The Wide Receivers

[cohenzone]

Ok I’ll give you that. Let’s see how he does against Georgia State. He’s an ok passer, not great but I think he can get the job done. My criticism of the NC State game is his running ability, if all his receivers are covered he’s got to run with it, and except for that first series, he didn’t. He had 18 yards rushing for the game, almost all on the first series. We can’t beat a team like NC State if their defense knows he’s not much of a running threat.

Thing is, he might never be a real running threat to where teams have to account for him. Some pretty great QBs fit that bill. The difference of course is that guys like Brady and Rodgers are great passers but also had receivers who get open. Turner seemed not quite as good a passer and not much more of a runner. Supposedly Roberson is a bit more of a dual threat but unless whatever his nick up is is enough to sideline him, the coaches must think JF is enough of a better passer to get the nod. Who knows if they have any intent to use the freshman.

One way or another, I would be surprised if this team often has an even run/pass ratio. Lots of good runners and I think most can catch a pass too. In a close game little things make a difference. JF threw a really good kinda deep sideline pass almost right in front of my section to Houston that was a foot long and Houston visibly slowed a bit for some reason. He catches that and it might have been a touchdown and everyone would be talking about what a great pass that was. My whole section noticed the slow down. Anyway, if he isn’t effective against what appears to be a weak Georgia State pass defense we have a problem.

 

[cohenzone]

Got it. Thank you. I don’t think one can assume from that that Roberson was any less physically ready on opening day than Fagnano was, but one is free to assume as they wish.

I agree but somewhere along the way recently I think Mora said Roberson had tweaked something. I’m not sure he ever said it was enough to keep him from playing. Kinda fun having a mystery miracle worker to tout even if the wizard’s curtain is never pulled back. Wouldn’t be the BY.

 

[Lippy1]

What did I miss about Roberson being injured? Mora said he tweaked his arm...didn't say what arm and it's only a tweak.
Mora also said Joe tweaked his calf....yet he played.

 

[Hoophound]

What did I miss about Roberson being injured? Mora said he tweaked his arm...didn't say what arm and it's only a tweak.
Mora also said Joe tweaked his calf....yet he played.

Just speculation from some of us. I got the impression that Roberson was the leader a couple of weeks ago. Charlton was raving about him. Then we heard Roberson tweaked his arm and 48 hours later, Fagnano was named starter.

 

[Huskyforlife]

Would Roberson be listed as the backup if his arm was really injured badly enough to remove him from starting? I don’t think moving the announcement date means anything.

 

[Hoophound]

Charlton on Roberson two weeks ago:

“He’s an elite passer,” Charlton said. “He can throw the ball second to none. There are not many guys who have the arm talent that he has, especially in that he’s not a 6-4 quarterback. He has (running) skills. I think the game has slowed down quite a bit for him.”

Still, he appears to be ahead of where he was last year when he won the job.

“He’s beyond that, very clearly,” Charlton said. “He sees the game a lot faster now, he’s made a lot of progress in the passing game. He’s a student of the game. In terms of applying those meetings to the field, he’s made a tremendous jump. … I just think his passion for the game and his focus has gone up. You can feel that on the field.”

 

[Huskyforlife]

Charlton on Roberson two weeks ago:

“He’s an elite passer,” Charlton said. “He can throw the ball second to none. There are not many guys who have the arm talent that he has, especially in that he’s not a 6-4 quarterback. He has (running) skills. I think the game has slowed down quite a bit for him.”

Still, he appears to be ahead of where he was last year when he won the job.

“He’s beyond that, very clearly,” Charlton said. “He sees the game a lot faster now, he’s made a lot of progress in the passing game. He’s a student of the game. In terms of applying those meetings to the field, he’s made a tremendous jump. … I just think his passion for the game and his focus has gone up. You can feel that on the field.”

These quotes are bizarre after the fact. Guess you really should never take coaches at face value.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

As we saw last year... transparency on qb status is not a strength of Mora. Who knows where we are injury wise.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Charlton on Roberson two weeks ago:

“He’s an elite passer,” Charlton said. “He can throw the ball second to none. There are not many guys who have the arm talent that he has, especially in that he’s not a 6-4 quarterback. He has (running) skills. I think the game has slowed down quite a bit for him.”

