Arkeel Newsome is one of four Huskies with multiple touchdowns in 2017

If UConn headed into Saturday's conference road opener against SMU with a 3-0 record, there would be much more chatter about what a difference new offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee has made.

In the previous five seasons UConn ranked 122nd, 124th, 126th, 114th and 113th in total offense. The Huskies are ranked 24th this season. The Huskies have gone from averaging 320 yards of total offense in 2016 to 489.3 in the first three games. Only UCLA, which improved its total offense mark by 192 yards from a season ago, has seen a larger jump in the last 12 months than the Huskies.Another number to chew on is that the Huskies had 369 yards of total offense in the second half against ECU which is more than UConn managed in four quarters of football in 54 of 73 games from 2011-16.

Some of the improved offensive production is out of desperation with the defense ranking dead last among FBS teams in passing defense and 127th out of 130th in total defense. Still, it's hard to argue with these offensive numbers. SMU also ranks among the national leaders in terms of offensive improvement.

Here's the breakdown through Thursday's games
Team  2017 Offense/game 2016 Offense/Game ImprovementUCLA           571.8   379.8           192.0
UConn          489.3    320.0          169.3
North Texas   503.5    341.8         161.7
UCF               507.5    350.8         156.5
Miami (Fla)    568.5    425.9        142.6
Wisconsin      511.0    382.1         128.9
Kansas           480.5    359.5         121.0
Wake Forest   432.0    311.5         120.5
West Virginia  594.8    485.5        109.3
UTSA              482.0    375.5       106.5
Georgia Tech   487.0    387.4         99.6
Arkansas State 472.3    379.4         92.9
La-Lafayette    448.5    357.2         91.3
Ohio State        549.0    459.2         89.8
Hawai'i            480.3    391.3          89.0
Stanford          451.3    367.1          84.2
Virginia           433.5    352.9          80.6
Michigan St.   472.7    395.0          77.7
Duke               470.0   393.3           76.7
La-Monroe     449.3    373.3          76.0
SMU              499.5    427.3          72.2Fresno State   399.7    329.3          70.4

The UConn roster now includes 28 players from Connecticut with the three of the four players who made the team after a walk-on tryout being in-state products.

It was previously reported that former Notre Dame (West Haven) receiver/defensive back Justin Morehead made the team and he is listed as a DB. Jeff Woodcock, a linebacker out of Middletown High School, and Donevin O'Reilly who is a running back out of Glastonbury High School is joined by Quimonei Bell-Hunter, a wide receiver out of Marcellus (N.Y.) High School.

Speaking of walk-ons, I count three non-scholarship players from Connecticut on the two-deep chart. Darien's Brian Keating is the No. 1 long snapper and he is backed up by Brookfield's Jeffrey Sidebotham while Hamden's Kyle Williams, a former Hamden Hall standout, is the backup to Jamar Summers at cornerback. He moved up in the pecking order with a concussion expected to keep Jordan Swann out of action on Saturday against SMU.

Keating's an interesting story. The true freshman comes to UConn from the powerhouse Darien High School program. Keating made it onto the varsity squad and the Blue Wave went 37-1 with the only blemish being a 21-20 loss to FCIAC rival New Canaan in the state title game as a sophomore. Typically, the Huskies haven't had much success getting players from elite FCIAC programs like Darien and New Canaan but for as long as Keating can remember he has wanted to attend UConn.

"I had other opportunities elsewhere but ever since I started the college process, it was UConn No. 1 whether it was a scholarship or not," Keating said. "Coming to UConn, it is like a scholarship for me having the opportunity to stay in state, be able to see my family every week at games, going to such a great school, a top 25 public school in the country it is incredible. The football team is such a family, they brought us in and made us feel great."

Keating is a familiar face at UConn sporting events going to basketball and football games in Hartford, Storrs or East Hartford for as long as he can remember.

"I always came up to the XL Center for basketball games when Rudy Gay was in his prime," Keating said. "I have been coming up to the basketball games forever, I have seen all these national championship teams in basketball. My first football game was against Virginia so it was very touching to get my first start against Virginia, it kind of came full circle Just having the opportunity to play for UConn, represent this great state and all the people that live in this state, it is incredible and it is dream come true every day."

When UConn played Oklahoma in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl, he wasn't able to make it out to the game but he made up for it in another way.

"I was painted all blue, my head was painted with the blue helmet with the block C on the side," Keating said. "Watching the games at the Rent as a kid, being able to come out on the field and watch them win those big games, it was incredible. I knew from that moment on whether I play football or not, I wanted to come to school here.

Keating proudly announces that he still has a Jordan Todman UConn jersey and there are photos of him wearing a Tyler Lorenzen jersey.

With starting long snapper Nick Zecchino back home in New Jersey dealing with some medical issues, it looks as if Keating will handle the snaps on the punts, extra points and field goals for the rest of the season.

"I don't think he will be back with us this year," UConn coach Randy Edsall said. "He has health issues he is dealing with that he had to deal with in the spring. I think Brian Keating has done a really good job and he has taken advantage of his opportunity. You won't find a kid who bleeds blue more than that kid. That kid has been a UConn guy, he showed me pictures of when he came to games when the Rent first opened, he was about that high. We went and talked to him about coming as a walk-on, it is unbelievable. This kid is so passionate about UConn and UConn football. When I told him he was going to be the starting snapper at Virginia, his parents took the car and drove right to Virginia."

Some of it was due to injuries and in other occasions it was the quality of play but there are plenty of changes to UConn's two-deep chart.

The biggest news is that starting center Ryan Crozier suffered his second season-ending knee injury since arriving at UConn. UConn coach Randy Edsall said he will undergo surgery on Friday to repair a torn ACL and MCL.

Crozier missed the entire 2015 season after getting injured in between the end of spring drills and start of fall camp. He has started the last 15 games at center and was the starting left guard for the final three games of the 2014 season to become the first true freshman to start on the offensive line at UConn since 2002 when the Huskies began playing at the FBS level. He will share that distinction with Ryan Van Demark after Saturday's game at SMU as he is now the starting right tackle. With Crozier out, junior Dan Oak is now the Huskies' starting center.

"He is a competitive, get after you type of guys," Edsall said of Oak. "He is like a gnat sometimes that you keep smacking away. I thought he did a good job when he went in there for Ryan (against East Carolina), I expect him to do a good job.

"Ryan Van Demark is a guy who has been gifted to play this game, he has to get stronger and put weight on. He picks everything up out there, he can bend, he can run and when you take a look at the things we want to do, he is the guy who is best suited to do those things. Tommy (Hopkins) has to be ready to go, he is one pay away from being in there. With every rep that Ryan Van Demark gets, he is going to keep getting better and better."

