uconn-dicks-recruit-over-pulls-scholarship-two-1791288449

 

[BlueMAB]

An early signing period would solve almost all of this. Sucks for the kid, bad press for UConn, but in the end, both parties are probably better off.

Any story of this kid losing his offer, should include the names of the kids who backed out on UConn. It goes both ways.

 

[Jax Husky]

Holy shet? Cnn.com?

Don't worry, everyone knows that's fake news

 

[Dove]

Speaking of good journalism... http://deadspin.com/report-uconn-dicks-recruit-over-pulls-scholarship-two-1791288449

Wow...so much vitriol. I love it. We're back!

They did call us a powerhouse, tho.

 

[Stainmaster]

I wonder if Matt will now begin a social media crusade against the program, since he is more loyal to these recruits than the institution itself.

 

[huskypantz]

Scroll down to "Sports":

"CFB team withdraws scholarship at last minute"

LOL. Last minute except for the weeks remaining until signing day. I can't wait for the article about all of the kids who changed their college commitment in the hours leading up to signing day.

I am sure the kid is heartbroken, that's tough news. Like any situation where there is a change at the top, there is a risk. If my boss left tomorrow, I'd be weary. I hope he gets a scholarship elsewhere and plays with a chip on his shoulder. I also hope that he and his family can forgive and forget with UConn. They'd do the same if he changed his mind and switched to Rutgers on signing day.

 

[FDNY99]

I wonder if Matt will now begin a social media crusade against the program, since he is more loyal to these recruits than the institution itself.

ThisIsUConnCountry ‏@MattSchonvisky Jan 16
ThisIsUConnCountry Retweeted Ryan Dickens

Dickens committed to Huskies in June. Wouldn't be surprised to see him w/Nebraska offer in future:

ThisIsUConnCountry ‏@MattSchonvisky 16h16 hours ago
ThisIsUConnCountry Retweeted jake byczko

Another decommit from the 2017 #UConnFootball recruiting class as signing day approaches-good luck in the future!:


ThisIsUConnCountry ‏@MattSchonvisky 3h3 hours ago
ThisIsUConnCountry Retweeted NJ.com HS Sports

Talked with Dickens yesterday AM, he's not the only one this happened to since the change:


ThisIsUConnCountry‏@MattSchonvisky
@JohnFSilver @EdDaigneault at least 5 others including commits & those who were scheduled for OV's over next 2 weeks

ThisIsUConnCountry ‏@MattSchonvisky 34m34 minutes ago
ATTN #UConnNation-please realize remaining commits in class can see what you're saying about a player they respected & wanted 2play w/@UConn

 

[Buffett10]

I feel bad for this kid...it happened to 2 of my friends who ended up playing at UConn. I also feel bad for him that he was offered a scholarship by a guy who really was in over his head as a HC. At the end of the day if Ryan Mickens was good enough to play LB in the AAC at UConn..he is good enough to get a scholarship form Diaco at Nebraska. But let's look at things like 40 times and then see if that is truly accurate.

Brandon Spikes and James Laurinitas both had 40's over 4.9 and they seemed to do pretty well at their schools...

 

[JMick]

ThisIsUConnCountry ‏@MattSchonvisky Jan 16
ThisIsUConnCountry Retweeted Ryan Dickens

Dickens committed to Huskies in June. Wouldn't be surprised to see him w/Nebraska offer in future:

ThisIsUConnCountry ‏@MattSchonvisky 16h16 hours ago
ThisIsUConnCountry Retweeted jake byczko

Another decommit from the 2017 #UConnFootball recruiting class as signing day approaches-good luck in the future!:


ThisIsUConnCountry ‏@MattSchonvisky 3h3 hours ago
ThisIsUConnCountry Retweeted NJ.com HS Sports

Talked with Dickens yesterday AM, he's not the only one this happened to since the change:


ThisIsUConnCountry‏@MattSchonvisky
@JohnFSilver @EdDaigneault at least 5 others including commits & those who were scheduled for OV's over next 2 weeks

ThisIsUConnCountry ‏@MattSchonvisky 34m34 minutes ago
ATTN #UConnNation-please realize remaining commits in class can see what you're saying about a player they respected & wanted 2play w/@UConn

I hope we cut Matt off from media access. He's clearly just a Diaco fanboy

 

[crazyUCfan23]

Do I fel bad for this kid? Sure, it sucks to have something like this happen but that's life. Life isn't fair. At the end of the day, he clearly wasn't good enough to play at the FBS level. I mean Monmouth couldn't even make room for him.

This isn't RE's fault. This is just part of the nature of recruiting.

I put the blame on Diaco, his parents and his HS coach for leading him to believe he was good enough to play at the FBS level. Just because you have good stats and earn distinctions doesn't automatically make you good enough for D1 football. Shame on the HS coach for not giving him a realistic evaluation of his talent.

 

[Stainmaster]

I hope we cut Matt off from media access. He's clearly just a Diaco fanboy

I am seriously concerned that he has the potential to cause the program significant harm. He's used his position to curry a lot of favor with the families of recruits. Think of how he could use that to screw the new staff over.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I wonder if Matt will now begin a social media crusade against the program, since he is more loyal to these recruits than the institution itself.

Begin? Matt's been on a nonsensical Twitter tirade since the day Diaco was fired. I have nothing against him personally, but his coverage of the team starting this year and since Diaco was fired has been insufferably ignorant.

 

[Jax Husky]

Brandon Spikes and James Laurinitas both had 40's over 4.9 and they seemed to do pretty well at their schools...

LOL, those dudes were 250+ lbs run stuffers

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Begin? Matt's been on a nonsensical Twitter tirade since the day Diaco was fired. I have nothing against him personally, but his coverage of the team starting this year and since Diaco was fired has been insufferably ignorant.

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.

 

[JMick]

I am seriously concerned that he has the potential to cause the program significant harm. He's used his position to curry a lot of favor with the families of recruits. Think of how he could use that to screw the new staff over.

If he knew better he'd be shutting up. To go from Homer to program enemy isn't a good look, and most of his clicks come from here. Wouldn't be opposed to banning his articles from here like we do with TOS

 

[FDNY99]

Brandon Spikes and James Laurinitas both had 40's over 4.9 and they seemed to do pretty well at their schools...

Laurinitis was actually under 4.9...he ran a 4.72 and 4.78 at his pro day.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

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.

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.

 

[Buffett10]

LOL, those dudes were 250+ lbs run stuffers

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

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

I was pretty surprised at the press conference when he stood up and introduced himself as a member of the media during questioning. I thought he was just a blogger. There were audible groans from others in the horde when he stood up.

 

[JMick]

I was pretty surprised at the press conference when he stood up and introduced himself as a member of the media during questioning. I thought he was just a blogger. There were audible groans from others in the horde when he stood up.

Yeah if I own a domain name do I also get press access? We should send our own reps if that's the case lol

 

[huskymedic]

This did make me laugh:

Shawn Brown ‏@ShawnBRivals 35m 35 minutes ago
I bet the UConn coach recruiting NJ today just turned his car around and went back up to Storrs.