Thursday, January 08, 2015

Offensive staff changes coming at UConn; Davis to NFLPA Bowl

Caught up with UConn football coach Bob Diaco this morning on a variety of issues which will be showing up in his blog over the next few days but figured I would start with the most pertinent information.

This is a prime period for coaching staff shakeups and I haven't heard much about any members of Diaco's staff being on the move. That will be changing. Diaco said he did not have any specifics at this moment but the offensive coaching staff will not be the same one that was in place during his debut season with the Huskies. Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant is reporting that offensive line coach Mike Foley won't return.

"I don't want to create an article because I don't have any news to report but I am going to make sure I make the offense looks like I want it to look so there will be changes over there," Diaco said. "I am not trying to double secret agent, I am trying to paint a little bit of a picture for you. There will be changes, I have a very detailed plans and I am working that plan."

So what does he want the offense to look like?

"It is no different (than what he said when he was hired), it is Stanford, it is Alabama, in terms of what kinds of games you are watching it is a run the ball with authority attack, it is deep vertical drop-back passing, it is plays that protect that run, there are a lot of screens  ..." Diaco said.

"It is not different to when I stood in front of everyone and that is what we are building towards. At different times during the year, we try to do what our players could do at this point, get a win and minimize some of the issues but never stop building towards that model even if that game didn't necessarily look like that at times, we never stopped building towards that model in recruiting, in the weight room and on the practice field."

As for changes in the roster, Diaco said his goal is to have every player with remaining eligibility on the roster at the end of the 2014 season on the 2015 squad.

"We have a goal of zero attrition, 100 percent success," Diaco said. "We want every single play that is on the roster to continue to participate and expire their eligibility with UConn. We are going to be everything in our power to make sure that happens. At the same time, along with all the other issues which become well documented, it becomes a man power issue. We have 60 available players on scholarship that are available to play. It is less than a I-AA number. We can't afford to have anybody washed out of the program, we need every single player on the team and that is just on a business end. On a personal end, I want everyone to have success, that is why we do what we do, that is why we coach college football to help these young men be men and get degrees. You don't want them to not have success."

Quarterback Tyler Davis is the only incoming recruit enrolling in the spring semester but the number of scholarship players will increase on Jan. 20 when some walk-ons are given scholarships by Diaco.

Diaco also said that receiver Geremy Davis will be playing in the NFLPA Bowl on Jan. 17. His name has not been released as playing in the game but the roster is being announced little by little.

"There is high level interest in Geremy and Byron (Jones) and the other guys are going to go to pro day and try to get some traction," Diaco said.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thanks for the coverage Jim.
You're a better writer than Jacobs.
After a very difficult season last year any good news helps a beleaguered fan. Here's hoping Geremy and Byron get where they want to go.

January 09, 2015 11:05 AM 

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