With Crozier's injury and Hopkins no longer starting, the Huskies top two offensive linemen in terms of career starts won't be with the top unit on Saturday as each of them have started 18 career games. Reserve tackle Brendan Vechery has made 15 career start, most of them at center. This makes redshirt sophomore left tackle Matt Peart the most experienced among the first team offensive line based on career starts.

Edsall estimated that a high-ankle sprain could keep top receiver Hergy Mayala out for 4-6 weeks meaning that redshirt freshman Mason Donaldson should make his first career start on Saturday. A concussion likely will sideline kickoff/punt returner and reserve cornerback Jordan Swann meaning that Kyle Buss, who just received a waiver from the NCAA to play immediately following his transfer from Robet Morris, becomes the top kickoff return with Quayon Skanes handling the punt returner duties. A calf injury could keep reserve defensive end James Atkins out for 4-6 weeks according to Edsall.

No position has changed as much as the secondary. Although Tony Watkins should be able to return to action this week, true freshman Ian Swenson could make his second career start. Former starters Tre Bell and Tyler Coyle have been replaced by redshirt freshman Tahj Herring-Wilson and senior Brice McAllister.

"You had people maybe not play as well as you expect them to play and you put somebody in who went in and basically did the job," Edsall said of Herring-Wilson. We felt he deserved the opportunity to start based on what you are seeing from some other people in the first few games."

McAllister started the season opener against Holy Cross but when I watched warmups before Sunday's ECU game, he wasn't even working with the second-team unit. There will be more about McAllister moving back into a starter's role in my advance which should be up on the Register's site at some point on Friday. With former Hamden Hall star Kyle Williams now a second-string cornerback, that makes 13 defensive backs who have cracked the two-deep chart although some positions have three players mentioned. With all the moves, senior cornerback Jamar Summers will be the only defensive back to start every game after Saturday's contest.

One of the more interesting things to come out of today's press conference might have been Edsall finally saying what has been insinuated even before the season began as he stated that Arkeel Newsome, UConn's top rusher in the 2015 and 2016 seasons, is not viewed by the coaching staff to be an every down running back.

He is very good in the open field and that is the one thing that we have been trying to do is get him the ball in the open field because he does have quickness and he can make some people miss, that is really his game. Running the ball between the tackles is not really his game and he is doing a good job. Some people are going to do some things to try to take him away so that is where we have to be creative and do some things so we can make sure we can get him some touches because he does have the ability to make some yardage and make some big plays in the open field

"What he reminds of is a third-down back in the NFL, a guy who can come out of the backfield and catch the ball but I am not going to sit here and put pressure on him naming names of this is who I compare him to or anything like that because I don't think that is fair," Edsall said. "He is one of those guys that as a third down back can create problems for the linebackers or even on first or second down, to me is not your first down, second down, every down back, he is not that guy. He doesn't have this physicalness, the body type and body structure to allow that so what you do is take a guy like him and incorporate the things we are doing with him so we can be successful with him."

With the changes, just eight offensive and defensive players will have started all four of the games when the SMU game get here - Peart, guards Trey Rutherford and Cam DeGeorge, defensive linemen Luke Carrezola, Foley Fatukasi and Cole Ormsby, Summers and linebacker Junior Joseph. A year ago eight offensive players and 11 players on defense started each of the first four games.

Bryant Shirreffs admitted that he was unaware that the receiver he targeted more than any other in Sunday's wild affair against East Carolina was a non-scholarship player. What Shirreffs does realize is that good things happen when he throws the ball in the direction of the redshirt freshman from Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Donaldson had 10 passes thrown in his direction and he came down with six of them for 108 yards and two touchdowns.

His first reception went for a 45-yard touchdown and it was was Donaldson's first catch in a game since recording his fifth 100-yard receiving game in a 27-13 loss to Northwestern Lehigh in his final game at Salisbury Township in 2015.

Donaldson went from being on the kickoff coverage unit in the season opener to playing on most of the special teams units in the second game. The plan was to have Donaldson split time with star receiver Hergy Mayala but when Mayala went down with an ankle injury on UConn's second offensive play, Donaldson's playing time took a significant jump.

"I came in last year with the previous staff and with this staff I kind of earned a role as a backup to Hergy," Donaldson said. "When Hergy ended up going down, we kind of go by that motto that the next guy has to hop in and do the same role as the guy in front of him if not better.

"Everything fell into place (on the first touchdown), everybody on the field did exactly what they needed to do. The receivers ran their routes perfectly, the guys (were) downfield blocking for me, I caught the ball looked up and the red sea was parted. I took off and it was so surreal."
There are seven wide receivers on UConn's current roster who caught passes in the spring game and Donaldson wasn't among them so heading into the season, he was a bit of an afterthought among the receivers.

"He is a guy who listens and understands what is being said, he worked to get his opportunity," UConn coach Randy Edsall said. "He was a guy that as I continued to see in practice, see him do things. He came from really being a guy that you didn't think was going to play much in any phase to where we put him in because we saw what he was doing and how hard he was working at everything else. We put him on kickoff return and he aced that. By doing what he did on kickoff return early on, we incorporated him into more special teams because of doing the job and getting the job done."

With Donaldson finishing with 106 receiving yards and true freshman Kevin Mensah rushing for 107 yards, they became the first set of freshmen on an FBS team to record a 100-yard rushing and receiving game this season. Oklahoma is the only other FBS program to accomplish the feat at all as Trey Sermon ran for 148 yards against Baylor while CeeDee Lamb had 131 receiving yards against Tulane but UConn is the only team that had it take place in the same game. The UConn media guide lists all the 100-yard rushing and receiving games dating back to 1970 and I counted 48 occasions when the Huskies had a 100-yard rusher and receiver in the same game but not one time when it was a pair of freshmen accomplishing the feat.

"They put a lot of confidence in me, they made me get into my comfort zone," Mensah said. "Coach (Richardson), Arkeel (Newsome), Nate (Hopkins), JT (Jason Thompson) they told me a lot and to just go out there and run."

Mensah was a late add to the group of incoming freshmen but Donaldson's story might be even more remarkable. 

He heard from some FBS programs but none were willing to offer him a scholarship. UConn looked at him as a recruited walk-on where he will get the chance to earn a scholarship.

"That kind of helps drive me because every day I have do the best for me and my family," Donaldson said. "It really drives me to push myself. Some (I-)AA schools, a couple FBS schools (recruited him). The previous staff was the only one at this level that gave me a chance, I am so blessed they gave me that opportunity."

We should have an update on Mayala's condition at tomorrow's press conference. Mensah rolled up on Mayala's legs on his first carry of the game knocking Mayala out of the game one play after he broke wide open when ECU defensive back Marcus Holton fell down. However, Shirreffs overthrew Mayala.. If it is a high-ankle sprain as Edsall thought it was after the game, Mayala could miss Saturday's game at SMU meaning another busy day for Donaldson. Regardless of Mayala's status, it certainly looks as if Donaldson will be a key part of the offense moving forward.

