Former UConn defensive end Jesse Joseph recorded his first career sack in the Canadian Football League in Montreal's 22-14 win over Winnipeg on Friday night.

Montreal was leading 22-6 with 5:15 remaining when Joseph took down Drew Willy for a six-yard loss on third down to give the ball back to Montreal. It was one of five sacks for the Alouettes in the season opener.

Joseph is in his second season with Montreal as he made six tackles in 18 games during the 2015 season.

A couple of Joseph's former teammates could square off tonight when Alex Mateas's Ottawa team plays Edmonton featuring rookie Reuben Frank.

In Toronto's 42-20 loss to Hamilton on Thursday, Larry Taylor returned to the CFL as he returned five punts for 40 yards and had 68 yards on three kickoff returns. Taylor moved up a spot to eighth on CFL's career kickoff return list moving past Ron Hopkins.

Canadian Football League teams had to trim their rosters to 46 players today and among those players let go today was Trevardo Williams, UConn's all-time leader in sacks, who was waived by the Toronto Argonauts.

Williams played in both preseason games for Toronto, finishing with two tackles and one sack.

Former UConn receiver Terence Jeffers-Harris was cut by the BC Lions. While official rosters haven't been posted, former Huskies Martin Bedard (Montreal), Reuben Frank (Edmonton), Jesse Joseph (Montreal) and Alex Mateas (Ottawa) were not listed among the cuts. Bedard, Joseph and Mateas (a former No. 1 overall pick) are all from Canada so it's not a surprise to see them survive the cuts but it would be an impressive feat for Frank to be on the opening game roster for Edmonton. Frank was signed by Edmonton on May 28.

I'd expect official rosters to be on the official CFL site perhaps as soon as tomorrow. The regular season kicks off on Thursday when Hamilton plays Toronto.

Former UConn WR Nick Williams is tied for the team lead with seven
catches in two preseason games with the Atlanta Falcons

Nick Williams continues to make his presence felt in his push for a roster spot with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.

Williams finished with four catches for 43 yards in last night's 30-22 loss to the New York Jets. He was targeted six times, tying him for the team lead with former East Carolina Justin Hardy, taken in the fourth round in this year's draft. Williams also returned three kickoffs for 77 yards and had 10 yards on two punt returns.

Led by Julio Jones, Roddy White, Leonard Hankerson and special teams ace Devin Hester, the Falcons currently have 10 receivers on the active roster so Williams has some work to do. Of course, he has been down this road before. After being under utilized during his time at UConn, he made the 2013 Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent after making seven catches in four preseason games. He had catches three times in a five-game span in the second half of the 2013 season for Washington. Despite catching six passes including two TD receptions in the 2014 preseason, he did not make the 2014 Washington roster.

In other pro football news, Byron Jones told reporters that his injured left shoulder feels good and he is hoping to return to practice with the Dallas Cowboys next week while Marcus Easley, sidelined with a knee injury, returned to practice with the Buffalo Bills. Also, Jesse Joseph made his first regular-season tackle with the CFL's Montreal Alouettes in last night's 23-13 win over the BC Lions.

HAHN TO START SENIOR SEASON ON SIDELINE
UConn commit Eddie Hahn underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus on Thursday.

Hahn, who was an all-state quarterback as a junior at Red Bank (N.J.) Catholic, told the NJ.com's Joe Zedalis that "everything happens for a reason" and he was told by the doctor who did the operation that he was fortunate that he did not suffer a torn ACL which would have forced him to miss his entire senior season. Instead, Hahn is hopeful that he will miss just a game or two.

"I can begin throwing and light workouts in about two weeks," Hahn said. "After that, it all depends on how things go. I don’t know if it will be one game or two, I just want to get back on the field."

The injury happened when he was tackled in a scrimmage against Pope John on Tuesday. He told the UConn coaching staff about the injury on Friday.

"They were happy it wasn’t anything major and that I wasn’t going to miss my entire senior year," Hahn said.

