Sio Moore predicts a great season

[pj]

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigeast/post/_/id/34375/qa-uconn-linebacker-sio-moore

there's no reason why we shouldn't have the top defense, if not one of the top defenses, in the country and Big East.....

We are going to be better on all three levels, the line, linebackers and defensive backs....

you can tell by how our offseason has gone, nobody is taking things lightly. Everybody is finding a way to get an edge. When you're around the team and you see how everybody is taking this offseason and how everybody is working, you have no choice but to be confident and to know we’re on the brink. It's there. If we keep working, the sky's the limit, I really believe that.

 

[SubbaBub]

He sounds excited, which makes me excited. Hope his coverage game is ready to go.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[mattp]

i think i have to agree with him, not just for the usual homer reasons either. i think it's easy to justify how good our defense will be so i won't bother and then when you couple that with a legitimate passing game we're definitely going to be in the hunt for the BE. this is going to be a great season gentlemen!

 

[Dann]

if between whitmer and our new wrs we can develop just a average bcs passing attack, we have the chance to be special this year. anything above average on O and this team may just shock the out of the football world come winter.

 

[rich1122]

I always said this. If we can have a top 50 passing attack, we will win the Big East every time.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

i think i have to agree with him, not just for the usual homer reasons either. i think it's easy to justify how good our defense will be so i won't bother and then when you couple that with a legitimate passing game we're definitely going to be in the hunt for the BE. this is going to be a great season gentlemen!

I hope to God you're right. But as far as the improved passing game is concerned, I'll have to see it to believe it. A year ago at this time I thought the passing game would improve based on the assumption that it couldn't possibly be worse.

You can make equally compelling arguments for a 4 win and 10 win season this year.

 

[pj]

I hope to God you're right. But as far as the improved passing game is concerned, I'll have to see it to believe it. A year ago at this time I thought the passing game would improve based on the assumption that it couldn't possibly be worse.

You can make equally compelling arguments for a 4 win and 10 win season this year.

You can't persuade me that with substantial improvements to personnel on both sides of the ball, plus an extra year in the system, there's even a weak argument for fewer wins this year than last year.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

You can't persuade me that with substantial improvements to personnel on both sides of the ball, plus an extra year in the system, there's even a weak argument for fewer wins this year than last year.

I don't think we're a 4 win team. Gun to my head I'd say 7-5 right now. Who is the improved personnel on both sides of the ball you're referring to? I see a lot of talented but unproven players. I hope CW is the real deal or at minimum it's a major upgrade from last year. But that's far from a given.

 

[pj]

I don't think we're a 4 win team. Gun to my head I'd say 7-5 right now. Who is the improved personnel on both sides of the ball you're referring to? I see a lot of talented but unproven players. I hope CW is the real deal or at minimum it's a major upgrade from last year. But that's far from a given.

Worst case we have Johnny McEntee with another year of experience. If CW is playing, he's an improvement over a guy who's improved over last year.

Even apart from QB, having 3 solid RBs with McCombs more experienced and older, having depth at WR, TE, and FB, and an o-line with more experience in the system is worth something to the offense.

 

[NEforceUConn]

This will be a special season 10 - 2 .

 

[Dann]

Worst case we have Johnny McEntee with another year of experience. If CW is playing, he's an improvement over a guy who's improved over last year.

Even apart from QB, having 3 solid RBs with McCombs more experienced and older, having depth at WR, TE, and FB, and an o-line with more experience in the system is worth something to the offense.

this is my feeling also. i think the d will be as good or better than last year. on o i see it like this.
qb- if its whitmer then we have something with him that could be a couple years of a solid qb. if its jmac then the worst case is a improved jmac from last year as in not going to a knee or throwing the ball up for grabs at times.
rb- we have lyle and i expect another great year from him. but we also have depth there now it seems. hopefully lyle learned blocking schemes better becuase he wasn't that good at picking them up last year.
wr-kash gone hurts but the young guys are now year 2 in the system. philips looked good and if mcneal gives us something which i think he can then we have a legit wr corp. mcneal saw the field briefly at clemson, so we know that at worst hes a good player who can earn minutes.
oline- if healthy i hope for a improved year scheme blocking. if not healthy then this could be the major problem. whitmer seemed to get rid of the ball quick in the spring game and he looked good running a couple times also. he may have just good enough pocket pres and wheels where the oline issues wouldn't hurt us like they did last year with jmac at qb.

i'm expecting a big year. the best the program has ever had. we have guys on all types of pre season watch lists and all team lists. if this group puts it together i think we can go bcs bowling. @lville will be the game to win if we can in fact get out of the gate hot and show out. the end result would be our best nfl draft yet next spring. huge momentum for this program and a interesting summer next year where for the first time in forever we will be talking about how our defense will rebuild somewhat and how good our O coming back will be.

