Getting the Defensive Player of the Week honor from the American Athletic Conference wasn't the only accolade for UConn junior linebacker Yawin Smallwood.

Smallwood was named the College Football Performance Award's National Defensive Performer of the Week and the Linebacker Performer of the Week after recording eight tackles, scoring the game-winning touchdown on a 59-yard interception with 4:20 left and registering a sack on the final drive in UConn's 28-21 win over Temple. Smallwood went over the 100-tackle mark for the second straight season and more importantly, helped the Huskies snap a 10-game losing streak.

Also, senior defensive end Tim Willman was one of eight defensive linemen given honorable mention recognition after recording two sacks and two fumble recoveries.

In other news, none of the players who missed Saturday's game are listed on the two-deep chart for the Rutgers game although interim coach T.J. Weist said he hopes to have OT Kevin Friend, CB Jhavon Williams and WR John Green back.

Also, Rutgers has made a switch at quarterback as Chas Dodd will start in place of Gary Nova.

Since being elevated to interim coach T.J. Weist has walked into the visiting locker room at halftime on the wrong side of the scoreboard and knew he had to play the role of cheerleader and self-help guru as much as a football coach.

However, when Weist stepped into the locker room at halftime of last night's game at Temple, he saw a different scene. There were few bowed heads but a sense of  "enough is enough" from the leaders of the winless team.

"What did we say at halftime?" Weist said on a Sunday afternoon conference call. "Everybody wants to know ‘what did we say at halftime?’ I got a little (ticked) off and kind of challenged them a little bit but the players came together, Yawin (Smallwood) grabbed the defense and really Casey (Cochran) did a good job at halftime and really grabbed the offensive guys and brought the offense together in the locker room and challenged them. That was good to see some of our leaders challenge the team at halftime to get back to playing smart football, tough physical football. I was proud of their second half effort, shutting those guys out. Really everything came together for us in all three phases in the second half and that is what we have to do."

UConn trailed 21-0 against Temple at halftime but did not allow the Owls to score another point and had three offensive scoring drives of at least 50 yards to rally for a 28-21 win. Fittingly, it was the Huskies' veteran players who delivered many of the key plays. Junior linebacker and team captain Yawin Smallwood scored the game-winning TD on a 59-yard interception return and also had a sack on Temple's final drive. Defensive end Tim Willman had two sacks and two fumble recoveries, Geremy Davis opened the scoring with a 33-yard touchdown catch.

"That is what makes some of the (plays) special," Weist said. "Yawin, a team captain, makes the plays in the end. Tim Willman guys that the players really respect, comes through and the character shows through in the end and he makes a play when you need it. That is what you have to have. You want to win games you have to make plays and somebody’s got to make them, it is the guys who work the hardest, guys who are the starters and the team leaders those are the guys who usually come through and that is what we have been missing. It is really good for this team to see Yawin and Tim make those plays. Geremy only had four catches but they were four critical catches, every one of those catches made a difference in the game and the players trust him when he gets the ball that he does what he is supposed to do and make plays. The same thing with Yawin and that is what good teams and that is why I said we just have to learn how to win and they only learn how to win by making plays, making them at critical times and we finally did last night."


Weist had to deal with the frustration after returning home with losses following road games against Central Florida, Cincinnati and SMU so there was a different feel when the team headed back to Connecticut this time.

"There is no comparison because winning solves so many things," Weist said. "It makes everybody feel better, there is no comparison to it. This kind of win is so sweet because these players have put in so much work, the players and staff have put in so much work, so much time and so much effort to get a victory that this one is that much more special and means that much more. It may not mean anything to anybody in the country that a winless team won a game but this is one of our best victories, one of my best victories as a coach just because of how much it means to the players, to this program, to this university to come back and finally put it together. There is no comparison to the feeling you have, the satisfaction of coming back after a bad first half, coming back and getting a victory like this – there is just nothing like it."

On Thursday's conference call Weist said he brought cigars a while back with the intention of breaking them out for the staff following the first win of the season. He just didn't think it was going to take this long.

