UConn's depth chart features a starting quarterback from Georgia, a starting offensive tackle from Denmark, the No. 1 center hailing from Virginia and four of the eight defensive backs calling Florida home. In the end, however, the two-deep chart has an unmistakable Xavier High School connection.

Not only is starting linebacker Graham Stewart a former Xavier standout but so are reserve quarterback Tim Boyle and backup defensive end Sean Marinan.

"It is awesome, all of those guys I have known them and it is not a surprise to me because I know their character and I know their work ethic," Stewart said.

Xavier is the only high school with multiple players on the UConn two-deep chart making it quite special for the three former Falcons.
"It is amazing," said Marinan, the son of Xavier High football coach Sean Marinan Sr. "That is something we worked for in high school, we all had a dream and we just love it. It is awesome."

With four state titles in the last five seasons, it's hardly shocking to see that success translate having players from that program on the only FBS program in the state of Connecticut. The aura around the Xavier program doesn't stop there. Back in 2010 Villanova All-American linebacker Don Cherry was a star on a Trumbull High team which lost to Xavier in the 2010 CIAC Class LL title game at Rentschler Field and one of his best memories was of the rather enthusiastic Xavier High student section.

"I remember on the Xavier fans on the other side going crazy, the whole stadium was awesome and it was packed so it was a really memorable game," Cherry said. "Although we lost, it was a great experience to play against a top-tier team like Xavier."

Stewart gave his two cents on the fan support the Xavier High athletic programs receive.

"They take it very seriously and when your whole school is full of guys, they are going to be into the sports so it is easy to join in," Stewart said.

UConn will open spring practice a week from today so I figured it would be a good time to take a look at what the Huskies have to work with going into spring practice. I will take a position or sometimes double up on some positional groups.

I will start with the quarterbacks. It's a group that the Husky faithful can only hope makes up in quality what it lacks in quantity.

Junior Tim Boyle is the only one of the three to have thrown a pass in a game for the Huskies. He appeared in nine of the 12 games a season ago but a 52.4 completion percentage and one touchdown versus three interceptions won't wow anybody. Boyle was thrown into the fire as a true freshman after the Huskies got off to an 0-4 start and I'm not sure he was ready for what was coming. This is a huge year for him to prove he can be the type of quarterback an offense can be built around. The 6-foot-3 Boyle has the size and arm strength to make all the throws. He hasn't always handled pressure from the opposing pass rush as well as he needs to. He should have an edge over Bryant Shirreffs and Tyler Davis since he has been with the program the longest.

Shirreffs is an intriguing prospect. He played in eight games as a freshman at North Carolina State, running for 158 yards and a touchdown and completing 4 of 5 passes for 17 yards and another touchdown. His numbers as a high school senior were rather impressive as he had more than 3,700 yards of total offense. Although Boyle can make plays with the legs, Shirreffs is definitely more adept of thriving as a dual threat quarterback.

Davis graduated from Mepham (N.Y.) High School early so he is currently enrolled at UConn and can take part in spring practice. Casey Cochran's ability to go through spring drills after wrapping up a record-breaking career at Masuk was invaluable in allowing him to get onto the field as a redshirt freshman. Davis is a prospect that was at the top of the wish list of the current staff and like Shirreffs, he has shown a real ability to make big plays in the run game. Davis had six games with more than 150 rushing yards including 378 in one of the contests. After throwing five interceptions in his first three games as a senior, he had just one for the rest of the season so that is a good sign.

Obviously quarterback is the most high-profile position on any team so it will generate plenty of attention. However, the quality of the quarterback play has held the Huskies back in recent years and it will be interesting to see not only who emerges as the No. 1 guy but also if they have what it takes to be more than just a game manager.

A year ago Don Patterson was in charge of coaching the quarterbacks but when the dust cleared after a revamping of offensive staff coaching duties, former receivers coach Wayne Lineburg was moved to work with the QBs.

"It is important that we raise our level but every position we have to be better," Lineburg said. "Obviously quarterback is a focal point, you get too much blame when you lose, too much credit when you win. It is a big position and we have to do a great job of finding a guy that is going to lead the team, move the team and score points. Who is that guy who is going to protect the bal and do those things. If we can do those things, it will help us out and lead us to better production."

Since we didn't get to see Shirreffs in action a season ago, I was curious about Lineburg's thoughts on his potential.

"I have seen him some but mostly he was on the scout team so I haven't been able to watch him a ton so it will be interesting to see how he does." Lineburg said. "He has a good skill set and he is an intelligent guy and he has shown some leadership skills. We will have to see how he does and I'll be able to tell you more at the end of spring of where he is."
Coached quarterbacks for several years at Richmond so it was a natural position for me having played it. I love receiver play but I love quarterback play as well so I am looking forward to working with those guys.

When UConn takes to the field against Tulane on Saturday, it will be a landmark moment in the young life of Andreas Knappe.

Knappe and his family made so many sacrifices resulting in his leaving Silkeborg, Denmark to play collegiate football in the United States. He redshirted during the 2012 season and only played in one game as a redshirt freshman.

Knappe was pushing to be the starting right offensive tackle before a lower-leg injury sidelined him for the first two games of the season. He snap count progressively increased in each of the last three games and with starter Dalton Gifford to be sidelined for a while, Knappe is set to make his first career start on Saturday night.

"I still prepare with the same intensity and put my head into the game so it doesn't really change my preparation to be honest,' Knappe said.

"It tests your patience when you are an athlete because you want to play so getting nicked up and having to sit out obviously it was a little bit of a hard time for my preparation but  going through all the mental reps and going through everything at that point was great."

Knappe played almost the entire game after the first series in the loss to Temple and with UConn not playing last week, has more time to get ready for his first start.

"The bye week came at a good time and then again, you always want to get out there so not having a game this weekend was kind of an empty feeling me," Knappe said. "You get to practice a little more, get to work on your craft and hopefully it will pay off."

I'm not sure how many people in Denmark have access to ESPNews but I am sure his inner circle of friends will be staying up to check in on the pride of Silkeborg even if will be 2 a.m. in Silkeborg when the UConn-Tulane game kicks off.

"Mostly my former teammates, my close friends and family are like 'wow, this is huge.' Just getting to play in general, I am lucky to be in the position I am and I am thankful," Knappe said.

Knappe said there is a buzz back home especially with up and coming players considering following the path he is blazing.

"I have talked to a couple of younger guys, they have facebooked me and they asked 'how did your recruiting process work?' I am just trying to help those guys out and achieving their dream too. I think back home more people will try to pursue this."

It doesn't hurt that UConn's road games include stops in Tampa, New Orleans and Memphis.

"I love traveling, seeing new places and every time we go somewhere new it is a new place I haven't been to in the U.S. so that is really cool too," Knappe said.

As for other items of today's press conference, UConn coach Bob Diaco said safety Obi Melifonwu who was injured making a tackle in the second quarter of the Temple loss, has been cleared to participate as has punter Justin Wain although Diaco stopped short of saying Wain will resume his punting duties just yet.