Still, he appears to be ahead of where he was last year when he won the job.

“He’s beyond that, very clearly,” Charlton said. “He sees the game a lot faster now, he’s made a lot of progress in the passing game. He’s a student of the game. In terms of applying those meetings to the field, he’s made a tremendous jump. … I just think his passion for the game and his focus has gone up. You can feel that on the field.”

I would have gone with the only QB in the comp during this time that can throw.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Charlton on Roberson two weeks ago:

“He’s an elite passer,” Charlton said. “He can throw the ball second to none. There are not many guys who have the arm talent that he has, especially in that he’s not a 6-4 quarterback. He has (running) skills. I think the game has slowed down quite a bit for him.”

Still, he appears to be ahead of where he was last year when he won the job.

“He’s beyond that, very clearly,” Charlton said. “He sees the game a lot faster now, he’s made a lot of progress in the passing game. He’s a student of the game. In terms of applying those meetings to the field, he’s made a tremendous jump. … I just think his passion for the game and his focus has gone up. You can feel that on the field.”

Would Roberson be listed as the backup if his arm was really injured badly enough to remove him from starting? I don’t think moving the announcement date means anything.

Here's my thought on it. Pure speculation.

Camp ended and all three QB's had some issues. ZT was clearly #3. Between Fagnano and Roberson it was whomever got healed first and could take snaps every day as they implemented and practiced game plan for NC St. Fagnano got healthy first.

I'm beginning to think there is the ole best ability is availability/dependability aspect to the QB room.

Coaches need to know their starter is available every day for game prep.

Pure speculation but there is a dissonance between Charlton's comments on the record about Roberson and Fagnano being named starter less than a week later.

 

[Bongo Fury]

UConn now has film on GAST. Didn’t really have for NCST whose offense probably resembled Cuse of last year. Hope they can adjust and succeed.

 

[Chin Diesel]

UConn now has film on GAST. Didn’t really have for NCST whose offense probably resembled Cuse of last year. Hope they can adjust and succeed.

They had plenty of film of both NC St from last year and Syracuse from last year.
All the plays, formations and styles should have been easy to access and evaluate.

 

[Blades]

Speaking of, I don't know if they've been mentioned in this thread but neither of Uconn's former top WR's, Marion or Turner had killer games at their new schools. Keelan 1 catch / 3 yds, while AT was a little better @ 3 recs. for 14 yds. (but did have 1 TD of Cincy's 66 pts vs. an FCS team )

 

[kemba]

Charlton on Roberson two weeks ago:

“He’s an elite passer,” Charlton said. “He can throw the ball second to none. There are not many guys who have the arm talent that he has, especially in that he’s not a 6-4 quarterback. He has (running) skills. I think the game has slowed down quite a bit for him.”

Still, he appears to be ahead of where he was last year when he won the job.

“He’s beyond that, very clearly,” Charlton said. “He sees the game a lot faster now, he’s made a lot of progress in the passing game. He’s a student of the game. In terms of applying those meetings to the field, he’s made a tremendous jump. … I just think his passion for the game and his focus has gone up. You can feel that on the field.”

Yea but at the same time both charlton and mora talked up all 3 guys quite a bit too.

And if we believe everything the coaches say Roberson barely beat out zion in camp last year so to say he’s beyond where he was isn’t necessarily raving about his performance.

 

[CONN78SEJ]

Yea but at the same time both charlton and mora talked up all 3 guys quite a bit too.

And if we believe everything the coaches say Roberson barely beat out zion in camp last year so to say he’s beyond where he was isn’t necessarily raving about his performance.

My guess is they were puffing up Zion in comparison to Roberson. The kid was a 4 star recruit (ESPN and Rivals) coming out of high school in New Jersey. As a junior in New Jersey he ran for almost 1000 yards and threw for around 2500 yards. He was the 11th rated recruit in the state that year. He’s not the bum you’re trying to portray.

 

[kemba]

My guess is they were puffing up Zion in comparison to Roberson. The kid was a 4 star recruit (ESPN and Rivals) coming out of high school in New Jersey. As a junior in New Jersey he ran for almost 1000 yards and threw for around 2500 yards. He was the 11th rated recruit in the state that year. He’s not the bum you’re trying to portray.

