The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Beaudry named starting QB
Graduate transfer led West Florida to 2017 Div. II title game
One major question hanging over the 2019 UConn football team was answered on Tuesday morning when head coach Randy Edsall posted on Twitter that Mike Beaudry has been named the Huskies’ starting quarterback.
Beaudry has seen the most time with the starting offense since the start of preseason camp, although redshirt freshman Steve Krajewski and true freshman Jack Zergiotis did get time working with the No. 1 offense.
Beaudry came to UConn as a graduate transfer from Division II West Florida. He led the Argonauts to the 2017 Division II national title game as he completed 55 percent of his passes for 3,215 yards with 29 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions.
Beaudry was injured in the 2018 season opener as he was limited to six pass attempts. Beaudry was on pace to graduate and began to explore the option of playing at the Football Bowl Subdivision level as a graduate transfer.
He saw an opportunity at UConn with the graduation of David Pindell, who set multiple program records for rushing yards by a quarterback, and a pair of backups with a combined 11 completions between them. The competition opened up even more when Marvin Washington, the No. 2 quarterback a season ago as a redshirt freshman, decided to transfer.
“They said they wanted me to come in here, help change the culture and change the program,” Beaudry said before the start of camp. “I’ve been through a lot, been through four years of college football. I’ve learned a lot through my time in college and [want to] help this team grow.”
With Beaudry set to start in the Aug. 29 opener against Wagner, the Huskies continue a trend of starting the season with a quarterback who began his college career elsewhere.
In the last seven seasons, the only time a player UConn signed out of high school was the starting quarterback in a season opener came in 2014 when Masuk graduate Casey Cochran got the call against BYU. Since 2007, Cochran is the only player to receive a scholarship out of high school to start the first game of the season at quarterback for UConn.
So what will Beaudry bring to the position?
“I like the size, obviously he can see over the line,” UConn quarterbacks coach Mike Moyseenko said. “He has the ability to make any throw on the field, you like a guy who is a little bigger and thicker to take some shots. In the game of football. It is never perfect, it is never clean so the ability to take a bump here or there helps him out. If you watch our offense, we like to run the football at certain times but just imagine in certain situations who can get isolated on a smaller DB and at the end of the day he has to tackle a 250pound guy.
“Is it going to be a lot like it was last year? No, but there are a lot of things you can do with a big guy like Mike.”