Thoughts about this recruiting class!

[Husky68]

If you are losing 8 starters on the worst D in the nation, are you really losing anything?

Problem to me is that don't believe coaches gave players best chance to win with actual schemes used each down. In FBS championship game both teams were shown to use 3-4-4 but when seeing them line up play by play almost never saw less then 4 or 5 guys at line of scrimmage and 7 or 8 in the box. UConn actually lined up often with 3 on line of scrimmage, 3 linebackers spread off line scrimmage and 5 guys back. In the UConn defense scheme it allowed not deception as to where defense might be attacking and allowed offensive opponent to pick weaknesses apart. Having 5 guys back was pretty useless as they played so far off WR and/or there was so little pass rush (it was actually funny/sad often watching UConn's slow DL trying to catch the opponent QB) the opposing QB might as well have been wearing a red "not tackle allowed" shirt.
Defensive coaching was far worse than the talent, unless this changes (and why would it if coaches think it's all on the players), defense will only look statistically better if UConn's offense spends more time on field due to ball control.

 

[Palatine]

Familiarity may help.

I see no one on the roster that can come close to matching the productivity of Foley, Ormsby, Luke Zola, Junior Joseph and dare I say it Jamar Summers.

I'm aware guys can improve, but if you ask me how they could be worse, that's my answer.

I agree with Foley and Luke. Ormsby disappeared for long stretches. I think Jones comes in and replaces Foley day one. If there is one decent pass rusher in the incoming group. It's a net plus.

Joseph, good player, could tackle and hit but his lack of speed was a problem. The young LBs are more athletic than the group they are replacing. Summers never came close to duplicating his sophomore season. I think he is easily replaced. Edsall played a lot of guys and with injuries the defensive backfield, he got a pretty good look at our secondary.

IMHO, then is no reason this defense can't improve from a personnel perspective.

 

[huskysupporter]

It all comes down to DL to me. Need to find a rotation of players and I just don’t see any right now outside of Murphy.

We can absolutely improve in the secondary and linebacker positions even though we have lost some players there.

HCRE indicated he was in touch with a few grad transfers. My hope is they are all d linemen.

 

[noeynox]

I agree with Foley and Luke. Ormsby disappeared for long stretches. I think Jones comes in and replaces Foley day one. If there is one decent pass rusher in the incoming group. It's a net plus.

Joseph, good player, could tackle and hit but his lack of speed was a problem. The young LBs are more athletic than the group they are replacing. Summers never came close to duplicating his sophomore season. I think he is easily replaced. Edsall played a lot of guys and with injuries the defensive backfield, he got a pretty good look at our secondary.

IMHO, then is no reason this defense can't improve from a personnel perspective.

I thought Ormsby was the more consistent of the two DEs by a pretty good margin. Luke really struggled this past year in the 3 3 5. Would get washed down an awful lot and not keep contain at all. We will see. I dont expect these incoming players to physically strong enough to replace those guys and be an improvement..

 

[huskysupporter]

I thought Ormsby was the more consistent of the two DEs by a pretty good margin. Luke really struggled this past year in the 3 3 5. Would get washed down an awful lot and not keep contain at all. We will see. I dont expect these incoming players to physically strong enough to replace those guys and be an improvement..

Agreed. I think Ormsby had a solid season. He just struggled to break down in open space when he had qb in sight. Luke lacked explosion. Never stopped working though.

We need to find a pass rusher. Badly.

 

[ktuck911]

Agreed. I think Ormsby had a solid season. He just struggled to break down in open space when he had qb in sight. Luke lacked explosion. Never stopped working though.

We need to find a pass rusher. Badly.

Agreed... Need a transfer to help us right away at that spot on the DL.... an edge rusher with a little more speed than we've had in the past several coaching stints...

 

[Tdaley]

If you are losing 8 starters on the worst D in the nation, are you really losing anything?

The 3 defensive lineman are a big loss for next year mainly because a lack of replacements on our current roster. The same hold true with our linebackers although I don't feel as much concern as I do for the defensive line. Over time Edsall may replace them with better players. My concern is that our defense will worst next year than this year even though that may be hard for the fans to fathom based on what they saw on the field in 2017. Diaco's recruiting on the defensive side of the ball was horrible. That is why our defense is in such a mess. I liked the two defensive linemen in the current recruiting class. However, will either one of them be able to contribute in 2018? My guess is that Edsall will be forced to burn both of their red shirts even if they are not ready to make major contributions to our defense. On the bright side, our offense may be better next year. We may be watching a lot of 70 to 40 games next season.

 

[huskyrob1]

Great points. I'm worried, not panicked. The major knock we all had on RE 1.0 was the stilted offense, and run, run, pass one dimensional play calling. With him effectively taking the helm and installing a puppet, the offense will be RE's design. In the AAC, I think the notion we can grind out teams and keep them off the field in low scoring affairs is a nice theory but doesn't work well in practice. I'm pretty certain RE puts a better product in the field year over year. He's the man for the job. But, the environment has changed from the old Big East style of play. He struggled at Maryland I think for roughly the same reasons. Ironically, I think he would have done well at Maryland in the B1G with some time since it's much closer to his preferred style of football.

