UConn director of athletics Warde Manuel, a former defensive tackle at Michigan, makes it out to UConn practice whenever he can fit it into his schedule and he has liked what he has seen this summer.
"They are working hard, learning and preparing every day so I am excited with what I see," Manuel said after appearing at the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce's August meeting. "I think the student-athletes, they are all getting tired around this time of practicing against each other and hitting each other but the effort and what the coaches is getting them to learn is all good to see and I am really pleased with what I have seen."
While last year's team was a senior-laden squad, there are quite a few of few freshmen and sophomores in positions to see significant action this season.
"You have to step up," Manuel said. "It is the next player, the next year, the next down and you have to step up and be prepared. I am very excited with what I am seeing. What you hope to see is that talent will take over some of the learning stuff but you still have to learn. There’s no substitute for reps in practice and in games but I am very pleased with what I am seeing and very excited with how we are approaching the season and how everything is coming together."
Manuel is thrilled with the non-conference schedule which kicks off next Thursday against Towson followed by games against Maryland and Michigan before playing the road opener against Buffalo.
"That is the plan," Manuel said. "We don’t go in taking any game lightly and there are some tough opponents who are coming in and that is what our fans want to see but more importantly, that is who our student-athletes want to play against. They want to play against the best and are preparing to do that. Towson is going to be a great start to the season, they had a great season last year and we will move forward with that."
FORK UNION, MILFORD ACADEMY OPEN THIS WEEKEND
In a perfect world Jordan Fuchs, Jamar Summers, Chasz Wright, Jalan Branford and Chris Britton would be up at UConn working alongside the rest of the talented group of true freshmen.
However, there weren't enough scholarship slots for all of them so the plan is for the aforementioned quintet to spend the fall semester at prep schools before enrolling at UConn in January.
The journey begins on Saturday as Fuchs, Summers and Wright are expected to be in uniform when Milford Academy hosts Globe Institute at 4 p.m.
A source close to the situation said that Britton is expected to enroll at Fork Union and the Reading (Pa.) Eagle reported back in June that Branford was heading to Fork Union.
However, in an email to the Register Fork Union postgraduate football coach Col. John Shuman said neither player is currently in camp and therefore won't be playing in Friday's season opener against the Apprentice School.
Tampilkan postingan dengan label Warde Manuel. Tampilkan semua postingan
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Selasa, 20 Agustus 2013
Rabu, 07 Agustus 2013
Manuel addresses team and then does same with media
Watching UConn director of athletics Warde Manuel make his way over towards the UConn football team yesterday, part of me really thought the former Michigan lineman was going to grab some shoulder pads and a helmet to deliver a key hits. While I am sure that would have been Manuel's No. 1 choice, he was more than happy to oblige when UConn football coach Paul Pasqualoni asked him to talk to the 2013 squad.
Manuel's speech was energetic and by his standards, relatively brief.
After encouraging the players to make the best use of their time on the practice field to lay down the foundation for a successful season, Manuel came over the spent a few minutes answering our questions.
"It brings back great memories when I was a player," Manuel said. "This is a time for them to really have some fun with it. This is a game we are playing and we want to win. This is a fun time for them. This is what they worked hard (during the) offseason whether it is football, basketball or soccer you name it, it is their time to build the opportunity to build the success we expect and they expect from themselves.
I had fun when I talked to them. Paul has asked me to do that on several occasions and it is unplanned and unscripted and I enjoy it."
So what does Manuel miss the most of being able to line up on the football field?
"I miss hitting people – on the field. I miss the camaraderie, the team, I was in the best shape of my life (during his time at Michigan)., I had the best teammates, great coaches and people around me. That is what I want them to have and I think they do have from our staff and they have great teammates. It is about being a teammate. It is really the only opportunity in life where when you hit the field for 60 minutes you are connected and you success is dependent on the person next to you. There is a clock, an operation and obviously in life you rely in colleagues and teammates across the landscape to do what we do. I miss that camaraderie you have when you play sports."
Manuel said he doesn't view this upcoming season any differently that he did the 2012 campaign.
