Some new rules are on the verge of being implemented and count UConn coach Randy Edsall among those applauding the expected move to an early signing period as well as the addition of a 10th assistant coach and capping the number of players on scholarship in one class to 25.

Here's the release on the rules changes that were approved by the NCAA Division I Council and still need to be ratified at the Division I Board of Directors meetings which end on April 26.

"I think they got it right,' Edsall said after Tuesday morning's spring practice, "I think there are more things that they can do. I was pleased that the proposal got passed. It is steps in the right direction, I do like the early signing period. We were getting to a point where people were just throwing offers out there because other people offered kids and now what happens, it will be interesting to see how many kids want to sign or commit to a school that offered and say, 'no you can't commit.'

"I am for all those things, the 10th coach, having the (limits on) camps on campus, all that. They just have to get back to civility in recruiting, let these kids be kids, tell them the truth, don't fill them with things that aren't there. Now I wish they would stop where you couldn't offer kids early enough. Having official visits in April, May and June, that will be different especially when they talk about the academic part when you bring kids in when you don't even have six semesters in of grades on them. That will be interesting to see how those things turned out."

There's not a ton to report off today's practice.

Tyler Davis was moved from tight end to receiver (his third position since arriving at UConn). It was his first day working with the receivers.
"Anybody who can help us win and help us score is welcome," receiver Hergy Mayala said. "Today was his first day so he has a lot to learn obviously but I think he is going to all right by the time fall (camp) comes along. He's a great worker, he's going to add to what we are doing so far."

Edsall said that Davis would probably be considered the fourth-string tight end and now he has a better chance to stepping onto the field as a receiver.

"He is not strong enough to play tight end so I think he is athletic, he runs well," Edsall said. "In terms of what we do in the offense, I think he fits better there right now. Right now he would probably be fourth in terms of where we are at tight end so now moving to where we are going to move him, he has a chance to come in and challenge that guy to be a starter or be the backup. I am worrying about trying to put the best team that I can together for this coming year and as I looked at it and evaluated it, I felt that would be the best spot for him for 2017."

Edsall also announced that Nazir Williams moved to the middle linebacker slot (likely caused by the injury to E.J. Levenberry) and Tyler Coyle is now at safety. Coyle was out there with the starting defensive backs along with fellow freshman Omar Fortt at the very end of the portion of practice open to the media. Williams looked impressive in the pass rushing drills when linebackers went up against running backs.

Arkeel Newsome, Quayon Skanes and Keyion Dixon all got work returning kickoffs today.

Edsall said that Friday's spring game will be more of a scrimmage that actual game. It will start off with the first-team offenses and defenses going head to head followed by the second team units squaring off. There could be live punting but no punt returns. Offensive linemen Ryan Crozier and Tommy Hopkins as well as defensive end Luke Carrezola remain in red no-contact jerseys so don't look for them to take part in Friday's 7 p.m. scrimmage.

Admission and parking will be free to the spring game at Rentschler Field.

There is one more practice in the spring and that is on Thursday but it is not open to the media.

I will also be filing a story on defensive back Jamar Summers, who many people thought might be preparing for the NFL draft right about now instead of returning for his senior season.

Seeing the mass of bodies surrounding the phone shortly before noon made it clear that this is not just another week in the world of the UConn football program.

Pretty much from the time Randy Edsall departed en route for Maryland, the date when Edsall would bring his Terrapins to Rentschler Field was being circled on the calendar.

Edsall called in right on time and spent a few minutes taking questions about the reception he is expecting from the Rentschler Field fans as well as the improvement of the Terps' offense. Here's what he had to say

"It will be nice to come back and visit Rentschler Field," Edsall said. "I have a lot of fond memories of Rentschler and a lot of exciting games that were played there. The fans were great and I know what kind of a tough environment it can be and I have to make sure I get my team prepared. I am looking forward to it because I have all good memories of the times that I spent in that stadium

"I have been in this business long enough, there will be people who will boo and probably people who will cheer, that is the nature of the profession we are in and again I just very thankful of the people who supported the program when I was there and made me feel at home and got behind our team and allowed us to do the things that we did. Anytime you go on the road nobody likes you so that is just part of playing the game

"I think having C.J. (Brown) back as the quarterback has really helped us. It was unfortunate he got hurt last year and had to go through what he had to go through but he worked extremely hard to get back. I think he is playing at a really high level, he is playing with a lot of confidence. I think we have a lot of good pieces around him, you look at Deon (Long) and Stefon (Diggs), you look at Nigel King, Levern Jacobs, Brandon Ross, Kenny Goins and our offensive line has done a great job. I have tried to get the best five guys we have there and I think they are going to continue to get better each and every week. I think what we have is we have guys who have the ability to make big plays and fortunately for us in the first two games we have been able to do that."

Edsall was asked about what he picked up on tape from watching UConn's season-opening loss to Towson

"You watch the tape and you see what goes on in that game. Towson was able to make a couple of plays in the passing game that really helped them come away with a victory. I thought UConn made some really good plays in that game as well but just didn’t make quite as many as Towson did. I stay in contact with Rob (Ambrose, the Towson head coach and former assistant coach under Edsall at UConn) he is right up the road from where I am and I stayed in contact with him since he has been at Towson."

