The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Focus turns to the future for rebuilding Huskies
Seniors look to set tone for younger players
When Luke Carrezola and his fellow seniors arrived at UConn, the expectations were high. Whether stepping onto the field as true freshman as Carrezola and seven others did or using their first season as one of development, they were determined to be the class to restore the winning ways to a program that as recently as 2010 had played in four consecutive bowl games.
Things didn’t quite go as planned. There was one bowl game after their sophomore seasons and regardless of what happens in Saturday’s game at Cincinnati, there will be no bowl invitations extended to the Huskies in the coming weeks.
When the final tabulations are complete, the record will show that no senior class has lost more games over their four seasons than this year’s group but no class has had to endure more uncertainty, more of a revolving door. The redshirt seniors and some of the true seniors were recruited by Paul Pasqualoni’s staff, played for Bob Diaco and now Randy Edsall. Coordinators and position coaches came and went as systems and coaching philosophies changed, but they endured and some even thrived individually.
Arkeel Newsome is second on UConn’s career
all-purpose yardage list, Junior Joseph is one of 15 Huskies with 300 career tackles, Jamar Summers and Cole Ormsby are in the top 10 in career interceptions and sacks. Collectively, the senior class has combined for the sixth most tackles in program history. During the FBS era, only the Class of 2012 has more sacks than the 52 registered by this year’s seniors. Bryant Shirreffs is in the top five in most major career passing categories.
Perhaps there will be a future playing football for members of the Class of 2017. Edsall announced that Foley Fatukasi has been invited to the EastWest Shrine Game while Newsome earned an invitation to the Tropical Bowl.
Before the attention turns to their football futures, they will look to set the tone for a UConn team that has started 12 freshmen on either offense or defense including six true freshman. The number could reach 13 since a targeting penalty incurred by Joseph will force him to miss the first half on Saturday and redshirt freshman Ryan Gilmartin is slated to start in his place. Offensive guard Nino Leone played more in the second half against Boston College than fellow redshirt freshman Cam DeGeorge so perhaps the number of freshman starters will even reach 14.
“It is heartbreaking, but it is time for me to show how much I love the game and how I am not going to quit on this program,” Carrezola said. “I am never going to quit on this program. I want to be one of the guys that sets the example that this is a guy that constantly believed, had endless belief in what we are doing. I love the game and continue to be that person.”
While the focus will be on sending the senior class out with a win, it’s not too early to focus on the future.
With eight true freshmen played this season, 14 of those on scholarship did not, including quarterbacks Jordan McAfee and Marvin Washington, defensive lineman Caleb Thomas, offensive linemen Robert Holmes, Stanley Hubbard and James Tunstall and tight end Ryan Fitton.
More help will be on the way with 19 known commitments and a few more expected.
Ten UConn commits led their team to the state playoffs and it could be 11 if Kevon Jones’ East Hartford team beats Manchester on Wednesday night.
Edsall has talked about getting bigger, stronger and faster and it should be noted that the Huskies have nine commitments from July 27 and six of them (including Wilbur Cross High School’s Travis Jones) are projected to play on either the offensive or defensive line at UConn.