"Game by game I want us to play hard," Manuel said. "I want us to have success on the field of play. I want the expectation that we are going to go into every game with a game plan to win knowing that we give our all and that success for me looks the same as it does for them.
"Expectations will be high, there is a lot of excitement looking at a new offensive coordinator coming in and a new defensive coordinator who has been here before. There are a lot of changes, there is a great schedule, a great opportunity to play against the best in the country and that is what you want.
"Whether it is first year, second year, third year, fourth year, none of the people who are around me, none of the coaches who are around me go into anything thinking losing (is acceptable). They are driven to have success every time they hit the field. Every year is a big year and I am not going to change my outlook. It is another year for us to prove that we can be successful"
Seeing the progress being made on the basketball practice facility, I asked Manuel for an update on that project..
"The basketball facility is looking great. They are putting in the water main, the frame of the building is up and you can actually envision watching a practice in the two practice facilities and you can see the space that we will have for the offices. It looks great, it is on time, on schedule for where they want it to be."
Manuel's speech was energetic and by his standards, relatively brief.
After encouraging the players to make the best use of their time on the practice field to lay down the foundation for a successful season, Manuel came over the spent a few minutes answering our questions.
"It brings back great memories when I was a player," Manuel said. "This is a time for them to really have some fun with it. This is a game we are playing and we want to win. This is a fun time for them. This is what they worked hard (during the) offseason whether it is football, basketball or soccer you name it, it is their time to build the opportunity to build the success we expect and they expect from themselves.
I had fun when I talked to them. Paul has asked me to do that on several occasions and it is unplanned and unscripted and I enjoy it."
So what does Manuel miss the most of being able to line up on the football field?
"I miss hitting people – on the field. I miss the camaraderie, the team, I was in the best shape of my life (during his time at Michigan)., I had the best teammates, great coaches and people around me. That is what I want them to have and I think they do have from our staff and they have great teammates. It is about being a teammate. It is really the only opportunity in life where when you hit the field for 60 minutes you are connected and you success is dependent on the person next to you. There is a clock, an operation and obviously in life you rely in colleagues and teammates across the landscape to do what we do. I miss that camaraderie you have when you play sports."
Manuel said he doesn't view this upcoming season any differently that he did the 2012 campaign.
"Game by game I want us to play hard," Manuel said. "I want us to have success on the field of play. I want the expectation that we are going to go into every game with a game plan to win knowing that we give our all and that success for me looks the same as it does for them.
"Expectations will be high, there is a lot of excitement looking at a new offensive coordinator coming in and a new defensive coordinator who has been here before. There are a lot of changes, there is a great schedule, a great opportunity to play against the best in the country and that is what you want.
"Whether it is first year, second year, third year, fourth year, none of the people who are around me, none of the coaches who are around me go into anything thinking losing (is acceptable). They are driven to have success every time they hit the field. Every year is a big year and I am not going to change my outlook. It is another year for us to prove that we can be successful"
Seeing the progress being made on the basketball practice facility, I asked Manuel for an update on that project..
"The basketball facility is looking great. They are putting in the water main, the frame of the building is up and you can actually envision watching a practice in the two practice facilities and you can see the space that we will have for the offices. It looks great, it is on time, on schedule for where they want it to be."
Rabu, 16 Januari 2013
Warde Manuel mum on coaching staff changes
Shortly before the start of the UConn/Louisville women's basketball game at the XL Center last night I caught up with UConn director of athletics Warde Manuel.
Considering the news that broke earlier in the day that George DeLeone was relinquishing his offensive coordinator position, it wasn't too hard to figure out what was the first subject broached with him. However, Manuel declined to comment on either the move of DeLeone to associate head coach while remaining the offensive line coach and the departure of defensive coordinator Don Brown to Boston College.
"I don't want to comment on that until we have our coordinators," Manuel said. "I’ll comment when we have hire our coordinators."
I was able to ask Manuel about a conversation I heard he had with the team shortly after the end of the regular season. I had heard that he lit into the team telling them to get with the program or head for the exits and that head coach Paul Pasqualoni has his full support.
