UConn Football 2024 Spring FanFest (April 21st @ Morrone Stadium)

[huskymedic]

Assisted access <<

-> Jim Mora walked from the field and looked surprised, rather delighted to see a throng of reporters and cameras waiting for him.

“It’s nice to have some microphones back out here,” Mora said. “You guys haven’t gotten to see a lot, so our fans haven’t gotten to read or see a lot.”

This is one, possibly the least important, but one of the more telling of differences between coaching football at UConn and other FBS programs, where year-round, saturation coverage can give a coach a different kind of headache. Of course, UConn is a basketball school, even when basketball was in a down cycle, and Mora knew that when he came to Storrs in 2021. With the men’s team repeating as national champ, the women’s team getting back to the Final Four and media outlets stretched thin, there wasn’t much attention left to pay to the football Huskies spring practices, so little, the coach seemed to miss us. <-

-> “There are things that bother you,” Mora said. “You can’t let them slow you down or stop you. There are definitely challenges here, but there are opportunities as well. We all know what the challenges are, I don’t have to repeat them, they’re obvious. I focus on the opportunity. You feel rewarded when you overcome those challenges. That’s what we’re all about.” <-

 

[Wildgopher]

Fagnano was significantly better than Roberson today (don't shoot the messenger).

I have to agree. He looked very sharp and in more control.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[huskymedic]

 

[GoConn]

This dude looks electric, cant wait to see him play this year!

 

[huskymedic]

Assisted access <<

 

[jdb50]

Biggest concern going into next year is LB play and a pass rusher opposite Pryce Yates. Bret Buckman was really good today. Jackson Harper showed what he can bring. The kid was a prep league MVP on offense for a reason. Cam Edwards was a no go today but we are better at RB than last year. I was hoping Jack Stewart was having a hamstring cramp. He got off the field on his own . Tough kid and horrible break. Welliver is a talent. This is the biggest decision for the coaching staff as usual. I am very happy that Coach Mora is focusing on HC duties. Coach Sammis has a future. He really connects with his players.

 

[huskymedic]

Any reports from NE football Journal?

All those Tony Catalina tweets. But nothing out on their website yet.

Essentially the same sense as he posted in threads but ($)

 

[NEforceUConn]

Hoping our LB’ers have better speed.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Pretty disgusting Lundt and offense have had to wait until this off season to having coaches who are "almost perfectionists". What the heck was the previous standard?
I have a low tolerance for WR's who drop passes.
Not excited to see Fortin's name associated with starting OLine.
Hopefully Rosa is out of dog house. Glad to see RB's looking good.
Hopefully Harper can make some plays.

 

[Jimdish255]

Not sure what kind of news could be worse. We desperately need to improve OL as a unit. Already losing depth. Achilles is not an easy rehab for any athlete.

 

[Jimdish255]

Jeeze reminds me a little of John Madden. Hopefully he has some of that don't underestimate us juice.

 

[uconnbill]

There were too many drops yesterday. I counted 12 and 4 by Honig, 2 by Domino, Hicks 2, Bell 1, Gathings 1, Harrison 1, and Montgomery 1. I might have missed one or two.
Fagnano looked good on across-the-middle throws and short throws. The long ones were both underthrown. He ran the offense the best but had the first-team offense the entire time.
Taquan had a tough day. He looks like he has his speed back and can run but passing was off all day.
Tucker has a nice touch on the ball and looked decent most of the day. He had trouble with the pass rush a couple of times. Throws a nice ball.
Cole has an outstanding arm. Played with the third team and did not look out of place. He has an outstanding arm, and his deep pass for over 40 yards in the air was a thing of beauty. He will play this year more than likely.

The running backs were led by Rosa, who looked very good. The other back I liked was Brown who is small but tough. he had one inside run and ended up getting another two yards on the play. He has some speed and can juke. I like him and would think he is the third back after Rosa and Edwards.

Wes Hoeh started at center on the first drive. He looked decent from the one-series. The starting tackles were solid for the most part.
I worry about the interior line, especially after losing Stewart for the season. I am hoping Murawski can fill in for Stewart.

One standout on defense was Branch who had several pressures on the quarterback. I think he can have a breakout year.

