Sophomore fullback and former Seymour High star Mike Osiecki has withdrawn from UConn the university announced today.

Osiecki was the second-string fullback for the first six games of the season before he suffered a concussion in the first half of the Rutgers game. He missed the last two games due to the concussion and was removed from the depth chart for the South Florida game.

This is the second time this year that Osiecki has left UConn. He was granted permission to head home for a few days during preseason camp with the understanding that he could return if he chose to. Osiecki took the time off and did come back to the team. The first time he left it was because he had some personal issues to tend to. This time, it appears to be as a result of the head injury he suffered.

Osiecki did not have a carry but he did have three receptions for 32 yards this season.

"Mike made the decision which based on all factors I thought it was a good decision to drop out of school for this semester," Pasqualoni said on a Thursday conference call with the media. "Hopefully Mike will do well and we will see what happens from here but that is about all I can say about it."

Pasqualoni said that Martin Hyppolite, who replaced Osiecki as the No. 2 fullback on the depth chart, has been seeing time at both tailback and fullback.

"Martin is not only playing the tailback but he is playing the fullback as well," Pasqualoni said. "Martin’s a pretty big guy, he has done that before. We have had him in for plays where he has been the fullback. I think we will be fine there from a depth standpoint."

It will be interesting to see if Pasqualoni and offensive coordinator George DeLeone take advantage of Hyppolite's tailback skills when he is in the same backfield with starting tailback Lyle McCombs.

There was more bad news for the Huskies on Thursday as Pasqualoni said promising freshman DE E.J. Norris suffered a shoulder injury during practice on Wednesday and he it will require season-ending surgery.

"It was kind of a freak accident where his shoulder just kind of came out," Pasqualoni said. "It is the second time it happened so we are going to pursue having the shoulder done now. It’s a 20-week process so I would like to have him up and available as soon as we so we are going to bite the bullet and see if we can’t do something now with it."

It's not only the third defensive end to go out for the season but the third left DE to be lost in a span of nine weeks.

"I never remember losing this many guys at one spot," Pasqualoni said. "Not only have we lost them but we are losing them on the same side which is even more amazing. Jesse (Joseph) was first, then Teddy (Jennings) and now E.J. and they all play the same position. It is just unusual and unfortunate."

Angelo Pruitt will continue to work as the starter at that position with Tim Willman backing him up. Kenton Adeyemi and B.J. McBryde are also available to be a part of the DE rotation. Of course Pruitt and now McBryde began the season as defensive tackles so every time the Huskies move a DT over to cover a loss at DE, UConn is losing depth at defensive tackle.

UConn just posted its two-deep chart for Saturday's game at South Florida. As expected, sophomore Gus Cruz moves into the starting spot at right offensive guard due to the season-ending ankle injury suffered by Adam Masters. Sophomore Bryan Paull enters the depth chart as the top backup to Cruz.

The only other change I noticed is Martin Hyppolite being listed as the No. 2 fullback to take the place of Seymour's Mike Osiecki, who is still sidelined with a concussion. In a corresponding move, Max DeLorenzo is now listed as the No. 2 tailback, a spot previously held by Hyppolite.

UConn football coach Paul Pasqualoni and offensive coordinator George DeLeone spoke at the National Football Foundation New Haven Chapter's dinner on Thursday night and after wrapping up my work following UConn women's basketball practice, I headed down to New Haven just in time for the speaking portion of the event.

Afterwards I caught up with Pasqualoni and DeLeone to catch up on some things since there hasn't been any access since a conference call with Pasqualoni on Saturday.

High up on the list of things I was interested in was the progress that new starting guard Gus Cruz was making stepping in for senior and team captain Adam Masters.


"He’s good, he is practicing full speed and he has had a pretty good week of practice," Pasqualoni said. "He doesn’t have the experience but Gus is a pretty athlete, he moves pretty good but he just doesn’t have that high level of experience because Adam had all those games under his belt but I am very encouraged, he is enthusiastic for it and he has passion for football. He just needs experience and that it why we are playing him."

DeLeone, who also coaches the offensive line, also talked about Cruz move from reserve to starter.

