reeder

It’s good to see all the recruiting updates but there are so many variables with recruits - we’ve actually signed some players with really good potential but many didn’t stay with the program.  I’ve tried to look back at recent recruits that were highly touted but didn’t show up or left the program.   

Madaras brothers - never played a game

Ryan Solt - never played a game

Greg Reaves - don’t think he ever showed up.  Ended up at USF and lead them in tackles last year

Chris Johnson - transferred after getting minimal playing time.  D 2 all american last year at University of North Alabama

Skylor Clinton - transfer from Wyoming, never played a game before leaving the program

Tre Hopkins- played one or two years and left program

Zac Barnard - never played a game.  I think he was a UConn recruit

Josh Gontarek -left program and is now playing D 2

Shane Schuback - don’t think he ever showed up

This doesn’t include players like Zee Roberson, Julian Cox, Elliott Croskey, Russell Neverdon, Dione Alston, Rocco Marucci, Justin Walker who might have had lower recruiting profiles but all started or were significant contributors before just leaving the program.

You also have to ask what happening with Ibn Foster.  He was an all state player (along with Rashan Gary) in N.J. with FBS offers.  Also, where’s  Hunter Verdi - another highly rated recruit that I don’t think has played this year.

Just this year, in an interview, Coach was asked if there were freshmen that he expected to contribute this year - he named Robert Lochmann and Benson Israel, I’m not sure if either one of them has even played this year.  Wondering if they’ll be around next year.

Not sure if this is typical of FCS football.  Anyway, we’ll see how many of the the new offers commit and stay with the program.

1 hour ago, Clickclack said:

Care to explain what you are seeing why you say most talented team we've ever had? They looks absolutely aweful. The lines get pushed around, corners are horrible, qb play is very shaky, they can't tackle with the exception of like 2 or 3 guys. They can't get any pressure on qb... This team has very little talent and they are punked by everyone. Some skill positions have talent.

I’m not saying that the team is as good as all the other CAA teams, just comparing to previous teams,  if you accept that the CAA is a higher level of competition, I think we’re better at RB, DL, WR, LB and in the secondary than any previous CAA team that we’ve had. Testaverde is comparable to Fiacchi in his senior year (he probably does have more interceptions).  The one area that we’re probably not better is the OL - the 2016 o line was better (in the run game anyway).  

I remember Coach Gattuso complaining that we didn’t have the CAA players to play man to man in the secondary a few years ago - we still don’t but there’s enough talent to go 6 deep at safety, move a starting corner to safety and have a suitable player replace him.  I’d argue that we couldn’t do that in previous years.  IMO, the only secondary player from our previous CAA teams that would get significant playing time would be TJ Idowu.

Holmes, Reeves and McDonald are the best WR group that we’ve had - and now the other player is playing great (number 4).  I’d argue that these players are better than Gontarek, Brad Harris and Cole King a few years ago.  yes, Zee Roberson had some good games but he had a lot of drops (as did Cole King as a senior).

Linebackers aren’t great but there’s more depth that we’ve had previously.  Metheny, Damico, Watson ar turning into a decent group.  There were some good linebackers previously but we never had depth.  You had Nicastro and a couple other good linebackers but not a really good group.  We also had Julian Cox win Rookie of the year and nothing since before leaving the program, the Maryland transfer for a year, the JC transfer last year (gone now).

You could argue that Drew Smith, Omar Osbourne, Gary Jones (you can go even back to my days with Chuck Priore and Dave Soldini).  They were all great players but that wasn’t in the CAA so I wouldn’t include them.

We need to recruit better but IMO, the talent on this team is better than their record.  They’re not a playoff team but they shouldn’t be at the bottom of this league either.  Injuries, coaching issues...  

7 hours ago, Clickclack said:

As of today, this guy has a winning % of 31% in the CAA and dropping and yet he continues to be employed. If there was a favorable termination clause we are now in the realm of fire mid-season. 

