Transfers - Outbound (Part Duex)

[Exit 4]

The program is 6-30 under RE2 with 1W in 2018, 2Ws last season, and a cancelled season in 2020. Perhaps RE is rebuilding is rebuild? Whatever the case, I don’t blame any player for leaving and I have huge respect for those committed to seeing it through. All we can do is stick with it as fans and hope things change for the better.

Not unusual for a WO to exit after two years. They put their effort in, found out where they stack up and then they make decisions from there. While I'm a little disappointed for Banton because I thought he might be a WO that sticks (had some wiggle and toughness for his size in his HS tape), for whatever reason he has decided to move on.

There are a lot of interesting WO candidates ready to take Banton's place ....many right here at the New England prep schools as fifth year seniors. Just saying.

 

[UConnJim]

I think this will be a very difficult year for walk-ons to earn scholarships with the granting of an extra year of eligibility. Revenues are depressed for all athletic departments and many schools may have >85 players on football scholarship. How many above 85 will be a difficult financial decision.

 

[BlueDogs]

Not unusual for a WO to exit after two years. They put their effort in, found out where they stack up and then they make decisions from there. While I'm a little disappointed for Banton because I thought he might be a WO that sticks (had some wiggle and toughness for his size in his HS tape), for whatever reason he has decided to move on.

There are a lot of interesting WO candidates ready to take Banton's place ....many right here at the New England prep schools as fifth year seniors. Just saying.

True. The portal could be ripe this year also.

 

[ktuck911]

2018 PWO LB/RB Lavarey Banton to enter transfer portal:



Career stats

Good for him... He'll probably be a scholly player at the FCS level too.. smart move young man..

 

[huskymedic]

DL Caleb Thomas intends to grad transfer:




Career Stats

 

[huskymedic]

I think this will be a very difficult year for walk-ons to earn scholarships with the granting of an extra year of eligibility. Revenues are depressed for all athletic departments and many schools may have >85 players on football scholarship. How many above 85 will be a difficult financial decision.

Roster compression from extra year of eligibility for current rosters and the large number of committed kids not being able to visit campus/meet staff in person is going to cause increased activity in both the transfer portal and in decommits across the board. I think I counted 5 FBS QB transfers yesterday alone.

 

[Sprague03]

DL Caleb Thomas intends to grad transfer:




Career Stats

wasn’t he slated to start at DT too? That’s unfortunate but I wish him good luck

 

[huskysupporter]

wasn’t he slated to start at DT too? That’s unfortunate but I wish him good luck

Definitely a loss.

 

[hardcorehusky]

He has been a starter for us. I would assume he would be projected as a starter but I feel like we have some depth there to be OK

 

[uconnbill]

I wish him well but this sucks seeing these players leaving

 

[Ajs120102]

I mean we are starting with young players every year now. At some point enough has to be enough.

 

[ktuck911]

DL Caleb Thomas intends to grad transfer:




Career Stats

Oh h*** no! I loved him in that DT spot along side T Jones.... What the heck do we do now??????

 

[huskymedic]

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Oh h*** no! I loved him in that DT spot along side T Jones.... What the heck do we do now??????

Guardine and a higher rated recruit in Quay Evans. Move Pace back to DL for passing downs.

 

[Nextmanup]

Guardine and a higher rated recruit in Quay Evans. Move Pace back to DL for passing downs.

Was Caleb starting? I seem to remember he was third behind travis Jones and another DL kid.
I think this transfer has more to do with him being from Texas and maybe wanting to play closer to home? Covid is changing how some parents and kids view things. Might just want to play for family and friends in his home state...

 

[Njalum1422]

Was Caleb starting? I seem to remember he was third behind travis Jones and another DL kid.
I think this transfer has more to do with him being from Texas and maybe wanting to play closer to home? Covid is changing how some parents and kids view things. Might just want to play for family and friends in his home state...

I think you might be thinking of Eric Watts. Even if he wasn’t a starter we need upperclassmen depth if we are going to do anything ever.

