2018 Pre-season: Expectations, Predictions, and articles

[HOF2013]

17 hours ago, UAalum72 said:

Channel 13 reports R-FR Safety Damon Burton has broken a leg and is out for the season. He was second on the depth chart.

Just saw that.  Two bad.  RedShirt Freshman so he'll lose a year of eligibility won't he.

[HOF2013]

https://twitter.com/BillNesselt_UA

 

CAA Football Link - interview with EB

Edited August 13, 2018 by HOF2013

[HOF2013]

https://twitter.com/Coach_Mince54

 

CAA Football - another EB video - LMAO!

[UAalum72]

Casale, Holmes impressing for UAlbany football - Gazette

 

UAlbany football reunites Troy teammates Joe Casale, Dev Holmes Times-Union has much of the same story.

Also in the T-U:

Notes: Gattuso described Testaverde as "1A" on the quarterback depth chart, indicating Testaverde is moving closer to winning the starting job from incumbent Will Brunson for the season opener at Pittsburgh on Sept. 1. "Vinny right now is first, and Brunson is second, but he's fighting back and I think that's really good,'' Gattuso said. ... Starting tight end Murad Hussain went down in practice with a knee injury. Gattuso said he was "optimistic with him, hopefully,'' but would wait for test results. ... Running back Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks, coming back from a knee injury, was held out with soreness but should be back Tuesday, Gattuso said.

 

 

 

[UAalum72]

CAA football videos

 

[BestDaneSinceHamlet]

Looks like all games will be watchable, except for UNH; which if memory serves me, was on Youtube last time UA went there.

[Eli]

Don't know about the Fox ones...do you need a cable TV subscription? How about ACC Extra? And WTH is Yurview?

[dslyank]

Do we need a subscription for "Great Danes TV."  I have not used it in a long time, because all other sports were/are on america east tv or espn??

Also, anyone know what UAsports are moving from espn3 to espn+?? Will AmericaEast TV still be free?

[Eli]

I'd pay UA an additional $100 for them to stream (properly!) all MBB and FB games. I'm sure many of us would. It's 2018. You don't need a lot of equipment or a masters in streaming...it's stupid easy. Just need to make the initial investment. Or at least upload the games after the fact to the site or something so we can watch later so they don't have to actually 'stream' anything which would be even cheaper. Then we can just pretend, as a forum community, that a 1PM game is actually at 5PM lol. It's basically what I do with Jets games and NFL GamePass.

Edited August 14, 2018 by Eli

[UAalum72]

Nick Griffin looking for big year - T-U

University at Albany defensive line coach Delbert Cowsette brings a heavy metal chain to practice that's labeled with a different player's name on each link. It's large enough for Cowsette, a former NFL tackle, to drape over his shoulders. Cowsette bought the links and put them together as a symbolic gesture that isn't lost on senior defensive end Nick Griffin, a Shaker High graduate. "One person messes up and the chain breaks apart,'' Griffin said. "So we all need to buy in to stick together. It's more of a trust thing."

Griffin is replacing a substantial part of the chain this season. The Great Danes graduated left defensive end Malachi Hoskins, a first-team all-Colonial Athletic Association selection. Griffin is more than fills the hole, at least in a literal sense. He's 6-foot-6 and 280 pounds, a man considerably larger man than Hoskins at 6-3 and 230.

But the Great Danes are still waiting for Griffin to reach a potential that has been stunted partly by injuries. He injured his left shoulder last year and underwent surgery around Christmas to repair his labrum. Griffin sat out spring practice while he rehabilitated his shoulder. "His career's been kind of up and down,'' Cowsette said. "He has the ability to play and be very, very productive, but he's just for whatever reason missed some games because of injury. But we got him full throttle now, so he's going to be good. He's going to be very, very good."

Griffin enters his final season with four sacks and 27 tackles for his career. He's played in 27 career games with one start against Richmond his sophomore year. He's played both tackle and end for the Great Danes. Griffin, an all-state defensive tackle at Shaker, said he realizes his time is now."It's going to be a big year for me,'' Griffin said. "That's how I see it."

Griffin downplayed his shoulder injury last season, insisting it didn't affect his performance much.  He said he feels 100 percent. "I think it's going well so far," Griffin said. "I'm giving effort every single day, taking care of my little injuries, just bumps and bruises. I'm trying to stay healthy, that's my biggest thing, so I can play every single game this year."

Griffin and right defensive end Brian Dolce, listed at 6-5 and 283, are the bookends of a line that's the biggest head coach Greg Gattuso has coached in his five seasons at UAlbany. While Griffin isn't as quick as Hoskins, the man he's replacing, he does have the size to stuff the run and knock down passes at the line of scrimmage. "He's a different guy,'' Gattuso said. "He's doing well. He's played for us for the last three years and he's been a good player. He's really matured and (he's) big and strong. He's doing fine." Griffin said he learned pass-rushing techniques from Hoskins, who had 21 1/2 career sacks. Now it's a matter of honing them. "I have to work on the little things, like playing low, using my hands better, minor stuff,'' he said. "I feel like I've got my height and size down. I've been working out a lot since I missed out in the spring. I've been training a lot more."

Cowsette said Griffin came into camp behind on his fundamentals because of the time he missed in the spring. "It's extremely hard because everybody's developing,'' Cowsette said. "Any time you miss a big chuck of time you've got to start from the very beginning. But he's working hard to get it right and he's going to be a big, big factor in what we're doing."

[HOF2013]

On 8/14/2018 at 10:47 AM, UAalum72 said:

Casale, Holmes impressing for UAlbany football - Gazette

 

UAlbany football reunites Troy teammates Joe Casale, Dev Holmes Times-Union has much of the same story.

Also in the T-U:

Notes: Gattuso described Testaverde as "1A" on the quarterback depth chart, indicating Testaverde is moving closer to winning the starting job from incumbent Will Brunson for the season opener at Pittsburgh on Sept. 1. "Vinny right now is first, and Brunson is second, but he's fighting back and I think that's really good,'' Gattuso said. ... Starting tight end Murad Hussain went down in practice with a knee injury. Gattuso said he was "optimistic with him, hopefully,'' but would wait for test results. ... Running back Elijah Ibitokun-Hanks, coming back from a knee injury, was held out with soreness but should be back Tuesday, Gattuso said.

 

 

 

Hasn't said anything about Burns??!!

 

[Dane96]

My guess is that the other guys had a leg up due to the fact they are familiar with the system.  It wouldn't shock me that, if Burns is #3...he moves up as the season progresses.

[UAalum72]

Singelais has a story online that Testaverde will wear his father's #14, instead of 17. Murad Hussein, out for the year with an ACL, gave it up, but said they'd decided before his injury.

Gattuso hasn't named a starting QB, but says he'll "have an idea" by Monday or Tuesday.

[reeder]

5 hours ago, UAalum72 said:

Singelais has a story online that Testaverde will wear his father's #14, instead of 17. Murad Hussein, out for the year with an ACL, gave it up, but said they'd decided before his injury.

Gattuso hasn't named a starting QB, but says he'll "have an idea" by Monday or Tuesday.

Wow - really two stories there.  Another season ending injury - Gray, Burton and now Hussein.  Any others?  

[uofalbany]

On 8/14/2018 at 4:31 PM, Eli said:

Don't know about the Fox ones...do you need a cable TV subscription? How about ACC Extra? And WTH is Yurview?

What the &iena is yurview?   More concerned about ACC Network extra.....