Diaco also said that true freshmen running backs Arkeel Newsome and Ron Johnson are expected to see more playing time moving forward.
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Source-Bengals-try-out-Adrian-Robinson-Yawin-Smallwood.html

He also said he'd like to continue to use multiple quarterbacks but how much he utilizes sophomore backup Tim Boyle will be determined by how he is feeling.

"Nothing too crazy," Boyle said of his lower-leg discomfort, "I am physically able to go but just some discomfort here and there.

"I'm very anxious, this discomfort has been there for a little bit. I am fighting through it, doing rehab. I can't wait to feel 100 percent and excited to get out there."

Diaco wants to get Boyle some live-game reps but he isn't going to put him in harm's way.

"Tim is the quarterback of the future. He is going to be the quarterback of the team - unless he gets beat out - he will be the quarterback of the team in 2015 and '16, another reason why it is incredibly encouraging, the future," Diaco said. "That is the reason why we want him to play in every single game. You saw that pass that he threw (against Temple), just lack of focus, lack of intensity, late down the middle, off target, gets picked and that is a learning moment that we definitely want him to learn right now. We don't want him to learn it in the back 2/3 of this season and we don't want him to learn it in '15 and definitely not in '16. The only way to learn that lesson is to play in games, there is no other way to simulate it."

Diaco also made it clear that Deshon Foxx is in play to see more time at quarterback after finishing out the Temple game at QB.

"It is not a Foxx package, it is the offense," Diaco said. "I guess the opponent can look at it any way they want to look at it but if they want to look at it as wildcatish, if they want to look at the Foxx plan as a wildcat plan then they would be making a mistake because Foxx can thrown all of the passes, he has a strong arm, he can run our offense. He can run our offense from the gun, he can run our offense from under center so to say it is a Foxx package, they can do whatever they want. They want to see it as a wildcat but it is not, Foxx can run an offense, all the calls and all the plays "

DIACO: SCHEDULE IS "QUIRKY"
As a result of having two bye weeks in a three-week span UConn will play one game in a 25-day span.

It was clear that Diaco wasn't a big fan of how that part of the schedule shook out.

"That is really bizarre and the biggest concern would be timing," Diaco said. "The only thing I can relate to is time preparing for the national championship game (at Notre Dame). That long break, preparing the team for timing in that game became a big issue. How far should we go with timing as opposed to (concern) over the health of our players. It is an interesting, it won' happen again or at least in the near future. It is a quirky portion for sure."

The players downplayed the impact of Saturday's game being the only one from Sept. 28 to Oct. 22.

"I didn't notice it when the schedule came out but I kind of tried to focus on the first game of the season," UConn senior receiver Deshon Foxx said. "It is not my favorite thing to have just one game in that time but especially coming off a loss we needed (the bye week). It defintiely is a good thing if you look at it as a good thing and a negative thing if you look at it as a negative thing."

It is wise not to read too much into any production during the garbage time portion of football games.

As was the case with Tim Boyle's impressive drive late in the Boise State, Deshon Foxx's impressive work running the read option in the closing minutes of yesterday's loss to Temple was done against second-string defenders and a conservative defensive game plan. Still, with an offense that has done little except to prove it can consistently hand the other team glorious scoring opportunities, perhaps UConn has something new to bring to the table.

Foxx has been quietly seeing some time at quarterback in practice since one final concussion ended Casey Cochran's playing career with the Huskies.

It was the way I thought UConn would end up going because I specifically looked for walk-on Will Rishell, who has been listed as the No. 3 quarterback since Cochran stopped playing, to take some snaps in pregame warmups (we aren't allowed into practice once preseason camp ends) and have yet to see it. I didn't even see Rishell among the Huskies who made the trip to South Florida earlier this month. I speculated that Kamal Abrams, a productive high school quarterback, could be the guy but a couple of weeks ago the word was that Deshon Foxx was the one who would be the Huskies' emergency quarterback moving forward.

When Bob Diaco met with the media the day after announcing that Cochran's playing career was over I asked him if Abrams or another player was being groomed to be an emergency quarterback.

"Not any that I am interested in saying" was Diaco's guarded response.

It wasn't an emergency that resulted in Foxx lining up in the shotgun on UConn's final offensive possession yesterday. He handed off to Ron Johnson on the first three times and five times during a nine-play drive.

For those wondering, Foxx said he played quarterback at Brookville High School in Lynchburg, Virginia although his team operated in a spread offense.

On Saturday Foxx ran the ball three times including a 26-yard effort, the Huskies' longest run since Lyle McCombs rumbled for 38 yards against Southern Methodist on Nov. 16. Likely just to give future opponents something else to have to prepare for, the UConn staff had Foxx throw the ball and he completed a 4-yard pass to Noel Thomas.

"It is the end of the game, you don't want to risk anything happening to your two quarterbacks," Foxx said. "I have been doing it here or there.

Foxx, who did not catch a pass in the game, isn't sure if he will get future opportunities to play quarterback but he does offer the dimension of a running threat at the quarterback position which is something the Huskies haven't had since Scott McCummings was used as the quarterback in the wildcat formation a couple years ago.

"If they feel like it will help the offense," Foxx said. "I know they will do whatever for our team to win they will do whatever they have to do."

Diaco made it clear after the Temple game that not only is Foxx viewed as a potential option at quarterback, but he will not just be a running threat if called upon again in live game action.

"Foxx is a quarterback," Diaco said. "He can throw too, he can throw down the field. He can throw the intermediate (routes), he can throw the ball shallow, he can move with the ball and throw on the run and we have a whole package of plays for him, runs and passes."

A trace of a smile came across Foxx's face when he was asked if he could throw the ball down the field.

"I can do a little something, maybe one day we will see," Foxx said.If nothing else, that final drive enabled UConn to finish a game with more than 100 rushing yards for the first time this season.

Max DeLorenzo ran eight times for 31 yards on the opening drive of the game while freshman Arkeel Newsome took a pass from Whitmer 74 yards for the Huskies' only offensive touchdown and the team's longest offensive play since Shakim Phillips' 75-yard touchdown reception in a Sept. 14, 2013 loss to Maryland.

"That was definitely cool," Foxx said of the former Ansonia High star's first collegiate touchdown. "I was very happy that he was able to get the touchdown especially as a freshman to show what he could do. He got into the open field, he made a couple people miss and he was in the end zone quick. That is another weapon we have.

"He doesn't complain, he doesn't say anything. Whatever you tell him to do, he does it to the best of his ability. I am proud of him and happy to have him on our team."

It's easy to look at final passing statistics in the Boise State game and find a eureka moment where there is none.

At first glance reserve quarterback's Tim Boyle 6 of 9 numbers with no interceptions far outdistance the 16 of 29 and two interception numbers that Chandler Whitmer had.

However, most of Boyle's best work came on the Huskies' final offensive possession when Boise State was willing to concede yards as long as the clock continued to run.

Still, for a player making his first appearance of the season, being able to move the team on that drive could prove to be invaluable for Boyle.

