Aresco hopes AAC thrives in national spotlight
EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — American Athletic Conference commissioner
sits back and scans Pratt & Whitney Stadium as players begin making their way onto the field for pregame warmups.
“You know, I grew up 10 miles from here in Middletown,” Aresco says, recalling his days in the Nutmeg State.
Aresco made the trip from Providence, R.I., to watch No. 21 UCF take on UConn Thursday night in front of a nationally televised audience. It was a key early game for a league coming off an outstanding season, with the Knights capturing a New Year’s Six win.
“It’s exciting. There’s been a palpable sense of excitement for a couple of weeks now,” Aresco said of the conference showdown. “I think the league has reached a point now where we really are a P6 and we really are fighting hard for that.
“I just don’t want our guys to get slighted. You know, there need to be more pictures in my view of
in the newspapers because McKenzie Milton in my mind is one of the best quarterbacks — period.”
Aresco called Thursday night’s season debut fortuitous.
The league doesn’t normally schedule conference games this early in the season, but because of how the nonconference schedule worked out for each team, these two wound up playing each other in the opener.
“I think there’s tremendous anticipation around the country for people to see them,” Aresco said of UCF.
was impressed with the number of Knights fans who turned out for the team’s first game Thursday.
“A ton of black and gold,” White said an hour before kickoff. “The team hotel felt like almost like a bowl game atmosphere.
“There are so many people around and which shows you how much the brand has grown and our alumni are starting to be activated at higher levels all across the country. I know we have watched parties happening all over the place as well. People are excited about this season, that’s for sure.”
White said he was excited for the start of the season even though there is still plenty of work that needs to be done before next week’s home opener against South Carolina State.
“[I’m] really excited to see our team play against somebody not called UCF and for us to get a chance to get a measuring stick to see how much we’ve progressed. I think we’ve improved a lot and we’ve had a great offseason but you never know for sure until you get a chance to play a game.”
Redshirt sophomore defensive back recorded his first career interception during the first half Thursday when he picked off UConn’s
at the UCF 7-yard line to end a Huskies threat toward the end of the first half. Grant also recovered a fumble in the first quarter as well. …
Milton threw three touchdown passes in the first half. It was the sixth consecutive game during which the UCF quarterback has thrown at least two touchdowns in a contest dating back to last season’s undefeated campaign.