We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

[Knickerbocker91]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Nice job with the CAC Carousel, looking forward to future seasons and seeing how everyone's career plays out. Hopefully all of us will get good and see each other in bigger games each year

[HARLEE23]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

If there's a fictional coach I think it would be cool if he ran the Flexbone, Wishbone, Wingbone, and many of what people view as the "old school" offenses. I haven't looked at the play books much lately so I forgot what was there but running the option and other stuff from those offenses would be an interesting addition to the dynasty. Maybe some of Army's split back offense too, would like it at a power 5 school maybe as well!


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[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

I think I know what it is, because I might have wanted to do it wayyyyy down the road in my BG dynasty, before I moved to next gen.

I'm willing to bet you probably don't. Or at least all the details anyway.

But don't get too ahead of ourselves with this. There's still a lot left to do here and a long way before my idea goes to action.

Nice job with the CAC Carousel, looking forward to future seasons and seeing how everyone's career plays out. Hopefully all of us will get good and see each other in bigger games each year

Thanks bud. The obvious hope is that we all become head coaches or coordinators at top programs. I think this year is a big year for several guys who could potentially make the jump from coordinator to head coach.

I sometimes miss obvious things. Not just in your posts though, it happens to me IRL more than I'd like to admit haha. One request if I may, I'd love to see Harbaugh in this dynasty, but only at Michigan. Please, please, do not create him anywhere else. Anything you need help with I'd love to help!

This is completely optional and makes no difference whatsoever. But if you leave these fake coaches alone maybe switch one of them so they run the flexbone. I love that offense. It's so simple, but yet can be so effective. Which I guess if you bring Willie Fritz into the fold at some point those two things go hand in hand

If there's a fictional coach I think it would be cool if he ran the Flexbone, Wishbone, Wingbone, and many of what people view as the "old school" offenses. I haven't looked at the play books much lately so I forgot what was there but running the option and other stuff from those offenses would be an interesting addition to the dynasty. Maybe some of Army's split back offense too, would like it at a power 5 school maybe as well!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't know exactly what Fritz runs (I don't think it's a pure option attack), but it might bring the flexbone in here. Otherwise, we can always create a coach with no affiliation at some point and have him run the flexbone or something similar.

[whughes]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

I don't know exactly what Fritz runs (I don't think it's a pure option attack), but it might bring the flexbone in here. Otherwise, we can always create a coach with no affiliation at some point and have him run the flexbone or something similar.

They run the triple option out of the flexbone, sprinkled in with some midline veer and a little bit of other stuff. But they're definitely a run first, option team

[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

UConn lands twelve quality prospects for #10 ranked class

Another year, another solid showing on the recruiting trail for Coach Diaco and crew, as UConn wrapped up signing day with a quality class, consisting of 10 four-star caliber prospects and a pair of other three star prospects who will no doubt play a lot very soon.

This year's class attacked secondary head-on, reeling in two pure defensive backs and a pair of athletes who will materialize there.

The two natural defensive backs are safety Tony Rush and corner Shavlion Wade. Wade is a prospect the staff is really high on. He has good size at 6'1, 186 pounds and has great potential to be a shutdown corner, reminiscent of Jamar Summers.

Rush originally graded out at 73 overall, good enough to be the second best safety prospect in the nation. Rush is a well-rounded prospect, but will likely be squeezed out of PT in his first season due to depth at the safety spot with seniors Derek Robinson and Mike Stokes, as well as rising junior Ross Sinclair.

Same goes for athletes Victor Castalanetta and Kion East. Castalanetta is a raw athlete, but played linebacker in high school. His body and skills will likely be better utilized in the long run at safety, but is a project. For someone who thought Sinclair was a big safety at 6'4, East is even bigger at 6'6. He might be shuffled down to linebacker as needed, but will be redshirted year 1 as well.

Joining these four on the defensive side is 4* California defensive tackle Jeremy Broadricke, who we talked about early in the season. With T.J. Newell holding down the starting job, Broadricke will redshirt this season, but will be in the mix to start in 2020.

A few new weapons have the Huskies excited on offense, though no one is coming in at the QB position.

A pair of backs in J.P. Byers and Mike Molden will look to make their names known for a UConn offense that has lived on the run the past fifteen seasons. Byers is very similar to the departed Ron Johnson, while Molden looks to be a bigger Josh Marriner.

