Observations from Morrone Stadium | The Boneyard

Observations from Morrone Stadium

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Not the nicest of days days on Saturday, windy and chilly. But it was great to get a chance to see the young men. When the doors opened the baseball team was playing the first game against G'town. We made our over and watched a few innings. In the open space between the soccer and baseball fields, the 2023 Nat Championship basketball trophy was set on a table. Folks were allowed to get their pictures with the trophy, which we (myself and brother) promptly did. We then sat on the 40 yard line. The speakers in the stadium were blaring rap music at a volume guaranteed to keep my ear ringing for days. This continued for the entire scrimmage except for the brief interviews with players and coaches that took place from the field.

It was a full tackle scrimmage with the QBs in red shirts. The following are my opinions.

The door is wide open for Roberson. None of the three current candidates for starting QB distinguished themselves on Saturday. Fagnano had a very tough day. He held the ball too long leading to a fumble and threw a pick six. He ran for a TD and threw a TD. But it was a pretty unimpressive day. Doubt he was happy. Turner didn't fare much better. He didn't have any TOs but he was never in a rhythm. Tucker McDonald probably played the best which is saying nothing. He got the ball out the quickest. He's not ready. It was hard not to be depressed about any of the QBs. But it was a cold and windy day, so perhaps that played a role.

Both the offensive and defensive lines had their moments. I thought they got after it pretty well. Eric Watts is a man. He got into the backfield and caused some havoc. I believe he forced Joe's fumble. They outplayed the Oline on passing downs.

The offense had the upper hand in the run game. The were holes and cutback lanes. Houston looked dangerous as hell. Not just outside but between the tackles. He could start the season tomorrow. Mitchell as expected will be tough to bring down. Rosa did NOT play, he's nursing something. Brewton was not over used. He looks healthy. Cam Edwards looked great. He ran inside, outside and reversed field for big gains twice. Very good vision. He ran very tough and finished his runs. He looks like someone who will fight for playing time. All the backs were involved in the passing game. One really nice thing was to see was Zion waiting on a screen pass then tossing a easy accurate throw to a RB with blockers ahead that went for 10+ yards.

Now hear this - Zack Drawdy will be heard from this year. He knows how to get separation and has very good hands. He was the star of the scrimmage by a lot. If we find a QB that can get him the ball, we will have many happy tailgates. In a game where no one got open (props to the DBs) he caught almost everything thrown in his direction. I would start him game one.

The DB got their hands on numerous passes but it was hard to tell if it was great defense or poor passing. It could be the pass rush is much improved, they did get after the QBs. . Millen played safety. He didn't do anything really good or really bad.

The punters all looked good but they only punted with the wind. Same with the kickers. Because our seats were low it was hard find, let alone to focus on the LBs.
 
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Harris seemed to be playing with the 1s, Niemenski with the 2s. Watts is very good and a very, very bad matchup for Lundt. They tried chipping him a couple of times with a TE. The TEs are better run blockers than pass blockers. Niemenski I think is under appreciated as a down field run blocker. Just watching tcf's highlights, he was big part of many of the RBs chunk plays last year. Lots of false starts though, maybe jumping getting to his spot. Rotated a lot of LBs combos, Fogle looked like he played some with the 1s. Branch at DE with the 2s.
 
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Not the nicest of days days on Saturday, windy and chilly. But it was great to get a chance to see the young men. When the doors opened the baseball team was playing the first game against G'town. We made our over and watched a few innings. In the open space between the soccer and baseball fields, the 2023 Nat Championship basketball trophy was set on a table. Folks were allowed to get their pictures with the trophy, which we (myself and brother) promptly did. We then sat on the 40 yard line. The speakers in the stadium were blaring rap music at a volume guaranteed to keep my ear ringing for days. This continued for the entire scrimmage except for the brief interviews with players and coaches that took place from the field.

It was a full tackle scrimmage with the QBs in red shirts. The following are my opinions.

The door is wide open for Roberson. None of the three current candidates for starting QB distinguished themselves on Saturday. Fagnano had a very tough day. He held the ball too long leading to a fumble and threw a pick six. He ran for a TD and threw a TD. But it was a pretty unimpressive day. Doubt he was happy. Turner didn't fare much better. He didn't have any TOs but he was never in a rhythm. Tucker McDonald probably played the best which is saying nothing. He got the ball out the quickest. He's not ready. It was hard not to be depressed about any of the QBs. But it was a cold and windy day, so perhaps that played a role.

Both the offensive and defensive lines had their moments. I thought they got after it pretty well. Eric Watts is a man. He got into the backfield and caused some havoc. I believe he forced Joe's fumble. They outplayed the Oline on passing downs.

The offense had the upper hand in the run game. The were holes and cutback lanes. Houston looked dangerous as hell. Not just outside but between the tackles. He could start the season tomorrow. Mitchell as expected will be tough to bring down. Rosa did NOT play, he's nursing something. Brewton was not over used. He looks healthy. Cam Edwards looked great. He ran inside, outside and reversed field for big gains twice. Very good vision. He ran very tough and finished his runs. He looks like someone who will fight for playing time. All the backs were involved in the passing game. One really nice thing was to see was Zion waiting on a screen pass then tossing a easy accurate throw to a RB with blockers ahead that went for 10+ yards.

Now hear this - Zack Drawdy will be heard from this year. He knows how to get separation and has very good hands. He was the star of the scrimmage by a lot. If we find a QB that can get him the ball, we will have many happy tailgates. In a game where no one got open (props to the DBs) he caught almost everything thrown in his direction. I would start him game one.

The DB got their hands on numerous passes but it was hard to tell if it was great defense or poor passing. It could be the pass rush is much improved, they did get after the QBs. . Millen played safety. He didn't do anything really good or really bad.