Boyle hooked up with Thomas Lucas and Sean McQuillan for completions of four and five yards. Boyle and Lucas connected again for a 17-yard gain. Ironically, two of his most impressive throws resulted in incompletions. Despite having a tight window to throw into, Boyle dropped a pass into the hands of Noel Thomas within the shadow of the goal line. Thomas was unable to hold onto the ball and one the next play Dhameer Bradley dropped a potential touchdown reception as UConn's final
possession in the 38-21 loss came to an end.

"It gave me a lot of confidence," Boyle said. "I know it wasn't their starting defense but any time you play a Boise State team their backups aren't going to be a bad backup group so it definitely gave me confidence in my leadership ability because I definitely was in control of that series. It was slower this year than it was last year for me, it came to be a lot easier. Seeing defenses, getting the play call in, the substitutions and all that kind of stuff. It was definitely s confidence booster for the next couple of games and I want to keep building on it."

Boyle made his first appearance of the season in the Huskies' third offensive possession. He connected with Lucas on completions on his first two passes although the plays resulted in just four yards. On third down he was sacked and that was the end of Boyle's day until it was garbage time.

A confident Boyle could be huge for the Huskies moving forward because the former Xavier High star has all the tools to be a top-flight Division I quarterback.

Calling his four-game stint as UConn's starting quarterback during the 2013 season a baptism of fire doesn't quite do the situation justice. Boyle completed just 43.9 percent of his passes for 619 yards. He didn't throw a touchdown pass, had eight interceptions and was sacked 18 times in the four games.

"Being a true freshman coming in and four weeks in college of still trying to know where my classes are, figuring out what book is for what class and trying to learn an offense and manage an offensive line where the oldest guy was 23/24 years old so I think the big picture scared me last year," Boyle said. "I just had to let the game come to me, take a deep breath and everything is going to work out."

The schedule Boyle faced was downright brutal. After debuting against the South Florida team the Huskies will play on Friday, the next three games were against eventual American Athletic Conference champion Central Florida as well as Louisville and Cincinnati, which finished second and third in the AAC.

"It is no excuse," Boyle said. "The team trusted me to get the job done when I played last year and I thought I could do a better job. It was a learning experience, you have to find a silver lining in things so I have been able to do that."

Boyle believes he is more prepared this year when he a season ago.

"I think it was more confidence in myself, I knew I could do it but it is unfortunate it wasn't being done on the field," Boyle said. "The ball is definitely coming out a lot easier this year, I am not forcing anything and that has worked well for me."

While Whitmer is still the starter, UConn coach Bob Diaco has said on multiple occasions that he considers Boyle to be the program's quarterback of the future.

"Tim has all top-notch traits," Diaco said. "He is fast, he is big, he has great vision over the linemen. He has very strong arm, he can throw all the passes, he has good touch on shallow passes, he has nice touch on the deep passes. He can zip it from the hash to the (sideline); he has that kind of strength in his arm. He has enough escapability to be a problem so those are the things I like about him. He has top-flight tangible traits."

The relationship between Boyle and Diaco started well before Diaco was hired at UConn.

"He recruited me and when I was a junior (at Xavier) he came down to my high school and when he was (Notre Dame) defensive coordinator," Boyle said. "I was kind of shell shocked when I found out Notre Dame was here to talk to me so that took me off guard a little bit but then I went to the Junior Day there and me and him have had a good relationship even when we was at Notre Dame, he did a great job of showing me around Notre Dame when he was the defensive coordinator there. It was nice knowing he was becoming the coach here because we had a nice relationship prior."

Since he is as well dressed as any coach I have ever covered I had to ask Boyle about Diaco's wardrobe when he came to visit Boyle at Xavier.

"Same guy, always a suit and tie, always with the nice hair, knows what to say at the right times," Boyle said. "That I what I admire about Coach Diaco. he is never fake to anybody which is a great trait to have as a coach."

Boyle said knowing what his participation pattern is going to be heading into the games helps him deal with what could otherwise be an uncertain situation.

"I think Coach Diaco does a good job of letting me know when I am playing," Boyle said, "I think he does that for everyone so if Chandler goes down - knock on wood, I hope he doesn't  Chandler is doing a nice job this year - and I need to be ready to go." 

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.

It was a rather interesting day at UConn to say the least.

The initial impression I got was that no players would be available even though this was the day we were expecting Bob Diaco to announce who is going to be the starting quarterback.

Then came the process of removing the podium from the defensive meeting room inside the Burton Family Football Complex and replacing it with a table. Five chairs were then brought in which made the media wonder if this was going to be the day when the team captains were named. Instead, the chairs were for all four scholarship quarterbacks and Diaco. I've covered my share of competitive quarterback battles but have never seen a coach bring in every scholarship quarterback to announce the starter. It was original, that is for sure.

It didn't take long for Diaco to cut to the chase and announce that redshirt sophomore Casey Cochran was going to be the No. 1 quarterback, senior Chandler Whitmer was going to see time in games and Tim Boyle would likely be redshirted.

Diaco told the quarterbacks of his intentions earlier on Monday before announcing the news to the media early in the evening.

"It is great news and it feels even better to hear it around these guys," Cochran said. "We are working as hard as we can. I am glad that Chandler is going to come in and play as hard as he can, we are going to work together in terms of being able to putting points on the board and winning games this year. I have a different life now, a different lifestyle and it feels amazing."

As Cochran mentioned, the plan is for both Cochran and Whitmer to see action in games. Diaco didn't have a preset scenario where Whitmer, who started 16 games over the previous two seasons, would get a certain amount of plays or get onto the field in particular situations.

In practice Diaco said the repetitions with the starting offense will likely be closer to a 51/49 percent breakdown than the maximum 85/15 allotment of snaps.

Whitmer, who was benched after starting the first four games of the season, has admitted that he lost some of the joy he used to get from playing football and with his degree in hand, he could have walked away from the sport. Instead, one phone conversation with Diaco changed it all. Diaco told Whitmer if he could handle being in a situation where he worked with the scout team and didn't get a snap during games he was welcome to come back. If he was only thinking on returning to be the Huskies' starting quarterback, there would be no need to return.

Whitmer vowed that "I did not come back to be the starting quarterback at UConn."

Diaco raved about Whitmer's maturity.
"Every day since he has repaired, rebuilt and gained back the respect of his teammates," Diaco said. "He didn't have to gain back our respect, he got it through his actions, through his behaviors and through his work."

Whitmer sat at a table with fellow quarterbacks Cochran, Tim Boyle and Bryant Shirreffs and said he is ready for whatever role Diaco, offensive coordinator Mike Cummings and quarterbacks coach Don Patterson has in store for him.

"I wanted to come back, set the record straight and not leave UConn the way things ended last year," Whitmer said. "I wanted to change my attitude. I grew as a man and I credit Coach Diaco for having me come back and just the way he changed this whole group, this environment. He has increased the love and it has made it easy for me to be a better teammate."

