Sophomore fullback and former Seymour High star Mike Osiecki has withdrawn from UConn the university announced today.

Osiecki was the second-string fullback for the first six games of the season before he suffered a concussion in the first half of the Rutgers game. He missed the last two games due to the concussion and was removed from the depth chart for the South Florida game.

This is the second time this year that Osiecki has left UConn. He was granted permission to head home for a few days during preseason camp with the understanding that he could return if he chose to. Osiecki took the time off and did come back to the team. The first time he left it was because he had some personal issues to tend to. This time, it appears to be as a result of the head injury he suffered.

Osiecki did not have a carry but he did have three receptions for 32 yards this season.

"Mike made the decision which based on all factors I thought it was a good decision to drop out of school for this semester," Pasqualoni said on a Thursday conference call with the media. "Hopefully Mike will do well and we will see what happens from here but that is about all I can say about it."

Pasqualoni said that Martin Hyppolite, who replaced Osiecki as the No. 2 fullback on the depth chart, has been seeing time at both tailback and fullback.

"Martin is not only playing the tailback but he is playing the fullback as well," Pasqualoni said. "Martin’s a pretty big guy, he has done that before. We have had him in for plays where he has been the fullback. I think we will be fine there from a depth standpoint."

It will be interesting to see if Pasqualoni and offensive coordinator George DeLeone take advantage of Hyppolite's tailback skills when he is in the same backfield with starting tailback Lyle McCombs.

There was more bad news for the Huskies on Thursday as Pasqualoni said promising freshman DE E.J. Norris suffered a shoulder injury during practice on Wednesday and he it will require season-ending surgery.

"It was kind of a freak accident where his shoulder just kind of came out," Pasqualoni said. "It is the second time it happened so we are going to pursue having the shoulder done now. It’s a 20-week process so I would like to have him up and available as soon as we so we are going to bite the bullet and see if we can’t do something now with it."

It's not only the third defensive end to go out for the season but the third left DE to be lost in a span of nine weeks.

"I never remember losing this many guys at one spot," Pasqualoni said. "Not only have we lost them but we are losing them on the same side which is even more amazing. Jesse (Joseph) was first, then Teddy (Jennings) and now E.J. and they all play the same position. It is just unusual and unfortunate."

Angelo Pruitt will continue to work as the starter at that position with Tim Willman backing him up. Kenton Adeyemi and B.J. McBryde are also available to be a part of the DE rotation. Of course Pruitt and now McBryde began the season as defensive tackles so every time the Huskies move a DT over to cover a loss at DE, UConn is losing depth at defensive tackle.