Edsall’s experiment

Randy Edsall is doing things differently this year. Gone are the scout team and the two-deep depth chart, used by colleges everywhere. In their place, UConn will have a “developmental squad” and a “personnel chart,” which will serve similar but slightly different functions.

STORRS — Randy Edsall will be doing things a bit differently this year.

Gone are the scout team and the two-deep depth chart, staples of college football programs everywhere. In their place, UConn will have a “developmental squad” and a “personnel chart,” which will serve similar but slightly different functions.

Essentially, Edsall conceives of his roster as two different groups: There’s the participation squad, whose members prepare to play in a given week’s game. And there’s the developmental squad, whose members are less likely to play each week but whose progress remains important to the coaching staff. If someone from the participation squad gets hurt or struggles, a member of the developmental squad will be summoned to replace him.

“Those guys that are on the developmental squad, what I want them to understand is, that’s why it’s not a scout team,” Edsall said Sunday. “We’re developing you to try to get you ready to play, and you’ve got to have that mindset to be ready to play.

“We don’t have a waiver wire here,” he continued. “My waiver wire is my developmental squad.”

Edsall has decided not to release a depth chart before games this year, instead sharing a list of all players on the participation squad. Leading into Thursday’s season

opener against Wagner, that “personnel chart” included 67 players — 29 on offense, 32 on defense and six specialists. Notable names missing included quarterback Micah Leon and receiver Zavier Scott.

Though two-deep depth charts are the status quo in major college football, there is no requirement that teams release them. Given the number of players Edsall expects to play, he decided to try something new.

“It might not make sense to anyone else,” he said, “but it makes sense to me.”

Additionally, Edsall said he will not discuss injuries during the season, except in the case of season-ending surgeries. In early August, the NCAA declined to implement a mandatory injury report, which the governing body had considered in response to the increasing legalization of sports betting.

QBdecision explained

Days after announcing that graduate transfer Mike Beaudry had beaten redshirt freshman Steven Krajewski for the starting quarterback job, Edsall explained his choice.

“It was really a tough decision,” the coach said. “Steven did a lot of good things, but Michael just did a few more things a little bit better. Steven knows that he’s got to be ready to go, and if he has to go in, I’m going to be very confident he can execute.”

Unlike Krajewski, who played only briefly at the end of last season, Beaudry has significant college experience, having led the University of West Florida to the Division II national championship game in 2017.

“That’s one of the factors that you consider, but there are a lot of other factors that went into it as well, in terms of stuff people don’t see,” Edsall said. “How do they command a huddle? How do they command the operation of the offense? It’s not just completion percentage, not just number of interceptions thrown or how many sacks they might take. It was a lot of things, a lot of elements that went into making the decision.”

Though Beaudry will be new to the sport’s top division, he said Sunday that “football is football.”

“We played at a high level in Division II,” he said. “Coming here, you’re playing in a bigger stadium, a little faster pace, but today was the 22nd practice or 23rd practice, so I feel comfortable at this level.”

Kicker spot up for grabs

Redshirt freshman Noah Iden will handle kickoffs for UConn this year, Edsall said, but coaches have not decided who will take field goals, with Iden and fellow redshirt freshman Clayton Harris competing for that role. A third potential kicker, graduate transfer Sean Young, is not listed as part of the participation squad.

Edsall said he has decided who will return kicks and punts Thursday but is not ready to say. Special teams coach Eddie Allen said last week that junior Quayvon Skanes, senior Art Thompkins and freshman CamRoss were among the candidates.

“We have more guys to choose from now than at any time I’ve ever been here,” Edsall said. “We have a lot of guys that are capable of doing that job.”