"They like to say the most popular person on the football team is the backup quarterback but also I say that being a backup guard is a pretty good job too," DeLeone said. "Now he is in the heat of the battle and he has to raise his expectation level. He is making progress and I am hoping down the road he can play up to a starter’s level for us."

Pasqualoni said it will be a straight move of inserting Cruz at the right guard spot Masters manned so there won't be a case of shifting Steve Greene to right guard and putting Cruz in at left guard. Rather than mixing things up too much, Greene will start at left guard and Cruz moves in at right guard.

I asked Pasqualoni which of the offensive linemen has picked up the leadership void lost by Masters' absence and Greene was the first player he mentioned.


"Steve Greene has been awfully good in the communication aspect of the offensive line," Pasqualoni said. "He has really been good. Tyler Bullock is trying hard to get in there as a center and be a vocal guy and give some leadership. They all in their own way are working pretty hard at it, they really are. I like what their approach."

From an injury standpoint, Pasqualoni said sophomore fullback Mike Osiecki is still unable to practice due to a concussion which forced him to miss the last two games but everybody else he was expecting to be back at practice has been able to go.

Finally, the Graduation Success Rates (GSR) were released today and the football team came in at 69, one point above the national average. Although the numbers should be credited more to the work during the Randy Edsall regime, Pasqualoni was still thrilled to hear that they came in above the national average.

"That is important," Pasqualoni said. "I’d be disappointed if we weren’t. All the years at Syracuse, we were up there very high and one year we won it. My expectations of the kids off the campus, in the classroom are as high as my expectations are for them on the field. You can do both, you can be a good student and you can be a great football player. That has always been our philosophy."

These are the times when team captains and leaders show what they are made of.

UConn had a forgettable performance in losing at Rutgers in the Huskies Big East opener and now comes the aftermath. The good news is that 10 seniors and five four-year juniors who started against the Scarlet Knights so they have the people in place to be able to move forward.



“We have to go back to drawing board,” UConn senior linebacker Sio Moore said. “We have to figure out what we need to do in order to get these W’s on a consistent basis and not a roller coaster effect. It is just not productive especially for the seniors; this will not be the way we go out. There will be change, there is no other choice.

“You figure out what you have to do and get the mistakes corrected, It is very frustrating for a team like ours because we are a good team. We sat there and busted our tail through the entire week preparing for this game and we can’t lose sight of that kind of faith to keep working in that manner and start putting wins on top of wins.”


UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni said on a Sunday conference call that he considers the punishment for sophomore running back Lyle McCombs to be “a done deal.”McCombs was arrested for second degree breach of peace on Friday and Pasqualoni held McCombs out until the second quarter against Rutgers.

“My sense of it is that it is a done deal,” Pasqualoni said. “I tried to make certain that I had all the facts and I knew what direction it was going before I allowed him to play.”

Pasqualoni also said sophomore reserve fullback Mike Osiecki of Seymour suffered a concussion on Saturday and he is considered to be day to day. Osiecki spent most of the first two quarters sitting on the trainer’s table but after the initial evaluation indicated that Osiecki had a concussion, he did not return to the game.

Seymour's Mike Osiecki met with the media for the first time since he made the decision to leave preseason camp for a couple days and then return on Thursday.

Osiecki, who is currently the No. 2 fullback for UConn, said he was happy to be back in the fold and the time away proved to him that he wanted to be at UConn.



"I had some personal things I had to deal with," Osiecki said. "Coach (Paul) Pasqualoni was really good and he was there for me. I just took care of it as quick as I could and came back. I've always wanted to be here so it kind of hurt me thinking about leaving and being home but I wanted to come back as soon as I was back home.

"I feel a lot better. I had to take care of some stuff but I am all good now. It was actually really hard (the 2/3 days he missed). I really wanted to come back. I just realize  how much I love football and I love the grind. I love it. I have been picking it up day by day.

Osiecki said he went into see Pasqualoni to talk about the issues he was having when Pasqualoni encouraged him to take some time off from football.


"I'm very happy," Pasqualoni said of Osiecki's return to UConn. "Mike practiced well in the preseason and he practiced well today. We are happy that he is back.