Diaco said it was nearly a dead heat between Cochran and Whitmer (Boyle was slowed by what appeared to be a lower body injury as he started today's practice riding a stationary bike.

Cochran led UConn to a season-ending three game winning streak culminating when also threw for a single-game program record 461 yards in the regular-season finale against Memphis.

However, with a new head coach in Diaco, new offensive coordinator in Mike Cummings and new quarterbacks coach in Don Patterson Cochran had to earn the job all over again.

The first step was doing the work in the weight room. Diaco said Cochran weighed in at 247 pounds at one point which predictably did not go over well with the new regime. He worked diligently to get down to under 220 pounds and showed enough during the preseason camp that he was named the team's starting quarterback on Monday.

There's a chance that today is the day when one of the biggest questions surrounding the 2014 UConn football team is answered and the starting quarterback is announced.

It certainly fits the time frame of when UConn coach Bob Diaco said he wanted to have a No. 1 quarterback named but since it is looking as if there will be no players made available to the media after today's practice, we will have to see if the wait will go on for a few more days before the quarterback pecking order is announced.

Just looking at the numbers and you would think that Casey Cochran would be the guy. He threw for more yards, was the only one with more touchdowns than interceptions and had the most completions, attempts and highest quarterback rating. However, it didn't sound like new football coach Bob Diaco, who places a premium of physical fitness, was too pleased when Cochran reportedly was pushing 250 pounds at one point.

Chandler Whitmer has the most experience of the three quarterbacks after starting all 12 games during the 2012 season. He also had the best numbers at the spring game as he completed 19 of 26 passes for a game-high 163 yards and had the only touchdown pass. He was also on the receiving end of three of the four sacks in the game which has been an issue in the past as well.

Tim Boyle is probably the most physically gifted of the three. Unlike Cochran and Whitmer, he has prototypical size (he's listed at 6-foot-3, 216 pounds on UConn's official roster). But he completed just 44.4 percent of his passes a season ago and threw eight interceptions versus no touchdown passes.

Let's look at what each of them brings to the table.

Boyle can make all the throws and while he is not known for his running ability, he does have more of an ability to make plays with his legs than his other two competitors. He had an issue feeling the pass rush during his four-game stint as UConn's starter and the forgettable touchdown to interception ratio was already mentioned. He is also the only one of the three not to have used up his redshirt season meaning that if the UConn coaching staff thinks he has a bright future, which is something Diaco has said in the past, they could use this season as a developmental year. If they believe Boyle is not going to have wandering eyes and look to leave that could be a good move.

Cochran is an outstanding student-athlete as he was a member of the American Athletic Conference All-Academic team a season ago and he studies football at a high level as well. He led UConn to three straight wins to end the season including a dominating performance in the season finale when he passed for a program single-game record of 461 yards. The problem is Diaco has said many times that nothing that happened last year - good or bad - will determine playing time this season as his current staff is making evaluations based solely on what they see.

Whitmer provides experience which is something this team doesn't have very much of on the offensive side of the ball. He finished in the top 10 on UConn's single season list in passing yards, attempts and completions during the 2012 season and it is easy to forget that he threw for 349 yards in the loss to Maryland a season ago. He has also shown incredible toughness as he hung in the pocket as long as he could before delivering the ball. He tends to be the biggest risk taker among the three quarterbacks which has led to some big plays but also some costly turnovers. Diaco said he values ball security over any other attribute in his quarterback so if Whitmer gets the call, he must have excelled in that area during camp and Diaco certainly seems to like what Whitmer brings to the table based on what he has said to us. The question I would have is if the quarterback competition is as close as Diaco said it has been, wouldn't it make more sense to go with a younger quarterback like Boyle or Cochran so UConn can benefit from this season's experience rather than hand the keys of the offense to a player on his final season of eligibility? Of course, Diaco has said on multiple occasions that he is planning to use more than one quarterback this season so perhaps that is his way of developing one of the younger quarterbacks while letting Whitmer get the bulk of the work.

In my opinion, I think UConn's ability to win or lose games won't fluctuate regardless of who takes the bulk of snaps and that is why I haven't done a heck of a lot with the quarterback position in my coverage of preseason camp but it is going to be interesting to see how this all shakes out and not just during the season opening BYU game but over the course of the season.

Bob Diaco, with Tim Boyle during the spting game, said
ball security is a top priority for UConn's quarterbacks

Like it or not, the quarterback position is treated just a little bit differently by the media.

When you look at the 2014 UConn team, especially the offensive group, the quarterback position might be the spot where the Huskies are in the best shape as Chandler Whitmer, Tim Boyle and Casey Cochran return after each starting four games last season. The trio combined to throw for 2,810 yards, the highest total for a UConn team since 2009 and 10th highest mark in program history.

There are significantly more questions surrounding the offensive line and tailback positions with inexperienced and untested players being thrust into key roles as well as curiosity surrounding how much of an impact the young receivers and tight ends are going to have this season. Still, as UConn prepares to open preseason camp tomorrow, all eyes - at least outside of the program - will be on the quarterback position.

UConn coach Bob Diaco said that previous performance is irrelevant (the efforts during spring practice under the watch of his staff notwithstanding) and the starting quarterback will be determined by what transpires in the next couple of weeks. He was also quick to shoot down the notion that Cochran, who led the Huskies to all three of its wins a season ago, and Whitmer, who quarterbacked UConn to five wins during the 2012 season, are ahead of Boyle in the quarterback derby.

"I would say that it is not accurate in that we are going to have an open competition for the next two weeks," Diaco said.

He also said he intends to use more than one quarterback during games which is sort of curious since all three have similar skill sets. None of the three will be playing their way onto the field as a result of their running ability so I don't really get the purpose of using more than one quarterback but then again, my opinion doesn't really matter in the process of determining the quarterback pecking order.

What does matter to Diaco is ball security.

A season ago UConn opponents scored 39 offensive touchdowns and exactly 1/3 of those drives began in UConn territory. One of the most frightening statistics associated with the 2013 Huskies is that opponents started 25 drives in UConn territory including seven in the red zone while UConn was given that glorious field position just 12 times inside the 50 and three times inside the 25. Those numbers do not even take into account the six non-offensive touchdowns scored by UConn opponents last season.

"If they don't take care of the ball they are not going to play," Diaco said. "(If they turn it over) in practice, you are not going to see them in the games. If they do it in the game, they are coming out, they are not going back in. You can't turn the football over. I'll hand it to the back 55 times, I am serious and then we will have a chance. If you turn the football over, you have no chance."

