Pair of future Huskies go way back

AVON — There was not a football in sight the first time Josh Tracey and Tyler Phommachanh crossed paths a decade ago.

The wide-eyed elementary school classmates in Bridgeport had no visions of playing college football at UConn and couldn’t have imagined that they would both land at Avon Old Farms for much of their high school careers. Yet, here they were on a sundrenched Wednesday afternoon going through a series of drills at Ryan Field.

“We always talk about that, we always talked about how we were going to go on visits and stuff like that,” Phommachanh said. “We always reminisce about it, always.”

Their first football experiences together came at a camp when both were in eighth grade. Phommachanh, who hails from Stratford, had the ball in his hands as a quarterback, and Tracey, a Bridgeport native, was on the receiving end of more than a few passes from his former classmate.

Even then, Tracey knew if he gave Phommachanh what he simply terms “the look” that a pass would be coming his way.

“I’ll give him that look and he’ll know,” Tracey said.

That look could be seen quite often during the 2019 season as they helped the Winged Beavers win eight games in a row before the dream of an undefeated season ended with a bowl game loss to Suffield Academy. Even in defeat, the cur

rent and future teammates went down swinging. Tracey caught seven passes for 150 yards and a touchdown, while Phommachanh threw for 333 yards and three scores.

UConn doesn’t have a great track record of securing commitments out of the Bridgeport/Stratford area. Unless Phommachanh or Tracey make an impact as true freshmen in 2021, it could be a decade since somebody from Bridgeport made a significant impact with the Huskies. Trevardo Williams capped a recordbreaking run with the Huskies with 111⁄ sacks as a

2 senior in 2012.

Phommachanh and Tracey are the No. 13 and 14 rated Connecticut players according to 247sports.com, although at least 10 of the players ahead of them grew up outside of Connecticut but attended schools in the state.

Avon Old Farms coach

Pierce Brennan won’t be surprised to see either of his prized pupils on the field sooner rather than later for the Huskies.

“Good kids, probably as competitive kids as we’ve had here,” Brennan said. “They work hard, they’ve been here for three years, they have grown a lot as kids, as students, as football players. UConn is getting two really quality kids.

“They are both talented enough to step in and push, who knows where it ends up but they are going to push for a spot for sure.”

New Haven’s Travis Jones is a defensive tackle who could have a pro football future, Hartford’s Tahj Herring-Wilson was able to start 18 games before transferring to Arkansas State, Stamford’s Omar Fortt and Windsor’s Tyler Coyle combined for nearly 450 tackles from 2017-19. Could it be time for Phommachanh or Tracey to make their former Bridgeport classmates proud?

“I think it will be great, Tracey said. “I want to be an inspiration to my city so I

like that we are doing something positive for our city, they can look at us and say, ‘we can make it too.’”

While they discussed going to college together, this was not a package deal. But landing at UConn felt right to both of them.

“It was an easy decision, they were close to home, close to my family, and wasn’t a hard decision,” Phommachanh said.

It didn’t end with their commitments. Even with no season for either of them to play due to COVID-19, the UConn coaches continued to make them feel wanted.

“Just the first day they offered, they never stopped talking to us,” Tracey said. “They always kept an eye and always kept on inviting us back on campus. They just were better than every other [program] I talked to.”

It’s impossible to mention Phommachanh without thinking of his older brother Taisun, a freshman quarterback at Clemson who has played in three of the first four games for the No. 1 ranked college team in the

nation.

“They are completely different kids, what makes Tyler great is different from what makes Taisun great and that is the beauty of it,” Brennan said.

Tyler leaned on his older brother on the field and off during the recruiting process.

“He is teaching me different coverages, how to handle myself, how to be more professional, how to be a better person, a better man,” Phommachanh said.

So when he sees his brother step onto the field for Clemson?

“It is real exciting, every time we watch the game, we come on the TV, we start jumping and getting loud,” Phommachanh said. “It is fun to see him on TV.”

The brothers could see each other again as the 2021 schedule includes UConn traveling to meet Clemson.

That would give Phommachanh and Tracey with even more reminiscing to do.