Summers hopes to make huge impact

STORRS >> Months before Obi Melifonwu began his remarkable rise up NFL draft boards, it was another defensive back out of UConn creating all the buzz among those who fancy themselves as NFL draft insiders.

Back in July one outlet listed Jamar Summers, who was coming off a spectacular sophomore season, as not only the top draft prospect on the UConn roster but No. 1 among all American Athletic Conference players coming back for the 2016 season.

Since that time, Melifonwu and Temple’s Haason Reddick have put themselves in position to be taken in the first round when the raft starts next week. Temple’s Dion Dawkins, East Carolina’s Zay Jones and Shaquil Griffin of UCF are also among the top 100 prospects according to former Dallas Cowboys vice president of player personnel Gil Brandt.

So where does all of this leave Summers? As a player and prospect with some unfinished business.

In January the NFL released a list of players with remaining eligibility who made themselves available to be selected in the three-day 2017 NFL draft. The AAC was represented by Tulsa receiver Keevan Lucas, South Florida running back Marlon Mack and Houston cornerback Howard Wilson. A couple months later news broke that Southern Methodist quarterback Matt Davis would be a late addition to the draft pool.

But Summers remained steadfast in his decision to finish what he started at UConn.

“Obviously everybody assumed that,” Summers said. “It got into my head a little bit last year and that affected my game but as far as me thinking about future terms outside this program, that didn’t affect my play at all.”

Summers had a run of nine games as a sophomore when he picked off eight passes. UConn won four of those games to become bowl eligible. His junior season began with Summers spending time on the stationary bike during practices early in fall camp. While he wasn’t forced to miss practice time, he clearly wasn’t 100 percent. Teams seemed to pick up on that as he was targeted early and often during an inconsistent 2016 season.

“I want to bounce back off the injury that I didn’t talk to Coach (Bob Diaco) about, me and Coach’s communication last year wasn’t fully there and that affected me,” said Summers, who had 59 tackles and two interceptions as a junior. “At the end of the day, I can’t sit there and make excuses, it is what it is and it is behind me now. In football you are never 100 percent healthy so you have to fight through them.”

The ball seemed to find Summers during that magical sophomore season but often times he was a fingertip away from coming up with game-changing turnovers a season ago. He also had moments when he gave up big plays in man-to-man coverage as teams showed little fear of testing the ballhawking Summers whether he was playing cornerback or safety. Opponents also used Summers’ aggressiveness to their advantage as he would often times be beaten on double moves allowing passes to be thrown over the top.

“There were big plays and also big plays that were left out there that my defense could have made so we have to make those plays when the opportunities are presented to you,” Summer said.

“I want to go out with a bang, it is my senior year and I am definitely ready to show UConn Nation that the UConn Huskies can get this thing back to a winning program.”

Diaco is now the defensive coordinator at Nebraska after being fired at UConn. Randy Edsall is back for his second run as UConn’s head coach and he has made it clear to Summers that there is a higher level of production and reliability that he wants to see out of the Orange, New Jersey, native. Edsall demoted Summers to the second team for a portion of spring practice to get his point across.

“Jamar is inconsistent,” Edsall said. “I brought him in and we talked. He has ability and I like him, a good kid but he has to do the things he is coached (to do) and he needs to listen to us.”