UConn QB Coach Shane Day Talks About A “Good Problem To Have”

Here’s an interview with new UConn quarterbacks coach Shane Day following Saturday’s scrimmage, the Huskies second of the spring season. The third is this coming Saturday and the fourth and final one is the annual Blue-White spring game which will be held on April 21. Free admission and free parking. The game will be on SNY…

Day on the quarterbacks’ progress through Saturday’s scrimmage, the second of the spring.

“I think they’ve done a really good job, all of them, to be honest. Whenever you have a new coach that comes in he’s got his agenda or whatever and so over the first couple of weeks of practice it’s hard to assimilate all that knowledge and play with it on the field but I feel (in the second scrimmage) there was a lot of good instances where they were able to apply those principles that we’re teaching and doing it in a team setting, in a scrimmage-type setting so I’d say all of them have done a really good job with that stuff.

What do you like about each of the guys, strengths or something you want to see them improve on?

“Well it’s tough with all the guys individually because they’re all working on different stuff and they’re all at different levels of development. Obviously with the three guys that were here, Johnny [McEntee], Scotty [McCummings] and Michael [Nebrich] they know the offense, right, so it’s a little bit easier to evaluate them because they can get in there and they know all the formations, they know all the plays so it’s a matter of executing them. So they’re kind of working on refining those fundamentals. The two new guys, obviously Chandler [Whitmer] and Casey [Cochran] are still in the phase where they’re learning the offense, ok, so it’s harder to evaluate them because they don’t have a year under their belt so they’re learning the system and they’re trying to do all the fundamentals I’m asking of them – but all of them have made huge jumps in the last week or so. They’ve kind of grinded through.

They did some real nice things in the 7 on 7s and they did some really nice things in the scrimmage as well – all of them.”

Who is seemingly in rhythm and playing well right now?

“You know I wish I knew. Everyone would like for a starter to emerge, obviously, which is what you’re getting at, right? But to be honest, they’ve all improved a lot which is a real big problem for me but it’s a good problem to have because [in Saturday’s scrimmage] they all did good things at different times – all of them and no one has really stepped out. It’s not that they’re all mediocre it’s that they’ve all really done really well and so it’s hard to evaluate at this stage. It’s going to be hard…we’re not going to…it’s going to be awhile before we have…there’s only two more weeks of practice. I don’t see anybody…I mean we’ll see. I’m mean I’m hoping everyday but like I said they all did very well [Saturday] which is really encouraging.”

But you don’t see anybody emerging by the end of spring practice?

“I don’t know, no. I don’t know. I’d tell you day by day and keep an open mind. [On Saturday] they all did well. I mean in that 7 on 7 the ball didn’t hit the ground for like the first 12 passes and I was like, ‘wow’ and they’ve all done that. I’m hoping over the next couple weeks someone will emerge but right now, like I said, it’s not like they’re all being mediocre, it’s that they’re all doing better than I thought  they would. So it’s a good problem to have.”