"Right after we met as a team (he broke them out)." Weist said. "We sang the fight song, we prayed, the assistant coaches got to meet with the offense and defense and we (had) a nice victory cigar. We have been waiting to do that a long time and it was a little something special."

Weist said wide receiver Shakim Phillips turned an ankle early in the game but he is hoping that Phillips can play on Saturday against Rutgers. He said he hopes to have offensive tackle Kevin Friend, DB Jhavon Williams and WR John Green back as well. Friend and Williams are dealing with concussions and Green had a quad issue. He was able to practice a little bit last week but not enough for him to play.

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Angelo Pruitt has been able to contribute while playing nearly
every spot on the defensive line over the last two seasons

One advantage of having UConn's game against Michigan televised on ABC is it gave me a chance to look back at what transpired.

At the top of the list of the things I was eager to get a closer look at was how the playing time at defensive end was doled out.

By my unofficial tally, the snap count was divided almost equally among Tim Willman (46 snaps), Jesse Joseph (42) and Angelo Pruitt (41) while Reuben Frank was used almost exclusively on obvious passing downs.

When Joseph was in the game he was usually lined up at the left defensive end while Willman was used to the right DE. However, Angelo Pruitt was moved all over the place. Not only did he play both defensive end spots but every once in a while he would be used inside when the Huskies lined up defensive ends side by side in an attempt to breath some life into what was a struggling pass rush.

By game's end I thought that other than defensive tackle Shamar Strephen (who drew praise all night long from analyst and former NFL linebacker Chris Spielman) no defensive lineman was more impressive than Pruitt.

I asked UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni about Stephen's performance on Saturday which went under the radar not only by us media folks but also the stat keepers. The tape shows that Stephen threw the Michigan offensive lineman into quarterback Devin Gardner which resulted in Gardner's fumble. Ty-Meer Brown scooped up the ball and ran it in to put UConn up 21-7.

"I think he is playing really consistent," Pasqualoni said. "He is probably our most consistent, steady player on defense. He is not going to get a lot of the fanfare not going to get a lot of accolades but he is a guy who gives you everything he's got with effort, fundamentals and dependability. Shamar is very smart, he wants to be a great player and he is playing very consistently."

In one sequence Pruitt drew a hold on Michigan's all-everything left tackle Taylor Lewan wiping out a long run by Devin Gardner and then dropped tailback Fitz Toussaint in the backfield. Pruitt finished with six tackles including two tackles for loss.

"Although I am moving around on the field, fundamentals and techniques stay the same," Pruitt said. "When I am on the outside, I am setting the edge on the inside and taking on a double team, being in great position to take on the block."

Pruitt usually split time with Joseph at the left DE spot in the first two games but he saw more time on the right side against Michigan. Considering that meant a matchup with Lewan, who is projected to be a top five pick in April's NFL draft it is an indication of how much confidence the UConn coaches have in Pruitt. Pruitt said the approach doesn't change regardless of which side he lines up on.

"Teams are changing their tight ends so any moment each side can be the strong side," Pruitt said. "I think both sides are the same with technique and responsibilities and setting the edge. It works hand and hand."

Pruitt said while his teammates never lost faith in their ability to be a top-flight defense after rough games against Towson and Maryland, it did feel good to show the nation that the Huskies can still be an elite defensive unit.

"This game didn’t really prove anything to us because we knew who we are and our record doesn’t reflect us as a team or reflect our work ethic but I think it just proved to the world that we are the UConn defense that has been pretty good for the last couple of years," Pruitt said. "We have the potential to do something great."

Since Pruitt hails from Cincinnati I was curious if he had any reaction to the tragedy suffered by his hometown school as Cincinnati freshman offensive lineman Ben Flick died in a car accident and two other Bearcat football players were hospitalized after the Saturday night crash.

"For my teammates and teammates across the nation, that is a very unfortunate event," Pruitt said. "You never want someone to get hurt on the field or off the field so me hearing about that, I am saddened about it and I wish that program the best of luck so they can recover from this."

