Ryan Dickens Article Critical of UConn Football

[Jax Husky]

Minor point in the Randy hatchet jobs going around but every dumb commenter neglects to acknowledge that we only just hired a DC a few days ago. Randy as HC had to be the bearer of bad news but it's ridiculous that people think a brand new DC isn't allowed to make his own recruit evaluations.

Not to mention that DC also quite likely has already evaluated this FCS talent in his own backyard and had not offered him at Villanova either.

 

[whaler11]

U-Conned. That's super original. I smell Pulitizer.

 

[jostar1]

U-Conned: Raritan’s Ryan Dickens Has Scholarship Offer Pulled By UConn Just 17 Days Before Signing Day

Kid looks like Bob Diaco.

 

[polycom]

So this is what it's like to be a major program in America people talk about you...oh well. I rather people talk about this than us being terrible. This wont be a story in 5 days. Recruiting in Jersey will suffer worse if we suck...than if we are dominating.

 

[Dean Wormer]

There's nothing good about any of this and if it went down like the kid's family says it did, & we'll never know otherwise, it'll leave a stain that'll stick, especially in NJ recruiting.
HCRE has a bad track record for these kind of things, and this will be viewed as just another example. Yes, we can rationalize it here as rabid fans, but most folks will read this story and think the program is a cesspool. Not a good look at all.

 

[JMick]

There's nothing good about any of this and if it went down like the kid's family says it did, & we'll never know otherwise, it'll leave a stain that'll stick, especially in NJ recruiting.
HCRE has a bad track record for these kind of things, and this will be viewed as just another example. Yes, we can rationalize it here as rabid fans, but most folks will read this story and think the program is a cesspool. Not a good look at all.

I don't care if we win

 

[Pudge]

There's nothing good about any of this and if it went down like the kid's family says it did, & we'll never know otherwise, it'll leave a stain that'll stick, especially in NJ recruiting.
HCRE has a bad track record for these kind of things, and this will be viewed as just another example. Yes, we can rationalize it here as rabid fans, but most folks will read this story and think the program is a cesspool. Not a good look at all.

You have no credibility

Many of us have watched Randy Edsall for 10+ years. We have lots of narrative here. This is NOT a HCRE with a bad track record ... unless you want to make the leap from the Fiesta Bowl exit to here; which few of us will tie together. It aint about being a rabid fan. It is here - YOU - being a troll methinks.

My point is this ... I don't think we know the whole story. Something doesn't square. It is unusual sequence if we are getting this right.

 

[JMick]

You have no credibility

Many of us have watched Randy Edsall for 10+ years. We have lots of narrative here. This is NOT a HCRE with a bad track record ... unless you want to make the leap from the Fiesta Bowl exit to here; which few of us will tie together. It aint about being a rabid fan. It is here - YOU - being a troll methinks.

My point is this ... I don't think we know the whole story. Something doesn't square. It is unusual sequence if we are getting this right.

This is an experienced staff that understands (even if they don't like) HS politics. I'd be shocked if they truly handled it this poorly.

 

[Ldandy]

The most pathetic part of this...Rutgers and Penn State fans are now tweeting Chris Ash and James Franklin begging them to offer him a scholarship.

Not to pull a Chief, but these "casual" fans are so utterly clueless.

Penn State Fans? I can't even... If James Franklin offered a kid who's only other scholarship was to Rhode Island, Kim Kardashian's a_ _ wouldn't be the only thing that could "Break The Internet." Beaver Stadium would be a smoking crater, and dudes from Erie to Philadelphia would be ripping their own hair out of their heads like Larry Fine.

I don't like the idea that Edsall may have misled this kid or his family, although we'll only ever know one side of the story. Could be true, or it could be completely embellished. Either way RE has a job to do, and it is very much one where he will be judged harshly on results.

Unfortunately Diaco was the absolute worst thing to ever happen to Uconn. He truly set your program back, at times running it more like a bizarre experiment than a football team. His insanity made Nosferatu before him look like a solid hire. Diaco lived in a fantasy world where football players could get by on smarts, hustle, and want to. Ideally if you can recruit a handful of these guys you will likely find success. However if you recruit entire classes of these guys, you will find message board posters desperately trying to start Go Fund Me Pages to pay your buy out.