A trio of receivers will come in to try to neutralize the lack of a star receiver which has been missing since Thomas Lucas left after 2017. Utah's Devin Brown could be a home run threat, while Drew Talley could be a slot option and Marcus Rodgers a matchup nightmare opposite Brown. None will play this season with the likes of Rashad Harris, Jeff Matthews and Rodney Reid taking the top spots, but look for them before long.

Rounding out the class are two O-line prospects. Pipeline prospect Kevin Jones is UConn's best at the position since Josh Parrish (a rising senior this fall), and is the heir apparent to protect somebody's blind side for a long time.

---------------------------------

Around the country, Texas hauled in the nation's best class, led by the #6 overall prospect in athlete Jayson Piercy and #18 prospect (and #1 DT) Ronnie Holt. Ole Miss, Georgia, Ohio State and UCLA rounded out the top 25.

The nation's top prospect, athlete Kavonte Bullock, decided to stay close to home and commit to Faux Pelini's NC State Wolfpack. For my large plethora of Michigan fans, they landed the #4 prospect in tailback Derrick Lawton. He won't play immediately, but this kid could be a star. Michigan had the 11th best class.

For my droves of Ohio State fans, 6'4 athlete Dwayne Thompson was your best haul.

I'm going to casually ignore the two prospects who went to Kent State and Ball State. (FYI, Ball State got a second five star prospect also...Coach Baumann knows what he's doing!)

USC and coach Quinn Shea had the best CAC recruiting class, with an uneventful #25. Syracuse and OC Laurence Gilbert once again brought in a good class, finishing #30 headlined by 5* guard Graham Patterson. Gilbert and the Orange had the best CAC class last year.

Top Recruiting Classes - 2019
RK	TEAM	5	4	3	2	1	TOTAL
1	Texas	2	9	7	2	1	21
2	Ole Miss	2	8	6	0	0	16
3	Georgia	4	4	8	3	0	19
4	Ohio State	2	8	3	1	4	18
5	UCLA	0	8	11	2	0	21
6	Alabama	1	8	6	0	1	16
7	Oklahoma	3	3	12	2	0	20
8	Arkansas	1	5	12	4	0	22
9	Missouri	0	7	9	4	0	20
10	UConn	0	10	2	0	0	12
11	Michigan	1	6	8	2	0	17
12	LSU	2	6	5	0	0	13
13	Florida	0	8	7	0	0	15
14	Virginia Tech	0	6	11	3	0	20
15	TCU	0	7	9	0	2	18
16	Washington	0	6	11	2	0	19
17	Penn State	0	7	7	1	5	20
18	Oregon	0	8	5	0	3	16
19	Tennessee	2	2	13	2	0	19
20	Notre Dame	1	5	8	0	2	16
21	Auburn	0	5	12	0	1	18
22	Boston College	1	3	12	3	1	20
23	Minnesota	2	2	11	1	2	18
24	Wisconsin	1	3	10	5	0	19
25	USC	0	6	5	3	4	18

Top CAC Recruiting Classes - 2019
RK	TEAM	5	4	3	2	1	TOTAL
25	USC (Coach Shea)	0	6	5	3	4	18
30	Syracuse (OC Gilbert)	1	3	8	3	4	19
59	Ball State (OC Baumann)	2	0	4	5	8	19
60	Rutgers (OC Coley)	0	0	11	7	7	25
63	UCF (OC Turley)	0	1	9	6	3	19
67	Washington State (Coach Willingham)	0	0	14	2	2	18
73	Southern Miss (OC Davis)	0	0	13	3	3	19
77	Maryland (OC James)	0	1	10	3	2	16
82	UL Lafayette (OC Miller)	0	0	11	6	2	19
83	Hawai'i (Coach Trebell)	0	0	9	10	2	21
86	Central Michigan (OC Crenshaw)	0	0	7	11	7	25
91	Bowling Green (OC Freday)	0	1	8	3	5	17
95	Memphis (OC King)	0	1	8	4	2	15
99	Purdue (DC Smith)	0	1	7	3	0	11
106	New Mexico State (OC Grant)	0	0	9	5	2	16
109	Ohio (OC Woodard)	0	0	8	4	6	18
115	Middle Tennessee State (OC St. Brown Sr.)	0	0	6	8	2	16
116	UTEP (OC Mac)	0	0	6	6	5	17
123	Cincinnati (OC Nama)	0	1	4	2	2	9
126	UAB (OC Westside)	0	0	3	7	6	16

And our obligatory Darrell Reid update

Two seasons ago, Elite 11 QB Darrell Reid outraged fans (HARLEE, ksw), delighted some (whughes) and simply amazed others (RoundingThird, yours truly) by spurning hometown Ohio State and picking Michigan.

