About 10 years ago Sean Marinan and Nick Vitale were youth football teammates on the Cromwell Lions, brought together by a love for football and a quest to win a district championship.

Little did they know that their future endeavors would include taking the field for a UConn team which would play in the program's first bowl game since the 2011 Fiesta Bowl. Then, just a couple months after their junior seasons ended with a loss to Marshall in the St. Petersburg Bowl, they would two of four Connecticut products to earn scholarships

Marinan, a defensive lineman who had nine tackles as a redshirt junior, was the first to make the move from former walk-on when it was announced to the team on Jan. 18 by UConn coach Bob Diaco that he had received a scholarship.

"We had a conversation around the bowl time but nothing was set in stone, it was all up there," Marinan said. "We came to our first meeting, he had all of this stuff and at the end he gave me this really nice introduction and he said that. He started talking about me as a person, as a teammate and then he said my name and said 'we will be putting him on full scholarship.'

"It is amazing reward, I can't thank him enough."

Marinan, who has been honored for attaining a 4.0 grade-point average during a semester at UConn, has already earned his undergraduate degree in management information systems. He will have his graduate school paid for now that he is a scholarship athlete.

"It is a little bigger than that," Marinan said. "The money for school, it is great but my parents have
been helping me out so I can't thank them enough. It is a symbol to me that I am trusted by the coaches and that means the most."

On Monday Vitale, quarterback/kicker Will Rishell and running back Jason Thompson received the same reward for their team-first attitude and relentless work ethic when they also were given full scholarships.

"At the end of our winter conditioning, he explained the whole situation and said 'I am going to put all three of these guys on full scholly,'" said Vitale, a former Hand High star who originally went to Stony Brook. "The team went crazy. It means more to me and them because obviously we are from Connecticut, we love what we do and we love our state. We have such a small state, we take a lot of pride being from here.

It was pretty cool to experience it. They all lost it, they were all hugging me. I got the long hair so they were all rubbing it in and getting it all messy but it was great, definitely a great memory.
It was definitely a hard mountain to climb seeing how I went from full scholarship at Stony Brook University and I walked away from it, I came here and I knew I was going to have an uphill battle when I came here my sophomore year. Every single day I came here, I worked hard and didn't say a word the last four years and the hard work paid off."

Being to share that moment with Rishell, a Hebron native, and Thompson, a former Shelton High star running back, made things all the more special for Vitale, who took over as UConn's primary punt returner when Brian Lemelle was injured.

"They are just like me, they come every day and work hard, they don't say  a word and it really shows in the work ethic," Vitale said. "What really stood out to me was how they went about it after they received (the scholarship), it is just like any other day. They still came the next day, went to work and didn't say a word and to me that says a lot because I am that way as well."

I am working on a story that will appear on the Register's site later on today and will likely run in the paper on Monday.

One aspect of this story that will play out at a further date is that the addition of Marinan, Rishell, Thompson and Vitale puts UConn (according to my computations) at 88 scholarship players so I would expect there to be some attrition since the Huskies need to be at 85 players on scholarship by the time fall/summer camp starts in August.

Here's the story I filed yesterday about Nick Vitale, a walk-on from Madison, who figures to handle the punt return duties on Saturday with Brian Lemelle likely not to play for the Huskies. Not exactly sure when it is going to appear on the Register's site so here it is


There might have been some raised eyebrows even in his football-crazy hometown of Madison when Nick Vitale bid adieu to Stony Brook and headed to UConn with no scholarship, no guarantee that he would ever play a meaningful snap of football for his home-state Huskies.

Vitale, undeterred by the naysayers, showed up every day with the same will to succeed that made his father one of the most productive linebackers in Connecticut high school history and enabled his older brother to play 47 career games at Stony Brook.

There are walk-ons who drew praise from their coaches for what they brought to the table and never came close to being thrown into the fray regardless of how hard they worked. Yet, when the Huskies play at Cincinnati on Saturday, the former Hand High star will not only be on the kickoff coverage unit as he has been in every game this season but it is rather likely he will be the Huskies' primary punt returner.

"When I left Stony Brook, I knew what I was walking into," Vitale said after Tuesday's practice.

Vitale came to UConn following an impressive run as a receiver at Hand highlighted by catching 11 touchdown passes as a senior. When Bob Diaco arrived on the scene stating his preference for tall, rangy receivers it seemed unlikely that the 5-foot-8, 176-pound Vitale would be hauling in passes any time in his time at UConn. When he was moved over to cornerback, there were no complaints. If moving to defense would give him a better chance to see the field, Vitale was fine with that.

"It is not about the money, it is about the love of the spot," Vitale said. "For me, I am an undersized guy so I come out every day and if you work hard, it pays off. I am playing."

Vitale made two solo tackles late in UConn's 40-13 win at Central Florida earlier this month. He even had his first punt return even if his two-yard return wasn't exactly what the coaches were expecting to see from him.

"I said to him 'you know we are in punt safe so nobody is actually blocking for you, right? You need to fair catch it," UConn coach Bob Diaco said. "But he just got so excited.

