Spring Ball 2010

[danefan]

This could be our most important spring ball in a while. We need to replace some of the best players this program has ever seen at their respective positions.

 

Based on the two-deep from the Wagner game we have the following returning and the following spots that need to be replaced:

 

Offense:

 

TE - Paul Booker (R-FR)

LT - Vince Gonzales (Jr)

LG - Kyle O'Keefe (So)

C - Kevin Richards (Pretty easy to see the replacement here, IMO. Move Sparano back to C and put fill the RG spot with one of the two deep from last year, e.g. Andrew Stevens, Justin Anderson or Matt Faughman)

RG - Andy Sparano (Jr)

RT - Keith Peifer (So)

WR - Jason Poore (Jr)

WR - Time Bush (Pretty easy to see replacement here with Ryan Kirchner (R-Fr). John Lullen had some good minutes last year as well)

FB - Chris Kenneally (Ben Carl is listed as the backup on the depth chart from Wagner. With Smith at the HBack and Booker's ability to put a hand down in the backfield, I'm not sure we have a huge need for a FB).

TB - David McCarty (Pretty easy to see replacement with Drew Smith (R-Fr) - but who steps up to be the backup? We used 3 RBs consistently last year.)

QB - Vinny Esposito (The big question mark of the Spring for the offense - will it be Buddy Leathey or Dan Di Lella or someone else? I just hope one of them steps up and Fordie is forced to go to a platoon system)

 

Defense:

DLine - We have to replace Tony Sparano, but we have 5 guys coming back with significant playing time: Mike Kelly, Marc Wargo, Zach Gallo, Trevor Anderson and Eddie Delaney.

 

LB - This is where it gets tricky. We are essentially replacing all 4 starting LBs (Duff, Brancaccio, Simpson and Nicomini). Listed on the depth chart are Jon Morgan (R-Fr), Chris Wilk (So), and Dave Plungas (R-Fr). All three got decent playing time last year and had pretty solid years. Morgan ended up 33 tackles, Plungas with 17 and Wilk with 14. We also have Said Gaida transfering in from Hofstra. Gaida had 22 tackles last year for Hofstra from the ILB position. We need to find some depth at the LB position though. Playing the 3-5 requires the ILB to take on a lot of blocks. That's tough going.

 

CB - Ross Bertrand is back, but we lose Jean Juste who had a great career for us. Listed on the depth chart at the CB spot is Duane Harper (So) and Nick Crockett (R-Fr). Harper played in all 11 games last year and endedup with 13 tackes. I don't know much about Crockett.

 

S/FS - We lose two great Safety in Kinsey and Casale. Jacke Ciccarello (So) really stepped it up this year though and he'll be a solid replacement at S. Justin Hassan (R-Fr) got some good time at FS this year and ended up with 16 tackles, which for a backup at FS is a good year.

 

Special Teams:

 

We lose a solid punt and kickoff returner in Gannon. And with Smith being the feature back we can't rely on him too much in the special teams game. Especially considering he'll likely be carrying the load on offense with a new young QB.

 

We should be solid in the kicking game for sure.

 

Place Kicker - Glass should be back as will Sean Kenny.

Punter - Bobby Woods should be back.

 

We also have Paul Layton who was a great high school kicker (and QB) for Burnt Hills. He redshirted this year and should be ready to go next year.

 

 

 

What do you guys think? What are our weak spots? Strong spots?

 

For me - QB and depth at LB and RB are the big unknowns right now.

[Ruler 79]

I agree with everything you posted. In addition we need to increase our size upfront this season. I know everyone on this board is tired of hearing me say this ad nauseum but it is true. We need to be bigger and become dominant as in years past. We SHOULD average 290-320 upfront. You wanna run the ball in Nov in the Northeast or come the playoffs you better be able to control the line of scrimmage, especially breaking in a new qb and a all-star rb. I believe our smallish size was a big reason we did not 3 peat.

[danefan]

Based on the roster (take that for what its worth in terms of accuracy) the returning OL go as follows:

 

Vince Gonzalez (Jr) - 6'4" 275lbs

Kyle O'Keefe (So) - 6'3" 285lbs

Andy Sparano (Jr) - 5'11" 270lbs

Keither Peifer (Jr) - 6'4" 280lbs

Andrew Stevens (Jr) - 6'4" 280lbs

Justin Anderson (R-Fr) - 6'5" 280lbs

Matt Faughman (Jr) - 6'3" 275lbs

 

Sparano is short, but that's OK at Center.

