Three UConn commits heading to Milford Academy

[uconnbill]

I just don't understand how high schools can't prepare these kids.

Some of these schools just push them though. It shouldn't happen but it does all the time in a number of schools across the nation

 

[phillionaire]

You can always tell a Milford man

 

[gioff23]

Some of these schools just push them though. It shouldn't happen but it does all the time in a number of schools across the nation

same could be said for many so-called Power 5 schools. i understand the fruistration at high schools, but why stop there?

 

[COOSCOOS13]

Isn't that what a RS year is for?

ABSOLUTELY INCORRECT----HE ISNT A RS HE IS A GS BIG DIFFERENCE--

 

[Pudge]

You are all missing the subtle value of Milford ... which the Cuse has used for the last 8 years. Chaplick acts like inventory control. PP, obviously has a good relationship with BC (which HCRE did not), and Milford is now playing the role that it has for SU. I expect that we have about a 75% chance of seeing these kids. Why>? That, I believe, was about the ratio of SU. Of course, will PP be here in January?

 

[Carl Spackler]

Isn't that what a RS year is for?

Sure - you can use a redshirt year for that. But by doing that, you've now decreased your eligible scholarship roster by one player that can contribute on game days. Seems smarter to me, that if you've got players that need development time - to let the develop elsewhere, while you've got guys on your roster that can actually play. Just my crazy talk though.

 

[businesslawyer]

Sure - you can use a redshirt year for that. But by doing that, you've now decreased your eligible scholarship roster by one player that can contribute on game days. Seems smarter to me, that if you've got players that need development time - to let the develop elsewhere, while you've got guys on your roster that can actually play. Just my crazy talk though.

No, that's right. Also, many players have a PG year and then redshirt anyway, giving them two years to grow and bulk up before their four years start running. Ryan Wirth did that, and Ryan Wirth in his sixth year out of HS became a stud.

 

[Pudge]

But ... as we all can see ... Milford is different than Cheshire Academy.

 

[Carl Spackler]

But ... as we all can see ... Milford is different than Cheshire Academy.

Yup, and Milford isn't trying to portray the school as anything other than it is either! Been here, discussed that. Milford was once one of the top prep schools in the country, and was the Yale University farm system for both students and athletes. It's not anymore. It's a post secondary school, who's primary mission is to enhance the profile of it's students such that they are attractive scholarship athletes at major universities. That's it.

http://www.milfordacademy.org/mission.html

Cheshire Academy is a little bit different:

https://www.cheshireacademy.org/podium/default.aspx?t=50981



I think that all people are different, and fit different profiles, and I think having a diverse group of prep schools throughout New England, New York and New Jersey, that fit different people and personalities and profiles, as they graduate high school, is a good thing to have, when you are recruiting for the level of competition that we want to be at. Junior colleges also are involved here.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I've been raked over the coals many times for this, but I'll say again, that when it came to recruiting, redshirt decision making in the past, seemed to be an ongoing process in the year long recruiting cycle, meaning that players were recruited, with the decision making embedded, that they would get a scholarship roster spot, but were not physically, or mentally ready to play.

I do not believe that is the case anymore, I believe that red shirts decision making is a process that is handled in a very specific window of time during the year, and is largely ignored the rest of the year, and putting a red shirt on a player is a luxury, to develop upperclassmen for the future with practice, film and game prep experience, rather than used as a physical development tool, and that every player that is going to get a yearly scholarship is expected to be ready to play physically and mentally if their number is called.

Have a nice day folks - season is coming up quick!!!

 

[ZooCougar]

They are in the NCAA eyes and the university/colleges that accept the students so that's all that really counts. Non- qualifiers go the JUCO route.

Pasqualoni apologist.

 

[ZooCougar]

Yup, and Milford isn't trying to portray the school as anything other than it is either! Been here, discussed that. Milford was once one of the top prep schools in the country, and was the Yale University farm system for both students and athletes. It's not anymore. It's a post secondary school, who's primary mission is to enhance the profile of it's students such that they are attractive scholarship athletes at major universities. That's it.

http://www.milfordacademy.org/mission.html

Cheshire Academy is a little bit different:

https://www.cheshireacademy.org/podium/default.aspx?t=50981



I think that all people are different, and fit different profiles, and I think having a diverse group of prep schools throughout New England, New York and New Jersey, that fit different people and personalities and profiles, as they graduate high school, is a good thing to have, when you are recruiting for the level of competition that we want to be at. Junior colleges also are involved here.

Milford was never a top prep school. You are confusing it with something else. At one point Milford could not even afford to feed its occupants.

Comparing Cheshire Academy to Milford is like comparing a five star restaurant to a taco stand.

 

[jrazz12]

You can always tell a Milford man

Like, because most of the old fogies on the board won't get the reference

 

[huskymedic]

You can always tell a Milford man

Like, because most of the old fogies on the board won't get the reference

 

[J187Money]

Sure - you can use a redshirt year for that. But by doing that, you've now decreased your eligible scholarship roster by one player that can contribute on game days. Seems smarter to me, that if you've got players that need development time - to let the develop elsewhere, while you've got guys on your roster that can actually play. Just my crazy talk though.

It also means that they may end up elsewhere. And maybe that's ok. But it is a risk.

 

[Carl Spackler]

It also means that they may end up elsewhere. And maybe that's ok. But it is a risk.

Sure, but it's a win/win kind of situation with the risk. The player that all that time and effort has been invested in may never show up on campus or in a UCONN uniform, but chances are very good that they will play football as a scholarship athlete somewhere, and that they will have only good things to say about how they were treated by UCONN, and that the opportunities (as long as they put the work in) in prep/juco made them more attractive as a scholarship athlete.