HCRE has little choice in what he can do over the next two classes. He needs to get the talent level way up. You aren't regularly winning games at The FBS Level with an FCS Roster. Apparently Brian Kelly was too busy turning three shades of purple on the sidelines to share this wisdom with his dopey protege.

 

[Stinger92860]

And you think somehow they would be unlikely to be even further upset at the kid being processed after a year?

It won't be a story in NJ at that time.

 

[UConnJim]

I think it is pretty simple. The coaches have studied the roster and see too many LBs, TEs, and big DEs. They can not take anymore at those positions unless they perfectly fit the new schemes. The roster needs more skilled position players, faster DEs and LBs, and OLmen.

After you factor in all the walk-ons that have been given scholarships, the coaching staff has some tough decisions on roster spots. For example, UConn has 4 QBs on scholarship on the roster (assuming Shirreffs stays) plus one commit. Clearly, UConn is bringing in another QB, probably a JUCO or grad transfer, so that is a scholarship that is needed.

 

[businesslawyer]

You have no credibility

Many of us have watched Randy Edsall for 10+ years. We have lots of narrative here. This is NOT a HCRE with a bad track record ... unless you want to make the leap from the Fiesta Bowl exit to here; which few of us will tie together. It aint about being a rabid fan. It is here - YOU - being a troll methinks.

My point is this ... I don't think we know the whole story. Something doesn't square. It is unusual sequence if we are getting this right.

Dean Wormer a troll? When he should have been keeping his wife from doing Otter?

 

[Northbound]

Caffery: Coach Diaco, did you order the Code Red?

"You're damn right I did"​

Now that is funny

 

[huskymedic]

Mark Blaudschun ‏@blauds 39m 39 minutes ago
Rankman gives a view of goings on Oregon and Jersey guy says Edsall not bad guy for taking away scholarship offer.
Edsall did nothing wrong

Edit note: I've eliminated paragraph spacing for brevity.

>>It was a simple transaction, but it created a fire storm. New UConn football coach Randy Edsall was in the headlines again on Tuesday when word filtered out that the Huskies had pulled a scholarship offer from a recruit who had verbally agreed to come to UConn last summer. The twitter world when viral with moral indignation about how Edsall was destroying the dream of a deserving athlete.

Let’s cut to the chase on this one very quickly.First, former UConn coach Bob Diaco offered the scholarship to Ryan Dickens, a 6-foot-2 inch 210 pound linebacker from Raritan, New Jersey, not Edsall.Diaco was fired last month for a variety of reasons, including a lack of enough talent to compete.<<

>>The nice thing to do, of course, would be for Edsall to honor the commitment, but that doesn’t win games if the player doesn’t fit the system. This is not flag or intramural football.

Edsall’s new defensive coordinator Billy Crocker came to UConn from Villanova. He also recruited New Jersey and was aware of what Dickens could and could not do. He DIDN’T recruit him at Villanova, which is an FCS school. When he came to UConn, he talked to Edsall and it was determined that Dickens would not be a good fit for the system and the level of competition UConn was playing.

Still, it is always a tough call to make. Edsall made it and explained that with the change in systems and coaches, UConn was going in another direction. Dickens was devastated. So was his family. But stuff happens. Edsall could have honored the scholarship and then a year from now, Dickens probably would have been talking about transferring because he wasn’t getting playing time.<<

>>In the final analysis this is a better situation for both UConn and for Ryan Dickens, who by every indication is a great kid, with ambitions to play college football. That can still happen. Just not at UConn and spare us the criticism of Edsall for being the heartless ogre. The same critics who are ripping Edsall now, would be criticizing him next fall if Dickens turned out to be a bust as a recruit. Edsall did the right thing-for UConn and for Ryan Dickens.<<

 

[businesslawyer]

Mark Blaudschun ‏@blauds 39m 39 minutes ago
Rankman gives a view of goings on Oregon and Jersey guy says Edsall not bad guy for taking away scholarship offer.
Edsall did nothing wrong

Edit note: I've eliminated paragraph spacing for brevity

>>It was a simple transaction, but it created a fire storm. New UConn football coach Randy Edsall was in the headlines again on Tuesday when word filtered out that the Huskies had pulled a scholarship offer from a recruit who had verbally agreed to come to UConn last summer. The twitter world when viral with moral indignation about how Edsall was destroying the dream of a deserving athlete.

