reeder

First in person game since 2016. Didnt look great but a lot of positives. 1. A lot of depth - especially defensive linemen and receivers. 2. Dontae Lunan is really good. Looks a little undersized for a linebacker but he gets to the ball and makes tackles 3. I think everyone knows this but Woodell is really good. A really patient runner - looks like he gets in position behind his blockers and just waits patiently for the hole to open 4. Hard to see how the defensive line played but there’s good size and athleticism 5. Winston went out in the second quarter holding his wrist. He returned to the sidelines in the second half in street clothes wearing a sling - doesn’t look good. 6. Timon Akins was injured in the second half. Appeared to be a leg injury. He played well - hope he can get back 7. Special teams was great. 3 touchbacks, the kickoff return by Cooney across midfield, a couple of field goals, Lawson did a great job punting… 8. Offensive game plan seemed to be pretty conservative but I also think Burkett was a bit rusty. There are a lot of offensive playmakers (Seven McGee and Cooney might be the best pair of athletes we’ve ever had), hoping we can find a game plan to just get them the ball in space.

Thoughts on the depth chart 1. Jacari Carter isn’t listed on the two deep at WR. He was rated as the most impactful FCS transfer by FCS football central. I did hear Coach Gattuso say that he had a late start because of some paperwork but surprised he’s not on the two deep. 2. Erv Wiggins is starting at Cornerback. I don’t remember the last true freshman got a start but this is impressive. 3. Brad Igweike isn’t listed on the two deep. He’s had a very good careeer - thought he might start at CB this year. Maybe he’s injured? 4. Neco Eberhardt isn't listed on the two deep. I thought he was the top returning defensive lineman. There are a lot of transfers so maybe there’s just a lot of new talent. 5. Opalko listed as starting place kicker although we only had 2 touchbacks all last year (Opalko didn’t have any) and had the worst net kickoffs in the conference. Bozek (the transfer) had 14 touchbacks. 6. We have the best set of returners that I remember with McGee, Cooley and Carter. 7. Jahlil Johnson no longer on roster. He started a game or two at linebacker last year, I thought he’d be a starter this year. But who knows, I’m sure there will be a lot of movement over the first few weeks.

Besides Burkett being named the starter, there were some other interesting comments from Gattuso (they had a live radio show from Casey Stadium). Seven McGee is as good or better than Hicks and Easton (I think he said better but don’t remember exact wording). There have been several scouts asking about him. Houseman and Dugery are both injured but Dugery is expected back by next Saturday. Burkett can do everything that Poffenbarger did

Trying to figure out how to post an image…. Only the link is posting now.

Not aware of any influencers and Mark Singelais is the TU beat writer, There are occasional news stories but it’s mostly recaps of the coaches weekly press conferences and the CAA weekly calls. i created a list in twitter for UAlbany and it includes the CAA, Mark, the different UA twitter accounts…. That’s my primary source of info. Twitter previously had a way to save searches so I had a UAlbany football search and a UAlbany basketball search saved and that would provide a lot of good info but that search doesn’t work any more so I do ad hoc searches if there’s a game coming up or if I want to see tweets from other accounts.

I checked the basketball links at some of the Universities in Montreal and found these 3. I think the only other University in Montreal is the University of Montreal but I don’t see that they have basketball. Monday 8/5 - McGill Tuesday 8/6 - Concordia Wednesday 8/7 - U Quebec at Montreal

The base defense is a 4-3 (I’d also add that it seems like they like athletic defensive ends and outside linebackers). Hard to say what the Base offense is but they run a lot of Run Pass Option (RPO). On this board, we sometimes say that they run a lot of slants - those are usually RPO’s where the linebacker or safety play the run and the receiver runs to the vacated space. I’ve never played EA sports so don’t know what kind of info they’d need but another option is that we play mostly a balanced offense from a one back set. Preferences are also hard to say. Gattuso has talked about pounding the football but the 2019 team and last years team had a significant passing component and Woodell wasn’t a power runner. I saw an interview with Ambrose a while ago saying that his offense is a reflection of his personnel. But, if I had to say a preference, I’d say he’d ideally want an athletic gunslinger QB with a power RB. This is just my interpretation of the preferences - interested in hearing other perspectives.

https://www.albany.edu/facilities/documents/FM_Construction_Update_April_2024.pdf

Did he get a scholarship to Siena?

I think Wentz, Dietz and Jackson Parker all return. Not as experienced as some of the players that left but a decent group. I think Psrker missed some games with injury. Dietz and Wentz (both ODU transfers) had some pretty good games. I do think we need some more depth (don’t remember any transfers coming in). wish there was info coming out of spring workouts.

I think Chance Roberts is an offensive lineman - everything else looks good. I also saw somewhere that Trey Lindsey (the Auburn transfer QB) has another year of eligibility but not sure if he’s staying.

For the O Line, I think the top 7 players have remaining eligibility. Houseman, Marotta, Hutchinson, Dugery, Foster, Latulippe and Mosier. Houseman, Marotta and Hutchinson were seniors but should have eligibility if they want. There’s also the transfer from Tiffin so this should be a deep group (if everyone comes back). Thoughts?

The interior D Line and an experienced QB might be priorities. The only returning interior defensive lineman that played a lot is Neco Eberhart. Boyer and Chehade also played but not a lot. There have been 3 or 4 edge rushers committed but only one interior d lineman. For QB, we don’t have any experienced returning QB’s. The only QB that has any college playing time is Burkett and that was minimal at Wisconsin. So assuming he’s going to start, might be good to have an experienced backup. Weber, Lynch and Rae might be good players but we don’t know.