Interesting theory in that he might have done better with Maryland in the B1G.

 

[huskyrob1]

Which is @whaler11?
View attachment 28531

Rather than say he's "half full" I think whaler11 is closer to "half full of it".☺️

 

[Dogged]

Aw do the words give you the sadz.

I’ll try to just post nonsense cuz I want it to be true.

I think UConn will win the Super Bowl next year!!

So we’re skipping P5 and going to the NFL? AFC or NFC.

 

[microfich]

Agreed. I think Ormsby had a solid season. He just struggled to break down in open space when he had qb in sight. Luke lacked explosion. Never stopped working though.

We need to find a pass rusher. Badly.

Saw that, too. Soft ending for Luke after a lot of early promise.

 

[Block C]

I gave you a like simply because we need more fans with your optimism.

Well I believe in this team and the tide will turn

 

[whaler11]

Rather than say he's "half full" I think whaler11 is closer to "half full of it".☺️

You are one of the 5 most nonsensical posters here. You should probably settle down.

 

[whaler11]

Ormsby and Zola had no chance last season.

A bit undersized playing against offenses torching their secondary with no depth to give them a blow.

They had to work just to stay onsides against high paced offenses taking 20 at a time.

 

[JMick]

You are one of the 5 most nonsensical posters here. You should probably settle down.

oh someone get shizzle so we can do a poll. I like this idea

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

oh someone get shizzle so we can do a poll. I like this idea

On the football board, it’s pretty easy to name the other 4.

 

[JMick]

On the football board, it’s pretty easy to name the other 4.

I've got two front runners and i'll throw in the guy who shills his own product here for #3. not sure about a definitive four

 

[huskyrob1]

You are one of the 5 most nonsensical posters here. You should probably settle down.

Thanks "Nomad".

 

[gioff23]

Garland's gone, right?

Excellent point. Here are the young dudes. (Cincinnati Two Deep). I like our returning LBs and there are big numbers (beyond this two deep) at DB. Foley and Luke were very good college players. That is where we need to step up. But in our defense scheme, DL is the least critical position group.

DEFENSIVE BACK
41
Marshe Terry, RSo., 6-4, 212
32
Aaron Garland, RSo., 5-11, 193

 

[gopher2]

This team could be considerably worse off defensively.

As far as the recruiting class, where was it ranked in the conference? There were 3 defensive players we were involved with that really intrigued. Lorenz Metz, Landon Woodson, and Jalen Rayam. We went 0 for 3, with two signing with conference foes.

I'm also concerned with the manner in which Lashlee left and the whole Corey Edsall thing. To go to the mattresses against the state for newbie assistant, let the kid go coach elsewhere for a few years. Yes, it's stupid and petty on the state's end as well but they didn't target Edsall with this, it was always in place.

The clock is ticking. Personally I look at this year as the last where we could afford to keep spinning our wheels. 2019 They gotta start getting it done on the field.

"Considerably worse?" Jesus. If that happens it might actually have entertainment value and attendance could go up. But I think we will be a more aggressive, better tackling defense and therefore better overall in terms of yardage and points allowed. My view is based largely if not entirely on wishful thinking.

 

[noeynox]

"Considerably worse?" Jesus. If that happens it might actually have entertainment value and attendance could go up. But I think we will be a more aggressive, better tackling defense and therefore better overall in terms of yardage and points allowed. My view is based largely if not entirely on wishful thinking.

It's hard to fathom, and I agree with you and Pal, familiarity should help. But to my untrained eye there was such a drop off from our 1st to our 2nd dlines it is scary. Same with the LBs, though not quite as pronounced...but you get the picture.

 

[RSTuthill]

The DL and LB corps will be considerably weaker as a group than last year. And the DB's ... yes the DB's .... The DB's will be either experienced but too slow, or quite a bit faster but very inexperienced. Conclusions about the effectiveness of the defense this coming season are left to the reader.

 

[huskysupporter]

Our defense can improve quite a bit if the secondary takes better angles and shows an interest in tackling. We gave up chunk plays often because a defender didn’t wrap up.

 

[huskysupporter]

And I’ll say again we desperately need to find pass rushers. Don’t care if the are 199 pounds or 299 pounds. We had none last year.

Darrian Beavers was someone who popped out to me at times. He also showed his inexperience too. But when he blitzed I saw a very fast first step.

 

[Redding Husky]

This will be a season of patience. There will be improvement that will not necessarily translate into more wins.

I'm not trying to be an ass, but how many times have we heard that we need to be patient in the last 20 years? Probably 15 or 16 of those years.

I agree with your post. I'm just a little weary of being patient.