Will added strength translate to field?
STORRS — There were times in the 2019 season when the Uconn football team’s lack of size and strength became its downfall. The Huskies won just two games, struggled defensively and couldn’t keep pace offensively.
Ask head coach Randy Edsall, and there were more than just a few moments where a lack of strength proved to be a glaring weakness.
“Put any game on,” Edsall said at Uconn football’s media day Thursday. “Really, put those things on. And I think if you talk to the kids, they’ll say, ‘I feel so much stronger, I feel so much better physically, so much better from a mental standpoint knowing things.’ ”
Ever since the Huskies opted out of the 2020 college football season due to COVID-19 concerns and spent the fall focusing on practice, conditioning and lifting, Edsall and his coaching staff have praised the physical leaps and bounds Uconn’s players have taken.
The numbers back it up. Per the team roster, senior defensive back Diamond Harrell added 13 pounds; senior linebacker Omar Fortt added 16; sophomore linebacker Jackson Mitchell added 19. Junior defensive linemen Travis Jones and Kevon Jones each slimmed down a bit, adding more lean muscle.
So the Huskies appear to be in better shape than they were two seasons ago, but how does that translate from the weight room to the field?
“I think any time you get on the field, if you’re not strong enough or you’re not mentally sharp enough to understand the schemes you’re playing, and you don’t play fast, it’s hard to be productive,” Edsall said. “But when you’re strong ... you play with more confidence. That’s the big thing. When I get strong
enough, I know that this guy isn’t going to take care of me. I know I can do the things I need to do to be successful.”
Senior offensive lineman Ryan Van Demark, expected to start, said he’s grown from 250 pounds to “a steady 300” since coming to Uconn. Physical strength on the line is key, but he said a jump in stamina may be just as valuable.
“Being big, having that muscle, having that endurance to block somebody every play, every down, and just keeping that muscle endurance going, I think that’s one of the major things that helps us as an O-line,” he said.
Vaccine status
As the vaccine debate has quickly taken over the NFL, Edsall said Thursday that 93% of Uconn’s roster is fully vaccinated.
“We have 103 on the roster and, by the way, we’re 93 percent vaccinated,” Edsall said. “So we have 96 out of 103 who are fully vaccinated and we’ll see what happens with those other seven.”
QB competition
Edsall said in the spring that Uconn may not name its starting quarterback until its Week 1 game against Fresno State (Aug. 28), and appears to be holding steady to that time frame. He said Thursday that all five quarterbacks — Jack Zergiotis, Steve Krajewski,
Micah Leone, Tyler Phommachanh and Miles Foerster — will compete throughout the first week of practice which begins Friday, and after that, the staff will narrow down its choices.
“We have a process we’re going to go through, we have a plan,”edsallsaid.“we’regoing topractice,goforfivedaysand then we’ll have a film review day we have to have. Then maybe two guys will emerge and those two guys will get the majority of the reps and the other guys will fight to see who the No. 3 guys is.
But as soon as we can make a determination, we’ll make that determination because I do think it is important for whoever is going to be the starter to have as much time working the rest of the offensive players on that first unit.”