After opting out of fall, UConn football anxious to get back to business
By the time its 2021 season opener arrives in late August, UConn will have gone 637 days since last playing a football game.
In the wide gap between games, the Huskies will have had countless number of productive days in the weight room, on the practice field and in meetings.
They're taking advantage of those opportunities to improve as a team and work on player development.
With the COVID-19 pandemic raging, UConn elected to opt out of the 2020 season for health and safety reasons.
"You've got to miss not playing games, but I look at it as a sacrifice," said senior Ryan Van Demark. "So it was a sacrifice and was definitely for the betterment of the team. I missed playing, but it's definitely going to help us this season in terms of wins and I think that's a huge factor for us."
Van Demark and junior Travis Jones of New Haven, two members of the Leadership Council, chatted with the media during a Zoom call on Tuesday.
Spring practice begins next week. Despite not having a game to prepare for since the 2019 regular-season finale at Temple, the Huskies have stayed motivated and kept a positive attitude during workouts.
"All the hard work we put in now is going to pay off this upcoming season," Jones said.
Coach Randy Edsall is happy with this team's progress and the way his players have taken advantage of the extra workout time due to not playing games last fall. The Huskies have made gains physically and in confidence.
The Huskies, according to Edsall, are further along as a program than they would have been if they played in the fall because none of the players lost any eligibility.
"Everything is trending in the right direction," he said. "Now what we have to do is go out and take advantage of these 15 (spring) practices. ... I see a whole different approach, a whole different attitude, a whole different mindset with this group than any of the other groups that we've had since I've been back."
The Huskies are counting on that change to result in more success. They've had nine straight losing seasons. In Edsall's three seasons in his second stint, UConn is 6-30 overall, including 2-10 in 2019.
They expect to be an improved and more competitive team when they take the field for the season opener Aug. 28 at Fresno State, their first as an independent.
"I've been here since coach Edsall started here the second time and I can just see a glaring difference this year compared to the last three years," Van Demark said. "We have more kids bought in and more kids definitely trying to get after it every day. Our main mentality on the team is to get a (bowl) ring and we're going to do it no matter what.
"The sky's the limit for us. Everybody is motivated, you can see it . ... We're looking like a well-oiled machine. I'm just excited to see what we can do come game time."
Van Demark admits that he's heaping a lot about praise on his team. He added the Huskies aren't where they need to be yet.
They have a simple goal: Get better every day.
Most of the team will participate in spring practice with the exception of nine scholarship players that will be joining the program in the summer. Linebacker Terrence Ganyi and Darius Bush, who are both recovering from torn Achilles, will miss the workouts while tight ends Brendan Heatherman (knee) and Jay Rose (torn pectoral muscle) will be limited.
Competition is expected to be fierce.
"That's the thing that's exciting about this spring, guys understand they're going to have to go out and compete and do things the right way," Edsall said. "The thing that I like about it and the coaching staff likes about it is the fact that there's no excuses now. There's no excuses from the standpoint everybody's had a chance to get bigger, faster and stronger. Everybody's had a chance to understand the schemes and their responsibilities are and also get a chance to work on the fundamentals and techniques.
"So it's going to be a lot of fun to go through these 15 practices and have some scrimmages that we weren't able to have during the fall."
Van Demark can't wait for spring practice to start.
"We haven't really put on the pads for awhile," Van Demark said. "I'm pretty sure the whole team is amped up just to get out there with some shoulder pads and start hitting each other. It definitely changes the attitude because we're all motivated and ready to go for the season."