So are we on schedule?

[Exit 4]

It is fair to say DanO was the only QB he recruited from HS that developed under him. The nexr closesr was probably Endres. For someone who has been a HC as long as he has that is a terrible track record. After DO, his next best QBs were Lorenzen a Juco, and Frazer a transfer. After that Pindell another Juco. You have to work hard to struggle that mightily with one position.

This complete lack of success identifying and developing HS QBs is probably well noted by our competitors on the recruiting trail to negatively recruit against us. Meanwhile it’s something the media and a large part of the UConn fan base has over looked.

 

[huskysupporter]

While i don't think anything "dooms a program forever", i also think giving him another year is practical. The roster is starting to resemble an FBS squad. They were very bad in this regard when Edsall got here. The biggest issue i have he hasn't come close to identifying an answer at QB, and he struggled with this his 1st time around as well.

honest question - how does this roster resemble an FBS squad? It is devoid of talent save for a few areas.

 

[huskysupporter]

This complete lack of success identifying and developing HS QBs is probably well noted by our competitors on the recruiting trail to negatively recruit against us. Meanwhile it’s something the media and a large part of the UConn fan base has over looked.

I think its more why would a QB come here when we run such a vanilla offense? Run a modern day offense and you might get a very good transfer qb. They want opportunity to play in an offense that will allow them to
Air it out.

 

[Exit 4]

I think its more why would a QB come here when we run such a vanilla offense? Run a modern day offense and you might get a very good transfer qb. They want opportunity to play in an offense that will allow them to
Air it out.

Yeah- well you get multiple negative things to say to a prospective HS QB when recruiting against us.

To be fair though, we do throw the ball- we just don’t get completions or have WR route trees that generate a lot of YAC.

And how can we- we struggle mightily against the blitz and in OL pass defense.

 

[noeynox]

honest question - how does this roster resemble an FBS squad? It is devoid of talent save for a few areas.

Look at the dlinemen. Diaco never brought in kids like Jones, Ugwak, Pace, etc. None of these freshman and sophomores were allowed to redshirt due to necessity but none should have played so early either.

 

[Exit 4]

Look at the dlinemen. Diaco never brought in kids like Jones, Ugwak, Pace, etc. None of these freshman and sophomores were allowed to redshirt due to necessity but none should have played so early either.

UConn football “talent” trends by units
DL- trending up... but unfortunately not one young DL has shown flashes of anything +. Sorry, T Jones and others are well short of two deep material on most FBS rosters. Watts has the speed and size- need strength.. Kevon is a nice player. I think Harris should go back to LB.
LB - flat lining. Morgan is a good transfer. Mitchell has the speed- so something is there with him.... rest of the unit is not good enough
CB - small upward trend.... I like Paul who looks like a player at times. This unit is still far from being at least FBS average. I wish they will stop exposing Bell and let that kid develop on the practice field.
S - flat lining - JuCo Harrell was an upgrade over the current roster and his absence the last few games is noticeable. Coyle is an enigma - can’t tell what his talent level is with the mess around him. The rest aren’t nearly good enough.
OL - flat lining - the same C- unit that has been here for a while now. No one is improved at all. I think we are particularly bad up the center and easy to overwhelm.
WR- upward trend... Ross, Drayton, etc etc etc seem decent and nearing the FBS average squad
RB - flat lining - not one person can explain the over commitment to mensah by Edsall. Mensah by all accounts is a great kid and deserves a lot of touches - but there are other RBs and they need more than the last 2 mins of a blowout.
TE- flatlining or even down. No depth here... Edsall has not gotten the job done when you are in year three with a roster with one RS J TE, one senior TE conversion project and a undersized true Freshman.
QB - flat over the past eight years (ie low), down in the near term (2019 vs 2018) - As discussed above Edsall 1.0 only developed one HS QB to true success. Seems that is repeating itself. Randy should look in the mirror and rethink what his process is to identify and develop HS QBs. <--I edited this statement for clarity/correction.
Kickers - flat or down- my god why has the quest for kickers been such a challenge?

 

[noeynox]

Its just hard to expect 2 star, lightly recruited players to be impact players right away. Ideally they are not seeing the field until their redshirt sophomore years. Here they are hitting the field as true freshmen and we are asking why none are having significant impact in games.