This quote was from the CAA weekly call.  I think he’s right - this is the most talented team that the program has had.  Just makes you scratch your head that with the talent and the easy schedule, why aren’t they winning some of these games.

There was also a question about losing close games and Coach Gattuso answered that it was hard on everyone including fans who start questioning what they’re doing.

I’m terms of recruiting, you look at the defensive line and wonder who the tackles will be next year.  White and Dillon both graduate,   Mazon Walker is a bit undersized to get the majority of snaps, Ibn Foster has been injured or just not getting reps...  not sure who else there is.  Also, Dolce graduates but maybe Halasy can step in but who knows...

5 hours ago, Clickclack said:

Will Fiacchi who's in his second season as a recruiting coordinator needs to be evaluated and probably re-assigned to something more his speed (film coordinator or water boy).

In defense of Fiacchi, each coach is assigned a territory for recruiting.   The recruiting coordinator is usually responsible for tracking available scholarships, coordinating visits, expense reports, admissions requirements, working with compliance...

3 hours ago, jimbo said:

GG on 104.5. He said they are down 6 safeties. Joe Casale might be available, but he doesn’t think he’s ready (in terms of learning, etc) so he’d rather not have to play him. Says WM is big and physical. 

If they're low on safeties, i believe Eli Mencer was a strong safety in HS.  Aren't strong safeties similar to linebackers ? They usually play on the line of scrimmage over the TE.  Mencer might not be the best choice if you had everyone healthy but i believe he was pretty good at the position in HS.

23 minutes ago, Clickclack said:

Looking at the game notes, wow...Bill and Mary are a pretty bad football team. Their offense doesn't click, defense is pretty bad. Hopefully a win for us if our offense can play a good game. 

Not sure how many remember this but when McElroy was the AD (before we moved to the CAA), he thought WIlliam and Mary was a role model for athletics for us.  I don't know much about them but his they were much better in football and had a good athletic program overall as well as good academics.

Anyway, hopeful that some of the injured players can return and that the defensive begins to show some improvement.

9 hours ago, Dane96 said:

Here’s what I struggle with regarding the defense.   Yes, we lost an All CAA kid in Hoskins.  Other than him, the D Line is 95% intact from last season. 

The regression is astounding to me with what was truly going to be our strength position. 

To me, that comes down to scheme.   And yes, I agree that a head coach isn’t as involved as many think.  However, with such a 180 with respect to the line, I do think it behooves Coach to dial it up with the staff and position and figure out what the issue is.  

In the secondary, I do agree that the Gray and Burton losses were massive...and Wynn seems to be injured.  But they were responsible for recruiting and if we are being honest, there were some misses in the secondary in the last few classes. 

I do like what we brought in and have on deck with the 2019 class coming in from a size and speed perspective.  

Last year, I remember Coach Clark saying that he didn't do anything complicated on defense, he had athletes and he wanted them to be athletic and make plays.  I also read an article a week or two ago with Coach Dudzinski saying they wanted to simplify the defense, that he knew there were things that they could do but they weren't there yet.  Purely speculation but it sounds like the defense became more complex.  No way to know if that's the issue but there is a stark contrast in the comments from the coaches.

1 hour ago, HOF2013 said:

Could be mistaken but I thought D lineman Nick Dillon has been out for the last couple of weeks. Injuries to the secondary have hurt.

Thanks - didn't know that.  Hopefully he can recover in the bye week.  I wonder what happened to Ibn Foster - 300 pounds DL, he had FCS offers, was an All State player at St. Joseph in NJ.

1 hour ago, HOF2013 said:

Agree.   I think they have some kids who will be coming on board late during the early or late signing period.  They REALLY need a couple of good D-Lineman.  A couple of injuries have hurt a lot this year.  They seem outmanned by big O Lines.

 

Who's injured on the DL?  They've obviously struggled but didn't know that there were injuries

I absolutely agree that 6 or 7 wins is possible - we have a remarkably light schedule.  I think the defense does need to improve - we’ve struggled at CB for years, not sure we have the athletes to cover athletic receivers.  We also need improvement on the DL - not sure why they seem to be struggling.  Good news in Josh Wynn is back soon so that’ll help.

