The wildcard for UConn's 2013 season? The coach.

[businesslawyer]

The wildcard is the QB and if there is no improvement here then Coach P will be gone. We need to get more production on offense and if things start slowly it will be difficult to switch to a freshman but it would have to be done to salvage fan interest in the season and maybe Coach P's job.

FWIW, I don't agree with that. While Whitmer was way too turnover prone to start the season, given the lack of pass protection and a running game I thought he had a very solid first year at the helm. I would expect him to be somewhat better this year, and I would hope (pray?) that he will look better based on improvements of the OL.

My biggest worry at QB is whether we have a backup even at the level of Johnny Mc. On the field, there are a number of positions that I view as much more "wildcards" than the play at QB.

 

[ruskin]

If weist is given free reigns on the offense, it's possible that gel can improve technique and get more out of the oline. This year he will be on the sidelines too.

Hoping you mean GDL will be on the sidelines, not TJ. Playcaller should be in the booth. GDL in booth would be a very, very bad thing.

 

[Srqhusky]

Improved Play calling also helps with pass protection. Calling some quick slants or screen passes and calling deep outs. Need to do stuff to prevent te other team from loading up at the line

 

[huskymedic]

Hoping you mean GDL will be on the sidelines, not TJ. Playcaller should be in the booth. GDL in booth would be a very, very bad thing.

Desmond Conner ‏@desmondconner 14 May
So far, #UConnFootball OC T.J. Weist in booth, DC Hank Hughes on field; HC Paul Pasqualoni says makes no diff, wants what's most efficient.

 

[Waquoit]

The wildcard to the season is not Coach P. He's not going to block or tackle a single player all year.

The wildcard for the season is the play of the O line.

No and yes. The two points are linked. P allowed GDL to assume the OL coaching duties. When it was clear that the OL wasn't progressing he should have done something. P did nothing. As we discussed last season, the OL, the achilles heel of the team, recieved little to no in-game coaching because the OL coach was in the booth. I can't believe that had no negative effect. A glaring example was the Cuse game where simple little stunts resulted in guys blocking air while defenders had many unabated shots at the QB. Yet we bring this proven failure back to do it all over again. That's on P.

 

[Waquoit]

...HC Paul Pasqualoni says makes no diff, wants what's most efficient.

Since when?

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Agree about the OLine. They were recruited to play at 320-330 lbs. If anybody can do so it would be interesting to follow this group during the weekend open practice.
You can get fairly close and listen to the coaches. They often ask about hypothetical situations and question individual players on their responsibilites.

 

[BlueDogs]

The only thing getting "old" is losing. I would have preferred if he was removed after last season. But, we are now on to a new season and we'd all love to see a success on the field and a whole lot more Ws. If P gets things turned around and succeeds,that's all that matters. If not, there is a long season ahead in which to voice discontent.

 

[Husky68]

The wildcard to the season is not Coach P. He's not going to block or tackle a single player all year.

The wildcard for the season is the play of the O line. The good news is that with the exception of Kevin Friend, who was out the end of last season anyway, everyone who played meaningful minutes is back. The bad news is that the group that is back wasn't good enough. If we get O line play like what we used to have at UConn, we will have a winning year no matter how poor the play calling and time management are. If the OL is no better than last year, we will have a losing year no matter how good the play calling and time management are.

It will mostly come down to the big uglies.

So not calling inside handoffs to a 160 lb rb on 1st down, giving QB the option to adjust play (or have sideline do it) based on defensive formation and can the wildcat - none of this will help the OL perform. Deception makes everyone's life easier. The defense was so stacked on 1st and second downs against the run that between the defensive players and the OL every play just about looked like a goal line stand. Fast forward to 3rd and long.

 

[jdb50]

FWIW, I don't agree with that. While Whitmer was way too turnover prone to start the season, given the lack of pass protection and a running game I thought he had a very solid first year at the helm. I would expect him to be somewhat better this year, and I would hope (pray?) that he will look better based on improvements of the OL.

My biggest worry at QB is whether we have a backup even at the level of Johnny Mc. On the field, there are a number of positions that I view as much more "wildcards" than the play at QB.

