Ryan Puglisi - QB - Avon Old Farms

[Rich]

I know nothing about this kid....apparently he's the #27 QB in 24/7's 2024 class, just gave a verbal to Kirby Smart, and Saban is sniffing around as well. I believe he's actually from MA, but the point is he's a NE regional prospect no matter how you look at it.

He's presently a 3 star but I'd assume if the heavy hitters from the 'It Just Means More' conference are interested he'll rise from that ranking pretty rapidly......

I thought that one of Mora's goals was to tighten up the program's relationship with CT prep schools. This would have a been a nice pull.

-Sigh-. Maybe one day we won't be aced out of these sort of players by the big(ger) boys.

 

[huskymedic]

I thought that one of Mora's goals was to tighten up the program's relationship with CT prep schools. This would have a been a nice pull.

He held/holds a UConn offer…

L>R:Avon Old Farm’s QB Ryan Puglisi (2024) and WR/DB Jackson Harper (2023). Both hold UConn offers.

(WR/DB Jackson Harper is committed to UConn)

 

[JohnFSilver]

Kids gonna go where they gonna go. He isn’t From CT. His coach is Jon Wholley. Sure they will get in the room. He isn’t going to Syracuse, penn state, bc or Rutgers either.

You wanna lay the foundation at getting them on the rebound .

 

[superjohn]

I know nothing about this kid....apparently he's the #27 QB in 24/7's 2024 class, just gave a verbal to Kirby Smart, and Saban is sniffing around as well. I believe he's actually from MA, but the point is he's a NE regional prospect no matter how you look at it.

He's presently a 3 star but I'd assume if the heavy hitters from the 'It Just Means More' conference are interested he'll rise from that ranking pretty rapidly......

I thought that one of Mora's goals was to tighten up the program's relationship with CT prep schools. This would have a been a nice pull.

-Sigh-. Maybe one day we won't be aced out of these sort of players by the big(ger) boys.

Mora just got the #38 ranked QB in the country in his first offseason. It's not exactly easy getting a local kid when Georgia and Alabama want him.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I know nothing about this kid....apparently he's the #27 QB in 24/7's 2024 class, just gave a verbal to Kirby Smart, and Saban is sniffing around as well. I believe he's actually from MA, but the point is he's a NE regional prospect no matter how you look at it.

He's presently a 3 star but I'd assume if the heavy hitters from the 'It Just Means More' conference are interested he'll rise from that ranking pretty rapidly......

I thought that one of Mora's goals was to tighten up the program's relationship with CT prep schools. This would have a been a nice pull.

-Sigh-. Maybe one day we won't be aced out of these sort of players by the big(ger) boys.

"Tighten up the program's relationships with CT prep schools" and beat Nick Saban head to head for talent are two VERY different things.

 

[Rich]

"Tighten up the program's relationships with CT prep schools" and beat Nick Saban head to head for talent are two VERY different things.

I don't know, man....is it? Like, if I were in Mora's shoes (and am not, never played the sport much less coached it) I'd almost....approach this from an ignorance is bliss perspective. Why not go for one or two five stars? Not just offers either. Spend a LOT of time on the kid, even if you know the chances are infinitesimal that he signs.

The way that I figure is, from my younger days its like chasing unattainable women. You know you're gonna lose out, BUT.....you also never know for SURE, until you know FOR SURE (or you get publicly humiliated, whichever comes first).

I get that we're still in the, hell, low three star average rage target wise until things improve. But you miss 100 percent of the shots ya don't take.

And in this case, all it would take is one.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

I don't know, man....is it? Like, if I were in Mora's shoes (and am not, never played the sport much less coached it) I'd almost....approach this from an ignorance is bliss perspective. Why not go for one or two five stars? Not just offers either. Spend a LOT of time on the kid, even if you know the chances are infinitesimal that he signs.

The way that I figure is, from my younger days its like chasing unattainable women. You know you're gonna lose out, BUT.....you also never know for SURE, until you know FOR SURE (or you get publicly humiliated, whichever comes first).

I get that we're still in the, hell, low three star average rage target wise until things improve. But you miss 100 percent of the shots ya don't take.

And in this case, all it would take is one.

Because recruiting takes time and money and both are finite resources (the latter, much more so than at an SEC school). I'm not saying never shoot your shot, I'm saying if an Alabama comes in and it becomes very clear UConn is out of the running, Mora would be doing the program a disservice by continuing to allocate those finite resources. I'm not speaking about this situation in particular, just recruiting as a whole.

 

[UConnJim]

I think this is his first season at Avon Old Farms as he is from Massachusetts and played at Lawrence Academy in Groton, Mass., so there was no real connection to Connecticut until this fall.

