Final thoughts

Signing Day to me is overblown (do we really need 14 hours of coverage?). I think the wall-to-wall media coverage is insane as is the hounding that goes on with these kids. But, for die hards who read this blog, this is like Christmas.

It's an important day and I think UConn made out pretty well.

Here are some more thoughts. Dwayne Difton looks to be the best bet right off the bat to play because of the offense he played in and the caliber of players he played with. He is a lot more polished than the others. Mike Lang is supposed to be a burner, and if you have speed it could always be used.

I love 6-foot-5 Malik Generett from his highlight reel. 6-foot-5 receiver is a dimension they don't have. There is 6-foot-4 Brian Parker laying in the weeds after a redshirt, this is good for the Huskies.

Aiken is a great athlete, he is perhaps the least polished because he played RB, but the Huskies aren't projecting as much since they have seen him at WR. He would be likely to redshirt.

The Huskies are starting to sign wide receivers. No more Brad Kanuch's switches from RB. Even Aiken has experience at WR.

Add this mix in with Kashif Moore and Michael Smith as well as redshirts Gerrard Sheppard and Brian Parker and it looks like UConn will have players to throw to.

This season it was tough to watch. But now, it looks as thought the Huskies have much more talent in the pipeline. There are now 10 scholarship WRs on the team. Only one is a senior in Kanuch. There may be attrition, but it looks like there will be some competition.

As far as other recruiting thoughts, the Huskies are going to start clamping down and recruiting their core areas. That would be Eastern Ohio and Northern Virginia into the Northeast and a heavy emphasis on Pennsylvania. There is also a nice Georgia pipeline from Edsall's Georgia Tech days that is paying off and of course Florida. Every team in the country has to recruit Florida.

Other areas however are going to be put as secondary priorities. Unless a player shows interest in the Huskies or they spot him at a camp and he is receptive, the Huskies won't go crazy.

Connecticut is a place UConn has to get better in. There is a lot of skeptical high school coaches who get bowled over when a major coach calls, and in my opinion, I find a lot of high school coaches starry-eyed. Let's be honest, the Huskies lost out on some major in-state recruits for a variety of reasons. Some part of it is that there are high school coaches that seem to discourage players from even considering UConn. Edsall mentioned this in a much nicer way during his press conference when he mentioned how much these players could accomplish at UConn that they are "missing the boat."

There are a lot of high school coaches who discourage players from even considering UConn in-state. UConn's in-state track record for players who went to UConn is pretty good. I don't know what else a player and coach can ask for. To not even consider UConn to me is a bad move.
UConn's facilities are top notch, they are in a major conference, there is playing time to be had, and Edsall can get players to the NFL. And, players graduate. Still, some high school coaches feel UConn is a settle or a step down. Florida is one thing, some others schools are another.

If the occasional player got away, it's one thing. But, too many are getting away to think that this is just the work of kids wanting to leave the state.

It has become counter intuitive. A prospect in Connecticut seems to be looked down by heading to UConn over another similar institution. In every other state, the state school gets those players in-state, or at least the majority of them. It's an odd dynamic up here, and most of it is the attitude of high school coaches.

Huskies have higher credibility in Pennsylvania than they do in Fairfield County.

That's changing as coaches turn over and current players grow up with UConn ingrained in their minds. It's getting better, but the Huskies need to get more in-state players because nothing beats an in-state pipeline. Massachusetts they have done well as have they done in Pennsylvania.


Lastly, on the recrutinig rankings as a team. I can't tell you how silly they are. Look at the current Huskies class and their roster.

UConn is set at QB with Zach Frazer and Cody Endres plus Casey Turner to go along with new commitments.

The offensive line will lose Will Beatty, maybe a first rounder, but is loaded with underclassmen. This is a strength as good as anyone around. No worries here.

Running back is loaded.

On defense, I love the young defensive tackles in Kendall Reyes and Twyon Martin. The linebackers are tremendous and still have two years left, and, the secondary is very good and has young talent all around.

The two worry areas for the Huskies are WR and defensive end.

They satisfied that in this recruiting class and also are bringing in athletes that may pan out.

On a side note: Joe Moorhead was greeted by a very big round of applause tonight at the signing event at the Rent. I know the fans didn't like Ambrose's offense, but this guy isn't a miracle worker.

He did have a good line however: "I hope you feel the same way after Ohio University."

Maybe everyone is excited that the forward pass will be utilized this season.