 

[Life Is Good]

UConn football “talent” trends by units
DL- trending up... but unfortunately not one young DL has shown flashes of anything +. Sorry, T Jones and others are well short of two deep material on any seven roster.
LB - flat lining. Morgan is a good transfer. Mitchell has the speed- so something is there with him.... rest of the unit is not good enough
CB - small upward trend.... I like Paul who looks like a player at times. This unit is still far from being at least FBS average. I wish they will stop exposing Bell and let that kid develop on the practice field.
S - flat lining - JuCo Harrell was an upgrade over the current roster and his absence the last few games is noticeable. Coyle is an enigma - can’t tell what his talent level is with the mess around him. The rest aren’t nearly good enough.
OL - flat lining - the same C- unit that has been here for a while now. No one is improved at all. I think we are particularly bad up the center and easy to overwhelm.
WR- upward trend... Ross, Drayton, etc etc etc seem decent and nearing the FBS average squad
RB - flat lining - not one person can explain the over commitment to mensah by Edsall. Mensah by all accounts is a great kid and deserves a lot of touches - but there are other RBs and they need more than the last 2 mins of a blowout.
TE- flatlining or even down. No depth here... Edsall has not gotten the job done when you are in year three with a roster with one RS J TE, one senior TE conversion project and a undersized true Freshman.
QB - flat - As discussed above Edsall 1.0 only developed one HS QB to true success. Seems that is repeating itself. Randy should look in the mirror and rethink what his process is to identify and develop HS QBs.
Kickers - flat or down- my god why has the quest for kickers been such a challenge?

You are pretty accurate in your analysis especially when it comes to the QB’s. RE has got to pick a QB1 at camp. He cannot wait until one week before the season starts because the team needs leadership and consistency. More importantly he needs to base his decision on talent and not a gut feeling or an it factor. That seems to be his problem from day one.

He also needs to find a qualified QB coach that will develop these guys to play at the next level. If Randy continues down this path you will never get a good quarterback to come here.

 

[Northbound]

UConn football “talent” trends by units
DL- trending up... but unfortunately not one young DL has shown flashes of anything +. Sorry, T Jones and others are well short of two deep material on any seven roster.
LB - flat lining. Morgan is a good transfer. Mitchell has the speed- so something is there with him.... rest of the unit is not good enough
CB - small upward trend.... I like Paul who looks like a player at times. This unit is still far from being at least FBS average. I wish they will stop exposing Bell and let that kid develop on the practice field.
S - flat lining - JuCo Harrell was an upgrade over the current roster and his absence the last few games is noticeable. Coyle is an enigma - can’t tell what his talent level is with the mess around him. The rest aren’t nearly good enough.
OL - flat lining - the same C- unit that has been here for a while now. No one is improved at all. I think we are particularly bad up the center and easy to overwhelm.
WR- upward trend... Ross, Drayton, etc etc etc seem decent and nearing the FBS average squad
RB - flat lining - not one person can explain the over commitment to mensah by Edsall. Mensah by all accounts is a great kid and deserves a lot of touches - but there are other RBs and they need more than the last 2 mins of a blowout.
TE- flatlining or even down. No depth here... Edsall has not gotten the job done when you are in year three with a roster with one RS J TE, one senior TE conversion project and a undersized true Freshman.
QB - flat - As discussed above Edsall 1.0 only developed one HS QB to true success. Seems that is repeating itself. Randy should look in the mirror and rethink what his process is to identify and develop HS QBs.
Kickers - flat or down- my god why has the quest for kickers been such a challenge?

Amen

I hear the roster, the roster, the roster - come on the guy has had a chance to recruit. Part of his and his staffs job is to SELL the program to kids and HS coaches. Good coaches aren't just good tacticians, but good recruiters. That will mean pulling in some surprise kids i just don’t think he’s doing that.

It is NOT an easy job, but he’s failing at doing it.

 

[Exit 4]

You are pretty accurate in your analysis especially when it comes to the QB’s. RE has got to pick a QB1 at camp. He cannot wait until one week before the season starts because the team needs leadership and consistency. More importantly he needs to base his decision on talent and not a gut feeling or an it factor. That seems to be his problem from day one.