I look at it more like building up a good will bank account and reputation in the recruiting world as well as Pudge effectively put "inventory control". Having close relationships with New York, New England, New Jersey, east coast prep school / post secondary/ juco programs and sending your recruited players to those places, is IMNSHO, a necessary part of being able to recruit and build a roster effectively in our region of the country for 1A football top 25 level competition. I think.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Milford was never a top prep school. You are confusing it with something else. At one point Milford could not even afford to feed its occupants.

Comparing Cheshire Academy to Milford is like comparing a five star restaurant to a taco stand.

Milford many decades ago, was the primary prep school for Yale University, and a highly desireable prep school location for students that wanted Ivy league education. I redact my "top prep school" comment, and replace with "once a primary prep school for Yale University".

I was very clear in that institutions are very different, actually posted the missions of both institutions to emphasize it. I'm not sure why you feel the need to make the five star / taco stand comment unless you're somehow affiliated with Cheshire academy and are just being a dork.

I think both institutions do a great job of fulfilling their missions.

 

[huskymedic]

I think we are seeing the difference between FHCRE recruits and Coach P recruits. This is what happens when you gamble on someone with grade issues. You can lose a decent chunk of your class.

Happens to the best of them (obviously UGA has more depth than we do so more margin for error than we do). Kids get bad info or lose focus post-commit.

>>For the second time since February’s National Signing Day, Georgia has lost a member of its 2013 class

http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsport...signee-not-cleared-by-ncaa-wont-play-in-2013/ <<

 

[Palatine]

This could be strategic on P's part.

Gamble on kids that are athletically strong but scare away suitors because of their grades. If they qualify, great, if not stash them in prep schools and bring them in January. It gives you a jump on next year with high quality (athletically) kids.

This could get you some kids that UConn wouldn't normally have a chance at. It also allows you to over recruit because a healthy percentage will fall out every year. But that comprises your starting point for next year.

 

[Excalibur]

I think we are seeing the difference between FHCRE recruits and Coach P recruits. This is what happens when you gamble on someone with grade issues. You can lose a decent chunk of your class.

Let's not pretend that this didn't happen under the prior regime.

 

[ZooCougar]

Milford many decades ago, was the primary prep school for Yale University, and a highly desireable prep school location for students that wanted Ivy league education. I redact my "top prep school" comment, and replace with "once a primary prep school for Yale University".

I was very clear in that institutions are very different, actually posted the missions of both institutions to emphasize it. I'm not sure why you feel the need to make the five star / taco stand comment unless you're somehow affiliated with Cheshire academy and are just being a dork.

I think both institutions do a great job of fulfilling their missions.

Doubt Milford was ahead of Hotchkiss or a few other big schools. You can usually tell which school was a feeder for what by school colors.

The linkage between the current and the old Milford is sketchy at best. Different campus, different mission and purpose. It kills me when Milford is compared to real schools even like Worcester Academy or Cheshire. Not that Milford is some awful place, but it's a different animal altogether.

Trevardo went to Canterbury in New Milford. It's a very good and legitimate Academic institution. When a kid goes to a place like Canterbury, Salisbury, Hotchkiss, Avon Old Farms etc.. the student is a student. Sports is secondary. I went to Salisbury and there was always a Postgraduate (PG) or two that would show up in the senior class. Most of them were hockey players doing a PG year because West Point wanted them to. But most of those guys had a great experience at a school that gave them intensive academic guidance.

Just about every major private school had students like this. Choate, AOF, Hotchkiss, Salisbury etc. South Kent is a very small but legit school that has made a niche. In most cases these schools are small and they only will accept a student that is serious.

So when a kid goes to one of the "real" schools, then I get much more of a warm fuzzy than with Milford. But Milford no doubt has a decent track record in matriculating students to where they want to be.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Bingo - I knew it. I'm a public school product so I could give 2-shiiits as to prep schools, etc., but the only reason that anybody can compare Milford (today) to Cheshire (or Salisbury, or Canterbury, etc. today) as a 5-star restaurant to a taco stand, is if they're affiliated somehow.

Yes indeed- Milford academy was a complete disaster as a school about a decade ago when it was still actually in Milford, CT. It was mismanaged for many years in the 1990s as it struggled with football factory identity and masqueraded as a true academic oriented prep school, and tried to balance other things, when football, was really the only thing that was bringing any money. I've been through this discussion before. The school for all intensive purposes, completely folded. Chaplick took the name, to a new location in NY state, and resurrected the school, with a completely new mission (that I posted) and they are completely open and clear about what they do, and they do it well. The vast majority of their players become scholarship eligible athletes, and successfully make it to either college graduation and/or the NFL.

 

[Palatine]

Does it really matter? Miss Porter's is a better school than any of 'em but I wouldn't recruit it for football.

 

[Carl Spackler]

Does it really matter? Miss Porter's is a better school than any of 'em but I wouldn't recruit it for football.

It does matter, because simply put - when your division 1A football program is parked in the middle of rural Tolland country, as opposed to say urban Dade county - you dont' have the same pool of players coming out of high school to plug into your program to easily recruit, and you need a farm system.

That said, I wouldn't go trying to recruit and build Miss Porter's or Westover as a farm system for this program either.

 

[J187Money]

I went to the Milford Academy Junior/Senior prom in 1989. We all sat at one table. I couldn't figure out how it was an actual school (my brother-in-law went there also), but I guess it was the PG football program that paid the bills?