New 2015 Commit - Jack Dexter (LB/TE) Wilton CT (PWO) | The Boneyard

New 2015 Commit - Jack Dexter (LB/TE) Wilton CT (PWO)

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Bonehead

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Tape looks good. Active on field. Seems to read plays well on D.

Welcome Dawg.
 

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Tape looks good. Active on field. Seems to read plays well on D.

Welcome Dawg.
Yeah, I agree. Played alot of inside LB - but I think he might be better suited for outside LB. Might be a good pass coverage LB.

I like all these preferred walk ons. A couple of these kids could be great late bloomers with the right coaching, physical development and opportunities.

Welcome Jack!
 

ConnHuskBask

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What's the deal with all these preferred walk ons?

I don't seem to recall as many in the past but I could be totally wrong.
 

Stainmaster

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I see them as being a nice low-risk, high-reward way to develop potential talent. They aren't counting against scholarship limits, and if a local kid can become a solid contributor to the team, that will go a long way towards shoring up our standing amongst in-state players/coaches.
 

Bonehead

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What's the deal with all these preferred walk ons?

I don't seem to recall as many in the past but I could be totally wrong.

Filling roster spots -
 

rbny1

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Welcome to UConn, Jack!
 
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Look ... hate to denigrate Connecticut HS football; but, the Zach Hurd - Dan Ryan - Scott Lutrus - Marcus Easley development all looked to me to be very raw unfinished product upon arrival.

Bob Diaco hasn't said this, and Randy Edsall kinda proved it: we CAN get great Value from kids coming in from Connecticut programs and getting trained & coached up. Big UPS. And, I think that is far more realizable in our region than many others that have higher level FBS football.
 
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Yeah, I agree. Played alot of inside LB - but I think he might be better suited for outside LB. Might be a good pass coverage LB.

I like all these preferred walk ons. A couple of these kids could be great late bloomers with the right coaching, physical development and opportunities.

Welcome Jack!

Two of our best players were walk ons and are now in the NFL: Donald Thomas and Marcus Easley (also Connecticut High School products). I am sure a couple of these walk ons will be starters at some point in their careers.
 
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We - UCONN - are a program that can be highly productive in a Preferred Walk-on category; if done right. Every State around us also has raw great athletes that have not had the top coaching & training. Grab the right stock & voila ... you can coach-em-up.

Donald Thomas & Marcus Easley are great Examples. However, I think that not enough effort has been put into doing this for 10 kids a year to try to get 20 kids productive over a 5 year Team (and then some earn scholarships). Thomas was pure random luck. Imagine a kid like that just walking around campus.
 

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Just concerned here that most our scholarship players seem to have only low G5 offers or FCS and the rest of our roster is being filled with CT walk ons.

Is this a legitimate concern? Everyone knows the success stories but that is really the extreme exception not the rule.
 
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Just concerned here that most our scholarship players seem to have only low G5 offers or FCS and the rest of our roster is being filled with CT walk ons.

Is this a legitimate concern? Everyone knows the success stories but that is really the extreme exception not the rule.

LOOK ... we have had success over the last 10 years RIGHT in this space. Are we less than Rutgers with all their bigtime Rivals/Scout stars? I don't think we were. I am confident that our model can work great - and we get the lowly Kendall Reyes & Donald Thomas to play at NFL starter level. I think the CT walk ons were not used to optimum by Edsall. WHO then got lucky a few times. If Diaco is making this a priority, I think he is being very smart.
 

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Just concerned here that most our scholarship players seem to have only low G5 offers or FCS and the rest of our roster is being filled with CT walk ons.

Is this a legitimate concern? Everyone knows the success stories but that is really the extreme exception not the rule.

The fact that we've had one guy poached by UMich and several others who have been contacted by P5 programs shows our staff knows how to identify talent. Media exposure/coverage by recruit rankings services doesn't translate to skill (or lack thereof).
 

ConnHuskBask

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LOOK ... we have had success over the last 10 years RIGHT in this space. Are we less than Rutgers with all their bigtime Rivals/Scout stars? I don't think we were. I am confident that our model can work great - and we get the lowly Kendall Reyes & Donald Thomas to play at NFL starter level. I think the CT walk ons were not used to optimum by Edsall. WHO then got lucky a few times. If Diaco is making this a priority, I think he is being very smart.

I hate Rutgers, but compare UConn to them the past decade plus and it's not that close. I think they've made a bowl 9 of the past 10 seasons.

I don't understand how me (or anyone else) showing concern over recruiting always has to deal with a backlash and the same talking points (Lutrus, Thomas, Easley, etc.).

Fact is recruiting stars mean something and peer offers mean way more.

Our 'under the radar' approach has given us diamond in the rough success stories - it also has given us 4 winning seasons in the past decade.

So, yeah I would take Rutgers shiny recruiting stars.
 
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What's the deal with all these preferred walk ons?

I don't seem to recall as many in the past but I could be totally wrong.
Trying to fill out a roster with a scholarship limit. Roster needs bodies and competition never hurts.
 
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Just concerned here that most our scholarship players seem to have only low G5 offers or FCS and the rest of our roster is being filled with CT walk ons.

Is this a legitimate concern? Everyone knows the success stories but that is really the extreme exception not the rule.
Bruce Feldman ‏@BruceFeldmanCFB 4h4 hours ago
Star DB Kam Chancellor said he was set to going to James Madison till #VaTech offered him right before Signing Day.His only big school offer

I don't care what "big" school it was that offered him, just look where he is. This kid had a scholarship and look where he is today. Sometimes you just never know.
 

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Bottom line, these guys aren't counting against the scholarship limit. They aren't preventing more talented guys from joining the program. Honestly, what's the harm?
 

UConnDan97

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Just as an FYI: He may be an under-the-radar kid, but Rivals has Dexter listed as being recruited by Mike Sherels from Minnesota. It still likely means that he wasn't offered a scholarship from the Gophers, but he might have achieved "preferred walk on" status for a B1G school. He's staying home, and that's a good sign. I look forward to watching Mr. Dexter turn into a real player over the next couple of years...
 

ConnHuskBask

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Bottom line, these guys aren't counting against the scholarship limit. They aren't preventing more talented guys from joining the program. Honestly, what's the harm?

No harm, I only stated that I didn't recall this many preferred walk on players in the past and that I could've been wrong about that. I wondered if it should concern us.

The whole "well what about player x who had x offers" took the thread off the rails.
 

FfldCntyFan

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No harm, I only stated that I didn't recall this many preferred walk on players in the past and that I could've been wrong about that. I wondered if it should concern us.

The whole "well what about player x who had x offers" took the thread off the rails.
I don't remember this many either in the past but this is actually something that we should view as a positive. We will need to bring in four or five preferred walkons with each recruiting class. This is going to help us down the road in terms of having sufficient depth for everything the staff wants to run in practice and as a season wears on.
 
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Nice to see a young man from Wilton who wants to be here get a shot. Best of luck Jack. Hope to see you on specials sooner than later and earning a scholarship spot at LB.
 
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