Let’s cut to the chase on this one very quickly.First, former UConn coach Bob Diaco offered the scholarship to Ryan Dickens, a 6-foot-2 inch 210 pound linebacker from Raritan, New Jersey, not Edsall.Diaco was fired last month for a variety of reasons, including a lack of enough talent to compete.<<

>>The nice thing to do, of course, would be for Edsall to honor the commitment, but that doesn’t win games if the player doesn’t fit the system. This is not flag or intramural football.

Edsall’s new defensive coordinator Billy Crocker came to UConn from Villanova. He also recruited New Jersey and was aware of what Dickens could and could not do. He DIDN’T recruit him at Villanova, which is an FCS school. When he came to UConn, he talked to Edsall and it was determined that Dickens would not be a good fit for the system and the level of competition UConn was playing.

Still, it is always a tough call to make. Edsall made it and explained that with the change in systems and coaches, UConn was going in another direction. Dickens was devastated. So was his family. But stuff happens. Edsall could have honored the scholarship and then a year from now, Dickens probably would have been talking about transferring because he wasn’t getting playing time.<<

>>In the final analysis this is a better situation for both UConn and for Ryan Dickens, who by every indication is a great kid, with ambitions to play college football. That can still happen. Just not at UConn and spare us the criticism of Edsall for being the heartless ogre. The same critics who are ripping Edsall now, would be criticizing him next fall if Dickens turned out to be a bust as a recruit. Edsall did the right thing-for UConn and for Ryan Dickens.<<

So that is how a grown up sportswriter reacts to the story.

 

[UConnDan97]

I was against this at first. I'm on record here already as being against it. But all of the backlash from clowns to the left of me and jokers to the right make me want to punch some people in %&king mouth already!

F&%k 'em all...

 

[Ldandy]

Mark Blaudschun ‏@blauds 39m 39 minutes ago
Rankman gives a view of goings on Oregon and Jersey guy says Edsall not bad guy for taking away scholarship offer.
Edsall did nothing wrong

Edit note: I've eliminated paragraph spacing for brevity.

>>It was a simple transaction, but it created a fire storm. New UConn football coach Randy Edsall was in the headlines again on Tuesday when word filtered out that the Huskies had pulled a scholarship offer from a recruit who had verbally agreed to come to UConn last summer. The twitter world when viral with moral indignation about how Edsall was destroying the dream of a deserving athlete.

Let’s cut to the chase on this one very quickly.First, former UConn coach Bob Diaco offered the scholarship to Ryan Dickens, a 6-foot-2 inch 210 pound linebacker from Raritan, New Jersey, not Edsall.Diaco was fired last month for a variety of reasons, including a lack of enough talent to compete.<<

>>The nice thing to do, of course, would be for Edsall to honor the commitment, but that doesn’t win games if the player doesn’t fit the system. This is not flag or intramural football.

Edsall’s new defensive coordinator Billy Crocker came to UConn from Villanova. He also recruited New Jersey and was aware of what Dickens could and could not do. He DIDN’T recruit him at Villanova, which is an FCS school. When he came to UConn, he talked to Edsall and it was determined that Dickens would not be a good fit for the system and the level of competition UConn was playing.

Still, it is always a tough call to make. Edsall made it and explained that with the change in systems and coaches, UConn was going in another direction. Dickens was devastated. So was his family. But stuff happens. Edsall could have honored the scholarship and then a year from now, Dickens probably would have been talking about transferring because he wasn’t getting playing time.<<

>>In the final analysis this is a better situation for both UConn and for Ryan Dickens, who by every indication is a great kid, with ambitions to play college football. That can still happen. Just not at UConn and spare us the criticism of Edsall for being the heartless ogre. The same critics who are ripping Edsall now, would be criticizing him next fall if Dickens turned out to be a bust as a recruit. Edsall did the right thing-for UConn and for Ryan Dickens.<<

"Go play intramurals brother..."