Today we check in on Reid for the first time since Signing Day 2017, now a rising redshirt sophomore.

Reid is locked in a four way battle to replace departed starter Shane Glover. Senior Michael Frohman has the upper hand with Reid, junior Dan Palanzanos and incoming freshman Jay'Shawn Bryant behind.

Had Reid picked Ohio State? He'd be starting with Stephen Collier graduated. True sophomore Steven Balchiar (82 overall) will start for the Bucks this fall.

[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

UConn spring 'ball newsflash

Donald Brown Day, news, position changes, number changes, who's standing out

With signing day wrapped up, UConn has started to hit the field for spring practices. Today, we give you all the info you need to get you caught up with the goings on from early UConn practices.

Diaco battening the hatches

With star DE Sam Rourke and Coach Diaco suspended for the opening two games of the season, Coach is pulling out all the stops to ensure that his troops are ready. Second year offensive coordinator Bill Cubit is slated to take over in Diaco's absence.

Shuffling the D-Line

To neutralize Rourke's absence, the staff has moved fifth-year senior Gene Jackson over to Rourke's left end spot. Jackson, a former defensive tackle, has never started a game in his career with fellow senior T.J. Newell manning the fort for the third straight season. Sophomores Brett Lowery and Altarri Gardner are expected to compete for the rush end spot in Diaco's 3-4 until Rourke returns for the Ohio State game.

Rourke, Jackson and Newell are the starting three otherwise, Diaco says.

Additionally, Jackson is rumored to be receiving the Harrell Defensive Sportsman Award this year. An official announcement is expected in the coming weeks.

Diaco not ready to name starting QB

After a whirlwind season under center in 2018, Coach Diaco has deemed the three-man race for the starting QB job "wide open" for 2019.

True freshman Tanner Dean-Lowry assumed command of the starting job after David Hamilton went down hurt for the season against Oklahoma State. TDL did a good job holding down the fort, completing 61% of his passes for 1886 yards and 16 TD's, but was benched at times for being turnover prone.

Redshirt sophomore Isaac Jackson, recruited unheralded behind Hamilton, got to play a lot and led a comeback win against Kansas State, but he too has issues with turnovers.

Fifth year senior Jarrett Rivero started the opener against Boise State last August, but had issues with accuracy and looked rattled. However, Rivero is the best runner of the three and can easily take over the position if he can prove he can effectively guide an offense.

Diaco says he expects the race to stretch into fall camp and is open to "try out" QB's in the opener against Illinois.

McNeal ready to shine at tailback

We've waited three seasons for Jeff McNeal to assume command of the running back group and take over the offense. McNeal, now a redshirt junior, finally gets to do so without Josh Marriner, Ron Johnson or Arkeel Newsome in front of him.

McNeal, lauded for his speed, has played a variety of roles for UConn, including winning the Jet Rodgers Award for the nation's best return man last fall. McNeal also recorded three INT's in limited defensive action, returning one for a TD against Kansas. In that game, McNeal scored the "Triple Crown": Scoring on offense, defense and special teams.

Additionally, McNeal has changed his number from 23 to 2.

Parker moves to RB

Wide receiver Carlton Parker, a redshirt freshman this fall, has been moved to RB to allow true freshmen J.P. Byers and Mike Molden to redshirt. This leaves Jeff McNeal, redshirt freshman Luke Williamson and Parker as the three active running backs on the roster this fall. In case of injury, junior fullback Alfred Hart and sophomore cornerback Kyler Parks, a receiver in high school, are on stand-by.

Parker will change his number from 87 to 14. Tight end Royce Archie, a West Virginia transfer, will switch from #11 to Parker's 87.

Crowder set to take over inexperienced cornerback group

While there are three very good safeties on the UConn roster, there is not enough wealth at the cornerback. Redshirt junior Jake Crowder is the now unquestioned leader of the corners following the graduation of Travis Lumpkin and Anthony Watkins. Question is....who starts next to him?

