The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
UConn shifts its focus to future
UCONN AT MEMPHIS, SATURDAY, 7 P.M. (CBS SN)
STORRS — With each passing week it was hard not to wonder which true freshman was going to be in line to take on a more significant role with the struggling UConn football program.
That is one aspect of the 2018 season that came to an abrupt end.
UConn coach Randy Edsall announced that eight players who have appeared in games won’t see the field again this season. The move comes two days after he revealed on a conference call that he planned on shutting down the seasons of some promising freshmen in order to preserve the extra season of eligibility for players with bright futures.
Thanks to a new NCAA rule, players can appear in as many as four games and still recapture the season of eligibility. Edsall and his staff let offensive lineman Christian Haynes, receiver Heron Maurisseau, defensive lineman Pierce DeVaughn, linebacker Hunter Webb and defensive backs Jalon Ferrell and Jordan Morrison know that they won’t be appearing in any more games this season.
Obviously the news was harder to digest for some of the new kids on the block than others, even if they will still be able to take part in practice.
“What you’ll do is when you become a fifth-year senior, you’ll walk in this office and you’ll thank me,” Edsall said about the message he had for the players who will be redshirting.
It was previously announced that defensive back Terrence Ganyi and running back Khyon Gillespie won’t play the rest of the season, bringing the number of true freshmen who played this season and will be eligible to redshirt to eight. Due to injuries at the running back position, there is a chance that true freshman Dante Black could appear is as many of four games the rest of the way but Edsall said he won’t play in more than four.
The list includes some pretty key players. DeVaughn started last week’s game against Cincinnati, Maurisseau has the longest reception of the season for the Huskies and Morrison has 10 tackles and a fumble recovery.
“I think the redshirt year is going to be good for some of the younger guys to get bigger, faster, stronger,” said senior tight end Aaron McLean, who had four receptions as a true freshman in 2015. “It’s also good with the new rule that they can play four games because a lot of them have played so they know what the experience is like so when they get in next year, they’ll actually be ready to go.
“It’s probably tough because you already started playing and now you aren’t going to be playing the rest of the season, it probably hurts but at the same time I hope they can see that it’s beneficial for them.”
DeVaughn, Webb and Morrison were all on last week’s depth chart. They are being replaced — at least on paper — by junior Kevin Murphy, sophomore Ryan Gilmartin and redshirt freshman Robert King.
On offense, redshirt freshman receivers Garrison Burnett and Cameron Hairston are on the depth chart for the first time.
“You’re not building a team, you’re building a program and a program is the big picture,” Edsall said. “The team is from year to year but a program is for eternity and that’s what you are trying to do. That’s what we had before and that’s how we did it and as you look at things, we’re in a good spot when you take a look at the redshirt freshmen and now these freshmen, there are guys in there who are only going to continue to get better. We’ve got some guys in the sophomore group that still need to get a little bit stronger and we have to keep recruiting, we have to find those guys that fit what we’re doing.”
The move will allow UConn to redshirt 15 of the 25 true freshmen on scholarship. This is perhaps even more important since UConn’s next recruiting class will probably be somewhere around 13-15 players rather than the normal 25 because of the number of available scholarships.
Edsall said there was no choice but to play true freshmen on the defensive line and in the secondary, and sure enough, nine of the 10 players who will continue to play this season man those positions.
UConn, which plays at Memphis on Saturday at 7 p.m., should be getting sophomore receiver Keyion Dixon back for the game. Edsall said cornerback Tahj Herring-Wilson and Marshe’ Terry are ruled out again this week but both were in full pads in Tuesday’s practice and did some running under the watchful eyes of the training staff. With UConn off next week, there’s a good possibility they will both be back when UConn prepares for the Oct. 20 game at South Florida.
Edsall said his staff will use next week to hit the road recruiting as they reconnect with the players already committed as well as those on the Huskies’ recruiting radar.