"Sometimes it might be best for the guy to leave or football is not for them but that is not the case with Mike. I could see that and when he went home I said you are going to figure this out in a day and call me."



Osiecki said he is grateful to Pasqualoni for the way he handled the situation.


"I kind of went in and talked about what was going on," Osiecki said. "He was very understanding. It was kind of like a mutual agreement. He was there for me and I really appreciate it. I was surprised, he was really there for me and get things straight."



Osiecki also talked about his brother Ryan, a quarterback at the University of New Haven who is getting preseason accolades as one of the best QBs in Division II.

"I am really proud of him," Osiecki said. "I gave him a call last night. We talk basically every night, he is  doing good.

"He is excited about the season and they should really good."

Mike Osiecki said it isn't always easy being at a different school from Ryan but they are both handling it well.

"It is (challenging) but we keep in touch, Whenever I have a chance to see him on a bye week or he has a bye week we always keep in touch and see each other."

ST.LOUIS TO TRANSFER
At the end of practice Pasqualoni reported that junior safety Gilbert St.Louis informed him of his decision to leave the program.


"I don't know exactly where he is going but I am going to grant him a release to probably any school we don't play in the next two years" Pasqualoni said. "I wouldn't release somebody to go to another I-A program if we were going to play them. He just feels like he wants to go and have a chance to start."

With sophomores Ty-Meer Brown and Byron Jones entrenched as the starting safeties and a year behind St.Louis, it was unlikely he would earn a starting position with the Huskies.

Pasqualoni mentioned freshmen Andrew Adams and Wilbert Lee and junior David Kenney as players likely to see more reps at safety now that St.Louis is gone.


Freshman tight end Sean McQuillan appeared to injure his ankle late in practice and was taken off in a cart. McQuillan tripped over a fallen Jon Hicks and Pasqualoni believes it was an ankle injury.

"I think it is his ankle but I have to check," Pasqualoni said. "That is what happens when you fall on the ground. People think in football you are on the ground all the time but when you practice you are never on the ground and that is a art."

Pasqualoni said that junior guard/center Tyler Bullock is close to returning to practice while freshman DL Andreas Knappe had no pads on and was held out of drills.

"He (Knappe) got  a little nicked up and he is getting in shape," Pasqualoni said. "He will be back in a day or so. He is getting acclimated to it.

"Bullock has his red cross on, he was running around. He will  be in a green cross next and full speed before you know it."

As for the practice, tight ends Ryan Griffin and John Delahunt were noticeable snaring a bunch of passes including a brilliant one-handed catch by Griffin on a Chandler Whitmer pass. Whitmer threw the ball pretty well but when the first team offense and defense squared off running the ball between the tackles was a struggle. Speaking of defense, DT Julian Campenni saw quite a bit of time with the starters. Speaking of DTs, Shamar Stephen was getting around without crutches and Pasqualoni said he continues to make progress from a sprained knee.

This is the last day UConn will have two-a-day practices. The team seemed to be dragging at the end of the morning practice, which was moved indoors because the UConn staff did not want to risk unnecessary injuries on a rain-soaked outdoor practice field.

West Haven High assistant coach and former East Haven head coach Rusty Dunne was among those in attendance and Dunne said he saw a significant improvement in the quality of practice compared to when he came to UConn practice last year.

Sophomore fullback Mike Osiecki returned to UConn yesterday and took part in Thursday's practice according to UConn SID Mike Enright.

Osiecki, a former Seymour High star who made the move from linebacker to fullback, asked for and was granted a chance to take a brief break from camp. After a couple of days away, Osiecki is back with the Huskies.

UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni addressed Osiecki's situation after Tuesday's practice.

"I gave Mike permission to go home for a couple of days," Pasqualoni said. "He wanted to go home and just settle down and just think about what he is doing. He was having a good camp so I told him to go home and relax for a couple of days and then we will go from there. I have left the door open for him. I gave him permission to go home. We like Mike. He is a great kid. I like his family so we'll see. I want to do what he wants to do so whatever it is that he wants to do I am here to help."



For those who want to see UConn practice, the final open practice of the preseason is set for tomorrow from 8:45-11:15 a.m. Parking is free at Lot D which is adjacent to the on-campus practice field.