"He is a great example to the other players on the team who haven't gotten the opportunity yet, if they want that opportunity all they have to do is look at that guy and how he earned that opportunity," Edsall said. "When he earned that opportunity, he took advantage of it."

Maybe it was the glass is half empty aspect of my personality taking over but with a little bit of time on my hands yesterday, I reseatched the most yards a UConn defense has given up in a three game stretch since playing at the FBS level.

I had no idea at the time whether it was going to be one of those times when my research would become useless trivia. Well, as it turned out, it was time well spent.

With the Huskies giving up 596 yards of total offense, UConn has given up 1,669 yards of total offense in the first three games including 1,239 through the air.

Both happen to be the worst numbers surrendered since UConn began playing at the FBS level in 2002. Each time the three-game swing against Cincinnati, Notre Dame and Syracuse in 2009 happened to be the time when the UConn defense was statistically at its most porous - until now.

The Huskies have given up 70 more passing yards and 17 more yards of total offense than in that forgettable three-game stretch eight years ago. It should be noted that the Huskies won two of those games back in '09, winning 33-30 at Notre Dame and topping Syracuse 56-31.

With redshirt freshman Tahj Herring-Wilson taking over for struggling senior Tre Bell, UConn was playing three freshmen (Herring-Wilson, Tyler Coyle and Ian Swenson) and a sophomore (Marshe Terry) who played sparingly on defense a season ago to finish the game so I guess it is understandable that the Huskies are struggling with their assignments in the secondary.

With safety Anthony Watkins out with a concussion, the first and second team secondary consisted of six freshmen, two sophomores and two seniors. Still, I never would have envisioned the Huskies being ranked dead last in passing defense and 127th among 130 FBS teams in total defense after three games. Things aren't going to get any easier as UConn has to go on the road to play SMU on Saturday. The Mustangs feature Courtland Sutton, who could be one of the first receivers drafted in the 2018 NFL draft who happens to be third on the Mustangs with 217 receiving yards in the first four games and is second with 13 receptions behind LSU transfer Trey Quinn.

It wasn't all bad news. The 596 yards of total offense by the Huskies are the fifth most in program history and it is the third most since making the jump to the FBS level.

Senior running back Arkeel Newsome set the UConn career record for receptions by a running back as he tied a career high with eight receptions (giving him 94, three more than Joe Markus' total from 1978-82). He also had a career best total of 170 receiving yards making him the first UConn player who was exclusively a running back to record more than 1,000 receiving yards. Among active FBS running backs, only Washington State's Jamal Morrow and Ito Smith of Southern Mississippi have more receiving yards than the 1,148 compiled by Newsome.

Also, true freshman Kevin Mensah ran for 107 yards and redshirt freshman walk-on receiver Mason Donaldson had six catches for 106 yards. My curiosity got the better of me so I did some checking and although this is the 44th game since 1970 that I found that UConn had a player with 100 yards rushing and receiving in the same game but the first time two freshmen accomplished the feat. Taking it one step further, the Huskies are the only FBS team this year with a freshman with a 100 yards rushing and another frosh with 100 yards receiving in the same game. The only team to do it during this season is Oklahoma  as CeeDee Lamb had 131 receiving yards against Tulane and Trey Sermon ran for 148 yards against Baylor.

Back to being the bearer of bad news, the announced crowd of 14,036 is the smallest to watch UConn play at Rentschler Field and is just the second time the Huskies have played in front of an announced crowd of less than 20,000. Ironically, the last time it happened came in 2013 when the Huskies also put on quite the offensive show in beating Memphis. A year ago the Huskies averaged just 26,796 fans per game, the lowest since the move to the FBS level. Currently the number is 19,235.5 through two games. There was a feeling that a Sunday game against a winless East Carolina team wasn't going to pack the place but still averaging fewer than 20,000 fans per game is simply unacceptable. It seems like ages ago since UConn had 28 sellouts in 45 home games from 2004-2010.

It was a tough day on the injury front as well. UConn coach Randy Edsall said, 'it doesn't look good' about the knee injury suffered by starting center Ryan Crozier. Edsall thought the injury that knocked star receiver Hergy Mayala was a high ankle sprain and those are injuries than can linger. Defensive back, kickoff and punt returner Jordan Swann left the game due to a concussion. I thought Dan Oak had a solid showing in Crozier's absence and obviously Donaldson stepped up in a big way for Mayala.

Junior Joseph will be back at his familiar linebacking spot for today's rare Sunday matinee at Rentschler Field, something that seemed rather unlikely after he was knocked out of the season opener with a shoulder injury.

The way his teammates were reacting as Joseph was on the field being evaluated and seeing him being in obvious pain as he headed to the locker room with UConn medical staff in the 27-20 win over Holy Cross, there was a fear of it being the end of Joseph's impressive career with the Huskies.

"That injury never happened to me so I didn't know what it was," Joseph said. "I was (hoping) for the best and glad it was for the best so I could continue to play this season. It was something that I rehabbed all week and I was ready go for South Florida, it just happened that the hurricane (postponed the game), it gave me another week to heal it so I was really ready to go for Virginia, there was no excuse at all, at this point there are no excuses, I can walk, I can hit, I can play so it is just about me playing better, moving faster and making plays."

Joseph had no idea at the time whether his UConn career came to an end during that August 31 game.

"At the moment it felt really bad," said Joseph, who is UConn's top active tackler with 223 career stops. ""I didn't know what it was. I went back to the locker room and they were able to pop it back in, it was something I got lucky with and I am able to play with, A lot of people get season-ending injuries or injuries like that and they can't play the rest of the season. I am able to rehab it, get better and am able to play."

This has not been the start that Arkeel Newsome was envisioning for his senior season.

The holder of pretty much every rushing and touchdown scoring record in Connecticut high school football history came into his final collegiate season looking to join Lyle McCombs, Taber Small, Jeff Gallaher, Tony Jordan and Bill Minnerly as the only players in UConn program history to lead the Huskies in rushing in three straight seasons.

Newsome had five 100-yard rushing games combined during his sophomore and junior seasons but two games into the 2017 campaign, eight of his 14 carries have gone for either no gain or negative yardage. If not for back to back runs of 4 and 9 yards in garbage time in last week's loss to Virginia, Newsome's numbers of 14 carries for 17 yards would look even worse. Redshirt freshman Nate Hopkins led UConn in rushing in the season opening win over Holy Cross, true freshman Kevin Mensah had 49 yards, all in the second half, against Virginia last week. The Huskies get 92.2 percent of their rushing yards from the running back position out of freshmen which leads all FBS programs just ahead of Louisiana-Lafayette's mark of 91.5.

