Thoughts on the 2017 Season

[whaler11]

This is the 15th season at Rentschler. Crazy how fast it's gone by.

I'm going to try and not mention Diaco much after this - but thanks again to AD David Benedict. I can't even imagine what it would be like going into year 4 of the Fiasco Era. Every day the school employed that loser was just further digging the hole the next guy needed to dig out of.

Following this team has been a passion of mine for 2 decades and Diaco had pretty much taken the life out of me. I went to all the home games + BC last year. I saw close to every snap in person or on TV in the Diaco era save for bathroom breaks, but it had become a chore. Something I did because it was part of who I was not because it was enjoyable anymore. There are games from the Diaco era that I watched and remember almost nothing about. Oct 29th 2016 - East Carolina 41, UConn 3? Yeah I guess that happened, there is a box score.


Anyway my initial reaction to Edsall's return was sort of negative. Card carrying apologista who really appreciated Randy the first go around but just felt sort of pathetic to bring him back.

Happy to say that initial reaction was wrong - he's been great and legitimately seems changed. It's a wonderful contrast of Edsall's sincerity against HCVV's faux nonsense. Diaco was a flat out embarrassment to the school and I wish him decades of professional disasters - I hope Nebraska loses every game by 50 and they fire him in October.

I'm going to keep the rest shorter than in the past to make sure I'm not #fullspackler.

Coaching Staff:
Obviously this the easiest place to highlight within the program right now. Lashlee was a coup. Edsall is a true pro seems to have really grown. Crocker has an interesting system and I'm interested in seeing it develop.

It's great to have Richardson back. Wholley is a huge coaching star in the making in my opinion, I think he'll be running a program someday. Hopefully this job they posted allows Corey to stick around - love him - they have never had someone in that mold in the past. Huge responsibility for Grimes this year - that unit's improvement is the fastest way to get this program back to where we all want it to be.


Offense:

When was the last time you came into a season with more confidence in the offense than the defense? It certainly hasn't been the case for me since DanO went off to the Lions.

It would seem to be impossible to not be improved up front. With Crozier the center is well manned. Would be surprised if Peart wasn't much improved. Hopefully Rutherford and Hopkins have big senior years and DeGeorge is going to be the first of the new blood we get a long look at. I'm no scout but everything we've read sounds good.

I am 99% sure they will be better and 50% sure they will be very improved - which gives the team the chance to have a competent offense.

Pindell has the coaching staff excited, which is good enough for me since I don't know any more than what I've read and I wasn't able to go to the open practice. BS is capable backup and the way the sport goes we'll probably see him at some point. Glad he decided to come back.

There are going to be plenty of touches for Arkeel - I'd be careful with him early though we need to get him through 12 games. Thompson has always looked good in spring games so maybe he'll get a real chance. The other backs had their moments in the spring game and are going to need to contribute - which one ends up with the most playing time would just be a guess from me.

We've been talking about big things from our receiving core for about a decade. Maybe this is finally the year. I've been high on Beals - he needs to break out. Mayala is solid, Skanes has the pedigree. McLean has been around and can help, we've seen Davis make some plays. I think there is enough here in quantity and quality.

I think the two tight ends are solid hopefully they get utilized more and when they do get their chances they make the most of them.

It looks to me like they can score 25-28 points a game and that would probably feel like we were playing at hyperspeed as compared to the past two years.

 

[shizzle787]

This is the 15th season at Rentschler. Crazy how fast it's gone by.

I'm going to try and not mention Diaco much after this - but thanks again to AD David Benedict. I can't even imagine what it would be like going into year 4 of the Fiasco Era. Every day the school employed that loser was just further digging the hole the next guy needed to dig out of.

Following this team has been a passion of mine for 2 decades and Diaco had pretty much taken the life out of me. I went to all the home games + BC last year. I saw close to every snap in person or on TV in the Diaco era save for bathroom breaks, but it had become a chore. Something I did because it was part of who I was not because it was enjoyable anymore. There are games from the Diaco era that I watched and remember almost nothing about. Oct 29th 2016 - East Carolina 41, UConn 3? Yeah I guess that happened, there is a box score.