Red Bank Catholic opens the season with a game against on Long Branch on Sept. 11.

Former UConn stars Yawin Smallwood and Shamar Stephen expected
to be taken on either Firday or Saturday in NFL draft.

These next few days are going to be anxious ones for the former UConn players who have put themselves in position to get their names called in the NFL Draft.

Last year five UConn players were drafted and a total of eight made it into NFL camps. That number is expected to be significantly smaller this time around but linebacker Yawin Smallwood and defensive lineman Shamar Stephen are expected to be drafted while defensive end Jesse Joseph has met with a few NFL teams since UConn's pro day.

I've found it beneficial to reach out to those people who have played a significant role in the NFL Draft process. So yesterday I spent a few minutes with Tony Villani, a well-respected trainer who counts Jamal Lewis, Hines Ward, Takeo Spikes and Osi Umenyiora among some of his clients during his 12 years in charge of XPE Sports.

Villani began working with Smallwood in January and to say he was impressed with UConn's leading tackler in the 2012 and 2013 would be an understatement.

"The linebacker I love a lot and worked with for 12 years was Takeo Spikes" Villani said. "He is like a longer, rangier Takeo Spikes. His strength, his movement, his attitude all of that reminds me of Takeo, he is more of a stretched out version of a Takeo Spikes."

Spikes was a first-round pick by Cincinnati in the 1998 NFL Draft. He has recorded more than 1,400 career tackles and earned All-Pro honors twice so that's pretty high praise.

So what impresses Villani the most about Smallwood?

"His physical size and his ability for that size," Villani said. "He’s a 6-2, 245/250 pound guy with length, normally those guys are regulated to play inside or outside and not play both but he is athletic enough to play both. Normally you have those short squatty inside linebackers or you have rangy outside linebackers. He kind of fits the mold of them both size wise and ability wise so that was what I was impressed with the most."

Villani also loves Smallwood's blue-collar, no-frills approach to the game.

"You can get guys who you can call knuckleheads and he definitely has zero percent knucklehead in him," Villani said. "He is very down to earth, has a work-hard attitude. I got zero complaints about him."

One issue Villani did have with Smallwood was a troublesome hamstring. He did what he could to prepare Smallwood to run the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine but Smallwood had to ease up when his hamstring tightened up running the 40 at the combine. He was clocked at 5.01 but his 10-yard split was one of the best among the linebackers. Villani predicted that Smallwood would have run in the  "4.7 (second) laser range, 4.6 hand range which for somebody who is almost 250 pounds is very acceptable.

"His 10 yard among all the linebackers was probably the fifth or sixth fastest out of 35 (linebackers) so I know he got out real well. Because of his size, he wouldn’t have been one of the fifth or sixth fastest but he probably would have been in the top third, top 12.

"He had a hamstring injury that we really couldn’t get cleared up in time for the combine so we really had to focus on his positional drills and had to change the plan to make him look good on his positional workouts after the combine rather than trying to do the 40 real fast at the combine."

Villani is not sure if the lack of a top time in the 40 will impact Smallwood's draft position. He said he is hoping that Smallwood is a second-day pick which would make him either a second or third round pick. Many of the mock drafts being circulated have him going much lower than that but these mock drafts have proven to be as reliable as a Connecticut weather report in December or January.

Villani, who has 14 or 15 clients expected to be taken in this year's draft. admits he is not sure which round Smallwood will end up being taken in or the role that 5.01 40 will play come draft time.

"I think it (the slow 40 time) does in the media’s eyes because they need a lot of stuff to report about, they come out with mock drafts in mid January and do six more," Villani said. "It is weird because they say that the 40 doesn’t matter and it always ends up mattering, then when the draft happens you will find out."

The draft begins Thursday night with the first round. The second and third rounds will be held on Friday with rounds 4-7 conducted on Saturday.

