Vontae Diggs Tweet

[MilliniumPrince]

Donovan Williams is one of the best athletes on our team and he’s built like a man. What’s perplexing to Chief is Randy is suppose to be a coach who gets the best athletes on the field even if it’s changing positions - why not try him at linebacker or DE edge rusher? We have linebackers now who are simply overmatched. Even when Hahn is in the right spot - a truck runs him over and even if it technically somehow ends with a tackle - it’s 5 yards down field.

Because converting a QB/WR in his last year to a aggressive Defensive position is like asking nana's house cat to become a sled dog.

 

[Stinger92860]

Because converting a QB/WR in his last year to a aggressive Defensive position is like asking nana's house cat to become a sled dog.

Casual fan

 

[Exasperated]

I get what you're saying. But, I think Edsall labels guys and doesn't waiver from that. I'll use Newsome as an example. I think we can all agree, he was the most dynamic player on the roster last year. Edsall didn't see him as an every down back. That's his opinion. He labeled Newsome as a 3rd down back and eventually named (his recruit) Mensah the starter. Was Mensah the best option? Did Mensah make the offense significantly better? Was Mensah a better all-around player then Newsome as a true freshman? Was Mensah a threat in the passing game? Was Mensah so far and away better between the tackle runner? Was Mensah a better pass-blocking back? Maybe I'm biased toward Newsome, but I'm going to say, "No." to all of those. Edsall played Mensah because it was his guy and he was the future. He took a guy that was a chunk play threat (in or out of the backfield) and made him a one-dimensional player. In turn making Lashlee's offense very predictable. Couple that with a bad defense and you get the results you got. Then, Edsall did what he does, points the finger at someone else, Lashlee, the roster, lack of strength and leadership....etc. He's never the problem, I guess that's my issue with Edsall. He's never the one being held accountable.

Bingo. You nailed it.

Let’s talk about leadership and his constant bs on this issue. Typically, it is the role of the upperclassmen to shape the locker room. Leaders emerge on the field, in the meeting rooms, off the field, etc. This coach has shown such a complete lack of respect and disdain for the older kids, why would any of the younger guys respond? RE has cut their legs out from under them and done so publicly and privately.

In this context, Diggs’ comments make total sense.

 

[Exasperated]

So let me see if I get this straight- some people are siding with a couple of 24 year olds over a coach who has been coaching for close to 35 years or so. I trust Randy's eyes a lot more than 2 guys who aren't around the program. Guess what, the stink Diaco left is still here. There were always going to be kids leaving- this twitter crap will just hasten it. The rebuild started in earnest this year and the last vestiges of Diaco will be gone after this season. Hate to sound harsh but in Randy v 1 - lots of kids headed for the door and the build started. It is repeating itself. Kids who have toiled for 2 and 3 years have lost playing time to new kids. They don't have buy in but deep down they know why.

Any coach coming in would want his own players- in this case, the talent level needs to be upgraded and not too many football coaches would have played the seniors and 4th yr juniors out of sentimentality.

After 35 years +/- the game has passed him by and the younger coaches and players don’t buy it.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Bingo. You nailed it.

Let’s talk about leadership and his constant bs on this issue. Typically, it is the role of the upperclassmen to shape the locker room. Leaders emerge on the field, in the meeting rooms, off the field, etc. This coach has shown such a complete lack of respect and disdain for the older kids, why would any of the younger guys respond? RE has cut their legs out from under them and done so publicly and privately.

In this context, Diggs’ comments make total sense.

Exactly this. If a lot of the upperclassmen don't deserve to play, fine. But RE has never taken these players to be his own, which I think a coach needs to do. They've been called out in his press conferences and blamed for the team's failures. Randy seems to not really care about the guys he didn't recruit

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Exactly this. If a lot of the upperclassmen don't deserve to play, fine. But RE has never taken these players to be his own, which I think a coach needs to do. They've been called out in his press conferences and blamed for the team's failures. Randy seems to not really care about the guys he didn't recruit

I don’t know where you’re getting this stuff but you have become King Hot Takes.

 

[uconnphil2016]

I don’t know where you’re getting this stuff but you have become King Hot Takes.

Thank you. That’s all that I aspire to be.

 

[Waquoit]

Never heard of the guy before and was nine letters into typing his name before Google offered his name as an option. I imagine he would've been better off quoting Mike Van Gundy.

Or Joel Osteen. I hate this tweet. It's more Edsall say-do. Tells others one thing while he does what he wants. I still can't believe anyone takes this guy seriously.

 

[Husky68]

It's never too early to stop going in the wrong direction.

Said it 1st week of season, win 1 game or less fire HCRE2.0 at end of season. After this season he will have had 2 years of complete control of program. Looking forward to 2019 have QB situation where no one on roster who has taken meaningful amount of snaps, defense with DC who is not coaching his scheme and has not shown ability to improve technique of players (if gets fired then start over?, what decent DC would want to work for lame duck HC unless he thought he could get the HC gig himself), and a recruiting class that has players that are willing to commit to a program with this type of recent performance.