Naturally, Paul Pasqualoni was asked what he thought the fans' reaction would be to Edsall's return considering the fact that he left to accept the Maryland job without telling his players about his intentions.

My sense is it will probably be mixed, some people really appreciated the years and there are other people who are probably a little upset with the way things sorted out in the end so I would say our fans are going to be giving them hopefully as hard of time as they can but I still think there are people in the state and in the community would like it to sort out a different way but appreciate what he did

I took a ride up to Worcester earlier today so I could catch up with former UConn kicker Dave Teggart who hosted the first camp as part of the Teggart Total Kicking program he recently started with his father. A story on how he decided to become a kicking coach will appear in tomorrow's edition of the Register.

However, don't think for a minute that this endeavor means that he is giving up on his aspirations to be a kicker in the NFL.

Teggart impressed at a kicking showcase in Arizona in March which resulted in a tryout with the Seattle Seahawks. Although he was not signed by Seattle, he is hoping he opened enough eyes there to be on the radar when a team needs a kicker.

He was signed as a free agent by Chicago coming out of UConn and made it to training camp but he was unable to unseat the Bears’ incumbent kicker Robbie Gould. He spent six months in Los Angeles working out under former NFL kicker Michael Husted that culminated with an impressive showing at a showcase in March.

“Robbie Gould he is a great kicker,” Teggart said. “He is a great guy to learn from but competing against a guy like that, I think he is pretty safe there. It was a great learning experience, I learned from the best. I went to California and trained. At a showcase in Arizona in March, won the field goal portion and I ended up they flew me to Seattle for a workout.

“Hopefully I keep getting these workouts,” Teggart said. “All I can control is staying ready and be ready when I get the call.

“There are so many kickers out there and so few spots. I have no illusions that it is easy. Obviously it is not the easiest position to make it, there are four quarterbacks, four linebackers for each position and for kickers there is only one. You have to get lucky and stay ready; you never know when the call is going to come. I will always stay in shape, always stay ready. I am still booming the ball. I am going to keep training forever, it is one of those things that I can use my abilities to help kids and keep myself in shape.”

Teggart said the biggest improvement he has made as a kicker has come on kickoffs since he knew that a kicker who struggled kicking the ball off has little chance to making it an NFL roster.

“I feel like I am kicking better than I ever have,” Teggart said. “At UConn I never really (kicked off) because we had Desi Cullen and he got it into the end zone every time and Chad (Christen) does very good kickoffs and I never really got the chance to showcase that ability. That is something I have improved upon; field goals have never been a problem for me it is just kickoffs. I am putting the kickoffs out of the end zone now and it is just a matter of getting into the right place at the right time, have somebody see me and take a chance on me.

Regardless of whether Teggart ever appears in an NFL regular-season game, his legacy in Connecticut was forever sealed when he blasted a 52-yard field goal against South Florida in the 2010 regular-season finale to kick the Huskies into a BCS game and showdown with Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

“That was one of my favorite moments to be able to go to a BCS game like that,” Teggart said. “At the time when you are lining up you are not really thinking of all the things that go with it. You are like ‘man, I’ve got a kick here and I’ve got to treat it like an extra point. I have to put it through or we are going to lose.’ That whole experience, that whole Fiesta Bowl ride, that was something you will never forget.”

I also addressed some other UConn-related topics with Teggart including his take on seeing five of his former UConn teammates (Dwayne Gratz, Blidi Wreh-Wilson, Sio Moore, Trevardo Williams and Ryan Griffin) taken in April's NFL draft.

"It goes to show everyone of those guys who were drafted are great people off the field as well," Teggart said. "I am really good friends with all of them and it just goes to show how much off the field matters as much as one the field. They are all great guys and they deserve everything they get. I wish them luck in the upcoming season."

When current UConn kicker Chad Christen missed four field goals in a loss to Temple, he told the media that Teggart was one of the first people to reach out to him.

"I have known Chad for a long time," Teggart said. "I have developed a great relationship with him over the time he was here, he was my holder for two years. He had a huge game winner against Louisville and believe me I was up on that screen watching. I was dying for him ‘hey, you’ve got to make it.’ When he did, I was going nuts. I was probably more excited than if it was me kicking it."

Finally here are Teggart's thoughts on his time at UConn.

"UConn was the best four years of my life," Teggart said. "It is indescribable what I think of that place, all the fans, everybody treated me great. Coach Edsall gave me a shot and Coach Pasqualoni when he came in he treated me very well. It has given me opportunities I wouldn’t have had any other place, I attempted more field goals than any other place in the country. UConn is a great place to be a field goal kicker, we were always in tight end games and we were always kicking field goals. I loved every minute at UConn."

While much of the focus of the questions the UConn players faced today centered around Saturday's game against Maryland which is coached by former UConn coach Randy Edsall, a more pressing matter is how the Huskies were moving forward from a disappointing loss to North Carolina State.

