I’m a day late, but I didn’t forget my loyal readers. Practice yesterday went smoothly — no big breakthroughs to report – but it seemed like some of the answers many have been looking for regarding position battles are starting to materialize. Here are some of my thoughts from Thursday’s practice:
First Down: As a wrote in my notebook in today’s edition of the Daily Campus, Jasper Howard has really emerged in the spring and is primed to be a big contributor this season. Despite the much remembered muffed punt in the West Virginia game, he has already locked up the punt returner role and it looks like he will be at worst the nickelback in the fall – one that would make Chad Kroeger proud.
Speaking of the Nickelback crooner, has anyone seen him in his latest video with Santana? He was already a bit goofy for a rock star, but he had his coif straightened and trimmed so it now makes him look like Ellen DeGeneres
Creepy, huh?
Never been much of a fan of the Kroegs, but I’ll always remember him as one of the guys to demand tickets to last season’s Ohio State-Michigan football game, thinking they were popular enough to do so. Turns out, not so much. I guess that’s what you get for using a guitar legend to create a techno jam.
Anyway, Howard’s biggest weakness is obviously his size. He’s listed favorably at 5-foot-9, 162 pounds, but what he lacks there he certainly makes up for in athletic ability. A lot of schools took a look at the Miami, Fla., native coming out of high school, but shied away from him, most likely because of his diminutive stature. But there’s no question, this guy can move. He’s one of the fastest players on the team, and defensive backs coach Scott Lakatos said he has good instincts and feel for the game.
Lakatos said that the Huskies are going to be implementing different players in different schemes this year, so Howard could see the field more often this year, especially if another 20 receivers go down and Darius Butler has to spend more time on offense.
Even when Butler was on defense yesterday, it was Howard on the opposite side of the field, not McClain for most of the afternoon.
But don’t forget about some of the incoming freshmen. UConn signed four defensive backs – three if Jerome Junior moves to linebacker – and that could shakes things up a bit, especially if Dwayne Gratz lives up to his billing as a three-star prospect, according to Rivals.com.
2nd Down: Now that Mike Hicks has moved back to tackle, he and Dan Ryan will be battling throughout the final week of spring practices for the starting spot at right tackle.
As it stands right now, Ryan appears to have the inside edge. He played with the ones throughout Thursday’s scrimmage and had a solid day. Both tackles are massive, as each weigh over 300 pounds, but Ryan seems to be the better athlete and is more fluid in his motions.
3rd Down: Another position battle going on is at strong safety, where Kijuan Dabney currently holds the starting role next to veteran Robert Vaughn. But Dabney isn’t sitting pretty, as redshirt freshman Jonathan Jean-Louis is having a great spring and is pushing hard for his spot.
Lakatos said that both are very similar players, although Dabney is a bit bigger. But the difference between the two seems to simply be playing time. Dabney spent the entire season on the sideline as a backup while Jean-Louis was on the scout team. Unless Jean-Louis shines in the summer, it looks like that experience might give Dabney an edge.
4th Down: Andre Dixon returned to practice after missing four consecutive sessions and looked like his old self, cutting and bursting through holes for big gains … Jimmy Bennett, a three-star offensive line prospect who signed a letter of intent to play for the Huskies next season, drove up from his hometown of Alexandria, Va., and was on hand for practice … D.J. Hernandez ran routes with the wide receivers without pads despite still having an aircast on his left foot for a sprained ankle … Yet another wide receiver was relegated to the sidelines, as Kashif Moore was held out of practice for undisclosed reasons. His left knee was heavily wrapped.
Now that we’ve instituted the new “fourth and goal” blog, I figured I’d take a crack at it. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Kevin Duffy, the second beat writer for the Football team this spring. Essentially, I am a lamer version of Justin Verrier, our sports editor and pioneer of the UConn football blog. I hope to overcome my lameness and fill all of you in on the happenings of spring practice all the way through April 19th’s Blue-White Spring Football game at The Rentch. So lets get started with yesterdays practice:
1st down: I’m going to be honest, I’m a big Meme Wylie fan (check out the feature story at Dailycampus.com next week), but Meme has taken a back seat to fellow redshirt freshman Robbie Frey (pronounced Fry, like in Ferris Bueller) in recent practices. The first time he broke off a long run I shrugged and thought it was luck. The second time he did it I attributed it to poor defense. Now, its pretty clear that Frey is just good– and that’s all there is to it. He’s got a gear that none of the running backs, Donald Brown and Andre Dixon included, could even dream about having. On his long touchdown sprint today, safeties Glen Mourning and Jameson Davis looked to have the angle to make the tackle, but Frey beat them down the sidelines, ran into the endzone, and started on his way back before Mourning and Davis could catch their breath.
2nd down: Darius Butler took all the snaps with the defense this practice after spending Saturday’s entire session at wide receiver. After practice, he said that the defense put in a bunch of new packages and blitzes that he needed to learn before he could work on his offensive skills, which, by the way, are extremely impressive. There’s no doubt Butler will be the team’s top playmaker in the fall if given the chance. His speed and run after the catch ability really separate him from anything the Huskies have to offer.
3rd down: Speaking of wide receiver, it was a rough day for redshirt freshman Kashif Moore. He beat Jasper Howard on a go-route but was unable to track down the ball, which was partially overthrown, and minutes later dropped a pass over the middle that caused Randy Edsall to nearly eat him alive. Edsall yelled “Catch the damn ball” for about a minute straight as Moore quietley retreated to the shadows with his good friend–not brother– Isaiah Moore. He did, however, make a difficult diving catch later in practice, as well as turn the corner on a reverse and gain roughly 40 yards on the trick play.
