UConn Football Past is About to Become the Future

[sportsart]

It's time to get excited about our future. I've been looking at the Great Santini's football video collection and chose the one I loved the most.

Outside of the ND game (which I'll never forget being fortunate to attend) the Papa Johns Bowl was just amazing.

It was cold, even for us New Englanders, and it was fun to see the South Carolina fans sitting in their cars during the tailgate. I would walk by their cars with my jacket open saying "C'mon now...you cold?"

Watch the video and it might shock you how many players from this 2009 team are either in the NFL actively, on the IR, or practice squads still. Let's see who can name them all.

What stood out was the domination of the OL and DL and especially how aggressive our defense was. Here's hoping HCBD brings back an aggressive and swarming defense.

I don't care that SC fans said they didn't take the game seriously. We would have beat them either way. Outside of QB and TE, I believe every position was or is still represented in the NFL in some form.

My favorite Santini video montage and I could listen to Alpha Dog all day long.



Add your favorite video clips to help get us to the new year.

 

[MattMang23]

Yeah they didn't take it seriously. That's why the video shows their CB's making diving tackles and their QB scrambling- both examples of hustle plays. You don't make hustle plays if you're just messing around.

 

[Dooley]

There is not a doubt in my mind that not only would that UCONN team beat that USC team 100 times out of 100 (alright, maybe 99 because you have to account for 1 upset in every matchup, right?), but I think that UCONN team could beat this year's USC team too. That year's UCONN team played with SO much passion, energy and heart. I've yet to see any Spurrier coached USC team show an ounce of heart that UCONN had that year. They were probably UCONN's most talented roster ever and they were playing for a fallen teammate. USC fans can cry all they want about not taking a Big East team seriously but the recipe was perfect for UCONN to dominate: cold weather game between two evenly matched rosters but one roster thought they were much better than what they really were and the other roster was playing for a cause greater than the game itself that day.

 

[uconndogs]

After the ND game when HCRE dedicated the win to Jasper Howard I was an absolute mess. Those kids played their hearts out.

 

[Skiblets]

They talked a bunch of good natured trash the night before out at the bars. They all drove home with their tails between their legs the next day. They are a fan base with a huge inferiority complex too.

Best part of the game, other than Kash's catch was how dominant our D was. Think it was mid second quarter before they even had a first down.

 

[UConn9604]

Yeah they didn't take it seriously. That's why the video shows their CB's making diving tackles and their QB scrambling- both examples of hustle plays. You don't make hustle plays if you're just messing around.

It's far more accurate to say that if we wanted to make it a 20-point win, we could have: Edsall took his foot off the gas on the last drive and we downed it instead of running up the score.

Easily my favorite UConn football team of all time, and it's not close.

 

[Skiblets]

Oh and Edsall taking a knee in a tremendous show of sportsmanship at the end

 

[BlueMAB]

Oh and Edsall taking a knee in a tremendous show of sportsmanship at the end

...inside their 10 yard line. That made it all the sweeter. The only reason they scored is the late interception. Had we knocked down the ball we would have taken over around the 50 instead of inside the 15.

 

[huskymedic]

Great road trip...

 

[sportsart]

Great road trip...

View attachment 4600

Is that a selfie?

 

[Skiblets]

...inside their 10 yard line. That made it all the sweeter. The only reason they scored is the late interception. Had we knocked down the ball we would have taken over around the 50 instead of inside the 15.

Yup. Should have knocked it down. Alshon Jeffery should have been called for offensive interference anyway on the drive for their only score. He threw Reggie out of the way and no call

 

[Palatine]

Oh and Edsall taking a knee in a tremendous show of sportsmanship at the end

Once again, it's Edsall not understanding the perception of the program. Blowing out USC would have helped our perception around the country. We should have run it in.

 

[Skiblets]

Once again, it's Edsall not understanding the perception of the program. Blowing out USC would have helped our perception around the country. We should have run it in.

Completely disagree. Karma is greater than perception

 

[sportsart]

My favorite. I forgot that Ryan Griffin was on the team, so basically QB was the only position not represented in the NFL from this team (though the OL escapes me)

 

[sportsart]

Once again, it's Edsall not understanding the perception of the program. Blowing out USC would have helped our perception around the country. We should have run it in.

Edsall thought he might be suspended, if he ran up the score. Being from CT confused him. (jab at the pathetic CT high school FB coaches)

 

[UConn9604]

Want to know when I knew we were going to trounce that team? The minute I parked the rental car.