The recruiting class of 2019 (given the level of recruits UConn can expect to get) will have virtually no positive impact on the UConn 2019 season, that leaves current player improvement, grad transfers and Juco players; how many impact guys like that will UConn get. Any reasonable freshman on UConn's team has to consider his own personal situation and whether staying at UConn is in his own best interest given what he sees coming in the next few years.

UConn is giving up 623.6 yards per game on defense, out of 129 teams only 2 others give up more than 500 and none but UConn are over 600. In 2017 he had to shoe horn the defensive players into Crocker's "scheme", failed miserably. This year he abandons Crocker's "scheme" 'cause he determined didn't have the personnel to run it, result makes the 2017 defense look like the 1987 Chicago Bears compared to 2018.

Maryland was correct, HCREDreamJob1.0 can't run a successful program at this level at this time. This is like Syracuse rehiring PP and his sidekick and then wondering why things went wrong.

In football it's all about the head coach. 22 games, 4-18, worst statistical defense since the Scarlet Knights helped start college football, that's enough.

Lot of you guys were down on Summers for "bad attitude" last year when I saw it as him rebelling against a scheme/regime that was "throwing away" his senior year. HCRE2.0 admitted as much with his "don't care about winning in 2018 comment". If that's what he thinks about 2018, what do you think his attitude was about 2017?

 

[Scrutineer]

All people who aren’t seeing significant playing time.

Former players questioning prior regime/current coaches decisions are not a new phenomenon - just more visible in this day and age.

Good point about the playing time but it raises the question about why Donaldson isn't playing more. He seemed to be very productive his first year and then Edsall awarded him a scholarship. To sit on the bench? Maybe I'm missing something, but who is looking so good that Donaldson doesn't get any playing time?

 

[UConnJim]

What we are seeing is frustration. When teams lose, you will hear a lot of chirping. Let's look at some facts.

In 2017, UConn football had more talent and had more experience than they do in 2018. Look at the 2 deep to start the season last year. No defensive starters returned in 2018. Three, Britton, Lawley, and McAllister could have played one more year, but left. They may have helped the defense, but UConn still would have lost 8 starters. Unfortunately, in hindsight, the talent and experience was not there on the roster for the defense to improve in 2018, although I think it shouldn't be as bad as it is.

On the current roster, there are 5 R-Sr and Srs that were recruited as freshmen. 5! That is totally unheard of in college football. As for R-Jrs and Jrs on the roster, only 11 were recruited as freshman. UConn has 16 recruited as freshmen Juniors and Seniors on the roster! Since UConn is a development program in which players have to be developed over time to be competitive, these are disastrous numbers.

As for playing favorites, first Newsome. In last year's offense, Newsome was very effective as a receiver with 25 catches and averaging 21.6 yards per catch. He ended up 2nd on the team in receiving yards. His rushing was down last year and he averaged 3.9 yards per carry. In my opinion, Newsome was a very effective offensive player, but Mensah brought something to the table as well. Having both Mensah and Newsome share the load was probably the best option for the offense, and Mensah averaged 4.5 yard per carry. I don't think favoritism played a role in playing Mensah.

And, look at the QB situation last year. Lashlee and Edsall picked Pindell to start the season, but it was pretty clear that Shirreffs, a Diaco holdover, was the better QB, so they switched to him. In other words, the best player played.

Unfortunately, Edsall inherited a mess and equally unfortunate, he is not an effective communicator.

 

[UConnNick]

wow, sounds like he's lost the guys in the locker room.

I guess the saying "You can never go back home" is true. This was a mistake. Not sure Randy wants to go through a rebuild at this point in his career. He'll collect a paycheck, but he's not the guy. You should'nt hear something like this from your team.

What ever he's building, these kids are not invested in and that's a shame. HCRE right now is a guy resting on his laurels

What laurels? He reaped the benefits of a down year in the BE combined with five turnovers by WVU QB Geno Smith to make the Fiesta Bowl, knowing all along he was already outta here. 74-70 wasn't exactly Saban-esque.

 

[UConnJim]

What laurels? He reaped the benefits of a down year in the BE combined with five turnovers by WVU QB Geno Smith to make the Fiesta Bowl, knowing all along he was already outta here. 74-70 wasn't exactly Saban-esque.

What a short memory. Edsall took UConn from 1AA to a BCS Conference. When he took over, UConn played at Memorial Field with no indoor practice facility. After going to the Big East, Edsall and UConn went 50-37 playing harder schedules than we play today. His last 4 seasons were 9-4, 8-5, 8-5, and 8-5. Sure, we all wanted UConn to have a really breakthrough season, but who wouldn't love to see an 8-5 record now!

