Camp offers up plenty of opportunity

UNCASVILLE » David Pindell was still trying to get acclimated to his new football home when the sight of a familiar face stopped him dead in his tracks during one of his daily treks around the Burton Family Football Complex.

The junior quarterback who transferred to UConn after two seasons at Lackawanna College was struck by the shocking red hair on top of the head of fellow junior-college transfer Santana Sterling. Then he had a flashback to the last time to two met. Sterling’s only sack as a member of the Mesa Community College Thunderbirds came at Pindell’s expense during a wild overtime affair in early December about 2,500 miles away from the UConn campus.

“I find that pretty funny,” Pindell said of the playoff game won 48-42 by Sterling’s Mesa Community College team. “I talked to him earlier today, I ran into him and I just remembered his face. I just remembered him from the game, I saw him almost every play because I remember he did a lot of blitzing.”

If the duo can be as productive at UConn as they were in their final game as junior college players, the Huskies might be onto something.

Sterling had 16 tackles including 2 1/2 tackles for loss and that second-quarter sack of the elusive Pindell. All Pindell did was throw for four touchdowns and run for another.

“It was one of craziest games I ever played in,” said Sterling, a native of Chandler, Arizona who originally enrolled at Arizona State. “It went into double overtime and we ended up pulling it out at the end. It was a fun game, a nail biter and who wanted it more at the end.

“He is a good athlete, a great quarterback and I am glad he is on my side. From the game we played against him and all the film we watched on him, it really seemed like the whole time he was really prepared and trying to get his guys going.”

There are opportunities for both of them to play immediately.

Senior linebackers Vontae Diggs and Junior Joseph are the top two returning tacklers for the Huskies. It remains to be seen who is going to line up next to

them in new defensive coordinator Billy Crocker’s 3-3-5 defense. A torn ACL will sideline fellow rising senior E.J. Levenberry for at least some of the season although he vows to return this season. Classmate Cam Stapleton is making the transition from hybrid defensive end/linebacker to outside linebacker. UConn coach Randy Edsall raved about Sterling’s ability to be around the ball and make plays so he will get the chance to compete for a starting spot.

Pindell’s quest to emerge from a crowded field of quarterbacks is one of the top story lines of preseason camp, which begins on Saturday.

Bryant Shirreffs is back after starting the first nine games last season. Donovan Williams, who started the final three games, is also in the mix along with Brandon Bisack and freshmen Jordan McAfee and Marvin Washington.

Edsall said the first week of camp that they will all get their chances, but the hope is that one or two emerge so they can begin to give those players the work necessary to prepare for the Aug. 31 season opener against Holy Cross.

“We all can play,” Pindell said. “I think it will be good competition.

“I played in up-tempo offense my freshman and sophomore years at junior college and in high school so I am pretty familiar with that system. It won’t be a big jump and a big learning stage for me, I feel like offense is what we ran at my last school, it is just different terminology.”

Shirreffs certainly is the most experienced among the quarterbacks, but with a new coaching staff after Bob Diaco’s firing and a fast-paced, no-huddle offense being installed, he will have some learning to do along with his younger teammates.

“It is drastically different from what we’ve done in the past,” Shirreffs said. “It is so fun. Football is always fun, but it is a different way to look at the game. You are learning every single day and experiencing it with a bunch of other guys who are going through the same process. I love what we are doing and I am sure everybody else would tell you the same thing.”

There was speculation that after losing his starting job, preparing to graduate and becoming a father for the first time, that Shirreffs’ time at UConn was over at the end of the 2016 season. However, Shirreffs is back to ready to go.

“I am just thankful I am able to go through another camp and be around these guys who I have built relationships with going on three or four years now,” Shirreffs said.

“I knew my college career wasn’t over but those couple of months definitely seem like a blur to me, those were the toughest couple of months for my life for sure, they were like a roller coaster but it is great to be here right now.”

Other than Luke Magliozzi, a punter from Australia, every player was at media day festivities. Edsall said he hopes Magliozzi will arrive in the next few days.

Levenberry, who recently began running for the first time since his serious knee injury and freshman defensive back Robert King, who is dealing with a severe hamstring issue, will miss the start of camp. There are other players including senior defensive backs Brice McAllister and Jamar Summers dealing with minor injuries.

Among the players drawing the most attention at media day was former Southington High All-State quarterback Jasen Rose. Rose was a headliner in last year’s group of incoming freshmen but he left the program early in preseason camp. Rose asked Edsall if he could return and he did so as a non-scholarship player. Recently Edsall awarded Rose with a scholarship.

“I knew when I came back that I was going to earn everything I was going to get,” said Rose, who will play tight end at UConn. “I can’t say I expected it to come as soon as it did but when it came, it was an unreal feeling, surreal.”