UConn redshirt sophomore center Ryan Crozier is one of 56 players named to the Rimington Trophy spring watch list.

What's interesting is that this is Crozier's second appearance on the Rimington watch list but he has yet to appear in a game at center for the Huskies. Last year he was also named to the watch list as he was expected to replace the graduated Alex Mateas as UConn's No. 1 center but a knee injury would sideline him for the 2015 season.

Crozier, who played at national powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.,, appeared in 10 games as a true freshman in 2014. He started at left guard in the final three games of the season.

Crozier returned to the field for spring practice and assumed the role of starting center as he had during the 2015 spring drills before suffering his injury.

The award is named after Dave Rimington, a two-time All-American center at Nebraska and two-time winner of the Outland Trophy.

As Ryan Crozier and Tommy Hopkins walked off the field in early December following the completion of rather eventful freshmen season, the two promising offensive linemen had no idea what the future had in store for them.

It is a safe assumption that Crozier, who had never played a snap at center, did not envision himself as the starting center throughout spring camp. Perhaps almost as surprising was that Hopkins, who saw time mostly as a reserve offensive tackle during his redshirt freshman season, would end the final week of spring camp as the starting left guard.

When the final statistics were handed out in the Blue team's 13-3 win over the White in the annual spring fame, there were no grades listed for the offensive linemen but the progress reports for the two youngest members of the starting offensive line have been pretty good.

"The offensive line is doing well," junior quarterback Tim Boyle said. "They have come a long way in a year. Crozier moving from guard to center, he is doing a great job. both of our tackles (Richard Levy and Andreas Knappe) are juniors right now and they are going to add a lot of experience and then Tommy Hopkins, first year starter and Tommy is one of those kids who is quiet, he wont say a word to you but once he gets on the field he will get after it and he does everything the right way."

Crozier started the final three games at left guard. The feeling was that redshirt freshman Daniel Oak and junior Kyle Bockeloh would fight it out for the job of replacing graduated three-year starter Alex Mateas at center. However, when the team headed into winter workouts Crozier was given an additional assignment.

"All the practice I put in during winter workouts I got ready to (play center) and I just kept working during the spring and I gradually progressed," Crozier said. "I just studied the playbook, learned all the plays quicker than the other guys so I knew all the calls."

So what was the greatest challenge in moving from guard to center?

"Just the snaps, knowing that I have to get the ball back and they rely on that so just take care of that first and get to your blocking assignment," Crozier said. "Secondly, the calls knowing who the Mike (middle linebacker) is, what the front is."

While Crozier's first time at center came during spring camp, Hopkins spent time working at both guard and tackle in previous spring and preseason camps.

"Last year I played some guard for a couple of weeks and as a true freshman I actually played some guard at camp so I kind o of knew what to expect," Hopkins said. "Obviously I have to make some adjustments and have to work on my craft to keep getting better and it wasn't that bad of a switch over.

"I just focused on improving and watching film and said I was going to be better day by day, I tried to fix some things I need to fix. I was focused on myself and when they moved me over there, I knew I had an opportunity so I focused on doing the best I could."

Sophomore Trey Rutherford began spring camp as the starting left guard but late in camp Hopkins moved into a starting role.

"I will play wherever the team needs me but obviously guard/tackle are a little different," Hopkins said. "I have to pull more and there is not as much space but wherever you play, you just have to play tough and do the best you can."

Unless UConn moves tomorrow's spring practice to Albany (where I will be for the NCAA women's basketball regional) I won't be at the third practice that the media is allowed to watch the first 20-30 minutes.

That doesn't mean I don't have some thoughts on what has been transpiring during spring camp.

As always, there are some interesting positional battles. No, it is not all about quarterback, quarterback and more on the quarterback competition.

A couple things I noticed from the two practices I was able to watch is that Ryan Crozier seems like the guy at center and that after redshirting last season, Sheriden Lawley and James Atkins are getting long looks to get into the defensive end rotation.

Let's start with the center position. Coming into spring practice the feeling was that Daniel Oak, who redshirted a season ago, and Kyle Bockeloh would fight it out for the starting center spot.

During the opening practice, Crozier (who the last three games of the season at left guard as a true freshman) was the center on the starting offensive line with classmate Trey Rutherford moving into to the starting role at left guard. At practice No. 5, the lineup was the same. Crozier playing center and Rutherford at left guard was a subject I brought up in the press conference with Diaco.