Cochran had the highest passing rating (141.7), completion percentage (63.4) and touchdown/interception ratio (11/4) of the trio so heading into camp I would consider him the favorite to earn the starting nod but as Diaco said, nothing is predetermined. In my opinion, however, I would think the odds are stacked against Whitmer. Considering that Boyle and Cochran both have three seasons of eligibility and Whitmer is a senior, I would think that Whitmer would have to be head and shoulders ahead of his competition to earn the starting gig since it would make more sense for the staff to work on developing Boyle and Cochran and there is no better way of doing that than seeing what they can do in game situations. Also, if Cochran is the No. 1 guy, I would be in favor of trying to use this season to redshirt Boyle. UConn burned Boyle's redshirt a season ago somewhat foolishly. When they made the switch from Whitmer to Boyle heading into South Florida game it was known that games against the best three teams in the league (Central Florida, Cincinnati and Louisville) were coming up in rabid succession. They pretty much threw Boyle into the deep end with a month of preseason camp experience and another month of practice work in the regular season under his belt. If they were going to make a move, they could have gone to Cochran then and protected Boyle's redshirt status.

Finally, since we will only be privy to the first 20 minutes of the practices that the media is allowed to attend, we likely will see little if any of the progress the three quarterbacks are making when they lead to first-team offense against the No. 1 defense in 7 on 7 and 11 on 11 situations. What I do know is that Diaco plans on naming a starting quarterback in two weeks when the Huskies break camp.

Stay tuned.

If interim head coach T.J. Weist has made a decision on who is going to be UConn's starting quarterback against Southern Methodist, he is not ready to announce it just yet.

Chandler Whitmer started the first four games of the season but when Weist was named interim coach following the firing of Paul Pasqualoni, he named true freshman Tim Boyle as the starting quarterback. In four games as a starter Boyle has no touchdowns and eight interceptions. Redshirt freshman Casey Cochran came in late in three of those four games and threw touchdown passes in the last two games.

"We are still evaluating it," Weist said on Monday's American Athletic Conference coaches' call. "We put him (Boyle) down as the starter on the depth chart yesterday. At practice yesterday we reevaluated it and will make my decision tomorrow on who I am going to go with."

I asked him if he split first-team reps three ways when UConn hit the practice field yesterday.

"I wouldn’t say that," Weist said. "I will look at things tomorrow and decide who our starting quarterback is going to be and go from there, open up competition a little bit and see how things shake out."

Since UConn normally doesn't practice on Mondays and we meet with Weist before Tuesday's practice, he either has made his decision but doesn't want to announce it until tomorrow or he wants to sleep on things before announcing the QB.

There are no such quarterback issues at SMU. Senior Garrett Gilbert, the American Athletic Conference's reigning offensive player of the week. He leads all AAC quarterbacks and is seventh nationally in passing yards (3037 in eight games). He is averaging 379.6 passing yards per game and only Oregon State's Sean Mannion and Fresno State's Derek Carr average more passing yards per contest.

"It is impressive that he gets the ball to his weapons," Weist said he has some good weapons obviously, three of the best receivers in the league and two of the best receivers in the country so he spreads the ball around and he is very efficient. He has a very strong arm and he is physical."

UConn interim head coach T.J. Weist didn't exactly give freshman quarterback Tim Boyle a ringing endorsement on a conference call earlier today when he was asked whether he was committed to Boyle moving forward.

"It is always a thought," Weist said of potentially changing quarterbacks again. "You say you are committed to him but I am not really committed to any player and keep him in the game no matter how he is playing. I think he has to do a better job throwing the football, handling the offense and he has to get better at it. We will reevalute it and we have to make some decisions on who our quarterback is and if we keep him there, we will look at the film and make the best decision for the team. I am watching film a couple times, I am going to meet with our staff. I am going to put pressure on him and the quarterback, really decide who is best for our team and who is the best quarterback. Tim has to show improvement, significant improvements every game for us to be patient with him. He has to be more efficient throwing the ball, handling the offense. We are going to evaluate that and see what is best for our team."

Boyle was 14 of 29 passing for 113 yards and three interceptions in a 31-10 loss to Louisville.

It was the third straight game that Boyle was pulled in the fourth quarter with UConn being blown out and redshirt freshman Casey Cochran finished off the game.

"That is another challenge," Boyle said after the Louisville game. "Casey is my teammate, we spend a lot of time together all the quarterbacks and he works his butt off, he watches a lot of film and he knows what he is doing out there. It comes down to being a competitor and watching somebody else do my job, it is a challenge but it is what is best for the team at that point so I can’t get too sour about it."

Boyle was named the starting quarterback after Weist was elevated to the role of interim head coach after the fourth game of the season. Boyle has not thrown a touchdown and has eight interceptions in the four games he has played.

"I haven’t done my job to the best of my ability in my four starts," Boyle said. "We have played a lot of good teams since I have been starting and I don’t look at the game and see what I did well, I see more what I didn’t do well so I can try to fix it. Seeing defenses, seeing blitzes, seeing when I am hot and stuff like that is something I am really going to have to work on this next week. I don’t see myself doing too much good out there which is a problem I am having right now and I need to fix.

"I don’t think it is confidence. It just comes down to me executing my job on every single play and I am not doing it as well as I should be and knowing I could be doing better. It is just me going week to week trying to fix that."

So where does Boyle think he needs to make the most strides to successfully lead the UConn offense?

"Seeing blitzes and knowing when to get rid of the ball quickly and seeing hot (reads)," Boyle said. "The pass rush is definitely different at the college level and the D-linemen are a lot faster, the linebackers disguise blitzes and until I am a senior in college it is something I am going to have to work on throughout my career. It is something I am going to have to go watch film, try to correct and spend time on."

UConn released its depth chart for Friday's game against Louisville and the most noteworthy change came at quarterback when redshirt freshman Casey Cochran is listed as the No. 2 QB instead of former starter Chandler Whitmer.

Since freshman Tim Boyle replaced Whitmer as the starting quarterback, Cochran is the only other quarterback to see the field for the Huskies. Cochran was 2 for 3 for 11 yards against Cincinnati and was 7 of 11 for 95 yards including a 46-yard touchdown pass to Brian Lemelle in a loss to Central Florida.

Whitmer started the first four games and passed for 896 yards with five touchdown passes and six interceptions.

Obviously I will have more on this tomorrow when we meet up with UConn interim coach T.J. Weist and selected players on the weekly media interview session.

Also, senior Tyler Bullock is listed as the starting right offensive guard but also as the second stringer at left guard, a spot previous held down by freshman Kyle Schafenacker.

Cornerback Taylor Mack is back in the two-deep but listed as the backup to Jhavon Williams.. Linebacker Graham Stewart is also back on the two-deep chart. Like Mack he began the season as a starter before being sidelined by injury.

Also, more than 30,000 tickets are already out for the next two home games against Louisville on Friday and against Rutgers on Nov. 30.

Nobody ever promised freshman Tim Boyle that taking over as UConn's starting quarterback was going to be a walk in the park.

After nearly coming away with a victory against South Florida in his first career collegiate start Boyle ventured into rougher waters in Saturday's loss at 2012 co-Big East champion Cincinnati.

Boyle threw three interceptions and was sacked eight times in the 41-16 loss.

Boyle took responsibility for the mistakes that he made against the Bearcats.