 

[Bubba1957]

I don't buy any of the "only likes his guys" stuff. Hahn is a Diaco recruit, RE seems to like him plenty. Many people on this board have been critical of his play - still RE plays him. The two deep on D includes, Murphy, Atkins, Garson, Hahn, Terry, Gilmartin, Coyle and a few others where recruitment was started by BD. The whole O line including the two deep at tight end are BD buys (Crozier might predate him). Also the kicker. Without any other evidence, I trust that the guys who deserve to play - are playing.

 

[businesslawyer]

You’re still missing the point. Tge kick counted, we were all excited, but the kick didn’t reflect anything significant about Edsal and the league was down. 8-4 is a fine record, but not quite spectacular.

Not quite spectacular for Oklahoma. For who we were and where we came from -- you're just dead wrong.

 

[uconnell]

What a short memory. Edsall took UConn from 1AA to a BCS Conference. When he took over, UConn played at Memorial Field with no indoor practice facility. After going to the Big East, Edsall and UConn went 50-37 playing harder schedules than we play today. His last 4 seasons were 9-4, 8-5, 8-5, and 8-5. Sure, we all wanted UConn to have a really breakthrough season, but who wouldn't love to see an 8-5 record now!

That was a long time ago. Times and kids have changed Edsall has not. Seems like a get off my lawn kind of

 

[cohenzone]

Not quite spectacular for Oklahoma. For who we were and where we came from -- you're just dead wrong.

Disagree. Edsall was fine, but IMHO we weren't going to progress any further than we did under him. So if that long FG missed, was it still spectacular? was the league up or down that year? Yes, we go into the Fiesta fair and square, but Edsall was the same coach if that FG is missed.

 

[Waquoit]

What a short memory.

An example of a short memory for me is all those who forget HCRE's performance at Maryland. We're up to six years in a row of lousy football now.

 

[huskysupporter]

I’m still trying to figure out who the gems are.

 

[uconnell]

I’m still trying to figure out who the gems are.

Maybe auto corrected from germs?

 

[Jimmy Serrano]

Disagree. Edsall was fine, but IMHO we weren't going to progress any further than we did under him. So if that long FG missed, was it still spectacular? was the league up or down that year? Yes, we go into the Fiesta fair and square, but Edsall was the same coach if that FG is missed.

Those of us around long enough remember the people who said exactly this. That Edsall would never get to .500 in the Big East. That Edsall would never beat a top 25 team. That Edsall would never share a Big East title. That Edsall could never take us to a BCS bowl game.

Every time we hit these targets that we were told we’d never hit, the goalposts would move. This is where @Palatine and @Waquoit lose a lot of credibility when they knock Edsall.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Those of us around long enough remember the people who said exactly this. That Edsall would never get to .500 in the Big East. That Edsall would never beat a top 25 team. That Edsall would never share a Big East title. That Edsall could never take us to a BCS bowl game.

Every time we hit these targets that we were told we’d never hit, the goalposts would move. This is where @Palatine and @Waquoit lose a lot of credibility when they knock Edsall.

I've never seen you get so sentimental, Serrano. Didn't realize you had so much love for 'ol Randy

 

[Jimdish255]

So our defense sucks. If RE doesn't replace coordinator he co-owns the results next year. If the D doesn't turn around he might get a fourth year but it will be his last shot. No matter how poor the talent is the right coach and staff will over-perform not reflect or under-perform.

In the meantime he needs to at least state affirmatively and Coach games like he is playing to win. He may have already lost some guys with his dumb statements. Now would be a good time to leave the OC and DC's to Coach their units and focus on preparation, morale, game management, player evaluation and recruiting. When the season ends decide on Crocker and try to fill the obvious holes with Transfers and JuCo's. There needs to be a big improvement on D or the season will be over early for the fans next year.

Totally understand the retread argument and what led to the decision. After 3 years that may not be enough reason to stay the course. Hate the thought of another transition after 3 or 4 years without significant progress. We need to fix the D. That's everything right now.

 

[Waquoit]

Every time we hit these targets that we were told we’d never hit, the goalposts would move. This is where @Palatine and @Waquoit lose a lot of credibility when they knock Edsall.

I'm not a goalpost mover. But I've consistently believed Edsall is full of it. Now more than ever. I pretty much kept my mouth shut and wanted to be a believer like Pudge. But that UMass game and his subsequent comments really bothered me.

 

[Chief00]

You can't have buy-in to an approach that is failing at historic levels for two seasons. You buy into plans and systems that at least show positive change. Do an eye test and compare Hurley to RE. A down and out losing squad in March and now a different attitude level, better execution, focused on fundamentals, etc...not perfect but you see .

This really sums things up. How can you buy into a system, as a fan or a player, if it’s failed at historic levels for two seasons?
Yes, Hurley and his sense of urgency is a stark contrast. Ironically, Chief was thinking the other day, Danny will be Randy’s downfall. True, the sports have differences - but the attitude, enthusiasm and accountability transcends differences between sports.