'We are seeing if he can snap and block to the right, snap and block to the left with power," Diaco said on Crozier's work at center. "It looks like he can. We look at the gun snap and it looks like he can. What we've like to do is we'd like to have the best player play and most physically gifted play, to take those five guys and start there. Which guy can snap of those five? The other guys are doing a great job. We will be able to function with all three. The Crozier experience is going to continue to move forward.

"That (Rutherford's experience as a true freshman) is a big help. All of those guys have reps. Crozier was a starter, Rutherford played a ton, Samra was a starter, Andreas was a starter, Richard was a starter so you have five guys who either started or played a bunch of football and they are all back not that you are looking at '16 but this is a young group."

At defensive end Kenton Adeyemi, Folorunso Fatukasi and Cole Ormsby proved last season that they belong as rotational guys at defensive end. Diaco would like to have a fourth player in place before the start of preseason camp in August. When UConn did some 11 on 11 drills, Lawley was out there with the second-team defense.

"He is (competing) for the next guy in spot at defensive end," Diaco said. "You have James (Atkins), you have Sheriden, you have some guys coming in and somebody needs to take over that otherwise we will be 3 (players) for 2 (positions) at that end position where we will take Kenton, Foley, Cole and go 3 for 2. We'd like not to have to have to do that if we develop the next man in so we will see."

UConn announced some details of the March 31 pro day and April 11 spring game.

The pro day (which will not be open to the public) will be on campus beginning at 8:45 a.m. While most of the attention will be focused on NFL combine star Byron Jones and Geremy Davis, normally all the UConn seniors take part in the event.

As far as the spring game, parking lots open at noon (three hours before the spring game) with the gates at Rentschler Field opening at 1 p.m. The fan fest will also open at 1

Tyler Samra is one of two returning offensive linemen to start
all 12 games at UConn during 2014 season

The exact timeline is a little fuzzy to Mike Cummings.

At some point during his first season on the UConn football coaching staff all the weeks felt like all the other ones. So just when Cummings, who was hired to be the offensive coordinator and work with the tight ends, began taking on more of a hands' on approach with the struggling offensive line escapes him.

"Some of it is a blur for me but I would say it was around week four," Cummings said.
The timing would make sense. The fourth game of the season was the nightmare at South Florida when the Huskies abandoned the passing game for a significant portion of the game because the coaching staff didn't want to risk more costly turnovers.

Once the season began the practices were not open to the media which is nothing new as it was the same way when Paul Pasqualoni was the Huskies' head coach. The result is I didn't fully understand how involved Cummings was in the improved play of the offensive line until the season was over.
UConn coach Bob Diaco did want to use the fact that Cummings was being pulled in a few different ways as an excuse. But when the season came to an end, it was clear he was going to make some changes on the offensive side of the ball. Mike Foley, who coached the offensive line from 2006-10 when future NFL running backs Jordan Todman and Donald Brown were among the nation's most productive tailbacks. When Pasqualoni was hired, he brought in George DeLeone to work with the offensive line and Foley moved over to work with the tight ends during the 2011 and 2012 seasons and started the 2013 season in the same capacity. When Pasqualoni and DeLeone were fired after an 0-4 start, Foley returned to work with the offensive line. He was the only coach retained by Diaco before deciding that something had to be done.

When the dust settled none of the remaining offensive assistants had the same responsibilities. Nobody was more impacted than Cummings who returned to his speciality of coaching the offensive line. While he is still listed as co-offensive coordinator, veteran NFL assistant coach Frank Verducci was brought in to be the offensive coordinator and call the plays.

In retrospect Cummings admitted the time be devoted on fixing the leaky offensive line probably hurt his performance as a play caller.

"I spent all the individual time with the line," Cummings said. "The division was doing position, individual (work) with the offensive line and then I spent time with the team in the other (practice periods).

"It is difficult when you spend so much time coaching five guys that it feels like it is a different world. It if difficult because you are focused and locked in on a particular portion of the offense that when you step out into the big picture, you kind of go back to that part of the offense which is a huge part of the offense."

The results were hard to overlook.

UConn did not allow a sack in three of the last four games and the running game was more productive as well. After the East Carolina game UConn had one game with at least 160 rushing yards in the last 31 contests. The Huskies accomplished the feat three times in the last five games with the 249 yards against SMU is the most since a Nov. 11, 2010 game against Pittsburgh.

"That was huge," Cummings said. "That does mean a lot. If you coach the position, you are motivated by players getting better. You are not motivated by notoriety, obviously you want to win the games and that is primary but seeing players get better and develop skill wise, emotionally, socially those are big deals."