If you look at Georgia's QB recruiting, they tend to stockpile talent and some leave. Puglisi is rated the #27 QB in the 2024 247 composite, but Georgia is also the favorite for the #2 QB in 2024. Plus, they have the #4 QB from 2021 and the #7 QB from 2022. So, there could be movement on the QB roster over time.

UConn should recruit kids like Puglisi as the top P5 schools will stockpile QBs and let them battle it out to be the starter. Some QBs will transfer and that is the opportunity for a school like UConn.

 

[huskymedic]

Why not go for one or two five stars? Not just offers either. Spend a LOT of time on the kid, even if you know the chances are infinitesimal that he signs.

I get that we're still in the, hell, low three star average rage target wise until things improve. But you miss 100 percent of the shots ya don't take.

And in this case, all it would take is one.

Like this kid? They are chasing 4*/5* kids on both sides of the ball:

 

[ZooCougar]

I don't know, man....is it? Like, if I were in Mora's shoes (and am not, never played the sport much less coached it) I'd almost....approach this from an ignorance is bliss perspective. Why not go for one or two five stars? Not just offers either. Spend a LOT of time on the kid, even if you know the chances are infinitesimal that he signs.

The way that I figure is, from my younger days its like chasing unattainable women. You know you're gonna lose out, BUT.....you also never know for SURE, until you know FOR SURE (or you get publicly humiliated, whichever comes first).

I get that we're still in the, hell, low three star average rage target wise until things improve. But you miss 100 percent of the shots ya don't take.

And in this case, all it would take is one.

Umm. Did you not see the post in this very thread of the player in question wearing a UConn uniform? And a player from this very same school already committed

Seems like Mora has stepped up engagement in this area. We never would have gotten a kid like that on a visit before.

We also already have one AOF QB on the roster and he played last season.

 

[CCSUblue]

"you miss 100 percent of the shots ya don't take.

Wayne Gretzky"
-Michael Scott

 

[CCSUblue]

Ellis Robinson IV is a 6-1 170lb WR/DB attending Iona Prep in New York. Other offers from Arizona, Georgia, Miami (FL), Ole Miss, Penn State, Pitt, Rutgers, Syracuse, UMass, Utah State, WVA and BC.

Highlights

Other 5 star offers according to 247. There is another, Ryan Wingo, WR from St.Louis that I couldn't locate, but is on medics list of offers.

 

[CCSUblue]

Another 5⭐ offer

Khalil “KJ” Bolden is a 6-2 180lb DB/WR/ATH from Buford High School in Buford Georgia.

Highlights

 

[Patman]

relax ladies and gentleman. Keeping a truly elite anything in connecticut is a very hard task. These guys have dreams. Maybe a few of them will be about taking the hometown team to glory. Others are going to say "god, whatever they got going at school X must be amazing" and they want to be a part of that.

Mora should be working to improve the ties around the area but he will never be perfect.

 

[shizzle787]

relax ladies and gentleman. Keeping a truly elite anything in connecticut is a very hard task. These guys have dreams. Maybe a few of them will be about taking the hometown team to glory. Others are going to say "god, whatever they got going at school X must be amazing" and they want to be a part of that.

Mora should be working to improve the ties around the area but he will never be perfect.

There are a few kids who grew up UConn fans who will be 4/5* recruits. We need to land them.

 

[Slick]

"Tighten up the program's relationships with CT prep schools" and beat Nick Saban head to head for talent are two VERY different things.

I think Miami hurricane QB is from Ct. He is making hundred of thousand dollars . I am not sure Puglisi could make that much from uconn

 

[Cuser]

When building a program, you got to start at the foundation and find kids who fit the system.

Coach Mora is experienced and will target the kids who fit his systems.

Once wins come, then you can start landing those higher ranked kids, who also happen to fit the system.

It is a process

 

[Waquoit]

It also seems that Mora isn't afraid to take a flyer on a kid if it appears it might lead to future good will. Something other coaches seemed to take pride in not doing.

 

[ZooCougar]

I think Miami hurricane QB is from Ct. He is making hundred of thousand dollars . I am not sure Puglisi could make that much from uconn

I don’t know if he is from CT, but he went to Suffield Academy which is high level football on the Prep School side of things.

 

[huskymedic]

I think Miami hurricane QB is from Ct.

I don’t know if he is from CT, but he went to Suffield Academy which is high level football on the Prep School side of things.

Van Dyke is from Glastonbury and transferred to Suffield Academy after his freshman year.

