The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Peart, Davis plan to return for 2019
STORRS — The question, posed to Tyler Davis and Matt Peart about 30 minutes apart on Tuesday, generated almost identical responses.
Nine scholarship seniors are preparing for their final road game at UConn when the Huskies play at East Carolina on Saturday (7 p.m., CBS Sports Network). They will be front and center at the Senior Day festivities a week from Saturday but they will not be alone. UConn coach Randy Edsall made it clear that some of the 14 fourthyear juniors on scholarship will also be moving on at season’s end and will have the chance to be honored before the Temple game.
While he hasn’t named names, Edsall said some of those redshirt juniors have already informed him of their intentions to hang up their cleats when this season is over.
Davis, a tight end who is tied for the team lead with four touchdown catches, and Peart, an offensive tackle slated to make his 35th straight start Saturday, have every intention of returning for the 2019 season.
“Definitely,” Peart said. “I feel like something positive is definitely happening at UConn and I‘m going to have a stake in that, I want to be part of this process. UConn’s family; UConn’s home and I want to make sure that I come back with a good mentality to lead the young guys in the right way because we’re going to right the ship here, I definitely believe that.
“I’ve spent so much time and effort here at UConn, you want to leave on a good note. I want to continue to grow this program back to where it is used be. It’s why we’re here so I want to see us win and come back and make sure I can help these freshmen gain that edge, the attitude they need to get that extra push.”
Davis has extra incentive to return as he is currently in the first semester of graduate school. He is working to earn a master’s degree in financial risk management and should wrap up the work needed for that degree by the end of the fall 2019 semester.
“It’s good just to show the younger guys what this program is all about,” Davis said of his decision to return for a fifth season of eligibility. “I’ve been here a long time so I have some experience on those younger guys who really don’t know what this is all about, kind of show them the right way to do things, so hopefully I’m doing those things.”
Davis worked diligently to graduate in three years, doing much of the heavy academic lifting during the summer sessions.
“I take a lot of pride in my academics,” Davis said. “Football is going to end one day for every single person so it’s key to have your backup plan ready to go and utilize what you can out of every opportunity that you get. That was my mindset
coming in and I think I accomplished that.”
Davis is eyeing a possible job on Wall Street when he is done playing football. The former quarterback and receiver drew plenty of praise from Edsall for not only his work in the classroom but determination to overcome the ankle injury he has dealt with for most of this season.
Marshé Terry, who recently moved to linebacker, is among the players who could graduate and move on at season’s end. Terry, who is ninth on the Huskies with 28 tackles despite missing three games with an ankle injury, said he is focusing on these final two games but he absolutely wants to return for his senior season.
One player who won’t be playing in the last two games is redshirt freshman running back Zavier Scott. Scott, who leads UConn with 33 receptions, is set to undergo knee surgery Friday. The recovery time will keep him from taking part in spring practice but Edsall is expecting Scott to be back on the field in August for preseason camp.
Scott is the third running back at UConn to
suffer a season-ending knee injury, joining Donevin O’Reilly and Khyon Gillespie.
Kevin Mensah, who is 137 yards shy of 1,000 this season, will continue to be the featured back. True freshmen Dante Black and Dominico Moncion will back him up.
“Two of them are noncontact injuries,” Edsall said of the injuries to the running backs. “We do have some depth there but that’s one of those things where our injuries that have come this year have come at that position. I don’t think there’s any rhyme or reason to it why they’ve occurred at that position.”
UConn will be playing its fifth night game in six road games this season, which is something Edsall is not pleased about, citing the challenges of getting back on campus in the early morning hours.
The five Saturday night road games easily are the most in the American Athletic Conference, followed by Cincinnati’s three. It is an issue that he said he has brought to the attention to conference officials, as has UConn athletic director David Benedict.
“I kind of speak about
what I feel. I don’t like when people talk about the health and welfare of the student-athletes when you get back here on campus between 2:30-4:30 in the morning and the next day there’s not much you can do with them,” Edsall said. “When that continually happens, I think that’s unfair.”
Edsall also said UConn has filed a waiver with the NCAA in the hope of having current players host recruits next weekend. UConn’s season is ending Nov. 24 with a home game against Temple. Without a waiver, no current players would be able to show recruits around campus the following day because UConn’s season would be considered to be complete and the players would have to be given the entire week off. If UConn finished the regular season with a .500 record or better, there would be no issues with hosting the recruits, so without the waiver, there would be one fewer weekend when UConn’s current players could serve as hosts for recruits.