The good news is that Newsome's impact isn't limited to merely running with the ball. He needs 22 yards to become the first running back in UConn history with more than 1,000 receiving yards. If he gets there on Sunday, he will become the fourth active FBS back to reach that milestone joining Washington State's Jamal Morrow, Southern Mississippi's Ito Smith and Ohio's Papi White.

With 86 career catches, Newsome is five shy of Joe Markus' program record for running backs set from 1979-82. He also ranks seventh among active FBS running backs in that category.

Also, with 4,313 career all-purpose yards Newsome is 74 shy of moving past Jordan Todman and into third place in that category in UConn history.

Here's how Newsome ranks among FBS running backs(updated with Saturday's games)

CATCHES
155 Jamal Morrow, Washington State vs. Nevada, Saturday, 6 p.m.
114 Ito Smith, So. Mississippi at Louisiana-Monroe, Saturday, 7 p.m.
103 Alex Gardner, FIU at Rice, Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
102 Phillip Lindsey, Colorado vs. Washington, Saturday, 10 p.m.
 98 Larry Rose, New Mexico State vs. UTEP, Saturday, 8 p.m.
 87 Justin Jackson, Northwestern next game is at Wisconsin on Sept. 30
 86 Arkeel Newsome, UConn vs. ECU, Sunday, noon

YARDS
1328 Jamal Morrow, Washington State
1159 Ito Smith, So. Mississippi
1109 Papi White, Ohio
978 Arkeel Newsome, UConn
886 Phillip Lindsay, Colorado

Also, here's the list of top receiving running backs in UConn history
Player (Years)                       Rec-Yards-TD
Joe Markus (79-82)                91-873-5
Arkeel Newsome (14-17)      86-978-6
 Terry Caulley (02-03, 05-06) 85-579-3
Larry Taylor  (04-07)              63-574-1
Lyle McCombs (11-13)          63-477-3
Mark Landolfi (87-89)            55-447-6
Vin Clements (68-70)              54-638-4
*-list does not include Tory Taylor who picked up most of his catches in his two seasons playing receiver

Freshman Ryan Van Demark throws a block during Virginia game

Thanks to an undersized but athlete true freshman offensive lineman and a rather jovial 300-pound starting left offensive tackle, there are some comical scenes taking place during UConn football team meals.

Ryan Van Demark, listed at 265 pounds, is a rare true freshman to get snaps at offensive tackle during UConn coach Randy Edsall's coaching career knows he needs to add weight to reach his potential. While much of that work will come through the team nutritionist and strength coaches, sophomore left tackle Matt Peart is trying to do his part.

"Some of the older guys will help me out," said Van Demark, who split time at right tackle with senior Tommy Hopkins in Saturday's loss to Virginia. "Matt Peart will follow me around the dining hall and load me up with some more so they are all helping me try to gain that weight."
Van Demark is one of 10 true freshmen to see snaps in UConn's first two games of the season which tops the total from the previous two years combined.

With all due respect to his classmates, getting playing time right out of high school as a running back, defensive back, linebacker or special teams performer isn't quite as rare as having that happen at offensive tackle.

I asked Edsall how many times he played a true freshman at offensive tackle.

"Not a 261-pound tackle," Edsall said. "He is a competitor, what you look at is do they have the confidence in themselves to handle that situation. If I can look into a kid's eyes and tell if he's got that competitiveness, that want to go out there, know that he is not going to back down."

Edsall said the plan was the use Van Demark on every third series and to him credit, it wasn't immediately evident that he had replaced Hopkins in the Virginia game.
He most noteworthy moment came when he went about 20 yards down the field to throw a block on a screen pass to Arkeel Newsome.

"That whole game gave me some confidence," Van Demark said.

However, rather than pat himself on the back for one of the most impressive blocks in the game, the first play he mentioned was one that didn't go quite as well.

"One play I overstepped the guy and he came inside so you can't really do that but going against a different color jersey it helped," Van Demark said.

Van Demark received some quality snaps in preseason camp, especially as the second-string left tackle. He was moved to right tackle so he had experience at both spots since he moved by senior Brendan Vechery, who has started 16 career games, as the third offensive tackle.

"Right when camp ended they were like, 'you are on the two deep, congratulations.' It was exciting and (UConn offensive line) Coach (J.B.) Grimes really pushed me to where I am.

" I have to put on some weight, put on some muscle, I have to work on my footwork, I am still a little sloppy but everything will come with good coaching from Coach Grimes and Coach (Rhett) Lashlee."

Van Demark is also getting plenty of help from Hopkins.
"He is helping me out in any way he can, he is being a great team player, he is doing all he can

to keep that spot and I am doing all I can to take it," Van Demark said. "He is helping me out and I am helping him out, it is a team."

When Van Demark came into the game, he lined up alongside of 286-pound redshirt freshman Cam DeGeorge making the Huskies a little smaller than your typical right guard-right tackle combination at the FBS level.

"Both of those guys are real smart and have athletic ability," Edsall said. "One play, you saw a play when we ran a screen to Arkeel twice on Saturday, Ryan was able to get on the guy and drive the guy down the field and in the first (attempt) we didn't block that guy.

"Ryan has to get stronger, his hands have to get stronger, he is smart. They understand concepts, they do have enough athletic ability to get themselves in the right position, they might not be able to right now take somebody and blow them back off the ball because that is going to come with added strength and added weight but as far as understanding things and also sit there we (say), 'this kid is showing me that he can play then you look and he is a freshman and you say OK do we redshirt him.

"You look at the overall body of work of what you have offensively and look down the road, you are looking at how we can make ourselves the best for this year and take a shot, say we are going to throw him in there, thrown him in against a team like Virginia that has some pretty good offensive linemen so he has earned himself a way to get more snaps and same with Cam. All they are going to do is continue to get better the more game reps they are going to get."

Van Demark committed to UConn only a couple of weeks before Bob Diaco was fired which made for some anxious times.

"The coaching change was pretty tough," Van Demark said. "When I heard that Edsall got rehired, I was pretty ecstatic coming from his rep and when I heard Coach Grimes was coming to UConn, that was like, 'OK, UConn is it, let's go.' Coach Edsall came down to the Hun School to meet me and once I met him I knew I wanted him to be my coach."

UConn came out of the Virginia game in pretty good shape health wise. Starting safety Anthony Watkins is in concussion protocol and did not practice today. Freshman Ian Swenson, who played most of the Virginia game after Watkins was injured, is now listed as the starter. Edsall said that long snapper Nick Zecchino is back home in New Jersey dealing with a medical issue so Darien's Brian Keating is set to handle long snapping duties against East Carolina on Sunday. 

When Randy Edsall agreed to return for a second stint as UConn's football coach, the to-do list he was faced with was a rather daunting one.

