Former UConn lineman playing for ring at TCU
No one would argue that UConn’s football turnaround from 1-11 in 2021 to a .500 record and a bowl game this past season was impressive. But one member of the ‘21 Huskies experienced an even more dramatic reversal of fortune.
How about defensive lineman Lwal Uguak, who entered the portal last winter and emerged with TCU? He’ll be playing a supporting role in the national championship game vs. Georgia on Monday night in Los Angeles.
“He’s a part of what they’re doing to help them win,” said Dennis Dottin-Carter, who coached the D-linemen at UConn and is now associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Ivy League champion Yale. “He’s competing and he’s showing them he’s going to be an integral part of how they’re going to be successful and why they’ve been successful.”
Dottin-Carter recruited Uguak, 6 feet 5 and 271 pounds, a two-star recruit, who came from Western Canada to become an integral part of the scene, on and off the field, at UConn. He was a firststring lineman, willing to shift between end and tackle, and he was willing to put himself out there, in protests back home in Edmonton in the wake of George Floyd’s death, and at UConn, calling for change on videos and on campus. During the cancelled 2020 season Uguak and other team leaders helped hold things together during the pandemic, a culture of unity that among those who stayed may have been the greatest asset Jim
Mora inherited.
“That’s the kind of person Lwal is,” Dottin-Carter said. “He’s a good person at heart, a great person, he wants the best for his family, his friends, everyone around him. He’s a social justice warrior, that’s his side job, but that’s his everyday life. He knows what’s right and he wants to do what’s right. That’s his character. High character.”
Uguak played in 34 games for UConn across 2018, 19 and 21, getting in on 69 tackles, with four sacks in 2019. Dottin-Carter remembers one play in particular that year, against Tulane, when he knocked both a tackle and tight end backward to get to the quarterback. There was also a standout performance against South Florida. In 2021, though it was more about tying up blockers, Uguak made his presence felt in the backfield during the loss at Clemson, teaming with Travis Jones, now in the NFL.
“Right from the beginning, you knew he was a football guy,” Dottin-Carter said. “It takes an amount of determination, grit, wherewithal to not
only be here, but to stay and excel. Once I met him, I knew he had it, I knew this was the life he wanted and he was going to do what it took to make sure it happened, and he never let me down.”
Uguak, staying in touch with Dottin-Carter during the process, sought a higher level and no one knew how high a level he would find with the Horned Frogs, who upset Michigan in the national semifinal last week. Uguak has played in all but one of their 14 games, missing only the game they lost vs. Kansas State. As a third-team end, he is in the Frogs’ rotation, on the field for about 170 snaps, about 14 per game, with the regular defense. Uguak has been in on nine tackles, four solo, one for a loss (against Texas Tech) and recovered a fumble in a win at West Virginia.
“I thought it was a great fit for him,” Dottin-Carter said. “I was extremely excited that they saw the talent level in him, that they didn’t just look at our record and kind of brush him off. I’m excited he got that opportunity to realize one of his dreams, one of the dreams for a lot of young kids out there, to play at a Power 5 school and to play in these kind of games. I’m excited to see him get a chance to play at a level he knew he could play at.”
Change in demeanor? Be careful what you wish for
During my summer evenings in the Yankees dugout between 1999 and 2007, I picked up many pearls of wisdom from the philosopher and master psychologist Joseph Paul Torre. One of old No. 6s staples went something like this: “You can’t pick and choose what you like about a person or situation, you have to take or leave the whole package.”
Or as another philosopher put it, after his First Night lyrics controversy at Kansas, “You pay Snoop Dogg, you get Snoop
Dogg.”
These things I keep in mind whenever a coach’s demeanor is debated. UConn hired Dan Hurley to bring the fire and passion back to the men’s basketball program, and in five years he has done that, granted with unfinished NCAA Tournament business. His courtside manner occasionally becomes an issue, as in his ejection vs. Villanova last season, or his ill-timed technical in the loss at Xavier on Dec. 31.
“I know I can’t lead that way,” Hurley said last week. “When we’ve been at our best this year and when I’ve coached my best, I’ve been a lot calmer and a lot more poised.”
True, Hurley needs to be mindful of the example he sets and avoid crossing certain lines, more so now that he has a lot of experience and a very good team, and lips can be read for social media purposes. But remember, when you ask a coach to “fix” what you don’t like, you could lose some of what makes him or her successful in the first place. A lot of players come to UConn because they like Hurley’s on-the-edge, occasionally over-the-top demeanor, and respond to it. In the end, he has to be who he is, and the fan base has to live with the whole package.
Sunday short takes
Some UConn-onUConn violence last week in, of all places, the AHL on New Year’s Eve. Former Husky Jachym Kondelik, with Milwaukee, challenged old college teammate Wyatt Newpower, with Grand Rapids, and they dropped the sticks and went at it. The fight went to Newpower by unanimous decision, though Milwaukee won the game. “Yeah I saw it, I loved it,” UConn coach Mike Cavanaugh said. “UConn vs. UConn. We are tough, that’s how we play.”
No fight needed for UConn’s Tage Thompson, second in the NHL with
30 goals and third in points with 55. He was one of the first 32 selected for the NHL All-Star Game, the first time ever for a for a former Husky.
The value of on-site medical responders and athletic trainers was never shown more clearly than this week. The Bills’ Denny Kellington appears to have saved the life of Damar Hamlin when he collapsed Monday night. And Army’s Rachel Leahy’s lightning quick response may have prevented a tragedy when hockey player Eric Huss received a severe neck laceration in a game at Sacred Heart on Thursday in Bridgeport. Schools have a hard time finding enough trainers; hopefully heroes like these will inspire more young people to go into the field.
Whether it was pressure from fans, or the way the market has gone, the Red Sox did the right thing in locking up Rafael Devers for 11 years, $331 million. At 26, he figures to be a great performer well into the contract.
Advisors are only relevant when their bosses listen, but the Yankees’ hiring of Brian Sabean and Omar Minaya this week is at least an indication that Brian Cashman recognizes a need to get back to what made him successful in the past, utilizing the trained eyes of scouts.
Western Connecticut men’s basketball is 10-0 and holding opponents to 32.8 percent from the field, which is the best in all the country, NCAA Divisions I, II or III. Saint Joseph’s (12-0) is second in D-3, allowing 34.5 percent.
Last word
You can go from unfairly maligned to, maybe, a bit overrated in a New York minute, especially if you’re a Giants quarterback. But Daniel Jones, like Phil Simms and Eli Manning, deserves high grades for his grit. Think he’s a keeper.