Tim Boyle to UConn, per Dez

[Adios]

^Exactly. We actually don't care for locals, deep down. Locals is just marketing. If your son is better than Boyle, he'll get the job.

 

[thatguyed]

Within all of this, and I don't envy you and Richard in this situation as I said yesterday, I also have no doubt that you have your collective eyes on both sides of the ball - one football and the other education. Already a Top 20 Public University, and near that in prior years, UConn's recent committments to continuing to develop the academic and research side of the university are HUGE. Whether that helps advance us athletically, only time will tell. Whether that helps every Husky get a great education (if they work at it) is a definite.

All the best to you and your son. I hope he decides to come to Storrs. If not, again, all the best.

P.S. I'm sure there's a spot for his truck somewhere. ;>)

 

[pj]

I think what I am most concerned about is the concentration of qb's now at a freshman level. You have two true freshmen and a redshirt freshman. One or even two will have to go elsewhere at the end of the season if they want to play and then you will have a healthy cycle of a 2014 qb coming in. But only one of the three can play and if they use a redshirt this year then that player will have to sit out this year and then next year in order to transfer to play. There is no doubt that competition makes stronger players but none of the three, no matter who wins, deserved to make up for prior recruiting failures at the cost of their playing. They all,want to play and they have worked hard to get the chance. In an ideal situation the staff would have brought in a juco player to support the lack of depth. That did not happen and now, on a team filled with local talent in a close community, the kid from Texas will be the odd man out. And one last trivial note: if he does come he is bringing his 2012 Raptor with him and I will knock on the nearest homes and ask if they will let me build them an extra garage for free as long as my son can park his trimmed out truck there for free while he is in school.........he is not coming as the outsider and carless. It is amazing how fast a college kid can no longer be an outsider when he has a car A car and food money, we all forget how simple college really is.

Your concerns are understandable, but:
- It is just wrong to think any of the QBs has an advantage because he is from Connecticut. The goal here is to have a big-time football program and compete at a national level. We brought in an athletic director who played football at Michigan and had no Connecticut ties to make sure that happened. The recent coaching changes eg moving DeLeone were a repudiation of old-boy networks trumping quality. Parochial concerns like where a kid came from are not going to affect playing time.
- If the coaches were biased by place of origin, it's just as likely that a Texas kid would have the advantage. Texas is a fertile recruiting area as you well know and showing that we can draw national recruits and help them succeed would be good for recruiting; UConn doesn't need to prove itself to Connecticut kids. But as I said, origins won't matter. The goal will be to win and to get the best QB on the field. That will be the only criterion. I am 100% confident about this.
- Keep in mind that Weist the OC and Shane Day the QB coach who presumably will make the decisions do not have any Connecticut history. They are here to succeed as football coaches and their loyalty is not to Connecticut kids but to success on the field.
- The competition and potential transfer issue is a real issue. But it is not a factor for Boyle because beggars cannot be choosers. His only other offer is the legacy offer from BC and he's been told that he won't be getting playing time because the style won't suit him. He knows the situation as he makes his choice. For Cochran and Lagow, the reality is there is still only competition from 3 other QBs total vs 4 at other schools. So competition is less stringent than at other schools.
- I think you are over-emphasizing the disadvantages of the concentration of players in two classes and under-emphasizing the advantages for Richard of the absence of QBs in earlier classes. It is a huge advantage that there is basically no one except Whitmer, who is 3 years ahead, who has an experience advantage over him. (Cochran has an extra year at UConn, but that's made up for by the weaker high school level of competition and by the broken wrist which limited his ability to practice during that year.) So Richard's chances of being the starter for 3-4 years are far higher at UConn than anywhere else.

This last point is really the major point. The 2 QB class but only 4 total on the roster is an unusual situation, but it doesn't make UConn worse for Richard than other schools. It means whereas at the typical 5 QB, 1 per year school, he would have a good chance of being the starter for 1 year and a poor chance of being a multi-year starter (due to competition from multiple QBs from earlier recruiting classes) and still a significant chance of never being the full-time starter because a QB from a later year could possibly beat him out, at UConn he has a SLIGHTLY higher chance of being a zero-year starter (because the Boyle-equivalent competitor recruited in the class of 2014 at the other school would be slightly less likely to beat him out in 2017-18 than Boyle from class of 2013 at UConn) but a MUCH higher chance of being a 3-4 year starter at UConn (3 years if Whitmer starts until eligibility is done and Lagow takes over; 4 years if he beats out Whitmer).

