With the UConn Huskies football team kicking off the season on Saturday night against the Ohio University Bobcats in Athens, OH, I wanted to do a full fledged preview of the team. But with the amount of changes the team has made, especially with the new offense, I figured the best thing to do was to email some questions to the UConn Huskies football beat writers.
Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant, Chip Malafronte of the New Haven Register and Neill Ostrout of the Connecticut Post all took time from their busy schedules to answer five questions for me. I would like to thank them again for their time. It is very much appreciated.
Q: After watching the Huskies struggle in the passing game last season, what can we as UConn fans expect from Joe Moorhead and the new offense?
Desmond Conner: We really haven’t seen enough of the team to say what fans can expect but I think that was by design. The less we in the media or anybody else sees this new offense the more of a mystery UConn will be to its opponents. That being said I think you’ll see receivers catch the ball.
Chip Malafronte: There will be more plays per game for sure, as the hurry-up, no-huddle offense should provide a little more excitement from the rather vanilla offense of the past few seasons. Zach Frazer has the arm and brains to play quarterback, we’ll see if he’s mastered the offense Saturday. He certainly has more quality options at receiver, including a potential star in Dwayne Difton.
Neill Ostrout: You can expect a no-huddle, fast-paced tempo with a number of new pass plays. But the running game won’t change much, other than featuring the plays that Jordan Todman “likes” instead of Donald Brown’s old favorites.
X’s and O’s are nice and it probably was a good idea to change things up. But players have to make plays and I’m interested to see if the Huskies in the passing game can make some big plays. That doesn’t mean it’s all on the receivers, of course. We all know the quarterback has to deliver it to the right spot at the right time and the offensive line has to hold its ground (two things that didn’t always happen last year).
Q: With the release of the depth chart on Sunday, were there any surprises to you at any of the positions?
Conner: No, not really, except for, maybe Jerome Junior at safety but he has a lot of ability but overall no. No real surprises
Malafronte: Not at all. The closest thing to a surprise was Marcus Aiken as backup safety. Aiken played wide receiver until about a week ago.
Ostrout: Not really.
It’s somewhat surprising that freshman Dwayne Difton isn’t at the top of the wide receiver list but that’s not much of an indication of how much he’ll play. He’s going to play a lot.
And it’s kind of surprising that freshman Marcus Aiken is in the two-deep after only a week of playing safety but that’s not much of an indication of how much he’ll play. He’s not going to play a lot.
Q: Who are the sleepers on the team the fans can look forward to watching?
Conner: I like Jerome Junior as a sleeper. The safety next to him, Robert Vaughn is poised for a big year but I really like wide receiver Gerrard Sheppard.
Malafronte: I think Marcus Easley will do some things, even though he didn’t make the two-deep for Ohio. LB Sio Moore has the talent to be a special player, and this year will allow him to get his feet wet behind a very talented crew at the position. DE’s Trevardo Williams and Jesse Joseph and safety Jerome Junior could also be impact players as freshmen.
Ostrout: I think tight end Ryan Griffin is a good one. He’s a big target with good hands who can block a little bit.
Most people don’t know a lot about his game (myself included, perhaps) but he’ll raise a few eyebrows this season every once in a while.
Q: One of the strengths of Randy Edsall’s teams have been the defense. Can we expect that again in 2009?
Conner: Obviously lost some good ones on this side of the ball including the two ends, Cody Brown and Julius Williams. Lindsey Witten can be an outstanding player on one side. Jesse Joseph, a true freshman is starting on the other side. He’s a great knack for the game according to head coach Randy Edsall. Jerome Junior has a big role replacing Dahna Deleston but he could be faster and a bigger hitter when its all said and done.
Malafronte: I think so. Replacing Darius Butler at corner, Dahna Deleston at safety and ends Julius Williams and Cody Brown won’t be easy, I mean, all four are in the NFL. How much of a pass rush UConn can generate with so many young players is a question, but the corners are still strong with Jasper Howard and Reggie McClain while Robert Vaughn is a 4-year starter at safety.
Ostrout: Yes.
All indications are that it’s another stout Husky defense. The linebackers are great. The defensive line is very good. The corners are very good. The safeties are/will be good.
Q: How do you think UConn finishes up record wise (plus Big East) and will they head to a bowl game for the third straight season?
Conner: I think they can win eight. I think they will win less if the offense has any problems.
Malafronte: Tough call right now. I think UConn can go 8-4 on the high end and 4-8 on the low end. It will probably be somewhere in between, so I’ll say 6-6 right now. But that could change after seeing them in action this weekend.
Ostrout: I think the 6-to-8 win range is pretty likely. A few good breaks and it could be 9 or 10 (really!). A few bad breaks and it could be 4-5 (really).
The two early non-conference tests are big (North Carolina, Baylor) and the first two league home games (Louisville, Rutgers) will also be telling.
In the end I’d expect them to get seven wins and go bowling again.