Cummings said he is 100 percent all in with his new role. I'm sure seeing somebody else call the plays must have stung Cummings a little but he certainly said all the right things about Verducci's arrival and his changing role.

"Frank is very detailed," Cummings said. "I think he has a very good vision and plan and I think it is a shared vision. I enjoy working with him, he really likes collaborative efforts with the staff which is big. He lets the position coaches have ownership."

As for the players he will be working with, Richard Levy and Tyler Samra started every game at left tackle and right guard respectively. Andreas Knappe likely would have started every game at right tackle if not for a leg injury he suffered late in preseason camp. He started the last seven games while true freshman Ryan Crozier was the starting left guard for the final three games. UConn did lose Alex Mateas, the starter at center in all 12 games, and Gus Cruz, who got the start at left guard for the first nine games. Those were the only losses on the offensive line. Trey Rutherford, Thomas Hopkins, Kyle Bockeloh and Gifford lead the list of the other linemen who got game experience a season ago. Obviously the biggest question facing the offensive line is who is going to earn the starting center job. Daniel Oak, who redshirted last season, drew plenty of praise for his work in practice. He figures to push Bockeloh for the job. Cummings couldn't say enough good things about Oak, who added 13 pounds since the end of last season and is now listed at 278.

"Dan Oak made a lot of progress," Cummings said. "He is a smart player, he is very tough. While he didn't get the game experience, we felt it was best to redshirt him because we could. He is a player that we are expecting a lot from him. We were able to put him in (practice) and he was able to battle with our defense as a next man in, not as a scout team or look team (center) and he was very aggressive. He did a good job, not a great job but a good job against our nose men which in our league are very difficult to block."

Another player of interest is Shelton's Steve Hashemi, who was moved to tight end and saw time on special teams as a true freshman. With so many tight ends as part of the incoming freshman class, Hashemi can move back to the offensive line which is what he was recruited to play.

"He has a lot of upside and he is going to develop," Cummings said. "He is only 270 pounds. I say only 270 but he's going to weight 300 and some pounds. He is a good big athlete who could step in and be able to do the job we asked him to do. Now we've got somebody for that job so we will bring him back and put him in the position we really wanted him in."

Obviously true freshmen Crozier and Rutherford were seeing time throughout the season and the Huskies had inexperienced starters at the tackle position. It is only natural that there were some growing pains.

"There is a frustration part of it that you know they are going to be really good but they are not there yet so you had to pull it back and make sure what you teach them is to the smallest common denominator so they can successful," said Cummings, who helped turn Eric Fisher from lightly-regarded prospect to become the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft during his four years coaching the offensive line at Central Michigan. "As they get older it is really fun because they have the building blocks and experience. It is not a guy who is in his third year and hasn't played, it is a little different."

It also helps that the offensive linemen continue to bulk up led by the tackle duo of Levy and Knappe.
"They are pushers, shovers, mushers were everybody else is a runner," Cummings said. "They are totally trained for that, that has been a big improvement for Andreas, he has been through the battles."

NEWSOME, JOHNSON READY FOR AN ENCORESpeaking of young players getting a baptism under fire, there wasn't much time for tailbacks Ron Johnson and Arkeel Newsome to act like the true freshmen that they were a season ago. With Max DeLorenzo the only experienced tailback on last year's team, Johnson, Newsome and redshirt freshman Josh Marriner were thrown right into the mix from the opening game.
That experience should serve the young running backs well this season.

"He is a guy that is obviously very explosive so we tried to find ways to get him the ball," said UConn assistant coach David Corley, who coached the running backs last season. "We got the ball in his hands and a couple of times he was able to make some big plays happen. It is a natural maturation process. In your first year of college there are so many distractions that are happening, things are moving faster on the field then they were in high school. I think he was able to settle himself. I think he is better prepared now  what is expected from him, what is necessary and I think he is looking forward to these 15 days of spring practice and find a way to get better every day.

"They had no choice but to grow up. You come out high school, you are used to a certain speed of the game, a certain size of the opponents. Now you are in college and you are playing against grown me who are 21/22 years old. I think those guys definitely, it was a process and it didn't happen overnight but I think they learned and they grew up quite a bit in those 12 games last year."

It took three days to finish transcribing interviews from about 20 players, head coach Bob Diaco and a handful of assistant coaches at UConn football media day and I thought one of the more intriguing items which I have not seen reported elsewhere is how impressive junior receiver Kamal Abrams was during camp.

