2008 Woodie Awards
A Co-Big East championship.
A 9-4 record.
A national ranking.
A berth in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
All of these things contributed to the special, program-establishing season that UConn football enjoyed in 2007, but with spring practice a week away, the team isn’t satisfied with basking in the accomplishments of last year.
“They know they’ve got so much more to prove,” said head coach Randy Edsall. “It’s a whole new year, it’s a whole new team. It’s been workman-like and business-like throughout the whole offseason. They know you can’t rest on what you’ve done in the past.”
And for much of the team, including some returning starters, the intense offseason conditioning wasn’t based on a team goal, but rather an effort to beat out the competition and earn playing time.
Edsall, who mentioned potential position battles at running back, cornerback, safety, defensive end, and defensive tackle, said he was excited to see the results of a rigorous offseason translate onto the field during the spring.
Despite the plethora of position battles that will take place, Edsall did not indicate there would be open-competition at quarterback.
Though Tyler Lorenzen’s turned in an immensley successful campaign in his first year at UConn- he passed for 2,367 yards and 13 touchdowns- there was a general feeling that Notre Dame transfer Zack Frazer, a four-star recruit who was ranked the No. 9 quarterback in the nation by Rivals.com as a high school senior, would have a chance to win the job in camp. Edsall quickly debunked that rumor.
“Tylers our quarterback,” Edsall said. “Just like any other position, there’s Cody [Endres] and Zack [Frazer] there, so they are trying to play as well. But unless someone beats him out, Tyler’s our quarterback.”
As well-documented as Lorenzen’s emergence was, the fast-rise of tailback Andre Dixon was given even more attention. With Donald Brown and Dixon both healthy for the start of spring ball, questions were raised about whether or not Edsall would continue to run the ball by committee- as he did towards the end of the season- or make one the full-time starter.
“If we have someone who can be the dominant guy, then he’ll be the dominant guy, but we’ll still have someone go in there and spell him,” Edsall said. “If you can have someone spell him, you’re number one guy becomes that much more effective. When you have two different types of runners, I think that helps you too. Look at the Giants with Brandon Jacobs and [Ahmad] Bradshaw.”
Edsall added that improved pass protection will be a goal of the team this offseason, and the running back who proves to be the better pass blocker will have an edge for playing time.
While running back figures to be the most high-profile position battle, the shake-up on defense will surely receive some attention as well. Following the graduation of standout middle linebacker Danny Lansanah, Edsall moved outside linebacker Scott Lutrus to the inside, brought Dahna Deleston to Lutrus’ old position, and moved prize-recruit Jarell Miller from his high school position of middle linebacker to defensive tackle. Edsall raised some eyebrows when he announced the changes three weeks ago, but it was a maneuver that he had been planning all along.
“Last spring we were going to move Dahna to the Husky position, but he incurred some academic issues and he wasn’t here so we couldn’t do it,” Edsall said. “Scott had planned to be inside, but we moved him outside because of the situation we had. The move with Dahna isn’t that drastic because alot of the things we did, we had him down in the box.”
Both Lutrus and Deleston have done all the right things to excel in their new positions, according to Edsall. Along with Cody Brown, Edsall said Lutrus and Deleston had exceptional off-seasons on the field and in the weight room. Another offseason standout was seldom-used safety Glen Mourning, who at 6-foot-1 200 lbs has always had the physical tools, but struggled to translate them to the field. With Deleston moving to the “Husky,” Mourning may have the opportunity to find some time at safety.
“Glen had a very good off-season, but he’s got to try and do it on the field,” Edsall said.
Both Tyvon Branch and Donald Thomas worked out at the NFL Combine this week, posting impressive numbers that ranked right up there with some of the elite talent in this year’s Draft class.
Thomas was one of 48 offensive linemen invited to Indianapolis and the former UConn offensive guard ran the second best 40-yard dash time of the bunch, sprinting to the finish in 5.00 seconds. According to ESPN.com’s Matt Mosley in his Hashmarks blog, Thomas also has the best time in the first 10 yards, or 10-yard split, with a time of 1.72 seconds, and also the third best 20-yard split (2.89). In addition, Thomas also finished fourth in the three-cone drill, with a time of 7.45 seconds.