I didn’t say he was a bum but what he did in high school isn’t relevant anymore.

They very well might have been puffing up zion but that’s my whole point they do that with all of them

 

[CONN78SEJ]

I didn’t say he was a bum but what he did in high school isn’t relevant anymore.

They very well might have been puffing up zion but that’s my whole point they do that with all of them

So when they say “Roberson barely beat out Zion last year”, I take that to mean they’re trying to infer that Zion might be pretty good too, so without it negatively reflecting on Roberson. Now the question is did they (all the coaches) actually believe that before the season started. When Roberson tore his ACL, they had to go with Zion anyway for the remainder of the season.

 

[Nostical]

Fagnano threw a long sideline pass right in front of my section to Houston that was a foot long and Houston visibly slowed a bit for some reason. He catches that and it might have been a touchdown and everyone would be talking about what a great pass that was.

It wasn‘t that Houston slowed. He and Brewton are simply too small to be huge targets on long sideline passes like that. He was fast enough, he needed to be taller. A receiver like Clercius stretches out and catches that ball. Houston (and Brewton) can’t.

 

[Chin Diesel]

It wasn‘t that Houston slowed. He and Brewton are simply too small to be huge targets on long sideline passes like that. He was fast enough, he needed to be taller. A receiver like Clercius stretches out and catches that ball. Houston (and Brewton) can’t.

It's two sides of the same coin. There's no guarantee a larger Clercius has the speed to get open to make that catch.

Fagnano needs to make that pass to the player running that route. Pass was 2 feet too far. Whether you want to blame that on the reciver being too small or blame Fagnano for not putting a bit more air under the pass doesn't change the fact that pass was too far in front of the receiver.

 

[cohenzone]

It wasn‘t that Houston slowed. He and Brewton are simply too small to be huge targets on long sideline passes like that. He was fast enough, he needed to be taller. A receiver like Clercius stretches out and catches that ball. Houston (and Brewton) can’t.

He slowed. Everyone in my section which is right above where he was noticed it. He didn’t stop, he sort of slightly broke stride. Would another 6 inches in height have allowed him to catch it anyway? We will never know. Height helps for sure but he had his guy beaten. One way ir another, there was nothing wrong with the pass.

 

[Nostical]

It's two sides of the same coin.

Not really. We need to be realistic not romantic. JF just isn’t that precise on longer passes. And the four best NC St DB’s are 6’0, 6’3, 6’0 and 6’2. Houston is 5’9’, Brewton is 5’6. Targeting a bigger receiver who can “go get“ a ball that’s thrown a bit too far—or a bit too high— is infinitely smarter than trying to precisely hit a smaller target who’s defended by a bigger DB a long way downfield. Receivers like Houston and Brewton are better equipped for screens.

 

[cohenzone]

It's two sides of the same coin. There's no guarantee a larger Clercius has the speed to get open to make that catch.

Fagnano needs to make that pass to the player running that route. Pass was 2 feet too far. Whether you want to blame that on the reciver being too small or blame Fagnano for not putting a bit more air under the pass doesn't change the fact that pass was too far in front of the receiver.

I don’t know about you, but my section had a great view of that play from above. It was not a bad pass. Blaming a QB for a fairly long pass being at worst marginally too far when it’s at least debatable if it really was too far or the receiver slowed slightly is nitpicky. Of all the passes that day, that one is tough to be critical of. Laughy face or not. Happy Labor Day.

 

[Nostical]

Blaming a QB for a fairly long pass being at worst marginally too far when it’s at least debatable if it really was too far or the receiver slowed slightly is nitpicky.

I’m not blaming the QB. The pass was not that far off. I blame the scheme that has small sized Devonte Houston going against a much bigger DB when a bigger receiver likely had a better shot at reaching it. Speed is one thing but size does matter.

 

[CTFAN4LIFE]

He was gashing them then immediately went 3 short pass plays that didn’t work and punted, wanted to pull my hair out.

Exactly - that's when they should've run a couple deeper pass routes, sigh.