On defense I'm pretty confident we put people on the field that will get the job done to fill in the holes from last years graduations. Actually Jones at corner will be the spot that may be trouble early as he adjusts to the new duties. The early schedule with it's sidelines of Ambrose, Edsall and Michigan coming to the Rent are going to be one of the most intense starts to a season that I can remember. Whitmer did have a solid season with the lack of things you mention to deal with. God, that Syracuse game was painful to watch with the jailbreak pass rushes. I hope TJ can maximize what everyone does on offense. We need someone that can throw a deep ball as well as be a threat to run on occasion at the QB spot. This position has to more productive and more of a threat than it's been for a while. I see the O-line having a better year. With LM, Joe W and Mariner we should have some answers at RB. The outside receivers have a big upside and Foxx looked good in the Spring scrimmage. The TE spot is the biggest question mark right now. If everyone improves on offense but the QB play is the same we're toast. The good thing is we've got two freshman that should be able to push the starter. The bad thing is if they have to go they will be facing a much tougher schedule than Dan O had to face when his number was called.

 

[Carl Spackler]

As the season wore on last year, the biggest breakdowns in protections in pass blocking and leverage in run blocking was from the backfield, and not the OL. Specifically the FB position.

We need somebody at the LOS that's going to make the blocking call adjustments in real time, and we need a FB that can lead block on any run call, and pick up a free blitz based on the play call on a pass.

I think it will be the QB making the calls this year, and the FB will be a RSF.

The OL is not the worry. It's the QB and the backfield.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[jdb50]

Karl, I played O-line in HS and I swear that last year we had folks who had their eyes shut in pass pro. You snap the ball, have your feet under you and hit the first guy into your lane, you never block air, if you have to switch you do. If people block air this year I hope TJ gets in the sideline offense group area and rips people a new one.

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

My 2 cents, which isn't even worth that......

Whitmer was fine last year. Wasn't good, wasn't bad, but showed me enough to believe that we could win with him.

The OL problems last year were due to a couple factors. Again just my opinion. The players just couldn't grasp GDL's concepts. And, they didn't like him. I am not putting that entirely on GDL. Players have to overcome that. But.....this led to way too many "air blocks". Instead of just lining up and hitting the guy in the mouth, our guys seemed to be thinking way too much. The offense needed to be simplified and to their credit, I think this may be the one adjustment the staff made on offense late in the year.

My #1 gripe about P is that he never adjusted what he wanted to do to fit what we had personnel wise. Asking guys like Kevin Friend and Steve Greene to be more agile zone blocking OL like you see at other places is not putting your players in the best position to succeed. Square peg meets round hole.

Let's just hope TJW gets it done.

 

[Stinger92860]

Hoping you mean GDL will be on the sidelines, not TJ. Playcaller should be in the booth. GDL in booth would be a very, very bad thing.

Yes I did mean gdl

 

[Stinger92860]

The UConn Blog ran a two part story yesterday and today on the purported offense that may be seen under Weist.

He did a good job for the most part in my opinion - I just have no clue on the source for the story nor the author's accuracy/understanding of what he writes (other than what I see myself) but this thread seems as good as any to post the links :

Part 1 - http://www.theuconnblog.com/2013/7/10/4511192/from-least-to-weist

Part 2 - http://www.theuconnblog.com/2013/7/11/4513874/from-least-to-weist-part-deux

I was talking with one of the guys a few weeks back, a receiver, and he said to expect more 3/4 receiver sets and quick hitters. He was pumped about weist and the offensive game plan. He believes people will be surprised. Not much love for gdl.

 

[UCFBfan]

I was talking with one of the guys a few weeks back, a receiver, and he said to expect more 3/4 receiver sets and quick hitters. He was pumped about weist and the offensive game plan. He believes people will be surprised. Not much love for gdl.

This should have been done last year with Nick Williams but wasn't. I'm hoping we use this spread style attack more. It makes it much harder for D's to defend. Just look at what Western Michigan did to us the past two seasons. West Virginia would kill us every year with the spread as well. I think we have the personnel in the skill positions to do this. We can't line up in pro-sets as much this year. With no experience at TE it makes those spots vulnerable. In a spread offense the TE doesn't play as large a role. Here's to hoping!

 

[UConnDan97]

Nothing would make me happier than having UConnDan97 taunting me about back to back 10-3 seasons and having P install his successor.

I wouldn't taunt you for 10-3. I would probably write a three paragraph post trying to explain off the three losses, finishing the last sentence with italics and three dots...