A year ago UConn linebacker Ryan Donohue could barely sleep heading into the game at Maryland. As a former Terrapin Donohue wanted nothing more than to leave Byrd Stadium with a victory over his former team.

This year Donohue admits he is much more emotionally composed heading into the game against Maryland.

"I think playing them helped me get the  butterflies out," Donohue said. "It definitely helps that we are playing here this year rather than playing there."

Donohue's main focus this week is to help the UConn defense put forth a better showing than they did in the season-opening loss to Towson,

"I think the team has responded real well," Donohue said. "I lot of teams might not have liked that (having a bye week) but we got a lot of corrections done and I think we are going to ready for this one."

So what was the most troubling aspect of the defense's effort against Towson?

"Probably the fact that we gave up so many rushing yards," Donohue said. "Our defense (prides) itself in being able to stop the run game and a lot of big plays that could have been corrected from one or two corrections and that is why the bye week really helped us because we are going to fix those."

On Thursday's conference call with the media, UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni gave his thoughts on the play of Donohue and fellow outside linebacker Graham Stewart.

"I would say that I love their effort;" Pasqualoni said. "I love their motors; I love their toughness and those two guys are football players there is no question but baptism under fire first game, a lot of adjustments need to be made. Our linebackers including Yawin will all improve from an adjustment standpoint when we play more football. I really like their approach, I love their intensity. They have to get used to being with each other, communicating with each other and making the appropriate adjustments because they are kind of tied on a string, when one moved the others have to move so that is something that takes a little bit of playing together."

The biggest news to emerge from the conference call was that sophomore defensive end E.J. Norris has been moved to tight end.

Although he only had two tackles (both against Buffalo), Norris showed real promise as a speed pass rusher as a true freshman. He was expected to be one of the players to help fill the void left by Trevardo Williams' graduation. However, Julian Campenni's continued development allowed UConn to keep Tim Willman outside at defensive end rather than needing him at defensive tackle. With Willman, Jesse Joseph and Angelo Pruitt (another player who has the ability to play inside but is seeing time exclusively at defensive end) and Reuben Frank's quick adjustment from fullback to defensive end combined with the lack of experienced candidates behind Sean McQuillan and Spencer Parker led to Norris' position move.

Norris caught 20 passes and averaged 22 yards per reception as a senior at Archbishop Carroll in 2011.

Also, looking at the roster I see the addition of a couple more Cheshire products. Jonathan Hryniewicz, a senior receiver who transferred in from Central Connecticut, and sophomore running back William Weyrauch, who originally enrolled at Stonehill.

When UConn has had its full complement of defensive linemen senior Tim Willman has been garnering the majority of first-team snaps at right defensive end which happens to be the same position Trevardo Williams held down in recent years en route to seeing the program sacks record.

Willman, who is about 20 pounds heavier than Williams, obviously brings a different dimension that Williams as he lacks the speed and impressive first step that Williams possessed but in the practices I attended in the preseason he was consistently one of the more noticeable defensive players I have seen. He was in the backfield on a regular basis which is something he will be asked to do in his senior season.

"I bring a lot of good run stopping," said Williams, who had three sacks during the 2012 season. "I learned a lot of technique from him so I am trying to play like him but also play my own style."

UConn not only lost Williams but defensive tackle Ryan Wirth from its defensive line. Wirth has been the one player that UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni has consistently mentioned as one of the toughest players that the Huskies need to replace.

With Shamar Stephen healthier than he was at any point last year, Julian Campenni seemingly in position to build on a solid freshman season and Jesse Joseph back after missing the last nine games of last season with a torn Achilles' tendon, the Huskies have a chance to have one of its most physical defensive fronts in recent memory.

"We lost two great players and we miss them a lot but we are picking up right where we left off and we are not missing a beat," Willman said

"That is something we are going to hang our hats on. We are going to play physical, play hard and play UConn defense."

I had an opportunity to catch up with Paul Pasqualoni after the football team was honored alongside the Huskies' men's and women's basketball programs at the annual "Husky Day" at the State Capitol.

