Thanks to his mom's passionate support for the New York Yankees UConn sophomore defensive lineman Mikal Myers can't recall a time when he wasn't a fan of the 27-time World Series champions.

So just imagine his joy that he and the other six New York natives on the UConn football team will get to face Army on Saturday at the home of the Yankees.

"I grew up a Yankee fan, my mom's a Yankee fan so it is going to be a special event on Saturday, playing in Yankee Stadium is going to be great," said Myers, a native of Newburgh.

"My mom is a big-time Yankees fan, crazy, I have been her break TVs over Yankee (games) especially in '04 when the Red Sox came back and won four straight, that was rough. The Yankees have always been a big part of my family as far as watching every night, every chance we could. It is going to be a great opportunity to play.

"It is like going like going back home and going back to the best venue. I will be back at home too so how many people can say that they played at Yankee Stadium, it is very special."

For whatever reason, most of the Empire State natives playing for the Huskies are defensive players.

Reuben Frank of Poughkeepsie is expected to start at defensive end for the ninth straight game, Staten Island's Cameron Stapleton is his primary backup following an injury knocking Luke Carrezola out of the lineup, Folorunso Fatukasi of Far Rockaway continues to push B.J. McBryde for playing time at defensive tackle and reserve safety Wilbert Lee from Brooklyn is the best special team cover guy on the squad.

"It is a storied (venue)," junior tight end Sean McQuillan said, "Coach (Bob Diaco) was obviously talking about how much of an honor it is to play at a place like that so it is going to be a lot of fun. I'll put the fact that I am a Red Sox fan aside.

"It is one of most historic place in sports so for the New York kids and everybody it is going to be a special event."

As for other news from today's press conference, Diaco said that senior receiver Geremy Davis, who missed last week's game with an ankle injury, was expected to be cleared to practice today and he is hopeful Davis will play against Army.

Diaco said that redshirt freshman Junior Joseph, coming off his first career start, and the amount of time either he or Jefferson Ashiru see will be determined by the scheme of the opponents so more starts could be coming for Joseph.