Anyway my initial reaction to Edsall's return was sort of negative. Card carrying apologista who really appreciated Randy the first go around but just felt sort of pathetic to bring him back.

Happy to say that initial reaction was wrong - he's been great and legitimately seems changed. It's a wonderful contrast of Edsall's sincerity against HCVV's faux nonsense. Diaco was a flat out embarrassment to the school and I wish him decades of professional disasters - I hope Nebraska loses every game by 50 and they fire him in October.

I'm going to keep the rest shorter than in the past to make sure I'm not #fullspackler.

Coaching Staff:
Obviously this the easiest place to highlight within the program right now. Lashlee was a coup. Edsall is a true pro seems to have really grown. Crocker has an interesting system and I'm interested in seeing it develop.

It's great to have Richardson back. Wholley is a huge coaching star in the making in my opinion, I think he'll be running a program someday. Hopefully this job they posted allows Corey to stick around - love him - they have never had someone in that mold in the past. Huge responsibility for Grimes this year - that unit's improvement is the fastest way to get this program back to where we all want it to be.


Offense:

When was the last time you came into a season with more confidence in the offense than the defense? It certainly hasn't been the case for me since DanO went off to the Lions.

It would seem to be impossible to not be improved up front. With Crozier the center is well manned. Would be surprised if Peart wasn't much improved. Hopefully Rutherford and Hopkins have big senior years and DeGeorge is going to be the first of the new blood we get a long look at. I'm no scout but everything we've read sounds good.

I am 99% sure they will be better and 50% sure they will be very improved - which gives the team the chance to have a competent offense.

Pindell has the coaching staff excited, which is good enough for me since I don't know any more than what I've read and I wasn't able to go to the open practice. BS is capable backup and the way the sport goes we'll probably see him at some point. Glad he decided to come back.

There are going to be plenty of touches for Arkeel - I'd be careful with him early though we need to get him through 12 games. Thompson has always looked good in spring games so maybe he'll get a real chance. The other backs had their moments in the spring game and are going to need to contribute - which one ends up with the most playing time would just be a guess from me.

We've been talking about big things from our receiving core for about a decade. Maybe this is finally the year. I've been high on Beals - he needs to break out. Mayala is solid, Skanes has the pedigree. McLean has been around and can help, we've seen Davis make some plays. I think there is enough here in quantity and quality.

I think the two tight ends are solid hopefully they get utilized more and when they do get their chances they make the most of them.

It looks to me like they can score 25-28 points a game and that would probably feel like we were playing at hyperspeed as compared to the past two years.

Likewhoring at its finest.

 

[Palatine]

I really want to watch the offense operate against Holy Cross. I want t to look like an imaginative and efficient operation. As usual I have high hopes. And I really think Lashee is something we have never had in these parts. But I want to see flashes of it by 8 PM on Thursday.

That will determine much of my outlook for the rest of the season.

 

[sportsart]

Likewhoring at its finest.

How I never put you on ignore is beyond me. Better late than never.

 

[whaler11]

Hit post by accident - so hitting the defense and ST in a separate post.

The first 11 on the defense look pretty solid - what scares me is how important it is to keep that 11 on the field and how hard that is to do.

Ormsby and Carrezola have always made plays. Hopefully now as senior they make them more consistently and make them against the better opponents on the schedule. Fatukasi is probably the best player on the team and is so critical. Hopefully Lawley and Murphy are ready to contribute, they are going to get a decent amount of burn.

Linebacker is where things get a little scarier. Joseph is a good solid play and I have always like Stapleton. EJ was a big loss and hopefully Diggs is back at full speed for USF. Some promising guys like Hahn on the depth chart but not a ton of game experience especially if anyone gets dinged. If you don't love a guy named Beavers - there is something wrong with you.