He also needs to find a qualified QB coach that will develop these guys to play at the next level. If Randy continues down this path you will never get a good quarterback to come here.

Definitely agree that a real QB coach is important here

 

[BlueDogs]

It is fair to say DanO was the only QB he recruited from HS that developed under him. The nexr closesr was probably Endres. For someone who has been a HC as long as he has that is a terrible track record. After DO, his next best QBs were Lorenzen a Juco, and Frazer a transfer. After that Pindell another Juco. You have to work hard to struggle that mightily with one position.

He had plenty of talent to work with and if you all recall he managed to terrorize them into shivering blobs of indecision. Hesitant, inaccurate, happy feet. My view is he is so damn risk adverse it gets instilled and drilled into their heads. It takes an exceptionally mature and confident kid to not turn into a head-case under Captain Queeg .

 

[Waquoit]

Before the Indiana game Edsall told the broadcast crew we were ahead of schedule. True.

The culture is really something now. Edsall almost has it completely changed.

Edsall has always been full of it.

 

[Pudge]

What exactly is the schedule? The QB position, a FB team's most important one, is in worse shape than when Randy got here. As this year closes out and we head into year 4, we don't even know if we have anyone that can really play the position. Z misses way too many open guys. His footwork is an awful mess. Beaudry i doubt will be here next year and Krajewski got hurt the 1st time he got extensive run.

I've been big on bringing Randy back for a 4th year, but you need a magnifying glass to see any sort of tangible progress. He has been worse than wacky Bob.

I don’t believe this for a second. Zergiotis is where you’d think he’d be - shaky after showing gifted talent early on. Defenses have overwhelmed him & he’s rattled. If he’s a value, he will come back in 2020 strong. Krajewski showed great potential. Injuries happen. And Senecal ... I’ve watched his film recently is truly talented. Beaudry is a miss. Big kid that is just utilitarian.

you think this is better with a Bryant Shireffs that we got lucky on & flotsam?

Pindell, I’ll remind you, looked extraordinarily unproductive early in his first games.

 

[CL82]

Who can possibly stomach a 5 year plans to get to .500?

This guy.

If you are telling me we'll be bowl eligible (although won't get one as an independent) in year 5. Sign me up now. That's a world away from our current sheet show and puts us in a position to hire a decent coach to build the program. In all honesty if that's all REv2 achieves here, he deserves our enthusiastic thanks.

 

[Palatine]

I think its more why would a QB come here when we run such a vanilla offense? Run a modern day offense and you might get a very good transfer qb. They want opportunity to play in an offense that will allow them to
Air it out.

Every now and then even a blind squirrel finds a nut. This is exactly right. Kids want to play where they can run a high octane offense not had off inside over and over.

 

[noeynox]

I don’t believe this for a second. Zergiotis is where you’d think he’d be - shaky after showing gifted talent early on. Defenses have overwhelmed him & he’s rattled. If he’s a value, he will come back in 2020 strong. Krajewski showed great potential. Injuries happen. And Senecal ... I’ve watched his film recently is truly talented. Beaudry is a miss. Big kid that is just utilitarian.

you think this is better with a Bryant Shireffs that we got lucky on & flotsam?

Pindell, I’ll remind you, looked extraordinarily unproductive early in his first games.

Randy's track record on QBs speaks for itself.

Z looks great when he gets a clean pocket, time to throw, and open WRs. If you blitz him, he looks down at rushers and is a complete mess after.

Shireffs was a very productive college QB.

Every highlight tape is impressive. I like Senecal's as well, but it means nothing.

 

[bobbyinaz]