The punters all looked good but they only punted with the wind. Same with the kickers. Because our seats were low it was hard find, let alone to focus on the LBs.
Good job
 
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Honest question. Are the WRs leaving because we have terrible QBs?

The thought did cross my mind. But to be fair, it was a very tough day to throw the ball. We have also been practicing indoors most of the spring. So this was probably the worst weather that the team has played in. Windy, cold, low light day. Plus our pass rush was getting close to home on almost every play.
 
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The thought did cross my mind. But to be fair, it was a very tough day to throw the ball. We have also been practicing indoors most of the spring. So this was probably the worst weather that the team has played in. Windy, cold, low light day. Plus our pass rush was getting close to home on almost every play.

Yeah. We all saw Zion was thrown into the deep end last season. His limitations at this stage in his career are apparent. If nobody else is looking better then that’s kinda depressing.

Tough to be a receiver on a team where you don’t have a QB that is capable of going through the progression.
 

ShakyTheMohel

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Yeah. We all saw Zion was thrown into the deep end last season. His limitations at this stage in his career are apparent. If nobody else is looking better then that’s kinda depressing.

Tough to be a receiver on a team where you don’t have a QB that is capable of going through the progression.
Let's hope Roberson is the answer.
 
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Attended the showcase. My impression was that there was little to no separation by the receivers (as someome else noted, maybe becasue our coverage was good?). Also did not see much of Cam Ross on the field. Offensive approach at the showcase looked alot like our offense from last season, although Rosa was not available and Mora said that they intentionally limited the play selection. Physically seeing Zion close up, my impression was that he is bigger than last season. All that being said, it was basically an open practice and I dont think you can draw alot of conclusions from it.
In terms of fan engagement: nice to see the players and coaches up close. Seems like a good group of guys, businesslike and working hard. Yes they played loud music for the entire time, somewhat annoying but whatever.
Cool to see Azzi Fudd sitting a few rows in front of me!
 
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Spring Game. Fan show. Draw nothing.
Is the dline that much better than the oline? Are there faults that can be corrected, or just not good enough for the qbs?
 
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Is the dline that much better than the oline? Are there faults that can be corrected, or just not good enough for the qbs?
Defense typically know what’s coming. Use very little of the playbook
 
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Is the dline that much better than the oline? Are there faults that can be corrected, or just not good enough for the qbs?
There was an article that stated the oline will be the strength of the team. The Dline from what I saw looked good during pass set, but I don’t know if that was by design because we also had our oline rotating in and out of series.
 
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There was an article that stated the oline will be the strength of the team. The Dline from what I saw looked good during pass set, but I don’t know if that was by design because we also had our oline rotating in and out of series.
That was my impression from what I’ve read. Oline was going to be a plus. I did think our dline was a plus also, just surprised by the lack of qb pluses.
 
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Someone asked why there wasn't a Spring Game. One reason might be not wanting to show much to this Fall's opponents, especially with the front loaded home schedule.
Another reason might be our fans won't show up in big numbers, like the Huskies in this article:
1682483665567.png
 
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Someone asked why there wasn't a Spring Game. One reason might be not wanting to show much to this Fall's opponents, especially with the front loaded home schedule.
Another reason might be our fans won't show up in big numbers, like the Huskies in this article:
View attachment 87781

The spring game is not judged by attendance. What is important is how much media buzz you can generate for the program (leading up to and after) using the spring game as a news hook.

Besides the spring practices are generally used to drill fundamentals and the basic offense and defense. If giving anything away was a fear, the coach could simply NOT run those plays in the game.
 
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I think the Spring Blue-White at Rentschler drew decently. Not 35,000 of course but not terrible. I always enjoyed it. Got to see who looked like a potential player and who did not. I sort of think in the early Edsall years it was full out. Maybe I’m misremembering but I think his first year Dan O didn’t were a redshirt. He and the white team qb both just played. As time went on though more and more changes were made. Red shirts on the qbs. No kick offs. No punt returns (I think Bob D thought that rule carried over to the regular season). Qb 1 playing for both sides. Guys switching shirts between plays. As it has become more of a public practice I think interest waned some. Not just at UConn.
 

FfldCntyFan

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I've been to nearly every spring game that was held at the Rent. The best attended (roughly 14-15 years ago) had maybe 4,000 fans but with that roughly 1/3 spent very little time inside the stadium. They tailgated for a while, watched a few minutes of what was happening on the field then went back to tailgate.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with people preferring the tailgate to the game, I'm just pointing out that we at best were still a good distance from attracting a substantial enough crowd to justify holding the game at the Rent (keep in mind we sold out most games those years).

There is nothing that I would love more than to reach the point where the spring game attracts 20k+ fans. It could happen but I imagine we would need to be very good for a reasonable stretch before that many fans would put the effort in for a spring game.
 
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I've been to nearly every spring game that was held at the Rent. The best attended (roughly 14-15 years ago) had maybe 4,000 fans but with that roughly 1/3 spent very little time inside the stadium. They tailgated for a while, watched a few minutes of what was happening on the field then went back to tailgate.

I'm not saying there's anything wrong with people preferring the tailgate to the game, I'm just pointing out that we at best were still a good distance from attracting a substantial enough crowd to justify holding the game at the Rent (keep in mind we sold out most games those years).

There is nothing that I would love more than to reach the point where the spring game attracts 20k+ fans. It could happen but I imagine we would need to be very good for a reasonable stretch before that many fans would put the effort in for a spring game.

Again, the Spring game has little to do with crowd size. That should NOT be its purpose.
 

FfldCntyFan

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Again, the Spring game has little to do with crowd size. That should NOT be its purpose.
No, but for it to be feasible to hold it at the Rent we would need considerably larger crowds for the event than we've had.
 

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