The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Freshman Haynes brings toughness, grit
STORRS — Wherever Christian Haynes turns, there is a veteran offensive lineman there to get him prepared for his first season as a starter at UConn.
On one side of him is center Nino Leone who started during the 2018 season at the right guard position Haynes is expected to hold down this season. He is also flanked by tackle Matt Peart, who has 36 career starts since arriving in Storrs. When he heads home, there is another talented offensive lineman to learn from as his older brother Jonathan showed enough during his recently concluded college football career to receive an invitation to rookie camp with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
The oldest of the three Division I linemen in the Haynes family, Jonathan played in five games as a redshirt freshman at West Virginia in 2015 and then started 25 games in three seasons at Stony Brook. The middle brother Marcus had a pair of sacks in Old Dominion’s win over Virginia Tech last season and added another sack in ODU’s spring game. It must make for some entertaining backyard battles between the brothers when they are all back in Bowie, Md., and even more memorable trips to the local gym.
“We call it competing and we just try to get each other better,” Christian Haynes said. “When I go home, he will tell me drills that he does and I will tell him drills that we do here and we just get each other better.”
Haynes got some snaps in the first two games of the 2018 season before the Huskies shut him down so he could recapture his season of eligibility. He did earn offensive scout player of the week once late in the season, a sign that even though he wasn’t appearing in games, he was still willing to put in the work.
“Once I officially redshirted, I learned more and more about the game and tried to help the defense [in practice] in whatever way I could,” Haynes said.
Leone played well enough so the Huskies could afford to keep Haynes out games and allow him to retain four years of eligibility. With the graduation of starting center Ryan Crozier and knowing that Haynes was ready for a significant role, the decision was
made to shift Leone to center. It hasn’t taken Haynes long to win over the player who only nine months ago was manning the position that Haynes now plays.
“He is able to contribute with his footwork, his intelligence and he knows the game extremely well,” Leone said. “The brute strength, what he has done this past spring and summer has been phenomenal.
“Christian is a bigtime enforcer on the team, you
will see him making some plays on the team.. You will see him as a pulling guard, he is definitely not afraid to get dirty in there and you will see him making a lot of pancake [blocks].”
UConn Randy Edsall has mentioned that defensive linemen aren’t exactly volunteering to go head to head with Haynes and that the 6foot4, 304pound redshirt freshman has a toughness and mean streak in his play that is similar to some of the linemen on Edsall’s teams during his first stint with the Huskies.
“I like his toughness, his ability to pick things up,”
Edsall said. “He’s got the attitude that you really want to have there with the people up front.”
Haynes couldn’t help but crack a smile when his mauling style of play was mentioned and he will be more than happy to deliver some punishment when the Huskies begin the season later this month by hosting Wagner.
“I think that comes from where I am from, we all have to compete and get better and it is also coming from my brother because I want to be better than him,” Haynes said.
Leone made the move to
center in time for spring practice and now he feels even more comfortable at the new position. It doesn’t hurt that he was an offensive tackle in high school and played guard at UConn so he has familiarity with every position on the line.
“I am taking all of spring and summer studying and doing the extra work, going into this camp I am feeling extremely comfortable with my responsibilities and my calls,” Leone said. “Having that experience of playing each position even though tackle was back in high school, to know that mentality and knowing each guy on the line’s responsibility, it is huge so we can operate and help things flow smoothly.”
Leone has a pretty good resource to rely on as he is fighting to become UConn’s starting center as he is in regular contact with Crozier.
“I am giving him a call every other day,” Leone said. “I gave him a call just the other day just to ask him how he is doing, he is checking out on me. I ask him for little hints, little pointers that hey I am having trouble with this one block and he will say try doing this.”
UConn had a scrimmage on Saturday that Edsall said went pretty well but there were still plenty of issues. Edsall said he is waiting for somebody to assume control of the starting quarterback position and that competition may not decided until shortly before the season opener. He is pushing for more from running backs Kevin Mensah and Art Thompkins and said he will likely give Donevin O’Reilly some first team work in upcoming practices.