19 minutes ago, godanesgo99 said:

This area couldn't support the AA Yankees with Jeter, Petite, Williams, and Posada on the team. They didn't get attendance because Heritage park sucked balls. When a big name major leaguer played a rehab start there the place sold out and had people sitting in the field going over capacity.

The AHL couldn't get 3k per game at the TUC, but a preseason NHL game sold out. Preseason NBA games at the TUC sold out. With small name concerts, good tickets can be had up until show time. Bring Billy Joel, Metallica, DMB, or the Rolling Stones and they sell out in minutes.

This area is too close to big time events for the gen pop to care about mid or low level events. It's just the way it is. We play against UVM at home last year and didn't sell out SEFCU. We play against North Carolina in LAX and set a NCAA LAX attendance record. 

The people and money are here. The school needs marketing to make sure people know the programs are good (my boss in Syracuse, that is a sports fan, didn't even know the programs were D1), we need to win, and we need big name opponents. If we had that, we could support and fill the arena and Stadium. Without it, we will just waddle around having fans complain about no attendance and no love.

IMO, it’s not marketing or forcing student to attend- it’s the northeast.  I can’t think of any college football team in the northeast that has good attendance - BC, UMass, Temple, Maryland, Buffalo, Syracuse.  Rutgers is improving but still not good compared to the rest of the country.  Penn State is good but they’re a bit west... even if you just look at the CAA, none of the northern schools have good attendance.

I can t think of any reason to think that Albany would be an exception.  Yes, attendance can improve but it’s not reasonable to expect attendance to fund the football program,.

3 minutes ago, dslyank said:

96, I cannot disagree with your scholarship arguments. I just do not understand how it works, but have been told for years that more scholarships = more cost. But I still question the attendance up tic we get from the caa. Since the move to Casey {call it an 8 out of 10 field} from University Field {what a 0or1 out of 10} coincides with our move to the caa, any attendance growth credited to the caa hard to establish an exact correlation. And even if attendance growth could ALL be attributed to our caa membership the numbers are NOT impressive still; but UA does not draw enough fans and fans = revenue. IMHO I do not think we would suffer greatly @ the gate by going back to the NE; in fact with a more competitive (i.e winning) team attendance might improve. Simple sports truth more winning = more fans. Anyhow, thanks for your input!

I don’t disagree with the attendance but this shouldn’t be news to any administrator doing an analysis.  IMO, there was never a valid reason to assume a significant increase in attendance.  The reality is the stadium is a sunk cost and a shift back to the NEC would probably reduce scholarship costs but that would be offset by an increase in other financial aid.  Not sure if there’s much of a benefit there.

Chris Johnson - started a few games a couple of years ago was an All American at UNA (D2 -now D1)last year. https://roarlions.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=1331

Julian Cox - California do PA.  https://calvulcans.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=4830&path=

3 hours ago, HOF2013 said:

Davis has never been at this level.  Fordham more like our old league. 

Davis was the OC at UNI when they lost to NDSU in the quarterfinals a few years ago.  IMO, he knows what he’s doing.  That said, there are issues on the offensive line - same issues as last year.  

Just saw that Dane96 posted this already. 

When they played 2 years ago, I think St. Francis outplayed us for most of the game.  They had a really good running back that got hurt and left the game around halftime.  I think we were down most of the game and made a fourth quarter comeback to get the win.  

So we don’t want to underestimate them.

Well, it was an ugly game but I’ll take the win.  There were some change so the coaches are trying to mix things up a bit. 

New starters - 

Dean Grogg - for Nick Griffin.  Anthony Lang also seemed to play a lot. 