 

[Jimdish255]

I was talking with one of the guys a few weeks back, a receiver, and he said to expect more 3/4 receiver sets and quick hitters. He was pumped about weist and the offensive game plan. He believes people will be surprised. Not much love for gdl.

Quick hitters are great but we still need to block. Punch a few guys in the gut to make sure we don't get tbose passes knocked down. Compliment that with draw plays and you have them off balance for the deep ball if needed.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

As the season wore on last year, the biggest breakdowns in protections in pass blocking and leverage in run blocking was from the backfield, and not the OL. Specifically the FB position.

We need somebody at the LOS that's going to make the blocking call adjustments in real time, and we need a FB that can lead block on any run call, and pick up a free blitz based on the play call on a pass.

I think it will be the QB making the calls this year, and the FB will be a RSF.

The OL is not the worry. It's the QB and the backfield.

Just my 2 cents.

In case some may have missed it, here is a take on Weist's system.
Typically one back, spread attack. our FB(not a great blocker) is now a DE, and Vinci left.

http://www.theuconnblog.com/2013/7/11/4513874/from-least-to-weist-part-deux

 

[HuskyDogArt]

I've got no beef with the guy. He's a professional and runs a clean program which I respect.

He got his 3rd year so I agree. If he shows it's pointed in the right direction we go to year 4. If it's a disaster we move on to the next guy.

2011 and 2012 don't matter anymore. 2013 and the future do.

He runs a clean program?? You mean no UConn players been charged with MURDER yet?? Are we sure WE are a FBS program?? I mean our players been slacking, at least one UConn NFL player should be CHARGED with a crime!

I hope you know I'm joking. Randy and Paul runs clean programs at UConn, and JC (hopefully KO) and Geno does, too.

 

[Carl Spackler]

In case some may have missed it, here is a take on Weist's system.
Typically one back, spread attack. our FB(not a great blocker) is now a DE, and Vinci left.

http://www.theuconnblog.com/2013/7/11/4513874/from-least-to-weist-part-deux

been out to sea. LOL. But I do think - that the OL had lots of trouble early on, but did improve through the season, and I think that our backfield was very much sucking at blocking, and I think that there was nobody actually making effective blocking adjustments at the LOS last season.

These are all things, that most definitely need to be improved upon, and can, and should be expected to be improved upon, with the number of returning players we've got on offense.

 

[Bootsthemonkey]

Personally for my own satisfaction it's not just W-L. I think getting away from a predictable offense (a game we play in the stands is to guess the play and it's depressing how often we're correct), stop bringing in McCummings to run the direct snap run, and stop running LM up the middle so often on 1st and 2nd down. Losses also due to turnovers, drive killing penalties and clock mismanagement are what make you pull your hair out.

With better protection I think Whitmer will show vast improvement. He's shown when he has time he throws very well. The lack of protection and also I think the feeling of having to try to do too much lead him to poor decisions.

The schedule is more challenging. If you lose a game when playing well, creatively and soundly executing and the other team just outplays you that's one thing. It's when you lose games that are just painful to watch - that's when it's time to make changes.

We shall see...

 

[Srqhusky]

A little tidbit during the sny spring football special reveals things are going to be different.

Byron jones(cornerback) was quoted as saying tj weist is a high energy kind of guy. He has the receivers blocking us even after the whistle and that makes us mad.

 

[businesslawyer]

My 2 cents, which isn't even worth that......

Whitmer was fine last year. Wasn't good, wasn't bad, but showed me enough to believe that we could win with him.

The OL problems last year were due to a couple factors. Again just my opinion. The players just couldn't grasp GDL's concepts. And, they didn't like him. I am not putting that entirely on GDL. Players have to overcome that. But.....this led to way too many "air blocks". Instead of just lining up and hitting the guy in the mouth, our guys seemed to be thinking way too much. The offense needed to be simplified and to their credit, I think this may be the one adjustment the staff made on offense late in the year.

My #1 gripe about P is that he never adjusted what he wanted to do to fit what we had personnel wise. Asking guys like Kevin Friend and Steve Greene to be more agile zone blocking OL like you see at other places is not putting your players in the best position to succeed. Square peg meets round hole.

Let's just hope TJW gets it done.

Yes on all counts