Somewhere near the top of that list has to be leading the Huskies to more success on the road. From the time Edsall left UConn after the 2010 season until today, the only FBS teams with fewer road wins than the Huskies' six are Kansas (0), Army (4), Kentucky (4), UMass (4), Georgia State (4, only playing at FBS level since 2013), Purdue (5) and Illinois (5).

With the Huskies playing Virginia today in its 2017 road opener, obviously it something he was asked to address this week.

"If you are going to be a successful team and be a good team, you have to be able to win on the road and if you want to accomplish goals that you have for yourself, as hard as it is, as tough as it is, we have to find a way to win on the road," Edsall said. "Basically what we have to do is have that mentality as we go, 67 or 68 players and coaches, we are going down there, focused and concentrating on getting a win doing everything we can and block out everything else. We try to prepare, we have crowd noise and all of those things going. This is our first road trip so hopefully we can get that rolling this weekend."

It could be an eye-opening experience for the large number of freshmen set to play in their first road game. The good news is it shouldn't be hard to top some of the recent road performances.
I did some checking and (counting the 2014 game at Yankee Stadium vs Army as an away game) UConn is 6-26 on the road since the start of the 2011 season. One stat that blew me away was that in the six wins, the Huskies were plus 8 in turnover margin but in the 26 losses, the number is minus 28. Points off turnovers follow a similar pattern as UConn held a 38-7 advantage in the wins but were outscored 157-51 in that category in the losses. UConn failed to score an offensive touchdown in nine of those games and 17 times had only one offensive TD. Since the start of the 2012 season.

KEATING GETS THE CALLWhen UConn played Holy Cross in the 2017 season opener, former Darien High star Brian Keating wasn't even listed on the two deep chart. Now he is set to handle the long snapping duties for UConn.
Keating moved up to second string and with Nick Zecchino not making the trip due to health reasons, Keating will be the long snapper today.

Donovan Williams' mother certainly was keeping busy in the last week or so preparing for Donovan's return to his native Virginia.

By Williams' count, at least 20 family members and friends will be at Scott Stadium tomorrow afternoon when UConn plays its 2017 road opener against Virginia.

"It is going to be pretty exciting," Williams said. "I have a lot of family, friends who are going to come out to the game so I am definitely going to do my best. She is helping me keep track of who is coming and how many tickets I need."

Williams, one of four Virginia natives on the team, has had an eventful 16 months at UConn. He came in considering to be the Huskies' quarterback of the future and after looking like he would redshirt for the entire season. However, with three games left in the season former UConn coach Bob Diaco made the decision to burn Williams' redshirt as he started against Temple, Boston College and Tulane.

Williams came into spring camp looking to make a run at extending his starting quarterback gig but an injury early during spring practice eventually resulted in a change of plans. When preseason practice kicked off, it didn't take Williams long to figure out that junior college transfer David Pindell and veteran Bryant Shirreffs were at the forefront of the quarterback position. Eager to get on the field, Williams approached UConn coach Randy Edsall and his move to receiver was underway.

"Missing the majority of spring, I came in during the first week and a half ready to work," Williams said. "I see myself contributing at wideout because I did spent a year at wideout in high school so I felt like I could contribute there."

Williams caught 11 passes for 171 yards and a touchdown as a sophomore. Williams worked exclusively at quarterback in his final two high school seasons as he threw for 2358 yards with 23 touchdowns and five interceptions while running for 1503 yards and 27 touchdowns leading Hylton to an 18-2 record playing for former NFL defensive back Tony Lilly.

"Coach Lilly is a great guy, a great coach," Williams said. "He gave me an insight and definitely helped me during my high school career he is probably why I am here today."

Williams isn't on the two-deep chart at receiver but is on every special teams unit.

"He is a really good athlete, he understands things," Edsall said. "The other things he has made strides on is special teams. Now we are able to use him on special teams. I like the approach he has taken to the position and how he tries to go out there, works each day to get better."

It's uncertain if any of the other three Virginia natives will get into the game.

Linebacker E.J. Levenberry would have been in position for a key role as a senior but the Florida State transfer injured his knee during spring practice. When I spoke to Levenberry the day before the first practice of preseason camp, he was holding out hope of playing this season although Edsall has gone on record as feeling that might not happen. Freshman defensive back Abiola Olaniyan has also been sidelined while there's a chance reserve offensive lineman Brendan Vechery could see some time and he certainly figures to be a part of the travel squad.

What probably turned out to be a year's worth of phone conversations in a span of a week resulted in the UConn football team's previous postponed game against South Florida being rescheduled to November 4.

American Athletic Conference foes Cincinnati, East Carolina and Houston had to agree to changes in their 2017 schedules while UMass called off its game with USF in order to allow the shift in game dates to be finalized.

"It was very important to us to try to get the game rescheduled for a lot of different reasons, for our fans, for our student-athletes and certainly the opportunity to play a full schedule which is very important to our program right now," UConn Director of Athletic David Benedict said in a conference call. "Coach (Randy) Edsall, he is trying to build a program here and to have one less game and one less opportunity to work with your kids would have been difficult to manage."

Benedict said he provided a figure of $650,000 to the AAC concerning the potential loss of revenue if UConn was unable to make up the home date on the 2017 schedule.

The Huskies, who play their road opener against Virginia on Saturday were supposed to be off next week. However, East Carolina has agreed to play at UConn on Sept. 24. Originally that game was supposed to be on Nov. 4 but that week needed to be cleared so UConn and USF could play their game.

USF will host Cincinnati on Oct. 14, replacing a previously scheduled game against Massachusetts and will host Houston on Oct. 28, replacing the original game against Cincinnati. East Carolina will now face Houston on Nov. 4. UMass replaced the USF game with one against FIU.

AAC commissioner Mike Aresco made it a point of thanking UMass AD Ryan Bamford, who formerly worked on the staff of Yale athletic director Tom Beckett, for agreeing to take the USF game off its 2017 schedule.

"I never lost hope, I never lost optimism throughout the process but there were a lot of different scenarios that they went through to try to make this happen," Benedict said. "I can't tell you if this was the fifth, sixth or seventh scenario but they worked it. I hand it to the conference, they could have shelved it. They could have said, 'look we tried a lot of different ways and it didn't work.' To go to the extent that they have, it really says a lot."

Rentschler Field is the site of a MLS game on Sept. 23 because the New York City FC's MLS game with the Houston Dynamos was moved there. As a result, the game is now on Sunday which will make for a short week for the Huskies who have a game at Southern Methodist on Sept. 30.

Benedict said he doesn't anticipate the soccer match impacting the quality of the field but there will be a quick turnaround to get the logos painted on the field in time for the East Carolina game.
The USF/UConn game was originally scheduled for last week but was called out due to travel concerns of the visiting USF team due to the expected impact Hurricane Irma was going to have on the Tampa area. Since the Bulls and Huskies did not have the same bye week, the AAC needed to make multiple adjustments to get the game played.