Ross Sinclair has been rumored to move down to corner, but I don't know how long that will last. Shavlion Wade, an early enrollee true freshman, has opened eyes early on. Sophomore Kyler Parks is right in the thick of the race as well. Others to watch are former walk-on J.D. Rudie, and redshirt freshmen Kent Newton and Sam Barnett.

Diaco looking forward to meeting English's Vols

Coach Diaco was the first to give former assistant Marty English a call of congratulations when English received the head coaching job at Tennessee. The two teams are set to play in Week 3 at The Property.

English was the coordinator of the star-studded defense that helped win UConn the National Title in 2017.

Marty is just a great guy, really deservant. He works hard, generally enjoys the game and loves the people he works with. I can't wait to play his Vols and we eagerly await his return to The Property.

UConn set to hold Donald Brown Day, retire #34 at season opener

UConn has announced that opening day against Illinois will be Donald Brown Day, and that his #34 will become the first retired in UConn's history. It has been 11 years since Brown became an All-American rushing for a school record 2083 yards in 2008. He also set a career rushing record with 3800 yards. Both records still stand.

Brown on the honor:

I'm the first number retired? Wow. That's pretty cool. I'm honored to come back to Hartford again, I'm always welcomed back warmly when I return. It's just a pleasure that Coach Diaco has recognized me.

[mattrd39]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

I'd imagine it has to be TDL that gets the starting nod, I know he lost a few games but it's hard to repeat as National Champs plus he had the best pure stats/numbers of the bunch as just a true freshman last year. Looking forward to seeing your Huskies in 2019!

[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

I'd imagine it has to be TDL that gets the starting nod, I know he lost a few games but it's hard to repeat as National Champs plus he had the best pure stats/numbers of the bunch as just a true freshman last year. Looking forward to seeing your Huskies in 2019!

We'll find that out at a later date, but your reasons are definitely easily validated. My only problem with TDL is that when he had a bad day last year, everything seemed to snowball on him. I hope he can find success, I'd hate to see David Hamilton V.2 appear.

I really liked Jackson in limited time, but I still think talent-wise he is #2. However, he carved out a niche for pulling off the comeback or scoring when we absolutely needed it. As I said, we might try out both QB's (or all three) week one as the game flows. But I hope to have a definite starter after Week 1.

Also, I'd like to direct you guys to the main Dynasty HQ section of the board and the Dynasty Layout Thread. I have been renovating my Around the NCAA graphics and I'd like some input before I start season six (hopefully by the end of the weekend). If anyone can swing by and take a look, that'd be much appreciated! Thanks everyone!

[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Gene Jackson receives 2019 Harrell Defensive Sportsman Award

Fifth year senior defensive end Gene Jackson has been named the recipient of the Harrell Defensive Sportsman Award for the 2019 season. With the award comes the privilege to wear jersey #95, which he will inherit from last year's recipient, James Atkins.

Jackson is the second recipient of the prestigious award, created by Coach Diaco to honor a senior defender who best exemplifies the qualities displayed by former defender Quintin Harrell: Perseverance, hard work and versatility on the field and leadership off it.

Jackson has never started a game in his career, and to get him on the field, the coaching staff has moved him to defensive end this fall, where he will be expected to help anchor a defense down star Sam Rourke for the opening two games.

Gene checks off all the boxes I examine when presenting this award. The fact he's stuck with us for four years playing a limited role, he deserves the opportunity he's been given. I can't wait to see him wearing #95 and hopefully being very productive for us.

Congratulations to Jackson and we wish him the best of luck wearing #95!


NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: I am really going to try to wrap up the offseason tomorrow. I hope to start season six at some point this coming week. #RiseUp!

[HARLEE23]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Reid isn't allowed home anymore. His parents house was burned down and they moved up north.

Crazy to think he would be leading the Buckeyes this year. On that depth chart at Ichigan he may not start until his redshirt senior year. Poor kid had to have not been raised right.

[TheOtherPotterGuy]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

The off season feels like it takes forever sometimes, I feel like I've been in mine for awhile lol. Good luck this upcoming season. I can't wait to see what happens!

[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Dean-Lowry to start Week 1

Last offseason post. Team intro up next!