"I put a lot of those sacks on myself just not going through my progressions as fast as I can," said Boyle, who was 22 of 39 for 310 yards. "I think our offensive line did a great job of protecting me, everyone sees the stat of eight sacks and they are in awe. I think a key thing I have to do is keep getting up from the sacks and showing the team that I can take them and keep getting up.

"One interception I left it inside, the one by the goal line was just me being a freshman and throwing the ball up. That is something I am going to have to learn from and the last one, I just left it short. I think I could have had a touchdown to Shak (Phillips) on that play but that is something I have to learn from."

Boyle didn't have to deal with a ton of pressure from opposing teams during his days at Xavier High. His tendency to step up right into the area where the defensive pressure is coming from is just one of the areas where Boyle knows he needs to improve.

"It’s a double-edged sword because I feel like if I make a lot of mistakes, I learn from those mistakes but at the same time I don’t want to make those mistakes and do the right thing," Boyle said. "It is hit or miss, either I do the right thing and it looks really good or I don’t do the right thing and I learn from it. I think I did more bad than good in the game and that is something that Coach Weist (has talked about)."

When quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck were squaring off in a highly-anticipated showdown on Sunday night Weist called Boyle and suggested that he not only watch the game but also see how the two quarterbacks are able to step up in the pocket and make throws down the field.

"You sit there and watch the game the other night with Peyton Manning, you watch Luck and Manning and you watch them step up into the pocket and they are throwing the ball as they are getting hit," Weist said. "I talked to him about it and you see them handling pressure because everybody has pressure, you look at the sacks that are happening in any league. You see pressure, how does he handle it? How does he secure the football? How fast does he make decisions? How fast does that ball come off his hands in those situations? That is where he has to learn from that last game that he had pressure and he has to learn to make that decision and let that ball go before the pressure closes in on his and how to move around in the pocket with that pressure. The pocket is always changing and any good defensive coach is going to do a good job of learning what our pocket is and how to put different pressure angles on it so that is what he has to do."

UConn is last among 123 FBS teams by surrendering 5.17 sacks per game and future opponents are going to see how Cincinnati was able to harass Boyle and attempt to do the same thing.

"When we didn’t handle it earlier, they kept bringing the pressure," Weist said. "The overall speed of the game is what he is learning. It is different from high school because it is always faster and they bring pressure, they bring pressure again and they keep bringing pressure. It is not just handling it once, it is handling it again and again and again. That is what he learned in this game, that is where he was deficient in this game than against South Florida. He didn’t handle the pressure as well and it happened in some critical situations, down in the red zone. Some of the sacks were due to him taking one more step, not throwing the ball on time. He has to trust that when he lets that ball go that the receiver is going to make plays. He held the ball a couple of times which cost us and other times we went empty and we had hot throws that he didn’t really see and he has to work on. He will get better at that."

Despite all of the missed steps, the blocked field goal and a sack that turned into South Florida's only touchdown, UConn has in position to possibly send the first game during the T.J. Weist/Tim Boyle era into overtime.

Boyle had just hooked up with fellow true freshman Dhameer Bradley for a 16-yard completion with 16 seconds to play. With the clock stopping while the officials set the chains, the Huskies needed to either quickly snap the ball and spike it or call a timeout. They did neither. Nearly 10 seconds ran off the clock before Weist finally used UConn's final timeout.

No longer able to try to pick up the 15-20 yards to give Chad Christen a chance to attempt the game-tying field goal, the Huskies were left with little choice but to have Boyle loft a pass into the end zone and hope Geremy Davis could make the catch. However, a pair of South Florida defenders were in better position and the Bulls' Mark Joyce made a play to knock the pass down to give the Bulls a 13-10 victory.

Weist, who doubles as UConn’s offensive coordinator, took the blame for the disarray at the end of the game which dropped UConn to 0-5 for the first time since 1977. A loss to Cincinnati next week and the Huskies will open the season with six straight losses for just the third time since 1935.

“This loss is on me, it is my responsibility to win this game and we didn’t,” said Weist, who was named interim coach on Sept. 30 after UConn director of athletics Warde Manuel fired head coach Paul Pasqualoni. “We had the opportunity, the defense played a great game and didn’t allow a touchdown and they gave us every opportunity on offense with field position, they gave us every chance to make play
“I am calling plays and I thought the clock was stopped at 16 (seconds) and it wasn’t. I didn’t make the play call, I was deciding what play to call and whether to call timeout and I didn’t and the clock started again. I made a mistake in clock management. I have to learn from it.”

The lessons will come with the Huskies trying to avoid starting a season with six straight losses for just the third time since 1935. They will take on Cincinnati with Boyle once again the starting quarterback.
Boyle, a member of three state championship teams at Xavier, was 15 of 43 for 149 yards in his first collegiate action. He showed the ability to make plays with his feet, running for three first downs but he was also hurt by at least a half dozen dropped passes including three within the shadow of the goal line.
Still, through it all Boyle had a chance to walk out to Rentschler Field with a victory, something he did in each of his final three high school seasons.

“I felt pretty comfortable, I didn’t get rattled,” Boyle said. “We didn’t execute like we planned.
“We are all football players, we all want to win coming that close and losing by three points obviously sucks but we have to turn the page.”

Connecticut back since McCombs’ 63-yard run against Syracuse in 2011. He finished with a career-high 164 rushing yards. However, 135 of those came in the first half.

The Huskies got back some key offensive players as Friend and receiver Shakim Phillips returned after missing the last two games due to a high-ankle sprain and hamstring injury respectively. However, Phillips only lasted a series before being sidelined again. Starting cornerback Taylor Mack (shoulder) and linebacker Ryan Donohue (concussion) miss the game.

UConn lost freshman receiver/punt returner Brian Lemelle was knocked out of game in first half and did not return.

UConn’s Cole Wagner became the program’s all-time leader in punting yards on a day when he had two punts downed inside the 5. He also tied Adam Coles’ program record for most career punts.

One by one the UConn players headed into the lunch room which doubles as the interview area during UConn's weekly press availability sessions.

Captain Steve Greene and top receiver Geremy Davis drew a few reporters to the tables they were sitting at as did the handful of other Huskies. Then when freshman quarterback Tim Boyle walked into the room and the things changed in a heartbeat as reporters circled him in record time.

The former Xavier High star handled it all with relative ease.

"We have a a great game plan," Boyle said, "Coach (T.J.) Weist does a great job with that and our coaches on offense have done a really good job on offense finding what works and putting us in that specific position. I think we just need to come together as a team this week because obviously losing four games is tough but we are excited with the bye to come back (strong).

"I wasn’t really told until a couple of practices ago. The first reps they didn’t really tell me until the word came out that Coach Weist is going to do that. I was just going with the flow and whatever the team needed me to do I was doing. I knew I was going with the first-team reps and obviously I wanted to jump on that, do the best I can do."

Boyle is not concerned about kissing his redshirt season goodbye as his focus is on trying to lead UConn to its first victory of the 2013 season.

