If you think it's bad this year.....

[sportsart]

Wait till next year. Our defense will take major hit. We could easily lose 7 games by 30 or more.

 

[Carl Spackler]

I don't think so. We have some pretty good players lined up on the depth chart on D. We'll lose significnat experience at the corner's and strong/weak LB's, but that's offset with the significnat gains in experience that we've got in the safeties, and up front, d/t injuries on the line this year.

 

[UConnDan97]

I don't think so either. especially if Jesse Joseph is awarded another year, here's who we'll have back:

DE: Joseph, Willman, Pruitt, Norris.
DT: Campenni, Stephen, Myers, Knappe.
LB: Smallwood, Stewart, Donohue, Vann, Clax, Hicks.
CB: Mack, Stevenson, Jhavon Williams, Tyree Clark
Saf: Andrew Adams, Ty-meer Brown, Byron Jones, Wilbert Lee, Melifonwu, Marder

Admittedly, we lose a lot on the corners. But I would think that we would convert one or more of our safeties over to corner, and everything I hear about Stevenson is that he will be a good one. Mack has to get better, but I think he will. For me, the big questions are still on the Offensive Line...

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Wait till next year. Our defense will take major hit. We could easily lose 7 games by 30 or more.

I agree. Edsall sure left a mess behind when he left.

 

[pj]

I don't think so either.... For me, the big questions are still on the Offensive Line...

Yes. Haven't seen any signs that next year's line will be better than this year's. Although with Masters out, we might be seeing next year's line this year.

 

[Woof 101]

I don't think so either. especially if Jesse Joseph is awarded another year, here's who we'll have back:

DE: Joseph, Willman, Pruitt, Norris.
DT: Campenni, Stephen, Myers, Knappe.
LB: Smallwood, Stewart, Donohue, Vann, Clax, Hicks.
CB: Mack, Stevenson, Jhavon Williams, Tyree Clark
Saf: Andrew Adams, Ty-meer Brown, Byron Jones, Wilbert Lee, Melifonwu, Marder

Admittedly, we lose a lot on the corners. But I would think that we would convert one or more of our safeties over to corner, and everything I hear about Stevenson is that he will be a good one. Mack has to get better, but I think he will. For me, the big questions are still on the Offensive Line...

Throw Graham Stewart in the LB mix, transfer from Florida this kid is a monster...

 

[UConnDan97]

Yes. Haven't seen any signs that next year's line will be better than this year's. Although with Masters out, we might be seeing next year's line this year.

The way I'm looking at it is this: this is the worst I have seen the UConn offensive line in a long, long time....and we are losing 2 starters from it!!! I am really hoping that we see great improvements in one year's time from Cruz, Samra, Rugg, and Gifford, as well as from the starters that return (Mateas, Bullock, Friend, Greene). If those eight can get much much better with one year of growth, then there is hope next year. If not? I will buy stock in Jameson's.....

 

[UConnDan97]

Throw Graham Stewart in the LB mix, transfer from Florida this kid is a monster...

Woof, look at my LB list. He's listed second...

 

[Dann]

Wait till next year. Our defense will take major hit. We could easily lose 7 games by 30 or more.

what your the one going around saying how warde will take care of business this winter with the coaches.
next year we lose a couple great D players but adams has shown he will step up, we have burlingame ready to play asap from dean, joseph will be back now and if we land hush then thats another big time juco add on d. also we have graham stewart just foaming at the mouth to play. who knows about sylva at dean or wilbert or others stepping up. i'm not worried about the D next year. will they be as good? prob not but its not going to look like WVU out there.

on O we will have a OC who is not half dead first off, whitmer-phillips-davis-frank-mccombs i have faith in with a different staff not to mention others and recruits coming in. the only question is how good can the OL get in time...

 

[sportsart]

I don't think so. We have some pretty good players lined up on the depth chart on D. We'll lose significnat experience at the corner's and strong/weak LB's, but that's offset with the significnat gains in experience that we've got in the safeties, and up front, d/t injuries on the line this year.

Look what has happened to our defense this year with some special talent Do you think you can just plug in 2 CB's and 2 LB's and be fine?

They are exceptional talent.

The DT position, outside of Stephen, is unknown. The DE position doesn't excite me all that much either.....meaning no apparent super stars. If our DT's can't get pressure the DE 's are gonna struggle along with the LB's.

With our offense not projected to improve dramatically the defense will struggle, especially with very little depth. To think we will go injury free on defense is not being realisitc.

I hope I'm wrong but.......

 

[UConnDan97]

what your the one going around saying how warde will take care of business this winter with the coaches.
next year we lose a couple great D players but adams has shown he will step up, we have burlingame ready to play asap from dean, joseph will be back now and if we land hush then thats another big time juco add on d. also we have graham stewart just foaming at the mouth to play. who knows about sylva at dean or wilbert or others stepping up. i'm not worried about the D next year. will they be as good? prob not but its not going to look like WVU out there.

on O we will have a OC who is not half dead first off, whitmer-phillips-davis-frank-mccombs i have faith in with a different staff not to mention others and recruits coming in. the only question is how good can the OL get in time...