 

[ZooCougar]

OP is a classic case of: “well gosh I haven’t been paying any attention to what’s going on so I will just assume this hasn’t happened and I’m the first one to ever think of it”

 

[Rich]

OP is a classic case of: “well gosh I haven’t been paying any attention to what’s going on so I will just assume this hasn’t happened and I’m the first one to ever think of it”

OP is a classic example of someone who knows there's an ABSOLUTE DIFFERENCE between sending a kid an offer and RECRUITING THE KID TO JOIN YOUR PROGRAM. Vastly different levels of effort and intent-most of the highly ranked prospects get hundreds of mailings/social posts from every school with a viable football program. Doesn't mean they're all serious-more of a box checking exercise to gain publicity for the fact that program X 'extended an offer'.

And I'm not convinced we're going all in on the higher ranked kids. Which is fine, I suppose, for now....Mora should be focusing on building a baseline roster that can compete with teams that are maybe 50-80 in the country. That's ambitious enough for the time being. Still in all though it does not change the fact that there's a frustration level with seeing these kids in our backyard choose to attend 'name' P5 schools and not even really giving UCONN a serious look. You want to argue that the instability in Storrs has contributed to this, I cannot go against that because I would have probably LOL'd at a UCONN offer for that reason alone. However we have to at some point draw a line in the sand and hopefully Mora is That Guy.

 

[ZooCougar]

OP is a classic example of someone who knows there's an ABSOLUTE DIFFERENCE between sending a kid an offer and RECRUITING THE KID TO JOIN YOUR PROGRAM. Vastly different levels of effort and intent-most of the highly ranked prospects get hundreds of mailings/social posts from every school with a viable football program. Doesn't mean they're all serious-more of a box checking exercise to gain publicity for the fact that program X 'extended an offer'.

And I'm not convinced we're going all in on the higher ranked kids. Which is fine, I suppose, for now....Mora should be focusing on building a baseline roster that can compete with teams that are maybe 50-80 in the country. That's ambitious enough for the time being. Still in all though it does not change the fact that there's a frustration level with seeing these kids in our backyard choose to attend 'name' P5 schools and not even really giving UCONN a serious look. You want to argue that the instability in Storrs has contributed to this, I cannot go against that because I would have probably LOL'd at a UCONN offer for that reason alone. However we have to at some point draw a line in the sand and hopefully Mora is That Guy.

Pure gold.

 

[Buffett10]

OP is a classic example of someone who knows there's an ABSOLUTE DIFFERENCE between sending a kid an offer and RECRUITING THE KID TO JOIN YOUR PROGRAM. Vastly different levels of effort and intent-most of the highly ranked prospects get hundreds of mailings/social posts from every school with a viable football program. Doesn't mean they're all serious-more of a box checking exercise to gain publicity for the fact that program X 'extended an offer'.

And I'm not convinced we're going all in on the higher ranked kids. Which is fine, I suppose, for now....Mora should be focusing on building a baseline roster that can compete with teams that are maybe 50-80 in the country. That's ambitious enough for the time being. Still in all though it does not change the fact that there's a frustration level with seeing these kids in our backyard choose to attend 'name' P5 schools and not even really giving UCONN a serious look. You want to argue that the instability in Storrs has contributed to this, I cannot go against that because I would have probably LOL'd at a UCONN offer for that reason alone. However we have to at some point draw a line in the sand and hopefully Mora is That Guy.

You do realize the kid was on campus multiple times right?

 

[FfldCntyFan]

OP is a classic example of someone who knows there's an ABSOLUTE DIFFERENCE between sending a kid an offer and RECRUITING THE KID TO JOIN YOUR PROGRAM. Vastly different levels of effort and intent-most of the highly ranked prospects get hundreds of mailings/social posts from every school with a viable football program. Doesn't mean they're all serious-more of a box checking exercise to gain publicity for the fact that program X 'extended an offer'.

And I'm not convinced we're going all in on the higher ranked kids. Which is fine, I suppose, for now....Mora should be focusing on building a baseline roster that can compete with teams that are maybe 50-80 in the country. That's ambitious enough for the time being. Still in all though it does not change the fact that there's a frustration level with seeing these kids in our backyard choose to attend 'name' P5 schools and not even really giving UCONN a serious look. You want to argue that the instability in Storrs has contributed to this, I cannot go against that because I would have probably LOL'd at a UCONN offer for that reason alone. However we have to at some point draw a line in the sand and hopefully Mora is That Guy.

I thought you knew nothing of this kid.

One thing we need to realize is that losing a local HS football to Georgia, where both programs fit today, in men's basketball this would be similar to a stud kid from Concord or Manchester choosing Kentucky over UNH.