Manuel said he did meet with the team but the conversation did not transpire the way I described above.
"That I love, it always wonderful when any of our guys go and to have eight is a real testament to talent we have on the squad and the potential that we continue to have," Manuel said. "We just have to fulfill the potential that we have because we have talent and we have a lot of guys with ability, a lot of high quality, high character kids. They’ve been through a lot and never stopped playing for UConn and their teammates. It is a testament of who they are and how they were raised, how they carried themselves and I will always be proud of this senior class."
Considering the news that broke earlier in the day that George DeLeone was relinquishing his offensive coordinator position, it wasn't too hard to figure out what was the first subject broached with him. However, Manuel declined to comment on either the move of DeLeone to associate head coach while remaining the offensive line coach and the departure of defensive coordinator Don Brown to Boston College.
"I don't want to comment on that until we have our coordinators," Manuel said. "I’ll comment when we have hire our coordinators."
I was able to ask Manuel about a conversation I heard he had with the team shortly after the end of the regular season. I had heard that he lit into the team telling them to get with the program or head for the exits and that head coach Paul Pasqualoni has his full support.
Manuel said he did meet with the team but the conversation did not transpire the way I described above.
"I talked to them but it wasn’t because I felt like I needed to stand up for the coaches and I think they knew that," Manuel said. "It wasn’t a question about that but it was making sure they understood that we need to continue to work, we need to continue to get better and depending on their effort, the coaches’ effort, everybody in the room’s effort including mine that we have to put ourselves in the right position to do the right things and be prepared to have success."
Coming off back to back losing seasons, I was curious if he viewed this upcoming season even more pivotal than normal.
Coming off back to back losing seasons, I was curious if he viewed this upcoming season even more pivotal than normal.
"Every game and everything we do is designed and should be designed to win and have success and when we don’t have a winning record we have to work even harder, work smarter and put ourselves in position in the right positions to do the right things to make success happen," Manuel said. "Every season is important and when you don’t win whether it is one season, two seasons you have to get down to the work and make things happen."
Since I periodically see reports out of Michigan with Michigan AD Dave Brandon continuing to hope that next year's UConn/Michigan game gets moved out of Rentschler Field and into a larger stadium, I asked Manuel for his take on the subject.
Since I periodically see reports out of Michigan with Michigan AD Dave Brandon continuing to hope that next year's UConn/Michigan game gets moved out of Rentschler Field and into a larger stadium, I asked Manuel for his take on the subject.
"It hasn’t been raised by their AD and I am not changing my perspective," Manuel said.
Finally, he spoke about having eight members of the 2012 squad playing in postseason all-star games as Nick Williams returned a pair of kickoffs for 37 yards in the Casino Del Sol College All-Star Classic last week, Jory Johnson and Ryan Griffin are playing in the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic on Saturday while Sio Moore will be playing in the East-West Shrine Game on Saturday as well. On Jan. 26 the trio of Dwayne Gratz, Trevardo Williams and Blidi Wreh-Wilson are taking part in the Senior Bowl and Michael Smith compete in the Texas vs. The Nation event on Feb. 2.
Finally, he spoke about having eight members of the 2012 squad playing in postseason all-star games as Nick Williams returned a pair of kickoffs for 37 yards in the Casino Del Sol College All-Star Classic last week, Jory Johnson and Ryan Griffin are playing in the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic on Saturday while Sio Moore will be playing in the East-West Shrine Game on Saturday as well. On Jan. 26 the trio of Dwayne Gratz, Trevardo Williams and Blidi Wreh-Wilson are taking part in the Senior Bowl and Michael Smith compete in the Texas vs. The Nation event on Feb. 2.
"That I love, it always wonderful when any of our guys go and to have eight is a real testament to talent we have on the squad and the potential that we continue to have," Manuel said. "We just have to fulfill the potential that we have because we have talent and we have a lot of guys with ability, a lot of high quality, high character kids. They’ve been through a lot and never stopped playing for UConn and their teammates. It is a testament of who they are and how they were raised, how they carried themselves and I will always be proud of this senior class."
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