The AAC announced that it is working to reschedule the Memphis/UCF game which was also unable to be played over the weekend.

Details on refunds should be announced by UConn in the next week for fans that had bought tickets for last week's game but don't wish to come to either the East Carolina or South Florida home games.

The quarterbacking Shirreffs brothers certainly are taking the concept of sharing experiences to a new level.

A handful of major college football games were called off due to the expected impact of Hurricane Irma in the state of Florida and it just so happened that two of the teams left with an unplanned bye week were Bryant Shirreffs' UConn squad as well as Miami (Fla.), which happens to utilize his younger brother Evan as the No. 2 quarterback.

"It is interesting actually being in opposite parts of the country," Bryant Shirreffs said. "I was actually thinking about that today (Tuesday), what are the odds? It is something you have to roll with. I don't think we are making up the game but that is something we can't worry about right now."

Bryant Shirreffs' mother Lisa came up to Connecticut and spent a few days with him while Evan had to leave Miami when the storm was due to hit and spent time in his Jefferson, Georgia home with his father.

"She was here for a little while, she wasn't evacuated, she was going to come up for the game anyway," Shirreffs said. "We got to spend some quality time together and she flew back this morning.

My brother evacuated to Georgia and my dad is there. My family is safe, thoughts and prayers go out to everybody in Florida and I hope that recovery, I know it is going to take a while, but I hope it is a successful one."

The area where the Shirreffs brothers grew up did have to deal with some nasty weather although nothing close to what took place in Florida.

"Compared to Florida it was minimal but the power was out yesterday for a majority of the day and
the wind was really strong, heavy rains, trees, debris and maybe power lines were falling but I don't think there was severe flooding," Shirreffs said on Tuesday.

The two brothers began the season as backups but both got into season-opening wins.

Bryant replaced David Pindell and led the Huskies to a win over Holy Cross. Evan, a sophomore at Miami, came in with the Hurricanes comfortably ahead of Bethune-Cookman. He completed 1 of 2 passes for 16 yards in his first live game action at Miami.

"That was awesome. It was cool to see, I am really proud of him," Bryant Shirreffs said. "I remember giving him a hard time on the practice field in Jefferson, Georgia. He has surprised me a lot and I am really proud of him. I thought he handled himself very well, he was calm and collected, he did a really good job so I am proud of him."

UConn's depth chart won't be released until tomorrow. I'm not expecting too many changes to the one put out in preparation of the South Florida game which never got played.

In the meantime, Virginia has released its depth chart. Just four offensive starters (left tackle Jack English, quarterback Kurt Benkert, receivers Doni Dowling and Olanide Zaccheas) are listed as starters. Three starting offensive linemen have graduated including Eric Smith who made the Miami Dolphins as an undrafted rookie free agent while last year's starting right guard Jack McDonald (one of two New Englanders on Virginia's 2016 roster) is now listed as a backup.

It's a different story on the defensive side of the ball with seven players who started against the Huskies a season ago listed as starters including Andrew Brown who had 3 1/2 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery against the Huskies as it seemed as if he was in the backfield as much as the UConn running backs. Micah Kiser and Quin Blanding had 11 tackles each, Chris Peace, Eli Hanback and Juan Thornhill also return. They combined for 44 tackles and 6 tackles for loss in the 2016 game.

Barring any changes to the UConn depth chart, the Huskies would return eight offensive starters and seven on the defensive side of the ball from the 2016 contest. The week without a game figures to be beneficial for linebackers Vontae Diggs and Junior Joseph, both coming off injuries.


Also, yesterday the ACC announced some adjustments to the TV assignments meaning that instead of the game being aired on ESPNU on Saturday at noon, it will be televised on ESPN2 with Jason Benetti (play by play), former NFL quarterback Kelly Stouffer (color commentator) and Kris Budden (sideline reporter) calling the game.

Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall was on a teleconference earlier today and only one question about UConn was asked unless you count the mention of Andrew Brown tormenting the UConn offense in the '16 game.

Q. With UConn's game getting cancelled last week, have you had to rely more on last year's Maryland tapes and your personal knowledge of playing UConn than anything you've been able to see this year?

Bronco Mendenhall: What I've done at least from my standpoint as more of a defensive-emphasis coach, it's relying some more on Auburn. That's where their offensive coordinator has come from. So, what I saw in game one against Holy Cross, and Holy Cross played really well in that game. Did a nice job defensively. But I've seen some similarities between what UConn did in week one to what Auburn has done. So I think that's the genesis of their offensive coordinator. That's where he learned under Gus Malzahn. So I think that would be probably a safer bet than where the head coach came from in this case. That's normal for any -- unless the head coach is a coordinator on one side, it's really more tracking where the coordinators are coming from, much like their defensive coordinator at Villanova. If I remember correctly. So, it would be for our offensive staff, it's probably more looking at that. Again, unless the head coach is a coordinator.

DAVIS PROMOTED TO ACTIVE ROSTER; GRIFFIN SIDELINED
There's good news and bad news on the alumni front.

With injuries at the receiver position, the Los Angeles promoted former UConn WR Geremy Davis to the active roster for tonight's game.

Davis had nine catches in the preseason for the Chargers. He played in three regular-season games with the team a season ago but did not have a reception as his only two regular-season catches came when he was with the New York Giants.

Also, a reporter from Denmark has reported that Andreas Knappe will be brought in for a tryout by the Indianapolis Colts. Knappe was signed by the Falcons but did not make the squad.



However, the news is not as positive for Ryan Griffin as Houston Texans coach Bill O'Brien told reporters today that Griffin was one of the players expected to miss next week's game. Griffin left the season opener due to a concussion. His next catch with be the 100th of his NFL career.

Travel concerns for the visiting South Florida football team has resulted in Saturday's game being cancelled.

The American Athletic Conference opener for both teams was originally scheduled for noon on Saturday at Rentschler Field before it the kickoff time was pushed back to 10:30 a.m. in an attempt to allow the USF travel party to leave Connecticut and arrive back in Tampa before Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc in the state of Florida.

“Obviously we are disappointed for our team and our fans at the cancellation of a home game,” UConn Director of Athletics said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with USF and all of the areas in the path of this storm. We wish them all the best as they deal with this terrible storm and are here ready to assist in any way that we can.”

Neither UConn nor South Florida have the same bye week so it wasn't possible to simply move the game to another week as was done in the NFL for the Miami Dolphins/Tampa Bay Buccaneers game.

“I know both our team and USF were excited about a chance to play this weekend,”  UConn football coach Randy Edsall said in a statement. “We certainly are disappointed, but clearly understand that this is something totally out of everyone’s control. I hope that Coach (Charlie) Strong, his team and the entire community impacted by this storm remain safe and know that we are thinking about them as they deal with this.”