The NFL Draft Bible site recently updated its positional rankings and the UConn quartet of Jimmy Bennett, Jesse Joseph, Yawin Smallwood and Shamar Stephen all made the cut.

Smallwood is the No. 3 rated inside linebacker, Stephen is No. 23 among defensive tackles, Bennett is the 27th rated offensive tackle and Joseph ranks 28th among the defensive ends.

Stephen and Smallwood are also among the players listed in the NFL.com database. Stephen is tied for eighth among defensive tackles/nose tackles with a grade of  5.4 while Smallwood is tied for seventh among inside linebackers with a 5.2 grade.

There are others with Connecticut ties in the NFL Draft Bible player ratings.

Khairi Fortt of Stamford is the No. 15 outside linebacker and Silas Redd of Norwalk is the No. 27 running back while Kevin Pierre-Louis of Norwalk is the 20th rated outside linebacker. Mike Flacco (yes, he is the brother of Ravens QB Joe Flacco) of the University of New Haven is the 18th rated tight end former UConn defensive back Tevrin Brandon out of Monmouth is the No. 46 ranked cornerback.

Former UConn defensive end Jesse Joseph had one solo tackle, stopping Bloomsburg's Franklyn Quiteh after a two-yard run on the National Team's first defensive possession of the fourth quarter, to help his team to a 31-17 victory in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl at the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif.

Joseph was part of a defense which limited the American squad to an average of 3.7 yards on 29 carries.

Joseph, a native of Laval, Quebec,was second among UConn defensive linemen with 40 tackles during his senior season. He finished his career with 158 tackles and 14 sacks.

Unless he gets invited to another all-star game, the game was Joseph's final one was a college player. Regardless of what happens in the NFL draft, Joseph does have the option of heading to the Canadian Football League as he was selected in the third round of the 2013 CFL Draft by Montreal.

Defensive end Jesse Joseph became the third member of the 2013 UConn football team to accept an invitation to play in a postseason all-star game.

Joseph, who had 40 tackles including six tackles for loss as a senior and finished his career with 15 sacks, will be playing in the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl in Carson, Calif. on Jan. 18.

While Joseph is hoping to open the eyes of NFL scouts during the practice sessions and in the game, he does have the option of playing in the CFL as the native of  Laval, Quebec was takeb by Montreal with the 23rd overall pick in May's CFL Draft.

Offensive tackle Jimmy Bennett will be playing in the Medal of Honor Bowl and defensive tackle Shamar Stephen has been selected to play in the Senior Bowl.

The news is not all good for former UConn defensive standouts as cornerback Dwayne Gratz, a rookie cornerback with the Jacksonville Jaguars, is not expected to play in Sunday's regular-season finale against the Colts due to an ankle injury. With the Jaguars already being eliminated from playoff contention, Gratz will finish his rookie season with 32 tackles and two interceptions as he started eight of the 10 games he played in.

Angelo Pruitt has been able to contribute while playing nearly
every spot on the defensive line over the last two seasons

One advantage of having UConn's game against Michigan televised on ABC is it gave me a chance to look back at what transpired.

At the top of the list of the things I was eager to get a closer look at was how the playing time at defensive end was doled out.

By my unofficial tally, the snap count was divided almost equally among Tim Willman (46 snaps), Jesse Joseph (42) and Angelo Pruitt (41) while Reuben Frank was used almost exclusively on obvious passing downs.

When Joseph was in the game he was usually lined up at the left defensive end while Willman was used to the right DE. However, Angelo Pruitt was moved all over the place. Not only did he play both defensive end spots but every once in a while he would be used inside when the Huskies lined up defensive ends side by side in an attempt to breath some life into what was a struggling pass rush.

By game's end I thought that other than defensive tackle Shamar Strephen (who drew praise all night long from analyst and former NFL linebacker Chris Spielman) no defensive lineman was more impressive than Pruitt.

