The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Expectations growing for safties Coyle, Fortt
STORRS — The ability and willingness of starting quarterback David Pindell to connect on a series of deep throws was one of the major takeaways from the UConn football team’s first preseason practice last week.
While Pindell made some impressive connections with receivers Hergy Mayala and Kyle Buss as well as tight end Aaron McLean, those plays did not sit well with the key players on defensive side of the ball.
It was a much different story on Monday as the Huskies had their first practice in pads during summer camp.
Things were just getting started when sophomore safety Tyler Coyle broke up a pass and then intercepted a tipped pass during 9 on 9 drills. Fellow starting safety Omar Fortt also came up with an interception when the first team defense squared off with the No. 1 offense.
“We stressed that a lot in meetings, we have to play with good eyes,” Coyle said. “We had a lot of eye violations in the first couple of practices and I feel like we are doing better.”
Being watched not only by Curome Cox, their position coach,, and defensive coordinator Billy Crocker but also by head coach Randy Edsall, both Coyle and Fortt heard it from the coaches. Edsall, in particular, was rather vocal in directing criticism in the direction of the two in-state products who are primed to play key roles in their second season as starters.
“That is a good thing because he holds us to a standard that even though we are young safeties, we are veterans so we have to teach the young guys,” Fortt said. “I know everything is out of love, no hard feelings. He wants us to win, that is what it takes so he holds us to a standard and we have to follow through with it.”
True freshman cornerback Ryan Carroll worked with the starting defense while classmates Keyshawn Paul and Shamel Lazarus were the second-team cornerbacks before Paul suffered a lower leg injury late in practice.
“He’s good,” Coyle said of Carroll. “At one of the practices he said I know everything (in the playbook) but it is going a little too fast. I just had to stop him and slow it down, that is the only way I learned.”
True freshmen defensive linemen Travis Jones, Jonathan Pace and Lwal Uguak also took snaps with the first-team defense including a stretch late in practice when all three of them were out on the field together. Fellow true freshman lineman Pierce DeVaughn is also off to a strong start to camp but he was sidelined by a high ankle sprain on Monday.
“I like all four of them, I think all four of them are going to do well as long as they stay healthy and stay coachable,” Edsall said.
Jones saw time both as an interior lineman and a defensive end on Monday.
“Right now we have him as an end,” Edsall said. “The biggest thing for him is we have to get him to come off the ball a little bit quicker. He is a big human
and he is very athletic for a guy his size and he wants to do well. I love being around him, those kids have all done some good thing. You can see the athletic ability they have right now but they are just raw and green right now.”
True freshmen ONeil Robinson and Jordan Morrison made an impact while working with the second-team defense. Robinson laid a heavy hit after
Kevin Mensah caught a pass near the sideline resulting in Edsall proclaiming, “finally somebody hit somebody.”
HOPKINS LEAVES TEAM
Sophomore Nate Hopkins, who led the Huskies with seven touchdown runs in 2017 as a redshirt freshman, has left the team according to Edsall.
“We had some changes in the depth chart,” Edsall said. “He told me he wanted to go somewhere else. I think we have some decent
players at running back and I think the competition is pretty good. We told him what we thought his role would be as a short-yardage and goal line guy. We just try to be honest and if guys don’t want to do the role that we think and they think they can have a bigger role somewhere else, God bless them and good luck to you.”
Donevin O’Reilly opened practice as the starting tailback just a couple of days after he was given a scholarship along with receiver Mason Donaldson
and defensive lineman Carlton Steer. Late in practice Kevin Mensah broke a long touchdown run, outracing a couple of starting defensive backs down the sideline for the offensive highlight of the game.
Nose tackle Caleb Thomas missed the practice because he had a fever of 101 degrees according to Edsall while receiver T.J Vernieri will transition into a role as a student assistant coach.