While we won't know for sure until the ball is snapped on Saturday, the players I spoke to said they have liked what they have seen when UConn hit the practice field to prepare for the Maryland game.


"You could feel that out there, you could feel the camaraderie and so far things are going in the right direction," said senior offensive guard Adam Masters.

While UConn's defense ranks near the top in most categories in the national FBS rankings, the offense is languishing near the bottom.

But the UConn offensive stars have not lost faith.

"There was a little higher energy," UConn sophomore quarterback Chandler Whitmer said. "I tried to do a god job of keeping the tempo up like Coach P (Paul Pasqualoni) always preaches and we are going to continue to work on that."

In terms of the meeting against the Edsall-coached Terrapins, Pasqualoni continued to downplay the entire situation and said he did not instruct the players not to address the issue when they were asked about it today. Still, there wasn't much anti-Edsall venom to be heard coming out of the mouths of the UConn players  today. Pasqualoni said that coaching moves are a part of the business and he was not concerned about the way Edsall departed for Maryland when he began pursuing the job at UConn.

"You guys probably know more about this than I do," Pasqualoni said. "I never asked, I never read any articles on it. I was coaching Dallas, interviewed for the job here. Once I was offered the job here my focus was on recruiting.

"I thought Randy left the culture of this program very good. The kids from an off the field standpoint understood the expectations academically. It is a lot along the lines of what we did at Syracuse."

Edsall spoke to the media on a conference call but wasn't exactly in a mood to talk about any lingering bad feelings from his departure from UConn. When he was asked how he would liked to be remembered at UConn, Edsall ignored the question and said that he wanted to focus on questions about the game.

He did express regret with the fact that he accepted the Maryland job without informing any of his players at UConn of his decision face to face.

"I have nothing but great memories, great times at the university and what we were able to do," Edsall said. "I was very proud  of what we were able to do there at the University of Connecticut, it was a special place to me and my family in the sense that my daughter graduated from UConn, my son has spent all his years at school in there in the state. If I could do it over again, I wish there was some way that I was able to see the players and tell them face to face that I was going to leave and come to Maryland. Due to the circumstances surrounding that, I wasn't able to do that and that is something I have to live with.

"This is where I grew up and I spent a lot of time here  at Maryland in terms of being a young man, I went to camp here As we move forward we are looking to build a program here at Maryland."

INJURY UPDATE

It seems as if junior defensive tackle Shamar Stephen is getting closer to returning to the field after spraining a knee during fall camp but there is nothing more to report on defensive end Teddy Jennings' injured knee. Also, freshman quarterback and former Masuk star Casey Cochran still has a cast to protect his injured left thumb.

"Shamar is still questionable," Pasqualoni said. "We are going to get a look at him today and see how he moves around. He won't do everything today but we will get something out of him. 

"I have to see him today. Sometimes if you put a lot of pressure on it it swells up. If he works on it today and it doesn't get swollen than I will be encouraged."

As for Jennings, Pasqualoni said he wasn't sure if another MRI was necessary.

"I don't know if he will get pictures but the trainers know exactly what they are looking for," Pasqualoni said.

It shouldn't be a stunner that the first question UConn football coach Paul Pasqualoni was asked on his day after teleconference centered around the offensive line and if any changes would be made personnel wise heading into Saturday's game at Maryland.


"What we saw on the film was not good execution and not consistent enough execution," Pasqualoni said. "We had 15 drives in the game and it seems like in 14 of those drives we made a mistake that really put us behind the chains or there was a turnover created. I would say it is just a lack of consistency. We had a fourth and four which would have put us in position to score or kick to tie the game at least. The game probably came down to one or two plays.

"Right now we are still working through the film and I haven't decided on any changes at this point. If we do (change the starting line) that I would announce it during the week. This week from an offensive standpoint each position group, each unit could have done better which in the end could have resulted in a couple more plays which would have put us in position to win the game. It is just a matter of everybody doing a little more, doing a little better."

Pasqualoni said that health wise the Huskies seemed to have come out of the game in good shape. He is still uncertain about the status of DE Teddy Jennings and DT Shamar Stephen. Jennings missed the NC State game and Shamar Stephen has missed the first two games with knee injuries.

"We are going to evaluate that this week very closely so we are optimistic," Pasqualoni said of Stephen's availability. "I would say right now questionable and we'd keep you posted day by day. The swelling is going down (in Jennings' knee), we are going to get a little bit more of a good evaluation this week. We are waiting for the swelling to go down to do the pictures and all of that."

Of course he was asked about the possible distraction of the Huskies going up against their former head coach Randy Edsall on Saturday.

"That is all stuff that you guys like to write about, it gives you some material," Pasqualoni said. "There is so much to get ready for and the game requires so much focus and attention that if we fall into that trap of getting involved into that kind of emotional stuff before a game it is going to make us less competitive and less prepared.

"The coaches at Maryland and the coaches at Connecticut , because we have (former Maryland defensive coordinator) Don Brown here too, the coaches are not playing the game, I promise you that. I promise you they are not going to be in for one play. They are not playing, they are not up they are not in he game plan so you guys  need to get ready to play the opponent so let's concentrate on that."