I asked UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni about Stephen's performance on Saturday which went under the radar not only by us media folks but also the stat keepers. The tape shows that Stephen threw the Michigan offensive lineman into quarterback Devin Gardner which resulted in Gardner's fumble. Ty-Meer Brown scooped up the ball and ran it in to put UConn up 21-7.

"I think he is playing really consistent," Pasqualoni said. "He is probably our most consistent, steady player on defense. He is not going to get a lot of the fanfare not going to get a lot of accolades but he is a guy who gives you everything he's got with effort, fundamentals and dependability. Shamar is very smart, he wants to be a great player and he is playing very consistently."

In one sequence Pruitt drew a hold on Michigan's all-everything left tackle Taylor Lewan wiping out a long run by Devin Gardner and then dropped tailback Fitz Toussaint in the backfield. Pruitt finished with six tackles including two tackles for loss.

"Although I am moving around on the field, fundamentals and techniques stay the same," Pruitt said. "When I am on the outside, I am setting the edge on the inside and taking on a double team, being in great position to take on the block."

Pruitt usually split time with Joseph at the left DE spot in the first two games but he saw more time on the right side against Michigan. Considering that meant a matchup with Lewan, who is projected to be a top five pick in April's NFL draft it is an indication of how much confidence the UConn coaches have in Pruitt. Pruitt said the approach doesn't change regardless of which side he lines up on.

"Teams are changing their tight ends so any moment each side can be the strong side," Pruitt said. "I think both sides are the same with technique and responsibilities and setting the edge. It works hand and hand."

Pruitt said while his teammates never lost faith in their ability to be a top-flight defense after rough games against Towson and Maryland, it did feel good to show the nation that the Huskies can still be an elite defensive unit.

"This game didn’t really prove anything to us because we knew who we are and our record doesn’t reflect us as a team or reflect our work ethic but I think it just proved to the world that we are the UConn defense that has been pretty good for the last couple of years," Pruitt said. "We have the potential to do something great."

Since Pruitt hails from Cincinnati I was curious if he had any reaction to the tragedy suffered by his hometown school as Cincinnati freshman offensive lineman Ben Flick died in a car accident and two other Bearcat football players were hospitalized after the Saturday night crash.

"For my teammates and teammates across the nation, that is a very unfortunate event," Pruitt said. "You never want someone to get hurt on the field or off the field so me hearing about that, I am saddened about it and I wish that program the best of luck so they can recover from this."

With UConn ready to host Michigan on Saturday night in what could be the most high-profile home game in program history, it seems like a perfect time to look back on UConn's 2010 game to Michigan.

Although he did not start in the game, senior defensive tackle and captain Shamar Stephen made one of his two tackles on UConn’s first defensive series.

“That was the first time I ever played in a game so it was definitely a great experience for me,” Stephen said. “I remember it was a pretty fast tempo, getting into it was a little different and as the game wore on, I adjusted and started making the plays.

“It was definitely nerve wracking at first but once you make that first hit, it all goes away and you are into the game. I was more focused on my assignments. I just didn’t want to mess up in my first game but it was pretty crazy.”

Stephen was one of six current Huskies to play in the 30-10 loss to Michigan in the 2010 season opener. Jesse Joseph started at defensive end and made four tackles, Cole Wagner had a 66-yard punt, Chad Christen averaged 65.3 yards on three kickoffs while Martin Hyppolite and Taylor Mack also played in the game.

Many of the current seniors were on the travel squad for UConn’s lone trip to Michigan Stadium.

“It was a fantastic experience,” UConn senior offensive tackle Kevin Friend said. “I was a redshirt freshman and I have never seen a stadium like that before and just to see it, looking up at it and seeing that it was full it was awesome. Just feeling what the team felt in the locker room and how everyone came together before the game and psyched everybody up. It was an awesome experience.”

Fellow senior offensive lineman Steve Greene also has mostly positive memories of the trip to Michigan.

“I remember it was a big place and we were in the game and we had a chance to win it too,” Greene said.
“It is one of the most famous arenas in college football so obviously it is a great experience.”