There's been plenty of discussion about seniors Geremy Davis and Deshon Foxx as well as the group of impressive young receivers brought into the program last year led by Thomas Lucas, Brian Lemelle and Noel Thomas. However, both receivers coach Wayne Lineburg and senior quarterback Chandler Whitmer both raved about what they saw from Abrams even though I didn't specifically ask about Abrams in my interview with either one of them.

"Kamal Abrams who has really stepped his game up this summer" is what Whitmer had to say about Abrams. There will be plenty of people pulling for him considering what happened a season ago. Abrams was also opening eyes during the 2013 preseason camp and seemed ready to make an impact. However, he tweaked something in his knee during pre-game warmups in the season opener against Towson. He didn't get into a game until the Huskies played South Florida in the fifth game of the year.

Another player who I have been hearing more and more about is true freshman Luke Carrezola.

Linebackers coach Vincent Brown said that Carrezola and Vontae Diggs, who are among 10 or so true freshmen who could get into Friday's season opener against BYU "have shown that they have a tremendously bright future ahead of them."

Jefferson Ashiru, whose 58 tackles and eight tackle for losses are the most for any returning UConn linebacker, said "I really like Luke Carrezola, he's very energetic, he wants to get better and is working to get better,"

Speaking of true freshmen, it is very impressive that guards Ryan Crozier and Trey Rutherford were working with the second team offensive line midway through camp and ended camp on the two-deep chart.

"They are two guys who have come out, they have very good ability and they have very good tools," UConn offensive line coach Mike Foley said. "It is a matter of them picking up the offense and knowing what to do, they are both smart guys so they have done very well in camp so I am excited about them. They are going to be very good players when it is all said and done but they have to keep working, get them going and gain that experience."

UConn announced it will have a pep rally on Fairfield Way (across from the Husky statue) on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. where Diaco will address the crowd.

Also, for those wanting to get brought up to speed on BYU, the Deseret News has posted some video interviews from BYU players and coaches shot after today's practice.

Also, I was finally able to finish up with all the interviews I needed for a story on the three former walk-ons who were given scholarships towards the end of spring practice. Diaco believes it was one of more important team-bonding moments since he arrived and look for the story on the Register's site later today and in tomorrow's paper.

The major news to come out of a Monday press conference that ranges somewhere from the bizarre to the surreal was that Casey Cochran, who led UConn to all of its three wins a season ago, has been named the Huskies' starting quarterback while former starter Chandler Whitmer will be featured in the offensive game plan on a weekly basis.

However, it would be a mistake to downplay the importance of Tim Boyle's role in the quarterback derby at UConn. With all due respect to Cochran and Whitmer, Boyle is the most physically gifted of the trio. It was Boyle who ascended to become UConn's starting quarterback in game No. 5 after Whitmer and the Huskies began the season with four straight losses. When Boyle was pulled in favor of Cochran after he started four games, all UConn losses, I remember hearing rumblings from a pretty reliable source that Boyle was at least pondering his future with the Huskies. A call to his former high school coach (Xavier's Sean Marinan) quelled those rumors.

I've gone on a couple of radio shows to discuss the prospects of the 2014 Huskies and naturally the quarterback situation was a popular topic of conversation. I predicted that either Cochran or Boyle would win the starting job. It wasn't due to any insight I gained from watching practice because I did not see one 11 on 11 or 7 on 7 drill due to the limited amount of practice time the media was allowed to watch but simply that if the quarterback competition was going to as close as I expected it to be, why would Bob Diaco and his staff use this year to develop a senior like Whitmer when they could build the offense around a player with two more seasons of eligibility after this year? The other concern I mentioned was whether one of the sophomores would exit stage right if the other one was named the No. 1 quarterback.

Well, Boyle certainly said all the right things during the press conference.

"I am extremely happy," Boyle said. "I appreciate Coach Diaco and the coaches doing what they are doing with me but my role this year is to help Chandler and Casey prepare for games, continue to push them to improve their games so they can perform on Saturdays. I have my role this year and I am 100 percent willing to do it. I have learned that getting mental reps is a huge part of the development in a football player. I think seeing things in practice and from the sideline and hearing the play call in the headphones, seeing that the defense does to prepare for it is going to help me prepare for it mentally. Like Coach said I am going to be ready to play games this year, it is not like I am going to take a year off. I am going to be studying BYU film in a couple of hours with the quarterbacks and I am going to be ready to go but my job this year is going to be to push these guys to their best levels."

If that proves to be the case, the quarterback situation played out perfectly as UConn will be able to bring back both Cochran and Boyle next season with Boyle having three more seasons of eligibility and Cochran would have two years left. Also, North Carolina State transfer Bryant Shirreffs, who has to sit out this season due to NCAA regulations, would have three seasons remaining while highly-touted high school quarterback Tyler Davis will be in the mix as well.