While it is rare to have a football game removed from the schedule, it did happen in 1985 when the impact caused by Hurricane Gloria resulted in the Yale/UConn game not being played.

UConn will provide details next week to all USF game ticket holders regarding future ticket options due to the cancellation.

The next game for UConn is its road opener against Virginia on Sept. 16.

In a perfect world, I would have features ready to go on a star player on the teams facing UConn each week.

Reality, however, dictates a different strategy especially with WNBA, UConn women's basketball, high school and other college assignments on my schedule. However, with the Huskies' first two conference games against South Florida and SMU, I headed to American Athletic Conference football media with the intention of catching up with dynamic SMU receiver Courtland Sutton and scintillating USF quarterback Quinton Flowers.

My story on Sutton ran back in July as the top item in a notebook off media day. Now it is time for the piece on Flowers to run with USF set to face UConn on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.

There are obvious reasons to write a story on Flowers, he ranks in the top 10 among active FBS quarterbacks in passing efficiency and total offense. No current quarterback at any level has more rushing yards than Flowers' total of 2,731. However, there's a more personal reason why I felt compelled to tell his story.

Flowers' father died when he was seven, his mother when he was 17. That hit close to home for me because I lost both of my parents at age eight so perhaps my line of questioning on the subject matter is a little different from a person who hasn't had to attend the funerals of their parents before they graduated from high school. One quote in particular really resonated with me.

"It is really emotional," Flowers said. "I lost my dad at the age of 7, I lost my mom at the age of 17. Growing up without your parents in your life is really tough. There are times when you want to go and talk to your mom or talk to your dad about some stuff and I can't do that because I know they aren't in my life but I know they are looking over me."

I have to admit that when I sat down next to Flowers in Newport, R.I. in July, I wasn't even sure if he would address the subject matter with somebody he was seeing for the first time. Thankfully he brought up some of the tragedies in his life before I posed the first question about it which made it significantly less awkward for me to delve into areas that certainly must be difficult for him to talk about. I still remember being at the 2001 Women's Final Four when Purdue star Katie Douglas was asked to address the recent death of both her parents. The question was almost flippant in the way it was asked and she was certainly caught off guard. Just imagine being in front of a room of mostly strangers and basically being asked, "tell me about the deaths of your mother and father" in a similar tone that she might have been asked about trying to slow down a star-studded Notre Dame lineup in the national championship game.

Douglas, who would eventually play much of her professional career in Connecticut, is about as quotable of an athlete as you will find but there are ways to ask these types of questions and doing it alongside of 40-50 other media members wasn't the way to go. Making matter worse, a few minutes after the press conference ended a couple of reporters were trashing Douglas for not expounding on a very personal matter. I won't repeat what I said to those reporters but let's just I'm still waiting to be placed on their Christmas card mailing list.

I sat down with Douglas when she was with the Connecticut Sun for an interview that was similar in tone and in results to the one I had with Flowers in Newport. Words can't express how impressed I am with the two of them of being able to field questions from somebody like me. I'm not sure I could have handled being on the receiving end of these types of questions when I was a college student or early on in my professional career.

Hopefully you'll enjoy reading about Flowers, who is much more than just one of the nation's most electrifying quarterbacks.

With the potentially devastating weather or what I've seen described as potentially catastrophic conditions as a result of Hurricane Irma set to hit Florida, the kickoff time for Saturday's game against South Florida has been changed from noon to 10:30 a.m.

The hope is that by changing the time, the USF traveling party will have a better chance of landing back in Florida before the deteriorating conditions impact travel plans.

The game will still be televised live on ESPNews.  Lots for season-ticket holders will be open at 6 a.m. and general ticket holders at 6:30 a.m. The Husky Walk will take place at 8 a.m.

Of course, all of this is subject to change.

Other than Bryant Shirreffs being named the starting quarterback, news that linebackers Vontae Diggs and Junior Joseph both practiced on Tuesday putting them in position to play on Saturday and Marshe Terry moving ahead of Brice McAllister on the depth chart at safety, there wasn't much coming out of Tuesday's media availability.

Edsall didn't have much to say about the decision to start Shirreffs.

"We make the decision we think is the best for the team, both of them played coming out the game, Bryant is the guy who is the starter for us against South Florida."

Edsall did say that Shirreffs, offensive tackle Matt Peart and running backs Nate Hopkins were players he thought played well.

He was even more tight lipped when I asked whether Diggs and/or Joseph would be expected to play when nationally-ranked South Florida comes to Rentschler Field on Saturday.

"They practiced," Edsall said.

With Diggs on the depth chart as a starter, Chris Britton is now listed in the "or" category with Cam Stapleton at the other linebacking spot meaning either Stapleton or Britton could start alongside of Joseph and Diggs.

Terry nearly had an interception and forced a fumble (although it is still being credited to Tre Bell) in the game and was noticeable for most of the right reasons in the Holy Cross game.

I also found it curious that receiver Quayvon Skanes was listed as the starting slot receiver and kickoff return (along with Jordan Swann) but wasn't out there for any special teams duty and didn't play on offense until the second quarter.

"The depth chart is one of those things, we have different personnel groupings and I am not going to list every personnel grouping in terms of our depth chart so that is why you saw what you saw with (Tyler Davis starting over Skanes). He is the starter in our mind."

Edsall said having listed on the kickoff return team is a mistake on the depth chart.

Lately some of Edsall's most entertaining quotes have come when addressing the punting situation and today was no question as Brett Graham didn't find out he was the No. 1 guy until about 30 minutes before opening kickoff.

"I wasn't sure what we are going to do so we are in pre-game warmups, Brett goes and punts the ball, Luke comes up, standing right there, the snap goes back and drops the snap and the decision is made right there," Edsall said. "I saw two days before on the practice field, we had the same thing but when it happened on the pregame, I was probably thinking of going that way but that sealed it, I had about 6.7 coaches just look at me and we knew what we are going to do. The kid will be fine down the road, you talk about a guy that is diligent, works, wants to do well, he'll be fine down the road."

Graham was one of four players brought in to meet with the media (Shirreffs, Jamar Summers and Ryan Crozier were the others) so look for more on him later in the week.

Yesterday was not kind to some UConn football alumni as John Green (Cowboys), Dan Orlovsky (Rams) and Noel Thomas (Lions) joined Andreas Knappe (Falcons) and Richard Levy (Giants) were among the players cut loose by NFL teams as they got down to the 53-player maximum. Perhaps some of first-year players released will find their way onto practice squads.

It wasn't all bad news as I count 13 UConn products on NFL rosters (actually now at 12 after Chargers cut Geremy Davis after making a couple of waiver claims).

S Andrew Adams, Giants: Opened a few eyes when injuries led to the Giants turning to the undrafted rookie free agent a season ago. Adams finished with 46 tackles, five pass breakups and his first regular season interception in a win over Philadelphia.