When UConn has had its full complement of defensive linemen senior Tim Willman has been garnering the majority of first-team snaps at right defensive end which happens to be the same position Trevardo Williams held down in recent years en route to seeing the program sacks record.

Willman, who is about 20 pounds heavier than Williams, obviously brings a different dimension that Williams as he lacks the speed and impressive first step that Williams possessed but in the practices I attended in the preseason he was consistently one of the more noticeable defensive players I have seen. He was in the backfield on a regular basis which is something he will be asked to do in his senior season.

"I bring a lot of good run stopping," said Williams, who had three sacks during the 2012 season. "I learned a lot of technique from him so I am trying to play like him but also play my own style."

UConn not only lost Williams but defensive tackle Ryan Wirth from its defensive line. Wirth has been the one player that UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni has consistently mentioned as one of the toughest players that the Huskies need to replace.

With Shamar Stephen healthier than he was at any point last year, Julian Campenni seemingly in position to build on a solid freshman season and Jesse Joseph back after missing the last nine games of last season with a torn Achilles' tendon, the Huskies have a chance to have one of its most physical defensive fronts in recent memory.

"We lost two great players and we miss them a lot but we are picking up right where we left off and we are not missing a beat," Willman said

"That is something we are going to hang our hats on. We are going to play physical, play hard and play UConn defense."

Just over a week after a program record five UConn players were selected in the NFL draft, another Husky was selected by a professional football team.

Defensive end Jesse Joseph was taken by Montreal with the 23rd overall pick in Monday's Canadian Football League draft although the earliest he would make his CFL debut is during the 2014 season since he is returning to the Huskies for a fifth season of eligibility.

Joseph, a native of Laval, Quebec, has 118 tackles and 13 sacks in 37 career games at UConn.

Joseph, an immediate starter as a true freshman, had 11 sacks in his first two seasons before being slowed by injury as a junior and senior. Joseph suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in a 24-21 win over Maryland. He was granted a fifth season of eligibility and is expected to be one of the leaders of a Connecticut defense which lost six starters including five who were either drafted or invited to NFL training camps.

Joseph is the fifth UConn product taken in the CFL draft since 2004. Receiver O'Neil Wilson was taken by Montreal with the 25th selection in 2004, defensive end Shawn Mayne went to Hamilton with the 18th pick in 2006, tight end Martin Bedard was selected with the 14th overall pick by Montreal in 2009 and in 2011 center Moe Petrus was chosen 10th overall by Hamilton.

Spring practice will come to an end this afternoon with the spring game. It's going to be interesting to see how the event gets run because on Tuesday head coach Paul Pasqualoni made it sound like the squad was going to be split in half and it will resemble the Blue-White Game of the past. A couple of days later a press release was sent out stating it was going to be more of a controlled scrimmage due to a lack of healthy bodies at certain positions.

Linebacker, defensive line and running back seem to be the positions hit the hardest by injuries.

Yawin Smallwood hasn't practiced all spring while Omaine Stephens and Jon Hicks are other linebackers out of action which leaves five linebackers able to go today. The good news is that the healthy linebackers seem to have made an impact this spring.


"Ryan Donohue is having a really good spring," Pasqualoni said after Tuesday's practice. "He is a leader capable of directing his teammates which is a big prerequisite of the linebacker position. He is doing a very good job and has a clear understanding of what the concepts are, what he is seeing and his instinctiveness and reactionary stuff is really good. Brandon Steg is having his best spring since I have been here so that is very encouraging. He has been on the scout team for my two years here, Graham Stewart is learning the position but you can see the explosiveness so he has the skill set, Jefferson Ashiru is playing more consistently, Marquise Vann is playing more confidently, more assuredly so I am encouraged with that group."

On the defensive line, probable fall starters Jesse Joseph and Shamar Stephen have spent more time riding the stationary bike while promising sophomore tailback Joe Williams suffered an ankle injury in a scrimmage a week ago that will keep him out of action today. Martin Hyppolite, a passenger in a car involved in a fatal accident in New Hampshire, is still recovering from those injuries and will also be sidelined.