UConn head coach Bob Diaco, along with interim head coach Bill Cubit, who will coach the team during Diaco's two game suspension, have announced sophomore Tanner Dean-Lowry as the starting QB for UConn's opener on August 31 against Illinois. UConn has a bye Week 1.

Diaco cited the need for some experience under center after using all four quarterbacks on the active roster at different points last year. Dean-Lowry started the last seven games in 2018 as a true freshman after a season-ending injury to David Hamilton, who was dismissed and is now at Old Dominion.

TDL threw for 1,886 yards in completing 61% of his passes last year. He also threw 16 TD's compared to seven INT's and ran for four more.

Redshirt sophomore Isaac Jackson and fifth year senior Jarrett Rivero will be listed second separated by an "OR" on the soon-to-be released depth chart.

Even with the plan for Week 1 known, Diaco is not setting the decision in stone moving forward.

We have our best shot at success with TDL right now. We just need him to stay healthy and perform as well as he did last year. If he can't do either, we know what we have in Isaac and Jarrett.

Rivero started last year's opener against Boise State, but hasn't played since. Jackson led a comeback victory over Kansas State last year, but didn't throw a TD pass.

Diaco is also desperately looking to recruit a quarterback in this cycle with Rivero graduating in the spring. Texas native and 3-star recruit T.J. Appleby currently has UConn at #1 on his list, and Diaco has reached out to 3* California athlete Alex Paige, who is an athlete likely to materialize at QB should he land in Hartford.

Reid isn't allowed home anymore. His parents house was burned down and they moved up north.

Crazy to think he would be leading the Buckeyes this year. On that depth chart at Ichigan he may not start until his redshirt senior year. Poor kid had to have not been raised right.

Man you Ohio State fans are crazy.

Considering we play Ohio State week 4 this season, we'll get to see how much Reid's services may or may not have been needed. I've never seen a similar scenario in my seven years of playing dynasty mode, so this is an awesome little storyline to follow.

I hope we get to play Reid at some point though (If everything stays course, we'll see Dan Palanzanos when we play Michigan in 2020). I'd love to see what the kid's made of, because, after all, he made the executive decision to ride pine for four years.

The off season feels like it takes forever sometimes, I feel like I've been in mine for awhile lol. Good luck this upcoming season. I can't wait to see what happens!

Definitely....I played the last game of last season at the end of August, and went through the offseason on Labor Day. So if that gives you any perspective...

Unfortunately my pace is going to slow considerably moving forward as basketball season begins in 2 1/2 weeks (), but my goal for this season is to not far too fall behind on here (I've already played out the first three weeks).

It's definitely going to be an interesting season. After all, the team is composed of my guys, and with the never-ending Diaco rumors, scholarship loss and Rourke suspensions looming, there is a lot riding on the success we find.

I also see that was your first post, even though I know you've been lurking for a lot longer. So...welcome! And thanks for checking in to the both of you.

[BookWork123]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Let's go Cincinnati!(oh, and UCONN too)

[thesportsguru11]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Let's go Cincinnati!(oh, and UCONN too)

It'll be nice to follow Cincy without any issues, as Cincy (along with Navy and Army) were the teams that gave me fits in the AAC days. Curry is in the mold of Russell Wilson, so hopefully you can find success with him.

--------

My apologies for putting the dynasty on the backburner, I've been preoccupied lately with school and on the weekends, NCAA 06! (That means I also need to catch up on everyone else's dynasties.)

Because I don't have a roster transfer device on the PS2, I've been manually inserting names and making miscellaneous edits. Started on the rosters last year, but got frustrated after a while and just recently came back to them around August.

In any case, I'm almost done with that and dying to get a dynasty rolling on here with '06. Might be a long ways away from actually happening, but I'd love to do a Create-A-School dynasty with user-submitted players lining the team.

But again, that's likely a long ways away. I want to go several more seasons with UConn (at minimum) before shifting gears and maybe starting something new. 2019 here will start soon, I actually lied and have one final offseason post, just a chart to track who is coaching where at the start of 2019. Then we can begin the new season!

Thanks again for the support all, and hopefully you stay tuned for more UCahhhhhhnnnnnnnnnnnnn Football!

[RoundingThird]

Re: We have a football team too... Guru's UConn Huskies (NCAA 14)

Hey, you're still alive!

The way we've played IRL, I don't need to look here for fantasies anymore. In Bob we trust! Go ahead, start the '06 now!