Love,
Dan Hawkins

 

[Tucker]

The kid isn't going to get any FBS looks and may have damaged himself beyond that... coaches and schools will paint him and/or his family as trouble and pass. Quite frankly I wonder I'd this bodes well in that maybe we have less scholarships than we know because some of the new coaches are going bring in some of their own. Sucks to have bad press, sucks for the kid and family but they really should have known this risk was real once Bobby was canned. And by the way his coaches I'm sure knew the risk was real

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Of all people Blauds gets this right.

 

[Exit 4]

So that is how a grown up sportswriter reacts to the story.

Yeah, but the crumbling newspaper industry has forced out all the more expensive people with wisdom and leaving behind millennials reporters without supervision. Millennials really only know how to write "outrage" and "injustice" stories.

 

[2Infinity]

Mark Blaudschun ‏@blauds 39m 39 minutes ago

Let’s cut to the chase on this one very quickly.First, former UConn coach Bob Diaco offered the scholarship to Ryan Dickens, a 6-foot-2 inch 210 pound linebacker from Raritan, New Jersey, not Edsall. Diaco was fired last month for a variety of reasons, including a lack of enough talent to compete.<<

...spare us the criticism of Edsall for being the heartless ogre. The same critics who are ripping Edsall now, would be criticizing him next fall if Dickens turned out to be a bust as a recruit. Edsall did the right thing-for UConn and for Ryan Dickens.<<

Finally...a reasonable reaction! ...and thankfully he's a Jersey Guy, which can only help us at this point

 

[JMick]

Yeah, but the crumbling newspaper industry has forced out all the more expensive people with wisdom and leaving behind millennials reporters without supervision. Millennials really only know how to write "outrage" and "injustice" stories.

take it to the cesspool old man

 

[FDNY99]

After taking this all in today I have come to this conclusion. Ryan Dickens was like any HS football player who wants to play in college...he dreamed of playing at the FBS level. He received some mail from some P-5 schools like Northwestern, Syracuse and RU..maybe camps there. Diaco offers him a scholarship despite no other G-5 or P-5 offers and he quickly accepts it. Now a coaching change happens...the new DC was the DC at FCS Villanova and his system uses LB's that are quick and have speed. He looks at film and decides that the speed isn't there to play LB...not big enough to play DE. RE asks Lashlee if he wants him. Lashlee looks at film and doesn't have a place for him. There isn't a need for a LS so RE has to make the phone call. In the mean time the recruiting period has reopened and the kid still doesn't have any P-5 or G-5 offers. Monmouth had called right before RE and made one last attempt to swing him...he had said no. Now URI calls with a offer...and according to this article in the Asbury Press (HS Football: Raritan's Dickens in scramble mode after UConn pulls offer)
Elon, Syracuse, Fordham, the University of New Hampshire, Columbia, Princeton, Dartmouth & other CAA schools have contacted him. Outside of Syracuse who there hasn't been any confirmation of giving him an offer those are all FCS schools. Funny thing if Ryan was a FBS level LB then a offer should've been there from Nebraska the day Diaco was hired as DC. This says to me that Ryan Dickens is a FCS level player..which is nothing to shake a stick at what so ever! Diaco's offer was the ONLY FBS offer he got and he took it. Now he is looking at playing at a school where his talent level fits. There are 2 sides to this story and the truth falls somewhere in the middle as usual. Unfortunately ONLY 1 side is being heard in this whole saga...and they can say what ever they want.
Edit Note: No offers from Temple, ECU, Navy, RU, BC or UMass. These are the schools we should be recruiting against to field a competitive team talent wise in the AAC.

 

[Santini35]

Yeah, but the crumbling newspaper industry has forced out all the more expensive people with wisdom and leaving behind millennials reporters without supervision. Millennials really only know how to write "outrage" and "injustice" stories.

TIL that Paul Finebaum and Bruce Feldman are millennials, thought I was at the upper end of that age group, guess not.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

Yeah, but the crumbling newspaper industry has forced out all the more expensive people with wisdom and leaving behind millennials reporters without supervision. Millennials really only know how to write "outrage" and "injustice" stories.

Got a problem? Blame millenials en masse!