"He is walking around," Pasqualoni said of Hyppolite. "(UConn trainer) Bob (Howard) said he has a ways to go to get it healed but there is no way of us knowing until we get to June or July. He is in all the meetings learning everything."

Pasqualoni said the returners will catch punts and kickoffs but there will be no returns in the game/scrimmage.

Here is how the UConn press release described what fans can expect today.


Saturday’s Blue vs. White Spring Game will not have a typical team vs. team format due to the fact that the Huskies have a limited amount of healthy players in certain position areas. The UConn offense will scrimmage against the UConn defense in various situations, including standard gameday, “back to the wall” starting at the one-yard line and having to move downfield and red zone.

Parking lots opened at 9 a.m. today with Rentschler Field gates set to open at 10:30 a.m. The game/scrimmage will begin at noon. WTIC-1080 will broadcast the game live and while SNY is expected to have a crew at the game, it will not be televising the game live as it did last year.

With the season-ending Achilles injury suffered by starting defensive end Jesse Joseph, junior Tim Willman moved into a starting spot in UConn's depth chart heading into Saturday's game against Western Michigan with redshirt freshman Kenton Adeyemi moving into the two-deep chart.

The biggest surprise is that Shamar Stephen, who saw his first action of the season in Saturday's win over Maryland, was not listed in the two deep at defensive tackle.

There were no other changes in the two-deep chart.

When the season began there may not have been a position with more veteran playmakers on the UConn team than defensive end with the return of seniors Trevardo Williams, Jesse Joseph and Teddy Jennings.

Well, after three games Williams is the only one left standing.

Less than a week after the news that Jennings underwent season-ending knee surgery comes another major blow for the UConn defense as Joseph tore his Achilles tendon in Saturday's win over Maryland and he will also miss the rest of the season.

"Jesse is out for the season," UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni said on a conference call on Sunday. "We will try to appeal because it happened in the first three games and did not redshirt so we will try to make an appeal for the redshirt season and apply it to this year. E.J. (Norris) is in the mix, Tim Willman has been playing there, Kenton Adeyemi has been working and was on the trip (to Maryland) so we are putting the next guy in and moving on. We are going to get the surgery done as soon as we can. It i clearly a torn Achilles tendon so there is no messing around. We are going to get it done quickly. I don't think we will have him back for spring practice, it will be spring practice and the goal is to get hi back for the start of the summer."

Pasqualoni also said that not playing senior cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson in the Maryland game because of a tender hamstring was the right decision and he is hoping that Wreh-Wilson will be able to play in Saturday's game at Western Michigan.

"I wasn't being overly cautious, believe me we did the right thing," Pasqualoni said. "We didn't go down there not to play with Blidi Wilson. Blidi did this last year and I think he was out five weeks. We are going to get a good look at him today and get a good look at him on Tuesday. If you have to put him in a category I would probably list him somewhere between questionable and probable so I think there is a chance (he will play)." 

Pasqualoni also said that the team is doing better dealing with the stomach bug today than they were at Saturday's game when senior offensive guard Adam Masters missed the game and other key players were playing at less than 100 percent.

Also, Pasqualoni said game balls were given to sophomore linebacker Yawin Smallwood (14 tackles, 3.5 tackles for losses, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble), senior linebacker Sio Moore (2.5 sacks) and senior returner Nick Williams, who had a 58-yard punt return for a touchdown.

Finally, after the Maryland game Pasqualoni said that he wanted to get a closer look at the tipped ball play which resulted in a Stefon Diggs touchdown catch for Maryland believing there may have been offensive pass interference which was not called.

"It is a very hard thing to see on our film, we do not have great angles on it and I haven't gotten a TV copy yet but we are going to send it in to Terry McAulay (the Big East's coordinator of football officiating) and we are going to get his point of view on it."