 

[UConnDan97]

I'm expecting a big year also, and 13-0 is not out of the question. Unfortunately, 13-0 may not equal national championship, but 13-0.....man, I like the sound of that!!!

 

[SAMCRO]

I go back and forth on how this season could go. I could see anywhere from 4-8 to 10+ wins. I think we're gonna miss Reyes A LOT this year. He was a big reason our LB's were able to make some plays. We will be better on the edge, at LB, and in the secondary though.
I'll "believe it when I see it" when it comes to having an even average passing game.

Should be an exciting year. Can't wait!

 

[huskymedic]

This will be a special season 10 - 2 .

... And we still won't make Top 25 because we are in the Big East.

(sorry that was suppose to be my inside voice).

 

[metsfan2323]

... And we still won't make Top 25 because we are in the Big East.

(sorry that was suppose to be my inside voice).

Tell your foolish inside voice that a team from CUSA finished in the top 20 last year. Houston also had a much weaker schedule then our 2012 schedule.

10 -2 will probably have us in the top 15. 11-1 will put us in the top 8. 12 - 0 top 3.

 

[UConnDan97]

Should have attached the sarcasm meter for clarity:

It seems like yours goes to 11.....

 

[huskymedic]

It seems like yours goes to 11.....

 

[UConnDan97]

Fine! Yours goes to 25! Why didn't you just make the top level 10 and make 10 louder??

 

[UConnDan97]

Just in case everyone didn't know that I was ALSO being sarcastic:

 

[mattp]

I go back and forth on how this season could go. I could see anywhere from 4-8 to 10+ wins. I think we're gonna miss Reyes A LOT this year. He was a big reason our LB's were able to make some plays. We will be better on the edge, at LB, and in the secondary though.
I'll "believe it when I see it" when it comes to having an even average passing game.

Should be an exciting year. Can't wait!

i think we'll miss Reyes but we have good replacements coming in at DT and i think overall our defense will be quite a bit improved if for no other reason than we return most of our players and they've had another year in the system. when you consider the average amount of turnover on a college roster from year to year, replacing a stud DT is not that big of a deal. i think even without Reyes our Dline will be an overall strength.

offensively our QB and WRs both look to be improved and i think Deleone did a great job of moving the ball with McEntee last year considering what we had and i think a step up in QB talent will yield much improved results.

mix in with that the fact that WVU has been replaced with Temple and i think we do have our best shot at a 10 win season that we've had since joining the Big East. we'll need to play our best to beat a couple of teams on our schedule, but they're all very beatable.

 

[rich1122]

We will improve everywhere, but the OL is thin and positions still need to be finalized. Jimmy Bennett - we need him healthy the entire season. Deleone has said that we need him and I agree.

 

[UCFBfan]

I think this is our last chance for a season or two to have a shot to win the conference. I'm not referring to who is coming in next year but to the fact that the majority of our defense is made up of seniors. Our entire D-Line, including a few backups are seniors and our two CB's are seniors. The time is now and honestly, they need to look towards the offense for that help. If Whitmer can be what he showed in the Spring Game than winning 9-10 games is a real possibility. If it's not this season it might have to wait another year or two. I know we have good kids coming in but to expect them to perform at the same level we expect this year's D to perform at will be tough. It's this year or bust it seems! I'm expecting 9-10 wins but honestly feel that the MD and NC St game will let us know which direction this season will go. If we win one and stay close with NC St I think we're in good shape. Finally, kicking is going to be huge this year! I think we're all going to miss Teggart and the safety we felt when he came in to kick a 35+ yarder. Not sure how the kid replacing him is but I'm sure there will be some nail-biting moments, especially since UConn has had the habit of playing insanely close games the past two-three years.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

I'm just happy we are talking football here.

FWIW, HFD mentioned that we now have some depth at RB, and actually that is one of my big concerns. Off the top of my head, the only other RB on the roster that has any carries is Hypolite, and it's less than 10 I believe.

I'm cautiously optimistic. If all the positives we're talking about here come to fruition it could be a great season. Gotta stay healthy on the OL. Really need Masters and Bennett healthy.

 

[mattp]

I'm just happy we are talking football here..

+1000

RB depth is a little bit of a concern with me too, but it's worlds better than our situation going into last year

 

[Excalibur]

It's reasonable to think that we'll be better at DE, LB, S, CB, WR, QB and RB this year. We'll probably not be as good on the OL, DT and K spots. The defense overall should be better, and it wasn't that bad last year given the complete 180-degree change in philosophy. That should translate into an improved record, but there is also the chance that the OL becomes a serious liability.