"My standpoint is the UConn football team and we want to win badly and the coaches understand that. I think the coaches are going to put the players (in) who they think will win games, if that is me as a true freshman or Chandler (Whitmer) as a redshirt junior then it is going to be them," Boyle said. "I am not worried about that too much, my redshirt is my redshirt. I am a football player, I didn’t come to UConn to redshirt my freshman year. I came here to play. I am happy with where I am right now and I am not worried about the fifth year.

"I just turned 19 years old, I played in a state championship 10 months ago so I think it is just me getting prepared for this week and trying to play as fast as I can so my mistakes are limited. I think every quarterback makes mistakes, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning they make mistakes so I don’t expect perfection out of myself but I do hold myself to a certain standard. I am not really worried about making mistakes in my head, I am worried about making good plays trying to visualize in my head I am going to make big plays and not ‘am I going to get sacked this play, am I going to get intercepted."

You'd probably have to go back a ways to find a freshman at UConn making a more heralded first career start than what is awaiting former Xavier High quarterback Tim Boyle.

In his conference call the day that he was fired, former UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni said he was intending to start Boyle against South Florida. Interim coach T.J. Weist wasted little time in announcing that he would be starting Boyle for the Huskies' inaugural American Athletic Conference game.

Obviously the subject will be a popular topic of conversation at tomorrow's press availability. Considering that Houston true freshman John O'Korn (the high school teammate of UConn freshman OL Kyle Schafenacker) ranks third in the American Athletic Conference in passing efficiency and fifth in passing yards per game, I asked Cougars' coach Tony Levine about the challenges that go with starting a true freshman at quarterback on today's AAC conference call.

"He was a real outstanding high school player and he really reminds me of John," Levine said. "I think he was very mature as a high school senior, certainly very talented. When you look at what we did with John’s development and how our schedule played out, we were able to play him basically a half in our opening game against Southern. We went up in game two and unfortunately lost our starter due to injury and because of the experience we gave John the week prior he was able to go in, be successful and slowly develop. I like how Coach Weist is now making the progression to  Tim and gave him another month or five/six weeks to develop, learn their system and adjust to the speed of the game.

"I think as coaches I think when you are going to play a young man at that position you have to make sure they are available especially early in the game to take some pressure off of him. We have done that in our program playing Greg Ward 25 snaps a game at quarterback as well. That position is so important but an 18-year-old has enough to worry about with classes, study hall, workouts and the transition to college that you can’t put the weight of the world on his shoulders too quickly because I have also seen true freshmen have a negative experience early and not be able to recover from it. I knew Tim from the recruiting process and was extremely impressed with him in high school and I think he will do a fantastic job there."

Levine believes having the extra week to prepare will make things more manageable for Boyle and the UConn coaching staff.

"The more these young men play the more snaps they get whether it is in practice on in games the faster they are going to improve, the better they are certainly going to perform," Levine said. "One thing as coaches you are always talking about is experience, well this guy’s got so much experience and to have an extra week to prepare, to get all the reps at practice, to continue to transition and adjustment to the speed of the game at this level because it is so much faster than high school, I think it is something that is invaluable."

Weist said he was impressed with Boyle's approach during practice last week.

"He has done a good job, he has shown maturity, physically he has done a good job handling the offense, getting the football off and handling all the schemes," Weist said. "The kid, he is well beyond him years from a maturity standpoint and now it is just a matter of getting him game experience and you never know how a kid is going to react, you never know how a player is going to react out there when there is pressure under the fire. We are going to try to put him in those situations in practice, try to get him to react this week to speed and pressure. It is going well, we have been pleased with him."

UConn interim head coach T.J. Weist just spent about 45 minutes answering a variety of questions with the local media on a variety of subjects.

Pretty high up on the list was his decision - at the request of the players - to allow music to be played at the beginning of practice to get the team in the right frame of mind.

"I sat down with some of the seniors and team captains  and I wanted to get their input of what changes they think can help us in this transition and can help us to win games," Weist said. "One thing they said is they’d like to have some music. It is kind of a new thing around the country that people are doing and when players see those things, they see other teams with music, they all watch the videos there are videos everywhere of teams practicing and they get excited about it so we added some music early in practice during the (team) stretch just to get the practice started out right. We really don’t want to have music during practice necessarily but just to get them started out. It is my music. It is like the weight room, in the weight room you have different days for the country guys, for the rock and roll guys, rhythm and blues and everything so we started out and I made it easy, it is my music to start and I was going to allow the players to pick out some clean versions of some of the music out there so that is what we’ve got.

"I focused on some of the music that other teams play in stadiums, whether it is Back in Black or Enter the Sandman. I have no idea about some of the latest hits so I let some of the players pick that, I couldn’t name any of them. I try not to go back too far to the 70s. I don’t know how long there are going to let me keep the music going on my terms because they don’t recognize any of it. I want to teach them musicology, I want to teach them the evolution of music. I want to get them motivated for practice so I don’t want to make it a learning session but they appreciate it and I will mix it up every day throw in some country and throw in some rock and roll, throw in some opera, punk and dance music or whatever gets these guys motivated. Heck, half the time I have to make it the instrumental because we have some people out at practice and I can’t hear those words they are saying but the worst part is they play the instrumental (version) and the players sing it anyways."

It might not come as a shock that the most popular topic for discussion centered around the quarterback position with freshman Tim Boyle set to make his first career start on Oct. 12 against South Florida.

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"He has done a good job," Weist said. "He has shown good maturity in handling the offense, he is handling the scheme and making decisions throwing the ball, handling everything with the run game and all the calls that we have, every day he gets better and every day he is going to have to improve and take steps improving until we get to game time and really find out how much pressure he can handle, instinctually how he can lead this team, drive us down the field and keep drives alive and make smart decisions so that is what we are looking for out of Tim, smart decisions, efficiency, let him play with maturity and handle the offense and he is on his way to doing those things

"We are not married to any player on this roster, a starter, we evaluate them every single game. I would say this for Tim and any young player that we play we are going to be patient, obviously the quarterback position is a different position. If I had to play a true freshman, there has to be some patience, they has to be a period where he makes some mistakes where our last starting quarterback, our last starting wide receiver or our last anybody that a freshman replaced, they are going to make some mistakes and you were patient with the other guy at times so we will be patient with him. I treat him like most of the players and you have to go out there and perform, our goal is to win and you need to do the things to help us win. If he goes out and doesn’t perform the way we want that we are going to keep him in the game and stick with him no matter what. We have to do what is best for the team at any position. We are going to give him time but we have to win."

Weist was quick to point out that many of the interceptions previous starting quarterback Chandler Whitmer threw including the one returned for a touchdown in the loss to Buffalo were not his fault and that Whitmer will see normal reps as the No. 2 quarterback.

He also said he is not planning any changes to the starting offensive line and hopes to have starting right tackle Kevin Friend back for the USF game. Weist said the entire offensive line plays better when Friend is out there.

More on the injury situations. fullback Jazzmar Clax is out there practicing and Weist likes what he sees out of him and receiver Kamal Abrams, who was hurt warming up for the Towson game, has also been back at practice.