Here is what Diaco said about Boyle's role.

"With some nagging injuries here and there through this fall camp, it has slowed his competitive portion and with that, he is going to prepare for the games and help the team prepare to win games. We would expect him to go in and perform at a winning level - and we have no doubt he would do that. But, all in all, if we can, we are going to protect him. He is a four-to-play-three (in terms of eligibility), so that will give us an opportunity to create separation in terms of years between he and other guys. If is possible, I say that with great clarity, we will make every effort to do that. If it's not possible, we will not hesitate and he's going to be ready and be diligent in his preparation to get that done."

Some other thoughts and items from yesterday's practice that I didn't get into previous blogs.

First, while it is impressive to hear that both Cochran and Whitmer completed nearly 65 percent of their passes during this competition, I have to wonder what that says about the quality of the pass defense since those numbers occurred in drills against the defense. I have no idea how many of these completions were against the first, second or third team defenses but for every pass completed by the UConn offense, that is one pass not broken up by the defense.

For the second straight practice I was able to attend, true freshmen Ryan Crozier and Trey Rutherford continue to work with the second team offensive line at guard.  Redshirt freshman Thomas Hopkins continued to be the second-string left tackle. Redshirt freshmen Tommy Myers at tight end and Thomas Lucas at receiver continue to look like they will play significant roles while I would be surprised if redshirt freshman Josh Marriner is not the Huskies' leading rusher this season while I have long said that of the true freshmen, I predict tight end Alec Bloom would have the biggest impact early on. Of course Arkeel Newsome, who is the all-time leading rusher in Connecticut high school football history, is a true freshman with an exciting future while every time I looked over to see the offensive drills yesterday I saw fellow true freshman Ron Johnson with the ball tucked under his arm. On the defensive side of the ball, redshirt freshman Foley Fatukasi has been with the second unit at defensive tackle at every practice I have seen while redshirt freshmen Cam Stapleton, Cole Ormsby and Junior Joseph were working with the second team defense at linebacker. It has been reported multiple times that true freshman Jamar Summers is pushing for a major role at cornerback. In other words, there will be plenty of youth on display during the 2014 season.

When I asked first-year coach Bob Diaco about his impressions of the true freshmen at American Athletic Conference football media day on Tuesday his response was a rather abrupt "they all look like true freshmen."

Well, at least couple of those new kids has caught his eye.

Diaco was asked whether they had enough depth at tight end after redshirt freshman Quinn Thompson (the leading receiver with five catches in the spring game) left the program and is no longer enrolled at UConn, he had nothing but good things to say about former St. Joseph High of Trumbull star Steve Hashemi. The 6-foot-6, 262-pound Hashemi was the first player to commit to UConn after Diaco was hired and he has been impressive enough that redshirt freshman Michael Boland was shifted to defensive end.

"Alec Bloom, we are taking a look at (as a tight end)," Diaco said. "I have to watch the tape but to me it looked pretty good today (with) Steve Hashemi at tight end so we are excited about those guys. We moved Michael Boland out of there, back to the position that he came here to play and he is very excited about it.We feel good about the tight end position. I am looking forward to seeing and hearing how Steve did today but if he is able to be functioning there, (we would be) walking off the bus (with four) pretty good-looking guys."

As I mentioned when the roster was first posted, I was surprised to see Hashemi, an offensive tackle for the Cadets, listed as a tight end.

Diaco said that was not the original plan but it seems pretty evident that if given his choice between undersized h-back types at tight end or a sixth offensive lineman at the position, he would choose the latter.

"We see him, even still as an offensive linemen," Diaco said. "I have explained how we roll. I explained how we want to do our business, we want to create formations that can overwhelm the defense at the point of attack so that wouldn't be off base to take a young athletic offensive tackle that probably wouldn't be able to participate at offensive tackle and see if he can do some tight end jobs that look a little like offensive tackle jobs in a tight end jersey."

He also said that true freshmen offensive linemen Ryan Crozier, Daniel Oak and Trey Rutherford "don't look out of place."

Speaking of offensive linemen, Gus Cruz was out there with the first team at guard when I was allowed to watch practice. It was the first time he's been out there, I believe, since he was shut down after five games a season ago due to a cardiac issue.

"I have to watch the tape, those guys kind of get lost in there but it is great (to have Cruz back)," Diaco said. "I am excited for him and he is excited. He loves football so to be back out there with his teammates running around doing what he loves to do is wonderful, it is a great story."