Even though the offense failed to score a touchdown in the regular portion of the spring game, Pasqualoni said he is encouraged with what he saw from his team during the spring.


"We had quite a few guys make significant progress during the spring," Pasqualoni said. "The spring game is more about fundamentals and technique than its about anything else. I am pleased with the progress the offensive line has made, they are a cohesive unit, they are kind of intact 90 percent (back) from last year. I am pleased with the progress our two older wide receivers (Geremy Davis and Shakim Phillips) made watching the film. I think Deshon Foxx is making some progress as a wide receiver, pleased with the progress with the guys up front on defense. Young guys inside Julian Campenni, Mykal Myers, I think Andreas Knappe is making some excellent progress, Tim Willman made progress, the corners on the outside Jhavon Williams, Taylor Mack so I am happy with the effort and fundamentals, the level of focus which are all great signs going into August."

So is he concerned after UConn needed to rely on a pair of Bobby Puyol field goals during the normal portion of the spring game?

"That is just a matter of a little thing here and a little thing there but I thought the offense came up with some good plays and moved the ball down the field," Pasqualoni said. "I thought Chandler (Whitmer) did a good job of hitting the open receiver, took them down and all of that is a positive.

"We cut down what we did, we had controlled scrimmage for most of the game so those things are going to happen in that situation. We had too many guys rehabbing or injured, we didn’t have enough offensive linemen, we didn’t have enough linebackers for two units. You need six linebackers and we had five healthy for the scrimmage and I don’t know how you do that. Everybody will be fine, when the kids get back on campus in June I expect all the kids to be full go."

The player with the longest recovery process figures to be running back Martin Hyppolite who continues to rehab after being a passenger in a car involved in a fatal accident.

Pasqualoni was optimistic that when the team holds its first fall practice on Aug. 1 that center Alex Mateas will be part of the squad. Mateas was suspended indefinitely for the final week of spring practice for what was called a violation of team rules.

"That’s a team policy issue and that will be addressed at the end of the semester," Pasqualoni said.

When I asked him if he believed Mateas will be there for the start of fall camp, he said that he did.

Pasqualoni addressed the crowd at the Husky Day event and here's some of what he had to say.

"Growing up as a young kid in the state I don’t think I ever envisioned the mighty Michigan Wolverines ever coming into East Hartford to play UConn, what a tremendous, tremendous (honor).

"I am a little bit tired, the players are a little bit tired of the results we’ve had for the past two years; we are tired of it and our guys will acknowledge it, we have talked about it. What I can tell you is this – this team is being built the right way, the way the fans and the people in the great state of Connecticut would want it done with hard-working, high-character guys with tremendous, tremendous integrity looking forward very much to August 1 when we came back and have our first day and we get ready for the season opening on Aug. 28 at the Rent against Towson. We are committed to doing this the right way and bringing you the type of team I know you want, an exciting team, a team that is going to play great on defense and be exciting on offense, win games and represent the state of Connecticut and I-A football the way we all want."

Offensive linemen Jimmy Bennett and Steve Greene, defensive linemen Tim Willman and Shamar Stephen and kicker Chad Christen were among the UConn players there for the Husky Day ceremony.

                                                                                   (Associated press photo)
Marquise Vann (No. 46) made an impact at UConn's spring game.

In all the years I've been to spring games whether it is the last two years at UConn or at Yale before that I've never quite figured out how to view these events.

When an offensive struggles to run the ball as badly as UConn did on Saturday is that a sign of poor offensive execution or great defense? I guess you could argue that it was a little bit of both.

A signal of what kind of day it was likely came when UConn football coach Paul Pasqualoni opened his interview with the media focusing on the players (about 15 of them) who were held out of the scrimmage.

The event started with the "back to the wall" drills which is the offense with the ball on the 1 coming out. It did not go particularly well as it took a couple of series before the offense got a first down.

When it went to a live 11 on 11 offense against defense with no controlled situations, Chandler Whitmer had some nice throws as he finished 8 of 14 for 140 yards but the offense was unable to score a touchdown as the only scoring came on field goals of 46 and 20 yards by Bobby Puyol.