We drove over to the stadium along Graymont Avenue from the east (see map linked below, Graymont is along the bottom), and rather than waiting in line behind a bunch of USC RVs, I kept going and going until I passed the stadium, then hung a right onto 6th Street West.

Not wanting to park in some of the front yards on that street (which made the Silver Lane homes look like Scarborough Street in Hartford), I kept going, and circled around the stadium to the north until I was headed east again. Finally, afraid that I was going to be forced back onto Graymont, I turned a quick left and into some small office building's lot to park for $10.

The street onto which I turned left? Jasper Road.

https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d3374!2d-86.8433183!3d33.5124639

 

[sportsart]

How's this for a talented roster.

An amazing team. These are the guys who got drafted or made it into NFL camps and many are still there. Some didn't contribute much to the 2009 season but were on an amazingly talented roster.

Pretty sure they were all 4 and 5 star players as well.

Robert McClain, Scott Lutrus, Lawrence Wilson, Kendel Reyes, Jordan Todman
Andre Dixon ?
Ryan Griffin, Marcus Easley, Anthony Sherman, Nick Williams, Trevardo Williams, Kashif Moore, Sio Moore
Blidi Wreh-Wilson
Dave Teggart
Greg Lloyd Jr, John Delahunt (CFL)
Jasper Howard (would have gotten to an NFL camp via draft IMHO)

Shamar Stephen (should be drafted)
Jimmy Bennett (could be drafted)

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

How's this for a talented roster.

An amazing team. These are the guys who got drafted or made it into NFL camps and many are still there. Some didn't contribute much to the 2009 season but were on an amazingly talented roster.

Pretty sure they were all 4 and 5 star players as well.

Robert McClain, Scott Lutrus, Lawrence Wilson, Kendel Reyes, Jordan Todman
Andre Dixon ?
Ryan Griffin, Marcus Easley, Anthony Sherman, Nick Williams, Trevardo Williams, Kashif Moore, Sio Moore
Blidi Wreh-Wilson
Dave Teggart
Greg Lloyd Jr, John Delahunt (CFL)
Jasper Howard (would have gotten to an NFL camp via draft IMHO)

Shamar Stephen (should be drafted)
Jimmy Bennett (could be drafted)

Gratz was on the team as well.

 

[Palatine]

If we only had the talent to compete in the Big East.

 

[Palatine]

Jesse Joseph was a stud as a freshman before he was injured. He lived in the USC backfield.

 

[metsfan2323]

Zach Hurd is missing from the list.

 

[uconndogs]

Sorry guys, I have it on good account from Rutgers fans that UCONN 2* recruits simply are not talented. You guys are basing this on the assessment of the NFL when we all know that talent is best assessed on internet sites like Rivals/Scout. Please get with the program!

 

[sportsart]

We'll never know how good that team was. After a 38-25 win over UL, the next 3 post Jazz games were heart breaking losses to WVU 28-24, a real heart breaker loss to RU 28-24 and then a 47-45 loss to Cincy.

We won't know the answer to whether 2009's team could have been an 11-2 team or if they played those close losses because they came together as a team in honor of Jazz.

The UL game was a solid effort and I would like to believe they were an 11-2 team that had it taken away from them.

 

[UConn9604]

We'll never know how good that team was. After a 38-25 win over UL, the next 3 post Jazz games were heart breaking losses to WVU 28-24, a real heart breaker loss to RU 28-24 and then a 47-45 loss to Cincy.

We won't know the answer to whether 2009's team could have been an 11-2 team or if they played those close losses because they came together as a team in honor of Jazz.

The UL game was a solid effort and I would like to believe they were an 11-2 team that had it taken away from them.

One thing we DO know: that team could not have been blown out. We lost 5 games by a total of 15 points. The closest anyone came to blowing us out was Cincinnati (one of the top 2-3 teams in the country before Brian Kelly bolted for Notre Dame) on the road, and we came roaring back only to lose by 2.

 

[Chin Diesel]

...inside their 10 yard line. That made it all the sweeter. The only reason they scored is the late interception. Had we knocked down the ball we would have taken over around the 50 instead of inside the 15.

I don't know if it's sportsmanship or not, but I do know that when you have the ball at your opponents 10 yard line in the fourth quarter and your taking knees, you've completely beaten down the opponent. So demoralizing for the Gamecocks that we weren't even trying to run plays.