 

If everyone else puts 10-15lbs on this offseason, outside of Sparano we could be looking at averaging in the range of 6'4", 300lbs. That's a perfect FCS o-line size, IMO.

 

If Kadeem Williams (6'7" 320) or Jordan Migliore (6'6" 295) can improve and contribute next year on jumbo sets, we could have a really good sized line.

 

 

 

[danefan]

Just looking into this a little more, a kid I expect to have a HUGE year next year and one that could be our next major LB and NFL recruit is Jon Morgan.

 

The kid is built in the same frame as Kurt Campbell was.

 

 

He really caught my eye running down the field on kick-offs.

[fmdane]

Spring can"t come soon enough for me! Although i do agree that our o-line looked a little worn down at the end of the year , I am confident that the will be working hard in off season and all will get a bit bigger .The big question for the spring on offense is the QB position with out a doubt . My opinion is based on wathing practices and scrimages last sping and fall , casual conversations with players and coaches . With Drew at tailback we really only have two QBs for spring which is both good and bad . From what i've seen they are different in what they bring to the table so i think that a decision needs to be made after spring ball . That would give us more time to develope our offensive sceme . Dan is a big stong kid with a very strong arm and has been around three years so he should understand the offense . Again this is just an opinion , althoug he looks good in one on one drills in practice he seems a bit flustered in live drills at times . He is definatly a pocket type player and has the arm to strech the field. From what i am told he was in the middle of the pack as far as pass completion percentage last spring and fall . I would think that he would get the first look.

Buddy is going to be interesting to watch this spring . He did a post grad year and was around last spring so age wise he not really a freashman . He is very athletic with a vey strong arm as well . what his understanding of the offense is is really not known so that may be a factor. i thought that he was the most skilled of all the guys last year and factually the most accurate for completion percentage . His size when he came in was a bit of an issue but from what i understand he got bigger . Again from what i have heard in casual coversations if he was two inches taller and twenty pounds heavier he would be playing division 1 ball.

 

So that having been said I think it boils down to who earns the respect of the players and coaches and who understand the play book . What do you do if all is equal play and guy with two years or four years , that a tough decision . So lets hope one of them steps up. My gut says Leathley but i need to see more.

 

The tailback position will aslo be important this sping Hopfully Dillion is coming and it would be nice to get him here for spring . Drew is definetly going to be a stud but he will need help . He gave us alot of good field position at kick returner it would be nice to see that continue..

lets hope a couple of the young kids step up as well.

 

I think the recievers coming back will be fine . kirchner , Lullen ,Poore all had a good year and will be solid . Booker is a huge asset at tight end

 

please excuse spelling i was in a hurry

 

Could't agree more about the depth at linebacker and corners . The corner situation scares me lets hope someone steps up .

 

I really hope they have a spring game again this year because that should show us alot more of what we have , can't wait.

[haggyland]

DF, I love the football updates as usual, but have you considered using the "Strikethrough" option menu button to list the previous year's starters?

I realize most of us know who they are but sometimes it is nice to see who they are replacing. Just a suggestion.

[danefan]

DF, I love the football updates as usual, but have you considered using the "Strikethrough" option menu button to list the previous year's starters?

I realize most of us know who they are but sometimes it is nice to see who they are replacing. Just a suggestion.

 

Great idea haggy! I didn't know that was an option on here. I'll have to do it tomorrow morning as I'm on my blackberry now.

[fmdane]

Danefan this is more directed to you as we have had many conversations in the past about future players . I look back at my last post after driving about 250 miles and realized that the qb position is more perplexed than we think .We went into last spring wiyh four guys thinking that Drew was the heir apparent. All of a sudden we have five guys on the roster bringing in a guy in the spring . granted we had two seniors but geting work for five guys is very hard on a coach. So what is the reasoning I asked myself as I was driving. It is very confussing and I am worried that we may not have recruited hard enough for a QB for the future because we were relying on Drew. That could be why they brought in Buddy but drew was still playing QB at the time. So what do you tell a kid with four quaterbacks on the roster to enroll early makes no sense. I am very concearned that we may have an issue depending on who wins the job! Dan has been around for three years and deserves a chance and why would you bring in Buddy in the spring if he wasnt in your plans . Makes me real nervous thinking that one could transfer if they didnt play we could have a problem

[danefan]

DF, I love the football updates as usual, but have you considered using the "Strikethrough" option menu button to list the previous year's starters?

I realize most of us know who they are but sometimes it is nice to see who they are replacing. Just a suggestion.