S Tyvon Branch, Cardinals: Preparing for his 10th NFL season and second with Arizona. Branch only played six games and if his stats were projected over 16 games, his 75 tackles would have been the most since his run of four seasons with at least 90 stops with the Oakland Raiders ended with a 94-tackle season in 2012.

S Darius Butler, Colts: Back for his sixth season in Indianapolis and ninth overall NFL season, he had three interceptions in 12 games last season. With seven of the Colts defensive backs either in their first or second seasons, he is also being asked to provide leadership in the secondary.

WR Geremy Davis, Chargers: Davis played his way onto the roster with an impressive preseason with a couple of highlight variety grabs about his nine catches in the last three preseason games. He didn't have a catch in three games with the Chargers a season ago but his make two with the Giants in 2015. UPDATE: Davis was cut by Chargers but I'd have to think he'll be back on an NFL roster this season.

TE Ryan Griffin, Houston: Griffin was the last of five UConn players taken in the 2013 NFL draft but the only one with the team which drafted him. Griffin is coming off a career-high 50-catch season and his next reception will be the 100th of his career in the regular season

S Byron Jones, Cowboys: A first-round pick in the 2015 draft, Jones started all 16 games in his second year. Jones had 88 tackles and an interception and he forced a fumble. There are plenty of question marks in the Dallas secondary this year but the unit is being built around the athletic former Husky.

CB Robert McClain, Buccaneers: McClain is with his sixth NFL franchise since breaking in with Carolina in 2010. His best years came with the Atlanta Falcons when he had 186 tackles and 20 PBUs in three seasons playing for Mike Smith who just happens to be Tampa Bay's defensive coordinator.

S Obi Melinfownu, Raiders: The second-round pick was slowed by injuries in the preseason as his only tackles came against Dallas in a game featuring three former UConn DBs recording tackles. Big things are expected from Melifonwu.

FB Anthony Sherman, Chiefs: Sherman is back for his fifth season in Kansas City and seventh NFL campaign. After opening holes for Jamaal Charles, now rookie Kareem Hunt figures to be the featured back who gets to run behind the bruising Sherman.

DT Shamar Stephen, Vikings: Stephen is headed into his fourth season with the Vikings and based on media reports, this has been his best training camp to date. Stephen was taken with the 220th pick in the 2014 draft and 20 players selected ahead of him have yet to appear in a regular-season NFL game which Stephen has started 19 games including all 16 a season ago.

RB Jordan Todman, Texans: Todman started training camp with the Jets but two days after being released, he was signed by Houston. The Texans became the eighth NFL franchise he has been with although he never appeared in a regular-season game with San Diego and Minnesota in 2011 and with the Jets this year. Todman averaged a career-high 29.9 yards per kickoff return with the Colts last season and the Texans obviously like the idea of a having a player averaging 26.6 yards on kickoff returns in his career.

WR Nick Williams, Falcons: After breaking into the league with Washington in 2013 as an undrafted free agent, he is ready for his third season in Atlanta. A total of 17 of his 25 career regular season receptions came during the 2015 season although he does have 48 career receptions in preseason games.

Blidi Wreh-Wilson, Falcons: The former third-round pick by Tennessee was probably going to make the roster but intercepting a pass in the end zone in the final preseason game against Jacksonville didn't hurt his case. After playing 34 games in three seasons with the Titans, he appeared in one game last season with Atlanta.

The best thing to say about last night's season opener is that UConn found a way to win.

Bryant Shirreffs was summoned of the bench and the Huskies promptly scored touchdowns on three of the next four drives.

"There are 11 players on the field and people are making plays when I am in and they help me out a lot," Shirreffs said.

While that is true, Shirreffs came into the game and began throwing the ball around the field in impressive fashion and the team responded to his confidence and swagger.

He finished 9 of 13 for 124 yards and one touchdown pass. He wasn't sacked and his passing rating of 173.7 is the third best of any game he's had at the college level while attempting at least 10 passes.

The one thing Shirreffs has over David Pindell other than experience at the college level is the ability to throw the intermediate to deep ball (at least last night). Pindell didn't get many chances to air it out as most of his passes were dump offs but he wasn't close on a few of the deeper throws. That seemed to open up some running lanes as Holy Cross had to honor the Huskies' ability to throw deep. Shirreffs did miss on a couple of deep throws but also made a couple as well. Pindell didn't play poorly and the move reminds me of when a hockey coach pulls a goalie after multiple goals are surrendered on odd man rushes. The move is made to try to change momentum and not because of the quality of play of the person being yanked from the game. On today's media conference call Edsall wasn't ready to declare his starting quarterback for the USF game.

Considering that Foley Fatukasi was ejected in the first quarter after being called for targeting on a helmet to helmet hit on Holy Cross quarterback Peter Pujals and Junior Joseph left the game in the third quarter, it's pretty remarkable that UConn's defense shut out Holy Cross after halftime. Let's be honest, Pujals missed some throws in the second half and it is a little distressing how wide open the Holy Cross receivers seemed to be on nearly every passing play. The biggest improvement came on third and long when UConn was able to get some pressure on Pujals. It was the first time any of the UConn players went in the 3-3-5 scheme in a game so this week will be about making the adjustments because next up is South Florida and some of the throws that were missed by Pujals will likely be completed with Quinton Flowers at quarterback.

It was reported that since Fatukasi was ejected for targeting that he has to sit out the first half. against South Florida. However, I don't know if that is the case. I found this entry from the NCAA in September of 2016 declaring that if a player is ejected in the first half, they do not have to miss any time in the next game. If the play happened in the second half, he would be required to miss the first half. Edsall confirmed that Fatukasi will be able to start against USF. Watching the play when Junior Joseph got hurt and especially the reaction of his teammates (especially Jamar Summers) makes me wonder when we will see him back on the field but Edsall didn't update his status other than to say it was a shoulder injury.

Defensively, the player who impressed me the most was Chris Britton who was making his first career start and was in the backfield early and often. I also that punter Brett Graham had a pretty solid game averaging 40.5 yards on six punts with no touchbacks and just one punt returned for five yards. It was a mixed bag for freshman returnman Jordan Swann, he did return a punt 18 yards, the longest for the Huskies since Deshon Foxx brought one back against Stony Brook in 2014 but he let one go over his head resulting in a 75-yard punt and also fumbled a kickoff. I was a little surprised that Quayvon Skanes wasn't back there on kickoffs with Swann.

Nate Hopkins, Luke Carrezola and Graham were awarded game balls by Edsall after the game.

Offensively, the interior of UConn's offensive line did not have a strong first half and that is being kind. Things got better in the second half.

According to the box score, 18 true or redshirt freshmen played for UConn. There are a couple of names in the player participation listing that I'm not sure got into the game but at least 15 of them definitely got into the game which is a large number for sure.