I talked to Thomas last Friday and he said that he put up 29 reps on the bench press, which would have placed him tied for fifth; however, he was not listed under the top performers for that section on NFL.com/combine. My guess is he probably ended up one shy of 29 because he didn’t get a complete rep on his last try — something that happens often when lifting. Nevertheless, he said he hopes to break the 30 barrier at UConn’s Pro Day on March 26th.
Branch also turned some heads this weekend. While there were 13 defensive backs who ran sub-4.4 40s, Branch topped them all by finishing the sprint in 4.31 seconds. His time was actually second best out of all Combine participants, as he finished just 0.7 seconds slower than the fastest man in Indy, running back Chris Johnson of ECU, who posted a time of 4.24.
The corner also finished tied for fifth on the bench press, putting up 225 pounds 19 times.
While the workouts won’t push either player into the first round, it will cause scouts to take another look at both players. I was watching one of the daily top 10 videos on the Combine website and one of the analysts said he was going to have to go back and study Branch some more on tape because of the blazing 40 time. With the results, expect to see more scouts and NFL reps showing up in March to look at these guys.
Linebacker Danny Lansanah was not invited to the Combine, but is currently training in Florida for the Huskies’ Pro Day.
Hey all,
Your friendly neighborhood blogger here to introduce you to the latest addition to the DC blogging strike force — the football blog, or as I like to call it, the Randy Edsall Experience.
Speaking of the man, the myth and the legend, Edsall held a press conference in the defensive meeting room of the Burton Family Football Complex to go over some things, and things, heading into spring practices.
I hit all of the big points in Friday’s notebook, but for all of football fanatics who are crazy enough to search out a student newspaper’s blog that is not even attached to the Web site (cough, way to go, Porter), here’s some more info:
Injury Update
With all of the position changes announced Thursday, here’s a look at the depth chart – listed not necessarily in official order – heading into spring practices (* = incoming recruit)
Offense:
LT — Will Beatty, Mike Ryan, Jimmy Bennett*
LG — Alex LaMagdelaine, Gary Bardzak, Bobby Fry
C — Keith Gray, Trey Tonsing, Muhammad Petrus
RG — Mike Hicks, Mathieu Olivier, Erik Kuraczea*
RT –Dan Ryan, Zach Hurd, Adam Masters*
TE — Steve Brouse, Yianni Apostolakos, Martin Bedard, John Delahunt*, Ryan Griffin*, Corey Manning*
WR (X) — Brad Kanuch, Ellis Gaulden, Kevin Poles, Alex Molina, Gerrard Sheppard*
WR (W, or slot) — D.J. Hernandez, Marcus Easley, Michael Smith, Eric Muschette
WR (Z) — Kashif Moore, Robert Theoudele, Isiah Moore, Nick Amorante, Rob Theodele, Brian Parker*
FB — Anthony Sherman, Anthony Davis, Joss Tillard
RB — Donald Brown, Andre Dixon, Robbie Frey, Meme Wylie, Nate Scherer, Jordan Todman*
QB — Tyler Lorenzen, Zach Frazier, Cody Endres, Casey Turner*
Defense:
DE — Cody Brown, Lindsey Witten, A.J. Portee*, Teddy Jennings*
DT –Rob Lunn, Scott Schultz, Jarrell Miller, Ryan Wirth*
DT — Alex Polito, Twyon Martin, Danny Russell
DE — Julius Williams, Mike Cox, Kendall Reyes, Oliver Bernson
WLB — Lawrence Wilson, Greg Lloyd, Matt Ashmeade, Alex Folsom, Sio Moore*
MLB — Scott Lutrus, C.J. Marck, Aaron Bryant, Doc Goudreau, Jerome Williams*
HLB — Dahna Deleston, Greg Robinson, Corey Stringer, Jory Johnson*
CB — Darius Butler, Jasper Howard, Kahlil Lane, Derrick Foster, Josh Massey, Dwayne Gratz*
FS — Robert Vaughn, Glen Mourning, Aaron Bagsby, John Yurek, Matt Edwards
SS — Kijuan Dabney, Jonathan Jean-Louis, Jamison Davis, Emmanuel Omokoro, Jerome Junior*
CB — Robert McClain,Terry Baltimore, Harris Agbor, Gary Wilburn, Blidi Wreh-Wilson*
Special Teams
P — Desi Cullen
K — Tony Ciaravino, Dave Teggart
That’s all for now. Whenever more information comes, I’ll be sure to update.
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