Paul Pasqulaoni spent about half an hour talking to the media on this signing day afternoon and there were two main takeaways for UConn fans. First, Pasqualoni is very happy with his recruiting class, especially the in-state talent he was able to acquire. Second, nothing's final, but UConn fans shoulnd't expect to see Plano, Texas QB Richard Lagow in a UConn uniform anytime soon.
Let's start with the good news: the overall strength of the class. We'll break this down more fully later in the week once all the dust has settled, but UConn put together a strong class -- very strong by UConn standards -- and Pasqualoni deserves to be proud of the work he and his staff have done. He started by talking about the six in-state players who signed today, in particular Xavier quarterback Tim Boyle. You can argue that UConn was in a particularly good position to do well in the region this year because Syracuse, Boston College and Temple all went through coaching changes, but that doesn't take away from the fact that the Huskies were able to defend their turf pretty well. Here's hoping they keep that up.
And now the bad news: although Pasqulaoni isn't allowed to address unsigned recruits by name, he not-so-subtly discussed Lagow, who we've been keeping our eye on all day, and it sure doesn't sound like Lagow will be a Husky. Pasqulaoni said he likely wouldn't know anything definitive until tomorrow, but he was very clear that UConn's goal for this year was to sign two quarterbacks and they were happy with Boyle and surprise addition Kivon Taylor. I suppose it's possible Lagow could surprise everyone and still commit, but it sure doesn't seem like that's going to happen. However, it is worth noting that Pasqualoni seemed genuinely excited about what Taylor is going to be able to bring to the table, and indicated that he had been under the radar because he had focused on basketball until recently.
Thankfully, there does appear to be some good news about UConn's other missing recruit, Jamar Summers:
#UConnFootball WR recruit Jamar Summers expected in next year. Hearing academics issues
— Desmond Conner (@desmondconner) February 6, 2013
So that's it for now. Once recruiting rankings are finalized we'll take a look at just how well UConn did, but personally speaking I'm fine with UConn's haul today. Leave your thoughts in the comments.