Here is what I think makes this a tough season on defense. The 3-3-5 is really going to expose the depth in the secondary. Hopefully Summers comes back and rebounds off what was kind of a disappointing year last year. Summers, Bell, McAllister - 3 guys that are pretty comfortable. But we are going to see 5-6 other guys play a lot and we just don't have in-game evidence that we'll be able to have a good enough secondary to have a good defense yet. We still could - but that's a lot of youth at an extremely difficult position. Certainly our offense seemed to torch them pretty good when we've been able to watch.

Overall the defense is about to start a huge transition. They are going to start EIGHT seniors against Holy Cross which is a good thing and a bad thing. It's a good thing in the sense that Crocker will be able to get players that better fit his system onto the field in the coming years. It's a bad thing in that we aren't totally sure what Diaco has left us with the underclassman and it may take a couple of cycles to get the personnel on the field that is needed to be successful.


Specials -
Anytime I can have a punter from Australia I'm good to go. Hopefully he avoids the one big mistake like Coles made when he was a freshman.

We've seen and heard plenty of Tarbutt - hopefully he can back it up with his leg now.

Will they be good on returns and coverage? I would lean towards below average because if I'm coaching this team and I look at how thing I am at places I can't risk contributors on offense or defense on coverage teams. At least we are going to try and return punts so we have that going for us.


Prediction?

The schedule is pretty fair test and should be entertaining. Other than Holy Cross there aren't many games that don't look like they can be close. South Florida can be shaky on the road. Who knows if Virginia is ever going to get better. At SMU won't be easy but not impossible. Memphis isn't unbeatable. Wish Temple was at home they look down a bit to me. Tulsa is a tall task but they have never been here. Hopefully Missouri didn't improve much and can catch them napping OOC later in the year. ECU/BC/UCF/Cincinnati - all those teams have so many questions and those games are so far away it's hard to have too strong of an opinion on them.

I'd guess they get 4 or 5. Holy Cross and some combination of Virgnia/Temple/BC/ECU/UCF. It could go either way though - if Pindell is a top 3 QB and the offensive line is fixed and the defense stays healthy and holds up they could win 6-7. If they lose a couple of key guys on defense and the o-line doesn't improve much and Pindell disappoints they could win 2-3.

No matter what happens at least we are watching a legitimate program run but professional coaches and an athletic director who gets it. That won't solve the P6/G5 issues and it won't get us into the CFB Playoff conversation but it will make it fun to go to Rentschler Field again and know that you can at least hope to see things that won't make you miserable.

Here is to the most underrated aspect of the season - good weather - hopefully we get what's we've had for the last 10 days through the first two games.

 

[whaler11]

Likewhoring at its finest.

You can say a lot of negative things about ol' whaler. Thinking I care about likes is hilarious.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I have fallen asleep in the stadium 4 times in the last 3 years. I hope that changes this season.

 

[whaler11]

I have fallen asleep in the stadium 4 times in the last 3 years. I hope that changes this season.

I was on a conference call during the Maine game last year at the top of 213.

 

[tjhusky]

From what I saw at the spring game and what we have been hearing from the press that has been at practices we should expect both offense and defense to be different from any previous UConn team, in a good way. Aggressive on both sides of the ball forcing opponents to react to us.

I don't think opponents will be able to stack the box against us on every play without them paying a bit price due to what should be faster and more deceptive plays. Hopefully our D can "bring it" from various spots so that opposing O line and Q are looking at the sky wondering what hit them or seeing us streaking past them with big picks.

I think that is all real.

The tough part, after hearing coach the last few weeks is that we are thin on quality experienced players. We have a fair amount of RS and true Fr in the two deep. They have a lot to learn, little margin for error and no room for injury.

I think the season outcome depends on how quickly everyone can learn the new systems and improve individually vs keeping guys healthy so that we look and play better in the last month of the season.