Danny Damico (I think he started, he got most of the reps) for Neven Sussman

Isaiah Watson - for an injured Eli Mencer

Jack Dudzinski - for Micah Royster

I wonder what’s up with Hunter Verdi and Benson Israel?  The offensive line continues to struggle and I don’t think either has played this season.  Also, I thought Kobe Thomas was a highly touted recruit but I don’t think he’s played yet either.  I get that he’s a freshman but you get 4 games and still preserve your redshirt.

Also, with the issues at safety, I wonder why hasn’t Joe Casale received any playing time.  I also thought he was a top recruit so why isn’t he getting reps - he can play those 4 games and preserve his redshirt.

Don’t know the context of the quote about not having a center but that’s the scout team offense against the first defense.  Maybe he meant he didn’t have any natural scout team centers?  

CAA weekly call

https://static.caasports.com/custompages/2018 CAAFB Press Box/Teleconference/09_10/TC_Gattuso_09_10.mp3

2 hours ago, AlbanyFan2018 said:

And like it or not, the football program still moves the economic needle when it comes to funding a lot of the athletic budget. 

i'm not sure i believe this.  There's not much revenue with football.  Yes there are ticket sales and donations but i doubt that comes close to servicing the debt for the stadium.  The guarantee games probably cover some of the remaining operating expenses but 63 scholarships is expensive.

I'd guess that basketball provides more revenue with their guarantee games, NCAA tournament shares... 

1 hour ago, godanesgo99 said:

I looked up total defense rankings, and UA is 64 out of 116 FCS schools. That can't be right. 

I don’t know what rankings you’re looking at but:

Pitt scored touchdowns on their first 5 possessions including every possession in the first half.   

Rhode Island scored on their first 7 possessions - 6 touchdowns and 1 field goal including every possession in the first half.

2 hours ago, HOF2013 said:

I was out at a function all day and did not see the game, listened to the 4th on the radio.  Sounds like O and D lines are terrible still.  Coaches need to get angry at the players at this point.  Get in their butts.  I am not sure what happened in the 2nd or 3rd.  Punt  return and turnover return I heard.  On our Alum texting someone said the score once again does not completely reflect the game.  I have no idea.  I did heard VT get sacked a couple of times as well as the sub QB's when they went in.  RI can not be that much better!!!!!!!!!  All I am going to say.

IMO, this is a coaching  issue.  I don’t usually like to criticize anyone but I saw this tweet and wanted to comment that this play is a breakdown everywhere.   I’m no football expert but I look at this and wonder how so many things can go wrong - it’s not like one player did something wrong, several did.  This isn’t complicated stuff.  It’s stuff that teams practice at every level.

1. Eli Mercer should be trying to force the running back inside or at least slow his momentum. To do that, coaches used to teach linebackers to aggressively attack the blockers outside shoulder - not sure if that’s how it works now but you have to give your teammates a chance to help you out.

2. Kareem Brown can’t let the running back get to the sideline.  I don’t care that he gets knocked down but he wants to force the running back inside.  If you’re going to get knocked down, at least force the running back inside.  He doesn’t have to make the tackle, just don’t let the running back get outside.

If either one of those things happen, it’s gives Levi Metheny a chance to make a tackle or gives other players a chance to get closer to the play

3.  What’s Tyler Carswell doing?  That’s just horrible pursuit.  He runs past the ball carrier and then chases him down the field.

Again. I’m no expert but anyone that’s ever played any level of football can look at this and see that this is just bad.  Teams should be spending  periods at practice just working in pursuit and attacking the outside shoulder.  Just not sure how this all happens on one play.

46 minutes ago, Dane96 said:

Guess who is a defensive Co-Coordinator.  BERNARD.

Guy is straight up a "mush".  No matter what side of the ball he is on.

He’s also the special teams coordinator and they’ve been really bad.

On 9/1/2018 at 3:40 PM, Dane96 said:

Looks like the game notes were wrong. Niko Culnan is tarting at center.  Hunter Verdi isn't with the team.

But WHAT A PASS AND CATCH.

Dane96 - Hunter Verdi isn’t with the team at all or wasn’t with the team in Pittsburgh?  He was a good re rust - hope he’s still with the team.