 

 

I added in the outgoing seniors to the offense. I had already put their names in on defense, but not with the strikethrough.

[danefan]

Danefan this is more directed to you as we have had many conversations in the past about future players . I look back at my last post after driving about 250 miles and realized that the qb position is more perplexed than we think .We went into last spring wiyh four guys thinking that Drew was the heir apparent. All of a sudden we have five guys on the roster bringing in a guy in the spring . granted we had two seniors but geting work for five guys is very hard on a coach. So what is the reasoning I asked myself as I was driving. It is very confussing and I am worried that we may not have recruited hard enough for a QB for the future because we were relying on Drew. That could be why they brought in Buddy but drew was still playing QB at the time. So what do you tell a kid with four quaterbacks on the roster to enroll early makes no sense. I am very concearned that we may have an issue depending on who wins the job! Dan has been around for three years and deserves a chance and why would you bring in Buddy in the spring if he wasnt in your plans . Makes me real nervous thinking that one could transfer if they didnt play we could have a problem

 

The problem you discuss above is the "negative" of having a 3-year starting QB. I put "negative" in quotes because its not really a negative.

 

It has to be really really tough to recruit kids at QB who aren't realistically going to play for 2 or 3 years. Every high school kid wants to play right away.

 

We have to hope that whomever does not win the starting job this year sticks it out and really likes the school and teammates. It wouldn't be bad if we blew out a bunch of teams and got some playing time for both guys.

 

I would imagine, though, that the coaches are recruiting hard this year for a QB. I wouldn't even be surprised to see a transfer or a JUCO guy come in because right now we'll have a true freshman as the #3 QB with the #1 and #2 QB having none or very few snaps under his belt. To say we're not deep is an understatementf or sure.

 

There are two other options to fill that #3 spot:

1. They keep getting Drew Smith some work at QB. We can probably redshirt all the freshman QBs if Smith gets enough snaps in practice to be able to handle the #3 slot if it ever came to it. I'm sure they'll be using a bunch of direct snaps this year anyway, so maybe that's the answer.

2. Paul Layton - while I don't think he's a DI QB, he was a very good HS QB and could probably handle running the offense if we got to the situation this year in which we needed a #3.

 

But I'm guessing that we'll probably see 2 or 3 QB's in this year's recruiting class because the options above are really just patch jobs.

[danefan]

I feel pretty confident pencilling in Romain as an immediate competitor for the #2 RB spot filling the extremely important roll Gannon played last year. Coincidentally, Gannon and Romain are from the same town (Vernon, NJ).

 

With Romain in the mix at RB, Kickoff and Punt returner, I feel a little better about the RB spot. Not saying he's a saving grace, but he should be able to go from Blair Academy and get right into the mix in spring ball.

[haggyland]

I feel pretty confident pencilling in Romain as an immediate competitor for the #2 RB spot filling the extremely important roll Gannon played last year. Coincidentally, Gannon and Romain are from the same town (Vernon, NJ).

 

With Romain in the mix at RB, Kickoff and Punt returner, I feel a little better about the RB spot. Not saying he's a saving grace, but he should be able to go from Blair Academy and get right into the mix in spring ball.

Excellent job as always, DF.

By the way, I forgot to commend you on the use of the strike-through function for the thread. Personally, I like seeing who has left the program. Thanks again.

[Ruler 79]

Personally I think Romain is a saving grace! This is a HUUUUUGGGGEEEEE get for UA!!!! He and #10 as immediate starters in the backfield. We have, from what I hear possibly as many as 4 Hofstra players transferring in, hopefully one is an offensive lineman and another is a QB. Now lets see who is gonna emerge at QB. Defense has a very solid nucleous returning with a Hofstra LB in the mix.

[uofalbany]

Excellent news on Romain. It'll be interesting to see how the offense

is setup this Fall. Haven't had much time to get involved here, so thanks gentlemen for keeping us updated on the UALBANY FCS FOOTBALL news!

 

Any hints on the beginning of construction?

 

Any word floating around regarding the CAA?

[Dane96]

Unless things changed...I heard two Hofstra kids and one NU kid.

 

Not to be a damper, but dont expect a new stadium next year. Talking to some people, even if we get the announcement soon about moving ahead...there is a 4-6 month design phase...plus NYS red tape. Best case scenario is the announcement...with shovels in the ground the following spring-- IMHO.

 

The only positive is if Gov. Patterson's proposal passes; it would eliminate red tape (and likely costs) once we actually break ground.