UConn football “talent” trends by units
DL- trending up... but unfortunately not one young DL has shown flashes of anything +. Sorry, T Jones and others are well short of two deep material on most FBS rosters. Watts has the speed and size- need strength.. Kevon is a nice player. I think Harris should go back to LB.
LB - flat lining. Morgan is a good transfer. Mitchell has the speed- so something is there with him.... rest of the unit is not good enough
CB - small upward trend.... I like Paul who looks like a player at times. This unit is still far from being at least FBS average. I wish they will stop exposing Bell and let that kid develop on the practice field.
S - flat lining - JuCo Harrell was an upgrade over the current roster and his absence the last few games is noticeable. Coyle is an enigma - can’t tell what his talent level is with the mess around him. The rest aren’t nearly good enough.
OL - flat lining - the same C- unit that has been here for a while now. No one is improved at all. I think we are particularly bad up the center and easy to overwhelm.
WR- upward trend... Ross, Drayton, etc etc etc seem decent and nearing the FBS average squad
RB - flat lining - not one person can explain the over commitment to mensah by Edsall. Mensah by all accounts is a great kid and deserves a lot of touches - but there are other RBs and they need more than the last 2 mins of a blowout.
TE- flatlining or even down. No depth here... Edsall has not gotten the job done when you are in year three with a roster with one RS J TE, one senior TE conversion project and a undersized true Freshman.
QB - flat - As discussed above Edsall 1.0 only developed one HS QB to true success. Seems that is repeating itself. Randy should look in the mirror and rethink what his process is to identify and develop HS QBs.
Kickers - flat or down- my god why has the quest for kickers been such a challenge?

If this "trend" is based on current talent vs Diaco talent then calling the QB "trend" flat is ridiculous.

For all his pluses & minuses Shirreffs would be so much better than anyone currently on this roster. Based on that alone the QB "trend" is significantly down

 

[Exit 4]

If this "trend" is based on current talent vs Diaco talent then calling the QB "trend" flat is ridiculous.

For all his pluses & minuses Shirreffs would be so much better than anyone currently on this roster. Based on that alone the QB "trend" is significantly down

I guess I am not being fair to Shirreffs or Pindell's 2018 campaign because you are right, the near term is downward rather than merely flat (2019 has been particularly awful at QB). When I thought about the QB position I was thinking more over the long run in the collective of Pindell/Sherriffs/2019 collective vs the collective of the PP and Diaco era and to me over those two spans we are basically flat which means QB play that is effectively hovering around the bottom 10-20% of FBS.

 

[Exit 4]

Randy's track record on QBs speaks for itself.

Every highlight tape is impressive. I like Senecal's as well, but it means nothing.

At this point - you have to heed both of your comments.

 

[bobbyinaz]

I guess I am not being fair to Shirreffs or Pindell's 2018 campaign because you are right, the near term is downward rather than merely flat (2019 has been particularly awful at QB). When I though about the QB position I was thinking more over the long run in the collective of Pindell/Sherriffs/2019 collective vs the collective of the PP and Diaco era and to me over those two spans we are basically flat which means QB play that is effectively hovering around the bottom 10-20% of FBS.

I'm just saying this because so many here are claiming that RE has significantly increased the talent level over his predecessor.

That is not an accurate statement at all.

It is impossible to win at ANY level without competent QB play. The fact that RE continues to whiff at this position is a clear indication of his recruiting failures.

 

[Exit 4]

I'm just saying this because so many here are claiming that RE has significantly increased the talent level over his predecessor.

That is not an accurate statement at all.

It is impossible to win at ANY level without competent QB play. The fact that RE continues to whiff at this position is a clear indication of his recruiting failures.

I dont want to get into naming names, but Diaco had perhaps 10-15 dudes on scholarship at some point that had absolutely no business at FBS even as WOs. I think is fair to say Edsall has had some similar misses, but not as many as Diaco. Overall - Edsall's talent upgrade vs Diaco has been modest and not enough to make a meaningful difference.

 

[bobbyinaz]

I dont want to get into naming names, but Diaco had perhaps 10-15 dudes on scholarship at some point that had absolutely no business at FBS even as WOs. I think is fair to say Edsall has had some similar misses, but not as many as Diaco. Overall - Edsall's talent upgrade vs Diaco has been modest and not enough to make a meaningful difference.

Agreed, but without a legit QB none of that matters.

I just saw in another thread that he claims that Leon would've been the starter if healthy.

He continues to kick the can down the road while Benedict looks the other way. It's as if the 5 year plan reboots every fall and he gets to cash $1MM checks. That's a VERY impressive retirement plan he's got

 

[Exit 4]

Agreed, but without a legit QB none of that matters.

Edit update: Yep - absolutely

 

[Pudge]

Randy's track record on QBs speaks for itself.