When asked about other young players who could see bigger roles now that he is calling the shots, he mentioned freshman wide receivers Brian Lemelle and Dhameer Bradley and offensive guard Tyler Samra, who moves up in the rotation following the suspension of Tyler Bullock.

Bullock was arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence and failed sobriety tests according to the police report. While not mentioning Bullock by name, there was no question who he was referring to when he mentioned "the events that happened yesterday."

"We have a lot of things that are happening around us that we have to deal with obviously with some of the events that happened yesterday and that is part of it," Weist said. "Players have to realize that every decision they make is for the best of the team, they are representing the university, representing the athletic department, the football program, representing every former player who has played here, representing their families and our families as coaches. We are stressing the point that all of their decisions have an impact on this team on and off the field."

Weist said he is still contemplating whether to bring in another coach since UConn is down a pair of coaches right now following the firing of Paul Pasqualoni and George DeLeone but he is not considering pilfering a coach who currently has a job. He complimented the graduate assistants for stepping in and helping with the day to day coaching. He has liked what he has seen in the first three practices.

"It has been a great four days," Weist said. "It has been exciting, I think our players have responded well, we have had three spirited practices. We are getting back to work. There is nothing magic about it, get back to work, refocused on one purpose of this team coming together as a team to win football games and especially to focus on being South Florida, our next (opponent). I think we made good progress and have had good practices."

Paul Pasqualoni had one last parting gift on his way out the door as he let slip that plans were in place to have true freshman Tim Boyle, a member of three state championship teams at Xavier High, start at quarterback beginning with the Oct. 12 game against South Florida.

“We had made that decision last week that would be the direction to go in and we tried to fair about everything there,” former UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni said on a teleconference Monday night. “We tried to give Timmy some time to develop, give him some time to be on the road and experience the whole thing before we threw him in there so I think would probably be the way T.J. goes, that was something we were going to do.”

The 6-foot-3 Boyle has been working his way up the depth chart since he arrived on campus in June. He quickly established himself as the best of the three true freshmen quarterbacks signed by the Huskies and was seeing time as the No. 3 quarterback when preseason camp started. After the season-opening loss to Towson, Boyle moved into the No. 2 quarterback behind Chandler Whitmer.

When the Huskies were getting blown out by Buffalo, Pasqualoni opted to put in Casey Cochran rather than put Boyle into a no-win situation in his first road game.

In between the Michigan and Buffalo games Boyle discussed his development as a quarterback since he arrived at UConn.

“I worked really hard in this offseason coming in and trying to pick up the offense,” Boyle said. “(UConn quarterbacks) Coach (Shane) Day, Chandler (Whitmer) and the other quarterbacks have done a great job of helping me. I didn’t want to sit on the bench my whole career at UConn so I really worked at the offense. This being my freshman year I didn’t think I was going to be a factor but I have worked hard and I think it has paid off.”

So where has Boyle made the biggest strides since the start of preseason camp?

“I would say recognizing defenses and making reads, my pre-snap reads seeing defenses and trying to slow down a little bit,” Boyle said. “There is a ton I have to change and become better at but at this point in time what I have become better at since my high school career is seeing defenses, trying to adjust and know where I go with the ball.”

Boyle is aware that he is the most high-profile in-state quarterback recruit to sign with UConn since Shelton Dan Orlovsky, the Huskies’ career leader in total offense, passing attempts, completions and passing yards who is now a quarterback with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“Just being an in-state guy I think people rely on me a little bit more than other people but I can tell you one thing just being in the meeting room with Chandler, I know the fans are putting a lot of blame on him but he is a tremendous quarterback,” Boyle said. “I wouldn’t sit here and lie to you; if he was bad I would tell you he is bad. He is a really good quarterback, he is very smart and has a really good work ethic and it comes down to execution so we need to do a better job with that.”

UConn freshman quarterback Tim Boyle enjoyed an incredible amount of success during his days at Xavier High School but he also knows what it is like to overcome an early loss to win a state title. So when Boyle heard about the Falcons' 42-28 loss to North Haven, he was disappointed but confident in what the season has in store for his former teammates.

"It was a tough game and it was an away game," Boyle said. "I don’t think there are any problems down the road. Last year we lost to Hand and there was this pit in our stomach, we didn’t want to feel it again so I don’t think they are going to lose another game. I read the newspapers, I read the online stuff, I text the captains, I text all the players and I am still close with them. I just want to see how they are doing and tell them to keep their heads up. I tell them to enjoy high school football because once you are in college it is a business and you have to enjoy high school football especially playing at Palmer Field and being at a historic program like Xavier, you have to take it in before it is gone."

If Graham Stewart wondered whether he made the right decision when he left Florida to transfer to UConn so he could be closer to home they disappeared late last week.

Stewart's sister was getting married on the same day that UConn opened its preseason camp. As passionate as Stewart is about football, he knew that this is one day that football was second on his list of priorities so he missed the opening practice with the blessing of UConn head coach Paul Pasqualoni.

“That was tough for me,” Stewart said. “I told her ‘look, I am just not going to be there.’ All jokes aside, I am so happy for my sister. I did miss the first practice which did suck but I am here now and I am not going anywhere.

“It was awesome. You never know how it is going to go until you see you sister or your brother walking down that aisle but it was an emotional, happy time.”

Stewart admits it would have been a tougher scenario if he were still enrolled at Florida,

“Would I have been able to come all the way back if I was in Florida, the chances behind that are probably slim to none,” Stewart said. “It meant a lot for me to be there and be a groomsman and just see my sister being wed.”

It didn’t take long after Stewart hit the practice field for him to earn a spot with the starting unit alongside All-American candidate Yawin Smallwood and Ryan Donohue as UConn tries to move on after losing Jory Johnsn and Sio Moore (who combined to start 59 career games) to graduation.

“Being able to sit out last year, watching them and watching film the good thing was I was able to pick up the good traits from both of them,” Stewart said. “They are both guys who can play in the NFL and Sio is excelling (with the Oakland Raiders). I see myself fitting into Sio’s old role but putting my own stamp on the position.“I feel strong being able to pass rush and blitz but at the same time being able to cover a lot of ground.”

As much as Stewart is eager to make impact plays for the revamped UConn defense, he is driven even more by helping UConn shake off the frustration from back to back 5-7 seasons. Winning is nothing new to Stewart as he came out of the highly-successful Xavier program. Stewart joins redshirt freshman defensive end Sean Marinan and true freshman quarterback Tim Boyle to give the Huskies three Xavier graduates on the roster. The strong-armed Boyle has made an immediate impression during the first week of preseason camp.

“We are proud of that,” Stewart said. “We come from a program that is used to winning and we want to win. Sean is my closest friend and Tim is out slinging the ball and looking like Tom Brady which I know he wants to. I have a long extensive history with Tim, I know the type of person Tim is and Tim is the kind of guy who is always in the film room studying and he is a football junkie. He is going to do what it takes to get the job done at the end of the day.”