Overall, I believe Richard is stronger than Cochran or Boyle and thus he is likely to succeed Whitmer as our QB and get FAR MORE playing time at UConn than at any other BCS level program he might choose.

But, as always, playing time has to be won on the field. It's not unfair to make a BCS-level QB win a competition with 3 other QBs, whatever years they were recruited in.

Finally, trimmed out Raptors are more than welcome in rural Connecticut!

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

There's no such thing as local. There's just UConn Family. It didn't matter where Emeka Okafor was from, we loved him all the same. Once you drape yourself in National Flag Blue, you're a Husky for life and you #BleedBlue with the rest of us.

Unless, you know, you're Alex Oriakhi. Cause he's a big jerk.

 

[HobokenHusky]

Unless, you know, you're Alex Oriakhi. Cause he's a big MUMU.

Fixed that for you

 

[Sean]

Bringing in Tim Boyle says a lot more about how the coaches feel about Chandler Whitmer and Casey Cochran than it does how they feel about Richard Lagow.

The bottom line, I think, is that UConn does not have the luxury of redshirting both true freshman. Boyle and Lagow IMO will both be better than Cochran on day 1, and it remains to be seen whether Boyle and/or Lagow are better than Whitmer on day 1. Personally, I'd be fine with starting either as a true freshman - but I'm one of the boards more negative Whitmer posters.

Now, if Lagow doesn't want to compete on day 1 to start, that may actually be a valid concern. With that being said, I've never head a kid say they WANT to redshirt year 1, even though most of them would probably be wise to do just that.

Starting to really lament potentially losing this kid, though. Hope that the connections he seems to have made to kids like Matt walsh and Noel Thomas can save his commitment...because no matter how hard we try, I don't think us message board posters can.

 

[pj]

Either way this falls Uconn is better for having Richard involved because he helped talk to other recruits early on, tried to talk the program up as much as possible, and the goal for all of us should always be to leave a place better than when you arrived.

Agreed! Richard has been fantastic and if UConn is having its best recruiting class ever, he is one of the major reasons. Thank you Richard!

Granted, he has not arrived yet, but my family loved the place and people and we would never have allowed him to second guess his choice if we did not believe there was a capable QB in place for the future. You never do more harm than good, period.

I hope you're not assuming that we don't need or want Richard to come and QB our team! Maybe UConn would not be left totally in the lurch, but we'd far rather have Husky football with Richard than without him! We want to be national championship contenders in football as we have been in basketball, it's not our goal just to survive by having a QB to put on the field. We want the best.

 

[SubbaBub]

If Lagow signs, I would expect him to win the job next year rather handily based on the level of competition. We've seen plenty of northeastern smurfs with gaudy HS stats come in and not show like a 1-A QB.

Lagow appears to have "it". He shouldn't be concerned about the competition. If he does the work he'll win the job.

What will really be interesting is if Casey.can push Chandler this spring. If not, then I'd be concerned about him transferring. Then this 2 QB class thing is kind of moot.

As JWB said, once recruiting is over, it's on to the next class. Everyone has to earn there spot. I like Richard's chances here regardless of the depth chart.

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

 

[junglehusky]

There's no such thing as local. There's just UConn Family. It didn't matter where Emeka Okafor was from, we loved him all the same.

Also, back when I was a student we had a tall kid from Texas playing bball, named Jake Voskhul. He even drove a big, jacked up white truck around - not exactly "low profile" or "local". But he was a UConn guy through and through.

 

[Vuce]

Also, back when I was a student we had a tall kid from Texas playing bball, named Jake Voskhul. He even drove a big, jacked up white truck around - not exactly "low profile" or "local". But he was a UConn guy through and through.

Let me correct your last sentence for you:

"But he was is a Uconn guy through and through."

 

[EdgewoodNHV]

Also, back when I was a student we had a tall kid from Texas playing bball, named Jake Voskhul. He even drove a big, jacked up white truck around - not exactly "low profile" or "local". But he was a UConn guy through and through.

