Something tells me that UConn linebacker Luke Carrezola would be rather exuberant at the prospects of playing a game in the middle of the Sahara desert miles from the nearly water supply or in the middle of a snow-covered patch of land in Alaska. However, the prospects of playing the final regular season game of his sophomore season on the home field of the team he grew up rooting for has Carrezola counting his blessings.

Carrezola joins fellow linebacker Junior Joseph and defensive lineman Julian Campenni as the Pennsylvania natives set to start on defense for UConn in tomorrow's game against Temple. However, Joseph grew up more than an hour from Philadelphia, Campenni more than two hours and starting tight end Alec Bloom about 4 1//2 hours away. That is not the case for Carrezola, whose hometown of Langhorne is less than 30 miles from Lincoln Financial Field, the home of the Philadelphia Eagles and site of tomorrow's UConn/Temple game.

"I grew up an Eagles fan and I always wanted to play at the Linc," Carrezola said. "It is an awesome feeling to be around my whole family. My high school teammates, they are all going to be there. I have been excited for this one all year and it is going to be awesome. I have cousins coming in, other family, teammates so probably around 50-60 (friends and family members coming to the game)."

Temple was actually the first team to offer Carrezola but once he headed up to a camp at UConn he was sold.

"I fell in love with everything up here, the facilities are awesome, the coaching staff is awesome and I definitely made the right choice for myself,' Carrezola said

Last year at this time the Huskies were limping their way to a 2-10 season and an injured Carrezola had to watch the second half of his freshman season from the sidelines.

"I am so blessed to be healthy," Carrezola said. "It is something that people take for granted, it just happens so fast. I am just so happy to be able to play with my teammates. I feel like I am in a lot better shape than I was back then."