4th down: I know Justin pointed out Zach Frazer’s struggles in Saturday’s post, but I’d like to second that comment. Sometimes, he looks like he can be great. He’s 6-foot-5, got a nice, strong build, and a strong arm. But consistency is a major issue with Frazer. He makes more mistakes that Tyler Lorenzen and Cody Endres combined. I don’t know if anyone else noticed, but Frazer is from MECHANICSBURGH, Penn. That’s like saying Chris Douglas-Roberts is from Freethrowburgh, Tenn., or Ellis Gaulden is from Durabilityville, Fla. Well, you get the point.
Injury Report: Andre Dixon and Brad Kanuch continued to sit out of practice, but both looked as though they are ready to return soon. For Kanuch, the return cannot come soon enough. He participates in grueling conditioning drills with DJ Hernandez every practice, and doesn’t do so with much enthusiasm. Today, he was called over by DJ to start doing their traditional hand-walking drill, but this time do it across the 50 yard width of the field. Kanuch trotted over and simply muttered “This is going to suck.”
Hello Folks,
Another Saturday practice is in the books and I’ve decided to add a new segment to our new blog section: Fourth and goal. After each practice — which run every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday — I’ll be updating the blog to give you the latest news and insights on the UConn football team as they battle through the remainder of spring practices. And yes, I am aware of how lame the name is, but I couldn’t think of anything clever that deals with numbers and football. Any suggestions on a new one are welcomed.
1st Down: 
(Zach Hurd)
There have been some big shakeups across the offensive line, as redshirt freshmen Moe Petrus and Zach Hurd have moved up to the first team and taken over at left and right guard, respectively. Head coach Randy Edsall said today that he likes the physicality and aggressiveness that both bring to the trenches, and that both will likely remain with the ones from here on out –- even when Alex LaMagdelaine returns from a knee injury sometime in the next few weeks.
Keith Gray remains at center, where he started every game last season, and Mike Hicks, who was projected to start at right guard, has moved back to right tackle after switching to guard in the offseason and practiced mostly with the twos Saturday.
Hurd didn’t have the most impressive practice, but he’s an absolute monster. The 6-foot-7 Waterford native added 10 pounds in the offseason and is now up to around 305. If he continues to make a smooth transition from tackle to guard, I don’t see him losing the job for the rest of the year.
2nd Down:
A lot of noise was made when Zach Frazer decided to transfer to UConn from Notre Dame, but the only sound coming from the former four-star prospect made was a crunch as he was driven to the turf.
Although the offensive line was partly to blame, Frazer seemed like he was scrambling for his life all practice. And when he was upright, the redshirt freshman’s mechanics were off, as he received an ear-full from Edsall a few times for not setting his feet or throwing off his back foot.
Saturday was just another in a string of unspectacular practices for Frazer, as he has yet to really wow anyone through nine practices. Unless he’s puts it together over the summer, be prepared for another year of the Tyler Lorenzen era. Wishbone offense, anyone?
After sitting on the free-agent wire for a few weeks, the Detroit News is reporting that former UConn linebacker Alfred Fincher was signed by the Lions Thursday.
Fincher, who was a third round draft pick in 2005 and spent three years with the New Orleans Saints, should have a better chance to make an impact in Detroit with only one linebacker — Ernie Simms — really entrenched as a starter.
Fincher will be reunited with former UConn quarterback Dan Orlovsky. The QB spent three seasons as a backup for the Lions, and is likely to return to the team after being tendered an offer as a restrictive free agent.
Following the off-season transfer of Terrence Jeffers, UConn football was left very thin at wide receiver.
Now the Huskies are even thinner.
When it seemed two-sport stud Ellis Gaulden, the Big East high jump champion, had finally overcome a long history of injuries—he tore both ACLs and fractured his foot earlier in his career—Gaulden was once again reserved to watching from the sidelines in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. He tore a tendon in his foot during last Thursday’s practice that could potentially end his college football career before it ever really got started.
To make matters worse, rising senior captain DJ Hernandez suffered an ankle sprain that is likely to keep him out the rest of spring. Brad Kanuch, who aggravated a quadriceps injury on Tuesday, did some light running drills but otherwise was held out of his second consecutive practice.
The storm of injuries leaves coach Randy Edsall with an unproven group that includes redshirt freshmen Isaiah Moore and Kashif Moore and two big, physical veterans—Marcus Easley, a 6-foot-3 212 pound walk-on, and 6-foot-4 220 pound redshirt senior Robert Theoudele
“Those guys coming into the spring were going to be evaluated and have the opportunity to come in and fill some kind of role in the offense,” Edsall said. “Now what happens is they move into the situation where they have to come in and prove themselves because they are going to get a lot of reps.”
The Huskies also have three freshman wideouts, Brian Parker, Gerrard Sheppard, and Michael Smith arriving in the summer. Parker and Sheppard stand 6-foot-5 and 6-foot-3, respectively, and when teamed with Easley and Theoudele, would give quarterback Tyler Lorenzen an array of vertical threats.
Even with the influx of the freshman class, Edsall said he was considering moving a defensive back to the offensive side of the ball.
“We’ll be looking at guys who are athletic and guys who may have played [wide receiver] in high school,” Edsall said. “I don’t know if I will do anything but it’s something I have to take a look at because you always have to have plans in case these situations arise.”
Edsall would not finalize anything, but he did say there were a few candidates for the switch.
“I have a guy in my mind but its something that I’ve got to get all the information about and see where we’re at and make sure we can still be productive,” he said.
When asked if the candidate was the Huskies top corner Darius Butler, a wiry athlete with the speed and leaping ability to be a playmaker on both sides, Edsall laughed.
“Darius is probably up in my office waiting to campaign right now,” he joked.
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