Totally. Saw him at Subway once with the prettiest girl I'd ever seen in real life up to that point. Though I am from Coventry, so perhaps I have low standards. ;-)

 

[Husky1964]

Jake has also been to the White House, not to mention playing in the NBA for close to 10 years.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Most importantly, Jake was a teammate of Mike Leblanc.

Also true that Jake never scored 20 points in a game in high school or college.

 

[huskymedic]

He is 6'6" and not a stretched 6'3" like so many high school recruits. There are very few 6'6"+ QB's with a strong arm and good footwork that have the potential to develop and then maybe, just maybe, help change a program. Everything is about upside.

Our last 6-5+ 4 year starting QB changed the face of the program and brought it to a new level (Dan Orlovsky). I'm hoping that Richard's here to bring the program to the next level!

 

[Srqhusky]

We got two texas basketball recruits that year. Who was the other one?

 

[Chin Diesel]

We got two texas basketball recruits that year. Who was the other one?

Look two posts above yours.

 

[sportsart]

Let us not forget

Emeka Okafor - Houston, TX

Time to build a football connection in Texas

 

[Chin Diesel]

Sticking with football, Harris Agbor from Mesquite and Ryan Henegan from Arlington.

 

[Chin Diesel]

And Kijuan Dabney and Mike Smith are Texans too.

 

[UConnRock]

Bokeloh (sp) on the current roster

 

[Carl Spackler]

Ok, just for the record, and despite my intent to be quiet.....

Last season my son's team threw the ball but the first three games were very early whippings so he did not get to throw much. The next to the last game he broke his ankle and needed surgery that he fought back from. He actually only had to throw in five games and had over 1600 yards. After fighting back from the ankle break and the surgery he had Alabama tell him he had a spot during a camp visit and they would be there for his first few games. He then helped his team win the Texas State 7on7. After that championship he had numerous typical top ten teams calling and telling him he was their man and they would be here for the first few games of the season. A week before the season practices started he was told that their offense was changing to a run based and all the college coaches arrived to see the Texas State 7on7 MVP hand the ball off over and over and they quit coming. Throughout this process he won numerous camp MVP awards along with a high school All American Bowl QB MVP. He had dozens of local public and private high schools try to recruit him away but he stayed loyal to the program despite the obvious signs, he had a team he refused to walk out on. He is a real 6'6" frame with the ability to easily carry 245 lbs. He came to the Uconn camp and he did not have an incomplete pass while throwing to kids he did not know and his team did not lose a game. Every coach in the SEC and Big 12 have said he has the strongest and most accurate arm they have seen but they needed him in a program that threw more than ten times a game and we understood, I would have said the same thing. So he came to a Uconn camp with another highly desired QB and went toe to toe and was made an offer and everything was set. Now a new QB entered the mix on literally the last day. He was not at the camp, or went unnoticed. Maybe it was too far.

Rankings on those "scouting" sites are largely based on what college coaches say after a kid visits the program on campus. If those guys had the ability to evaluate talent they would call them coaches and not several other less flattering descriptions. I actually told a Rivals scout to stay away from my son, he was later terminated but not before he refused to evaluate Richard. If a player visits a lot of colleges, or high profile programs, the writers add a star or say something nice. The thing about those "scouting" operations is that they follow the programs and they do not have the expertise or ability to have a program follow them. Richard visited Alabama at a camp and then Uconn at a camp. He did not make the circuit, did not get kicked out the door by Uconn, and anyone who thinks he does not have the stronger arm needs to quit looking at film because there is no help. Even in a run based offense he was able to keep his yards per completion at the top of the stats charts. His running yardage is poor because the only time they passed was when everyone knew they had to pass......off of deep drops with play action.

So, Uconn has a new QB, a local product from a good school who seems to be a good kid and Six schools have since come back into the picture concerning Richard. I have no doubt Uconn offers an exceptional education, that the new qb recruit is a good kid and can maintain the program, but as I told Richard last night he has something impossible to teach. He is 6'6" and not a stretched 6'3" like so many high school recruits. There are very few 6'6"+ QB's with a strong arm and good footwork that have the potential to develop and then maybe, just maybe, help change a program. Everything is about upside.