 

[geordi]

While I agree with most of you that 4-5 wins is the top end for this year, there is a case to be made for a bowl game (6-7 wins). Even looking at last year's abomination, we won three games, but the idiot coach threw away wins at Navy, Syracuse, and UCF. The team quit on him after that so maybe there is another win in there somewhere. If the defense holds serve with last year and the offense can put up another 10-14 points, there is a possibility for 6-7 wins. (Of course, if fecal matter were gold, we'd all be rich.)

 

[SubbaBub]

#toolate

I don't think we will be measurably better in terms of FB talent than last season. What I do think is that:

1. We will manage that talent 150% better than either PP or VV.
2. This team will not quit 8 games into the season.
3. We will not throw away 1/3 of the game by not competing on special teams.
4. We not make decisions on some meta-vision of what this FB program should be and will make decisions on what this program is, right now, and gives us the best chance to win, right now. Best player plays and the best play is called.

As for the O/D/and ST? I think all will have their up and down moments. I've heard plenty of QB hype over the last 13 years and even when we went to the BCS there were still plenty of questions. Only DanO and Tyler (after the fact) have had universal respect. I'm hanging my hat on the new guy beating what was statistically a pretty good QB in terms of UConn history and not because of injury or the delusions of a delusional coach.

This team almost started 5-1 last year and with a competent coach could have won 7 or 8 games. There has to be enough talent on campus right now to compete in the AAC. Getting the horsepower to the road, so to speak, is the key.

 

[metsfan2323]

Pindell is going to be fantastic and so are Lashlee and Newsome. Pindell throws a very catchable ball and makes quick decisions which will make life easy for our line and wide receivers. The dream scenario is that Pindell is Cochran with wheels. All of the mis-direction and "window dressing" in lashlee's offense will create easy attack angles for the line and open large gaps for the running game. Supposedly the passing reads are simple in this offense.

USF will be looking past us, get up on the line of scrimmage and force Flowers to beat you with his arm.

Beat USF and the fans return making the Rent a tough venue for the road team.

7 wins, 5 at the Rent, 2 on the road.

 

[DefCONNOne]

You can say a lot of negative things about ol' whaler. Thinking I care about likes is hilarious.

Yet true. If you truly didn't care you wouldn't have mentioned it.

 

[blue93]

From what I saw at the spring game and what we have been hearing from the press that has been at practices we should expect both offense and defense to be different from any previous UConn team, in a good way. Aggressive on both sides of the ball forcing opponents to react to us.

I don't think opponents will be able to stack the box against us on every play without them paying a bit price due to what should be faster and more deceptive plays. Hopefully our D can "bring it" from various spots so that opposing O line and Q are looking at the sky wondering what hit them or seeing us streaking past them with big picks.

I think that is all real.

The tough part, after hearing coach the last few weeks is that we are thin on quality experienced players. We have a fair amount of RS and true Fr in the two deep. They have a lot to learn, little margin for error and no room for injury.

I think the season outcome depends on how quickly everyone can learn the new systems and improve individually vs keeping guys healthy so that we look and play better in the last month of the season.

Piggybacking off of your comment about stacking the box, I think it will be difficult for teams to keep base 3-4 or 4-3 personnel on the field due to our pace on offense. I suspect we'll see a lot of nickel and dime packages if we're moving the ball efficiently (key word here) because line backers and linemen will be huffing and puffing. If the O Line can get some push up front it could mean big things from Arkeel & co.

 

[SubbaBub]

Pindell is going to be fantastic and so are Lashlee and Newsome. Pindell throws a very catchable ball and makes quick decisions which will make life easy for our line and wide receivers. The dream scenario is that Pindell is Cochran with wheels. All of the mis-direction and "window dressing" in lashlee's offense will create easy attack angles for the line and open large gaps for the running game. Supposedly the passing reads are simple in this offense.

USF will be looking past us, get up on the line of scrimmage and force Flowers to beat you with his arm.

Beat USF and the fans return making the Rent a tough venue for the road team.

7 wins, 5 at the Rent, 2 on the road.

