UConn has a pair of mid-year enrollees who will be able to take part in spring practice as Chris Britton, a linebacker out of Harrisburg, Pa. and Jamar Summers, a cornerback from Orange, N.J. who spent a postgraduate season at Milford Academy are already enrolled.

Both players were recruited by the previous staff but had their enrollments delayed. Britton, who had 125 tackles as a senior at Harrisburg High, chose not to take an postgraduate year while Summers had an outstanding season at Milford Academy and was considered to be one of the Falcons' most consistently effective players by Milford Acdemy coach Bill Chaplick.

"The UConn football team is proud to welcome these two fine young men to our family,” said UConn head football coach Bob Diaco in a statement. “Our veteran players and our coaching staff will immediately begin to help them with the transition to becoming members of the UConn student body and our athletic department’s culture."

I caught up with Summers when Milford Academy played the Yale JV team in West Haven in October. He was the only one of the three UConn players who headed to Milford Academy who honored his commitment following the firing of Paul Pasqualoni and George DeLeone. Offensive tackle Chasz Wright is headed to Penn State while tight end Jordan Fuchs is going to Indiana.

"It has been fun, it has been a new experience in my life, a new chapter in my life being that I didn’t qualify for the scholarship (out of high school)," Summers said back in October. "I got my head right, I got a bunch of guys who are hungry for scholarships who want to go to I-A and I-AA schools.

"I am looking forward to the competition level, the big lights, the different competition level."

I also went to see Summers play as a senior at Orange (N.J.) High the night before UConn played at Rutgers back in 2012. It was there I was able to chat with his brother Alvin Bowen, a fifth-round pick of the Buffalo Bills in the 2008 NFL draft who ad an interception and fumble recovery with Calgary of the CFL during the 2013 season.

What was interesting was that Bowen got to know DeLeone when he was being recruited as a high school star but Summers, Bowen and their family remained firm with UConn throughout the process.

UConn director of athletics Warde Manuel, a former defensive tackle at Michigan, makes it out to UConn practice whenever he can fit it into his schedule and he has liked what he has seen this summer.

"They are working hard, learning and preparing every day so I am excited with what I see," Manuel said after appearing at the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce's August meeting. "I think the student-athletes,  they are all getting tired around this time of practicing against each other and hitting each other but the effort and what the coaches is getting them to learn is all good to see and I am really pleased with what I have seen."

While last year's team was a senior-laden squad, there are quite a few of few freshmen and sophomores in positions to see significant action this season.

"You have to step up," Manuel said. "It is the next player, the next year, the next down and you have to step up and be prepared. I am very excited with what I am seeing. What you hope to see is that talent will take over some of the learning stuff but you still have to learn. There’s no substitute for reps in practice and in games but I am very pleased with what I am seeing and very excited with how we are approaching the season and how everything is coming together."

Manuel is thrilled with the non-conference schedule which kicks off next Thursday against Towson followed by games against Maryland and Michigan before playing the road opener against Buffalo.

"That is the plan," Manuel said. "We don’t go in taking any game lightly and there are some tough opponents who are coming in and that is what our fans want to see but more importantly, that is who our student-athletes want to play against. They want to play against the best and are preparing to do that. Towson is going to be a great start to the season, they had a great season last year and we will move forward with that."

FORK UNION, MILFORD ACADEMY OPEN THIS WEEKEND
In a perfect world Jordan Fuchs, Jamar Summers, Chasz Wright, Jalan Branford and Chris Britton would be up at UConn working alongside the rest of the talented group of true freshmen.

However, there weren't enough scholarship slots for all of them so the plan is for the aforementioned quintet to spend the fall semester at prep schools before enrolling at UConn in January.

The journey begins on Saturday as Fuchs, Summers and Wright are expected to be in uniform when Milford Academy hosts Globe Institute at 4 p.m.

A source close to the situation said that Britton is expected to enroll at Fork Union and the Reading (Pa.) Eagle reported back in June that Branford was heading to Fork Union.

However, in an email to the Register Fork Union postgraduate football coach Col. John Shuman said neither player is currently in camp and therefore won't be playing in Friday's season opener against the Apprentice School.