Well, if nothing else, this sure has made signing day interesting for folks around here.

Having been involved with sports my entire life, I have learned one absolute. Parents have a lot more difficulty with everythign going on, as compared with their kids playing.

I don't mean this sarcastic, or offensive in anyway, there are many, many readers and writers around here that have gone through exactly what is going on now for the Lagow family, and literally thousands of other families around the country, that have raised kids to the age of legal adulthood - are all going through right now.

One way or the other, there will be some kind of relief in the next 24 hours - the entire purpose of creating the NLI - was to relieve the kind of pressure that exists for recruits and families, that we're all reading and experiencing right now through this writing.

As I"ve written before, if it fits, it sticks. (BTW - the student section at Rentschler field and the cheerleaders have by far, hands down, the best football cheer in the country, and I won't write it here....the Lagow's will have to find out for themselves)


but anyway - in recruiting, if it fits, it sticks. We'll see if Lagow and UCONN are a fit, and they stick in a matter of hours now.

 

[Srqhusky]

Look two posts above yours.

Actually was referring to okafor ! Came in same year as voskuhl. . Texas connection !

 

[kris1]

kris, don't get me wrong, I love your passion for CT HS FB, but I believe that if it was Boyle or another CT player who won some 7v7 passing league, you would be touting that as a big indicator to how prolific they could be. These leagues are great for developing the skill. While true there is no rush, there is a time limit you need to make a decision in, topped off with all 7 guys on defense know you're throwing the ball (so they're not cheating to stop the run). But agreed, we are both on the same page with being happy these two kids are UConn bound!

I agree that good can come out of 7v7 leagues. However, I wasn't on here raving about how Boyle did playing for Jack Cochran's team over the summer. Look, I want both kids here to compete. It makes us better on offense and defense, when you have two top level QBs pushing each other everyday. They both played on successful 7v7 teams, I'm happy for them both. But, does that mean that either one will win games for UConn in the Fall? Maybe it will make more sense this way. RL won a TX 7v7 Championship against the best teams around, then he played in the regular season, with those same skill guys, against top-notch competition, and finished 5-6. I think the kid is extremely talented, more so then anyone on the roster right now, but there's no correlation between 7v7 and regular season success, in most cases. It's beneficial, it's a marketing tool, and can get you noticed, but unless it equates to wins in the regular season....it's a glorified scrimmage.

Having said that, I hope RL holds true to his commitment. I hope he brings his Raptor, his swagger, his skills to CT, wins the job from day 1 and proves he has "IT". It wouldn't be the first time I've put my foot in my mouth.

 

[CTHUSKY74]

Unless Richard planned to start this year I don't see him being in an odd man out situation. I really believe that Chandler's performance from last year, while reinstituting passing in the offense, was too error prone to guarantee starting again. I feel Casey will get a legit shot to start this year as well. Both freshmen because they have size and the reputation of arm strength and passing accuracy will get a shot to compete but it's a lot to learn the offense in summer camp so you can start a game vs Michigan in Sept. I don't expect a freshman to be thrown in like that. However, after a year of experience with the program I would expect them to have a good opportunity to win the job. They both will have the advantage of height over the older guys ahead of them. Neither will have an advantage over the other due to being a local product and will need to win it on the field. Leadership, knowing the playbook, accuracy, reading defenses, finding open receivers, placing the ball where receivers can make a play and making throws with touch will be the things that will win the job, not whether he is a local product. If all performance aspects are equal with all four, the experienced guy will start but I don't think we will see that. Given our recent history with the QB position, Richard will be coming into a very promising situation in relation to the potential for starting very early in his career. He will need to show that he is better than his competition but if what his dad says is true he may be up to that task. We want him here and it would be a shame if he felt that it's not a good situation to come into. If he decides to go elsewhere as a better opportunity - best of luck, but I feel his opportunity here is wide open. Just my two cents.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Actually was referring to okafor ! Came in same year as voskuhl. . Texas connection !

Not trying to thread jack, but you're wrong.

Voskuhl was on the 99 championship team and Okafor was on the '04 team. Definitely not the same years.