Your fingers to God's ears.

 

[whaler11]

Yet true. If you truly didn't care you wouldn't have mentioned it.

Um I replied to a post that mentioned it.

 

[Walker11]

While I agree with most of you that 4-5 wins is the top end for this year, there is a case to be made for a bowl game (6-7 wins). Even looking at last year's abomination, we won three games, but the idiot coach threw away wins at Navy, Syracuse, and UCF. The team quit on him after that so maybe there is another win in there somewhere. If the defense holds serve with last year and the offense can put up another 10-14 points, there is a possibility for 6-7 wins. (Of course, if fecal matter were gold, we'd all be rich.)

No doubt we can get to 6 wins. We will need a little luck but we have seen it before. I don't think we really had any business winning 6 games in '15 but the turnover differential flipped the season. We are all expecting an attacking defense so while they will give up many huge plays, hopefully the ball rolls in our direction enough to squeak out a bowl season.

I have a lot of cautious optimism about the offense but I need to remind myself to have patience. Tempo offense does not equal good offense and watching a bad offense in an uptempo scheme is very deflating. Who wants to see a 22 second 3 and out?

 

[blue93]

Um I replied to a post that mentioned it.

I don't know how people can be so miserable in this kind of weather and meaningful football 5 days away. Thanks for the post Whaler, I enjoyed it lol

 

[wolfman61]

Are these Huskies hungry?

 

[JMick]

I have a lot of cautious optimism about the offense but I need to remind myself to have patience. Tempo offense does not equal good offense and watching a bad offense in an uptempo scheme is very deflating. Who wants to see a 22 second 3 and out?

oh, we will see quite a few. we just need to hope that big chunk plays and long scoring plays make up for the 3 and outs.

 

[pepband99]

No doubt we can get to 6 wins. We will need a little luck but we have seen it before. I don't think we really had any business winning 6 games in '15 but the turnover differential flipped the season. We are all expecting an attacking defense so while they will give up many huge plays, hopefully the ball rolls in our direction enough to squeak out a bowl season.

I have a lot of cautious optimism about the offense but I need to remind myself to have patience. Tempo offense does not equal good offense and watching a bad offense in an uptempo scheme is very deflating. Who wants to see a 22 second 3 and out?

We’re due for some good luck. The last glimpse of it was the almost pick 6 on the pass play from Anderson to Thomas against Houston in 2015.

I’ll just take competence and a win over BCU. Everything else is gravy.

 

[Excalibur]

I have a lot of cautious optimism about the offense but I need to remind myself to have patience. Tempo offense does not equal good offense and watching a bad offense in an uptempo scheme is very deflating. Who wants to see a 22 second 3 and out?

In most tempo offenses, the tempo really heats up after the initial first down. A few guys (Babers) try to go fast all the time, and I think that's a mistake. If we run two plays for no gain and are rushing to the line, I won't be happy.

 

[Nostical]

This offense is all about timing---slant passes on crossing routes, slip screens, reverses, block and release, quick hitting runs and then ready, set, hike--do it again. If O-Line protects and Pindell is on target we will overwhelm defenses and score 30+ points a game. HC is our final dress rehearsal. USF is opening night. "Break a leg" boys.

 

[TheDrifter75]

This offense is all about timing---slant passes on crossing routes, slip screens, reverses, block and release, quick hitting runs and then ready, set, hike--do it again. If O-Line protects and Pindell is on target we will overwhelm defenses and score 30+ points a game. HC is our final dress rehearsal. USF is opening night. "Break a leg" boys.

Ahem, dress rehearsal kinda sorta sounds like a preseason deal I've heard about.

 

[Nostical]

Ha! I knew someone would conflate dress rehearsal with "preseason". It's no pre-season, half speed, go through the learning motions exercise. It's balls to the walls, get in the groove, football. I expect a few learning curve adjustments and some timing issues but a dominating effort and joyful outcome. When was the last time you heard joyful and UConn football in the same sentence?