 

[huskymedic]

Benedict talks a bit about the challenges of the extra year of eligibility and transfers in general in this interview (not football specific) -> fast forward to 44:40 mark):

 

[Slick]

I wish him well but this sucks seeing these players leaving

Very bad to see starters leave. Randy wants to have experienced players with extra year of strength training etc but how does it help us if we have gotten them bigger ,stronger and faster and they leave with 2 years left of eligibility?

 

[Nextmanup]

I think you might be thinking of Eric Watts. Even if he wasn’t a starter we need upperclassmen depth if we are going to do anything ever.

Yes I agree we def need upperclassmen to stick around to help the program.. just trying to figure out why some of the transfers leave.. always hope it’s because they want to start somewhere right away and not be second or third on the depth chart..

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Watts is a DE, hoping he is the answer on the left side.

 

[ktuck911]

Watts is a DE, hoping he is the answer on the left side.

Me too.. and maybe Dillon can provide a little speed off the edge on the other side... We need somebody to get to the QB of the edge badly... somebody with speed.

 

[Tdaley]

This is another blow to our defense. Caleb was a starter last year. I am losing confidence in the idea that our defense would be much improved next year over last year.

 

[ktuck911]

This is another blow to our defense. Caleb was a starter last year. I am losing confidence in the idea that our defense would be much improved next year over last year.

If we can somehow keep a glass half full perspective on this (it's extremely hard right now I admit) we gotta have high hopes for guys like Gourdine, Moore, Iguak, Evans who will help fill the void... It's tough to envision since we didn't play this year due to COVID... These young pups need to be/should be (nothing more) like hungry Huskies come the start of Fall '21 camp.. zero excuses...

 

[UConnJim]

This is another blow to our defense. Caleb was a starter last year. I am losing confidence in the idea that our defense would be much improved next year over last year.

I'm more optimistic. First, the defense was young in 2019 and the players will be more developed in 2020. Unfortunately, UConn has not updated any of the defensive size and weights since 2019 so we are probably going to be positively surprised about how some players have developed.

On the DL, 7 players started in 2019. Yes, Thomas did start 11 games, but T Jones started 11, K Jones started 10, Harris started 7 (at DL), Uguak started 5, DeVaughn started 3, and Watts started 1. They were very young in 2019 as the starters were 1 Junior, 1 R-So, 3 So, 1 R-Fr, and 1 Fr.

As for DL tackles and tackles for loss in 2019:

K Jones 40 tackels, 4.5 tackles for loss
T Jones 40 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss
Watts 30 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss
Harris 26 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss
Thomas 23 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss
Uguak 19 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss
DeVaughn 15 tackles, 1.0 tackles for loss

And, you have to remember, there will be 2 DL that redshirted in 2019 who will be in their 3rd year with the team and 5 DL that will be in their 2nd year with the team as well as 2 true freshmen.

 

[ktuck911]

I'm more optimistic. First, the defense was young in 2019 and the players will be more developed in 2020. Unfortunately, UConn has not updated any of the defensive size and weights since 2019 so we are probably going to be positively surprised about how some players have developed.

On the DL, 7 players started in 2019. Yes, Thomas did start 11 games, but T Jones started 11, K Jones started 10, Harris started 7 (at DL), Uguak started 5, DeVaughn started 3, and Watts started 1. They were very young in 2019 as the starters were 1 Junior, 1 R-So, 3 So, 1 R-Fr, and 1 Fr.

As for DL tackles and tackles for loss in 2019:

K Jones 40 tackels, 4.5 tackles for loss
T Jones 40 tackles, 6.0 tackles for loss
Watts 30 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss
Harris 26 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss
Thomas 23 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss
Uguak 19 tackles, 4.0 tackles for loss
DeVaughn 15 tackles, 1.0 tackles for loss

And, you have to remember, there will be 2 DL that redshirted in 2019 who will be in their 3rd year with the team and 5 DL that will be in their 2nd year with the team as well as 2 true freshmen.

Good stuff bro... Yep, it sucks we don't get to see updates of players on how they developed in terms of size... which makes me cautiously optomistic come next year.. Hope we get something on that stuff early next year... If we didn't "grow" (not just football IQ) come next year, it'll be deflating to say the least.