Z looks great when he gets a clean pocket, time to throw, and open WRs. If you blitz him, he looks down at rushers and is a complete mess after.

Shireffs was a very productive college QB.

Every highlight tape is impressive. I like Senecal's as well, but it means nothing.

Shireffs - imho - was a fluke. The Diaco regime had no clue what to expect from him. And their other QB recruiting was poor. Krajewski + Zergiotis + Senecal is a good baseline. What does Moyseenko bring. I’m feeling hopeful ... but poorly prepared for that next step.

Edsall 1.0 has one moment & I liked Tyler + Zach. And a whole lot of misses. Can you compare & contrast Dennis Brown’s one solid game to Zergiotis? Maybe.

The AAC is dominating our guys. The development of about 6/7 programs have been dramatic. And there has not been any room for poor offensive line protection or missed assignments/penalties or indecisive QB play. To my eye, I’m not ready to throw Zergiotis out ... and I’m anxious to see what’s next for Krajewski.

 

[noeynox]

Shireffs - imho - was a fluke. The Diaco regime had no clue what to expect from him. And their other QB recruiting was poor. Krajewski + Zergiotis + Senecal is a good baseline. What does Moyseenko bring. I’m feeling hopeful ... but poorly prepared for that next step.

Edsall 1.0 has one moment & I liked Tyler + Zach. And a whole lot of misses. Can you compare & contrast Dennis Brown’s one solid game to Zergiotis? Maybe.

The AAC is dominating our guys. The development of about 6/7 programs have been dramatic. And there has not been any room for poor offensive line protection or missed assignments/penalties or indecisive QB play. To my eye, I’m not ready to throw Zergiotis out ... and I’m anxious to see what’s next for Krajewski.

Not throwing him out, but there is a serious problem when your QB is overthrowing an open WR by 5 to 10yds. I'm seeing a similar arc to Boyle. Arm talent? Check. Afraid to make mistake? Check.

The funny thing is, of all the FBS coaches we had, P probably had the best eye for QB talent.

 

[Exit 4]

Not throwing him out, but there is a serious problem when your QB is overthrowing an open WR by 5 to 10yds. I'm seeing a similar arc to Boyle. Arm talent? Check. Afraid to make mistake? Check.

Edsall's mental approach to football has always centered on playing mistake free and do your assignments....which is a foundation for tight/defensive/controlled players rather than fast/aggressive/loose players. The kids need to hear what they are doing right, not just what they are doing wrong.

 

[noeynox]

Edsall's mental approach to football has always centered on playing mistake free and do your assignments....which is a foundation for tight/defensive/controlled players rather than fast/aggressive/loose players. The kids need to hear what they are doing right, not just what they are doing wrong.

Some kids like Lorenzen and Frazer could play like that. Some kids become terrified to make mistakes and also don't make plays that are there to be made.

 

[06029]

Shireffs - imho - was a fluke. The Diaco regime had no clue what to expect from him.

Revisionist history from a former Diaco cheerleader. He was a transfer from NC State and he was filling a big void. Diaco was a buffoon but he actually went out and found a kid from a P5 school (even though he was a backup) to transfer to Uconn. I would say that getting BS to Uconn was the only thing that Diaco did right while he was here.

Shireffs was a warrior and took way more shots because of the ineptitude of the coaching coaching and scheme and more so because Diaco did not recruit a single D1 quality O-lineman.

 

[huskysupporter]

I have so much respect for Bryant. Guy left everything on the field, just a tough football player.

 

[Bongo Fury]

I dont want to get into naming names, but Diaco had perhaps 10-15 dudes on scholarship at some point that had absolutely no business at FBS even as WOs. I think is fair to say Edsall has had some similar misses, but not as many as Diaco. Overall - Edsall's talent upgrade vs Diaco has been modest and not enough to make a meaningful difference.

Revisionist history from a former Diaco cheerleader. He was a transfer from NC State and he was filling a big void. Diaco was a buffoon but he actually went out and found a kid from a P5 school (even though he was a backup) to transfer to Uconn. I would say that getting BS to Uconn was the only thing that Diaco did right while he was here.

Shireffs was a warrior and took way more shots because of the ineptitude of the coaching coaching and scheme and more so because Diaco did not recruit a single D1 quality O-lineman.

crozier, peart