Agreed. Hey, HFD, is it definite now that Jesse Joseph is going to be back next year? Did I miss him getting awarded the extra year? I'm hoping...

 

[Dann]

Agreed. Hey, HFD, is it definite now that Jesse Joseph is going to be back next year? Did I miss him getting awarded the extra year? I'm hoping...

no its not def but after reading about it several times and how the rs rules work, i think its safe to say he will be back. unless of course this staff fucks it up.

 

[Woof 101]

Woof, look at my LB list. He's listed second...

OOOPS Sorry.......

 

[sportsart]

what your the one going around saying how warde will take care of business this winter with the coaches.
next year we lose a couple great D players but adams has shown he will step up, we have burlingame ready to play asap from dean, joseph will be back now and if we land hush then thats another big time juco add on d. also we have graham stewart just foaming at the mouth to play. who knows about sylva at dean or wilbert or others stepping up. i'm not worried about the D next year. will they be as good? prob not but its not going to look like WVU out there.

on O we will have a OC who is not half dead first off, whitmer-phillips-davis-frank-mccombs i have faith in with a different staff not to mention others and recruits coming in. the only question is how good can the OL get in time...

If GDL is gone and hopefully Foley goes back to the OL then I think we see improvement there. Whitmer has shown he can play and I think a simplified blocking scheme would get us back too power running with a more than adequate passing game.

The offense is not as bad as they seem. They just have zero faith in GDL.

To think the defense is going to be equal or better than this year's defense is not being realistic.

Experience just can't be replaced with youth and stay the same. We ain't Alabama.

 

[UConnDan97]

Look what has happened to our defense this year with some special talent Do you think you can just plug in 2 CB's and 2 LB's and be fine?

They are exceptional talent.

The DT position, outside of Stephen, is unknown. The DE position doesn't excite me all that much either.....meaning no apparent super stars. If our DT's can't get pressure the DE 's are gonna struggle along with the LB's.

With our offense not projected to improve dramatically the defense will struggle, especially with very little depth. To think we will go injury free on defense is not being realisitc.

I hope I'm wrong but.......

No doubt, losing those two corners is going to be big. But the DT's (Campenni, Myers) have seen a lot of time, or at least, that's what I thought. Donohue has seen time on the LB's and I am of course extrapolating Stewart's time from Florida (special teams, mostly, but probably saw LB in practice). We now have good safety depth, and I'm assuming that some of that will push over to the CB position to cover for the losses...

 

[UConnDan97]

OOOPS Sorry.......

No problem. I agree with you that the kid should be a monster!

 

[mattp]

Wait till next year. Our defense will take major hit. We could easily lose 7 games by 30 or more.

I thought you were going to say "wait until the second half of the season". As unfortunate as the season has been, we've go the toughest stretch ahead. I'm looking at every game as the superbowl from here on out, just hoping for another win or two to make things respectable.

 

[noeynox]

The defense is going to miss Gratz and Wilson. They are NFL roster level corner backs, their play allows for a lot of the blitzing don brown likes, as the season has progressed, you've seen teams attack the middle of the field against us rather than go after our corners consistently.

 

[rw005]

Now I know why we're taking the year off in 2014...

 

[UconnFamily]

The way I'm looking at it is this: this is the worst I have seen the UConn offensive line in a long, long time....and we are losing 2 starters from it!!! I am really hoping that we see great improvements in one year's time from Cruz, Samra, Rugg, and Gifford, as well as from the starters that return (Mateas, Bullock, Friend, Greene). If those eight can get much much better with one year of growth, then there is hope next year. If not? I will buy stock in Jameson's.....

Richard Levy will be a redshirt freshmen next season and he's 6'5 317 lbs from Trenton, NJ

 

[Dooley]

Next year's OOC schedule is much more difficult too. Maryland and Michigan are probably two losses, even at home. At Buffalo doesn't even look guaranteed at this point, given our lack of improvement at this point and the game a few weeks ago that UB hung around for so long. It seems that everybody in our conference has leapfrogged us in terms of talent, momentum, recruiting (not that we were ever on top of this), execution, motivation, etc...

 

[UConnDan97]

Richard Levy will be a redshirt freshmen next season and he's 6'5 317 lbs from Trenton, NJ

Good catch. Forgot to list him. He's a house!!!

 

[Excalibur]

no its not def but after reading about it several times and how the rs rules work, i think its safe to say he will be back. unless of course this staff Fecunditys it up.

He's back if he wants to be.

 

[Buffett10]

Also don't forget about Ashiru at olb.

 

[whaler11]

There are certainly some players on the roster. But this is a 3-4 win team and the schedule is much tougher. Just losing T Williams, Gratz and Wilson puts them behind the 8-ball. It would take a conference coach of year effort to get this team to a bowl next year.