The highlight of the offense were three straight completions by Chandler Whitmer. The first two went Shakim Phillips and the third was to junior Deshon Foxx. Foxx had a 26-yard completion but he stumbled down inside the 1.

"I caught the ball and I tried to turn," Foxx said. "I didn’t know where the defender was so I was stumbling getting out of my turn and I stumbled onto the ground. As long as I can help the offense get down there."

Foxx had three catches for a team-high 70 yards and during the red-zone drills he scored on a reverse to show off some speed and explosiveness.

"I just want to be a threat, just trying to be able to spread the field a little bit and not only make plays for me but help my teammates able to make plays," Foxx said.

Defensively, senior defensive lineman Tim Willman had two sacks, starting safeties Ty-Meer Brown and Andrew Adams each had three tackles and an interception while linebackers Jefferson Ashiru and Brandon Steg had three tackles each while Marquise Vann had two near interceptions before finally picking one off during red-zone drills.

"It felt good to get out there in front of some fans," Willman said. "It was time for some of the younger guys to step up and play their roles and it will be even better when they are back and we are pretty excited about that."

Things just went from bad to worse for the UConn football team as head coach Paul Pasqualoni confirmed on Saturday that senior offensive guard and team captain Adam Masters' left ankle injury will require season-ending surgery.

Masters has started 30 games during his career including seven this season at right guard. He has seen time this season at both guard and tackle positions and on the offensive side of the ball the Huskies might not have a tougher player to replace than Masters.

"His ankle is going to require surgery so he is done for the season," Pasqualoni said on a conference call on Saturday afternoon. "He was our most versatile guy, our swing guy. Not only that, he was probably played the most snaps up there so we are going to lose a guy with versatility and we are going to lose a guy with experience. Gus Cruz will have to step it up. Dalton Gifford will get some reps as the next tackle. Tyler Samra will get reps as a guard so we will continue to have seven people who will be prepared to go in the game.

"It is difficult on him. He is obviously disappointed. It is at the end of his senior year and he is very disappointed. He is a tough guy. He is optimistic. He will get the surgery and do the rehab but it is going to take some time and as it would be for anybody, it is really disappointing for him."

Masters' injury seems to be the only one serious one coming out Friday's 30-point loss to Syracuse.

Defensive end Tim Willman had his left arm in a sling after the game but Pasqualoni doesn't expect him to miss practice time. Linebackers Sio Moore and Yawin Smallwood, defensive end Trevardo Williams and receiver Michael Smith all had to come out of the game but Pasqualoni believes they will be good to go.

Moore's emotions got the better of him late in the game but Pasqualoni just chalked it up as being part of football.

"It is no big deal, just a little bit of frustration, guys are playing hard and it is an intense, emotional thing," Pasqualoni said. "One minute it appeared to be a little bit of a scuffle  but in 30 seconds everything was fine. There was no big deal made about it."

UConn won't play again until traveling to South Florida on Nov. 3 and Pasqualoni thinks the bye week comes at an ideal time.

"We had a very physical preseason, eight very tough games in a row," Pasqualoni said. "I don’t know if anybody else has played eight in a row. We are a little banged up so this open week comes at a good time for us, we will be able to get some work done but at the same time give the kids a good amount of rest.

"One of the things we really need to take a look at it is running the ball. We have not been able to run the ball especially in the past two weeks which is frustrating for us so those are things that we are going to work on and are going to have to improve on as we move forward. We have to establish some sort of runs and the runs that we feel the run concepts we feel like we would be the best at, try to narrow those down and do a good job with what we decide to do."

With the season-ending Achilles injury suffered by starting defensive end Jesse Joseph, junior Tim Willman moved into a starting spot in UConn's depth chart heading into Saturday's game against Western Michigan with redshirt freshman Kenton Adeyemi moving into the two-deep chart.

The biggest surprise is that Shamar Stephen, who saw his first action of the season in Saturday's win over Maryland, was not listed in the two deep at defensive tackle.

There were no other changes in the two-deep chart.