Edwards, Antolovich, and Danily didn't dress.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

There were too many drops yesterday. I counted 12 and 4 by Honig, 2 by Domino, Hicks 2, Bell 1, Gathings 1, Harrison 1, and Montgomery 1. I might have missed one or two.
Fagnano looked good on across-the-middle throws and short throws. The long ones were both underthrown. He ran the office the best but had the first-team offense the entire time.
Taquan had a tough day. He looks like he has his speed back and can run but passing was off all day.
Tucker has a nice touch on the ball and looked decent most of the day. He had trouble with the pass rush a couple of times. Throws a nice ball.
Cole has an outstanding arm. Played with the third team and did not look out of place. He has an outstanding arm, and his deep pass for over 40 yards in the air was a thing of beauty. He will play this year more than likely.

The running backs were led by Rosa, who looked very good. The other back I liked was Brown who is small but tough. he had one inside run and ended up getting another two yards on the play. He has some speed and can juke. I like him and would think he is the third back after Rosa and Edwards.

Wes Hoeh started at center on the first drive. He looked decent from the one-series. The starting tackles were solid for the most part.
I worry about the interior line, especially after losing Stewart for the season. I am hoping Murawski can fill in for Stewart.

One standout on defense was Branch who had several pressures on the quarterback. I think he can have a breakout year.

Edwards, Antolovich, and Danily didn't dress.

Troubling about the TE.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[freescooter]

Good sense of humor, at least.

 

[freescooter]

Jeeze reminds me a little of John Madden. Hopefully he has some of that don't underestimate us juice.

Sounds like he has been looking for an OC job for a while. I like this guy a lot. Excellent line coach. I hope it translates to the next level.

 

[RSTuthill]

Good sense of humor, at least.

A very underrated component of communication.

 

[gioff2323]

Assisted access <<

Good lord, how lazy must you be to be a reporter in 24

…… center Noel Ofori-Nyadu (transferred to Colorado).

 

[hardcorehusky]

Good lord, how lazy must you be to be a reporter in 24

…… center Noel Ofori-Nyadu (transferred to Colorado).

He had his 4 yrs here and graduated.

 

[huskymedic]

He had his 4 yrs here and graduated.

… and declared for NFL Draft.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Good lord, how lazy must you be to be a reporter in 24

…… center Noel Ofori-Nyadu (transferred to Colorado).

He had his 4 yrs here and graduated.

… and declared for NFL Draft.

And was a guard not a center.

 

[Slick]

Pretty disgusting Lundt and offense have had to wait until this off season to having coaches who are "almost perfectionists". What the heck was the previous standard?
I have a low tolerance for WR's who drop passes.
Not excited to see Fortin's name associated with starting OLine.
Hopefully Rosa is out of dog house. Glad to see RB's looking good.
Hopefully Harper can make some plays.

Chin I have heard of a glass half empty . However I haven’t seen to many opinions like yours where the glass is completely empty and shattered on the street.

 

[AllHusky]

Chin I have heard of a glass half empty . However I haven’t seen to many opinions like yours where the glass is completely empty and shattered on the street.

No expectations = No disappointment

Chin Diesel, unfortunately, is often right on with his takes. This one is discouraging!!

 

[Chin Diesel]

Chin I have heard of a glass half empty . However I haven’t seen to many opinions like yours where the glass is completely empty and shattered on the street.

No expectations = No disappointment

Chin Diesel, unfortunately, is often right on with his takes. This one is discouraging!!

I would like nothing more than to have a bunch of posters here shoving these comments and dropping receipts on me by mid-October. I really want these kids to be well-coached and play well.

Any comments I made from yesterday are me interpreting what others wrote from what they saw or from tweets and news articles.

The Roberson thing was discouraging. As far as we know he's been healthy all off-season and should have clearly separated himself from Fagnano who had to rehab an injury. But it looks like QB is a quandry. I have a ton of doubts that Fagnano has rehabbed and improved enough to be a good D1 QB.
WR's dropping passes. For the life of me I don't know how college WR's get scholarships when they can't hold on to a ball. A WR is pretty much a waste of a scholarship if all they're gonna be is a gunner on ST.
I have no idea what to expect from the OLine other than the two tackles. I would have thought Murawski would be a given up front. I'm also not a fan of Fortin unless he's in a jumbo package. He did pretty good with those but he has been a mess at center and while I concede players improve, I don't think he's ever going to be even serviceable.

New coordinators? Who knows.
LB, DB, ST??? I don't have a clue.

On the bright side the RB room looks good. Of course it looked good going in to last year and that lasted less than 3 weeks.