"He's a Connecticut guy, tough, hard-nosed young man, constantly straining and everything is a strain. He has to pay his own way, his family fights the fight and they are great people, they all kind of circled the wagons to help Nick create his personal goals, he is just a great teammate - I love being on a team with Nick. I have every confidence with him in there at corner, I have every confidence with him in there at punt returner."

With starting punt returner Brian Lemelle dealing with a lower-body issue that Diaco said going "is to prevent him from participating for an undisclosed period of time" Vitale could have a chance to add to his punt return yardage total.

"It is Brian's spot and I am just filling in, doing what I can to make it work and just helping my team," Vitale said.

"I was an offensive player and I really haven't touched the ball since high school so it is going to be exciting to see what I can do when I get the ball."

Vitale certainly has the backing of his teammates if he is called upon to field punts.

"It's been a long road and a hard road for Nick but it really is all paying off now," said UConn junior linebacker Matt Walsh, who was Vitale's teammate at Hand High. "He is able to field some punts and play on the kickoff return team and he is really becoming a reliable special teams player for us. I believe in him and so does everybody else on the team.

"He's earned everybody's respect on the team, keeping his head down and working hard every day. He doesn't say much, he just works hard. He really shows his character in his actions and not really his words because everything he does every day resembles who he is."

Just who is Vitale? Part of a football-playing family is certainly a major part of his makeup.

"It is just following in the footsteps of my family. We are all natural football players so we come out to do what we do and just play," Vitale said.

Fielding punts has not been a strength of the 2015 UConn team. Lemelle let one of the punts bounce and roll an additional 29 yards in last year's loss to South Florida. His teammates are fairly certain that Vitale will do everything in his power to prevent that from happening against the Bearcats.

"Nick Vitale, I love him back there," UConn junior kicker Bobby Puyol said. "He is very aggressive, he wants it really bad and he wants the ball. I am excited, he will do very well.

"I have become good friends with Nick since he has been here. The whole kick squad loves to see Nick out there. He transferred in, he came in as a walk-on and to have that as your punt returner, I feel like that is awesome."

On Friday I reported that former Hand All-State WR Nick Vitale was waiting to see if he would be cleared to play by the NCAA after transferring in from Stony Brook.

Vitale's mother emailed me last night to report that he has been cleared to play this season. Vitale is listed as a sophomore but he has four years of eligibility remaining.

Also, UConn will hold another open practice on Tuesday from 3-5:30 p.m. Just a disclaimer that they are calling for rain on Tuesday so I would check www.uconnhuskies.com or the UConn football team's official Twitter account. I will pass on any information I get if there is a change in plans.

Pretty high up on my list of priorities at UConn football media day was to catch up with former Hand High stars Nick Vitale and Matt Walsh who are both trying to carve out roles on the Huskies' offensive unit.

Just imagine my good fortune when I spotted Vitale and Walsh standing side by side chatting it up.

It didn't take me long to head in that direction and catch up with the two former Tigers.They were the focus of the story I wrote for tomorrow's Register.

Vitale, a speedy receiver, and Walsh, a bruising fullback, were two of the best players to come out of the dynamic Hand High prgram in recent years. And chances are, if you are to see one of the former Tigers at some spot on UConn’s campus, the other probably won’t be far behind.

Vitale went as far as proclaiming that knowing Walsh was headed to UConn played a role in his decision to transfer from Stony Brook.

The bond the two forged while helping the Tigers pile up victories at a dizzying pace is as strong as ever.

“His locker is almost right next to mine, so we see each other many times during the day and it is a great experience,” Walsh said.

“Coach Fil (Steve Filippone), he put us through tough times. I feel I am very mentally strong and I am sure Nick feels the same way.”

Walsh, a true freshman, has wasted little time in impressing his coaches. Running backs coach Kermit Buggs said he was surprised both by Walsh’s toughness and running ability. Head coach Paul Pasqualoni suggested Walsh could be one of the running backs to receive carries this season.

Jazzmar Clax is the No. 1 fullback, but Walsh has been seeing time with the second-team offense during the first week of preseason camp.

“I am in the rotation,” Walsh said. “A lot of people are rotating, I think we have six or seven backs right now and really everybody is getting reps because they are trying out everybody.

“Physically I feel like I am capable of keeping up with everybody here at this level. I feel like I am coming along well and I am working hard trying to get on the field anyway I can. I am not saying I can start and I don’t know where I will be, but I am going to do all I can.”

Vitale faces a tougher task carving out playing time at receiver. Deshon Foxx was one of the stars of the spring game and is the favorite to line up as the slot receiver when UConn opens the season by hosting Towson on Aug. 29. Highly touted freshman Brian Lemelle is another slot receiver to keep an eye on.

Still, Vitale is excited to be a part of the UConn program, regardless of what his role is going to be.

“It was a long, tiring decision,” Vitale said. “It wasn’t so much of a being-away-from-home thing, but it was more of the offense and how the offense was run. When coach (T.J.) Weist came to UConn (as offensive coordinator), I figured it was home. And I know the offense he runs and it is perfect for me, so I felt like this was the place to be.”

Vitale is still waiting to hear if he is eligible to play this season after transferring from Stony Brook.

“We will see as time goes on,” Vitale said. “If not, then this year I am going to buckle down, get to know the offense and next year I will try to get out there and perform.”