Ex-UConn safety McAllister returns to Rentschler with visiting UMass
AMHERST, Mass. — Brice McAllister wasn’t in the mood to celebrate as he walked off of Rentschler Field for what he thought might have been his final college football game last October.
McAllister tied his career high with nine tackles but that didn’t seem to matter as the Huskies surrendered more than 700 yards in a 70-31 loss to Memphis. Making things even worse, McAllister broke a bone in his hand during the game.
“I didn’t know what happened, I didn’t know if I would transfer. I just thought the season was over and it was it for me playing football,” McAllister said.
McAllister will return to Rentschler Field on Saturday but this time as a member of visiting UMass.
“It’s been a blessing to be able to come back here to UMass to continue to play,” said McAllister, who is pursuing a graduate degree in sports management. “I had my ups and downs with the decision but a lot of my friends had already graduated. Right now at UConn the guys I came in with are Ryan (Crozier) and James (Atkins); 13-14 guys I came in with had left already so I felt like it was time to get out of there.”
McAllister only played three games before being injured last season, and since he played as a true freshman, he was eligible for a fifth season of eligibility. UMass was more than happy to bring the native of East Longmeadow, Mass., into the fold.
“He brings experience and has done some good things,” UMass coach Mark
Whipple said. “He started with a bang and unfortunately got banged up, came back healthy last week, so the experience factor, he’s a good kid, he’s played at this level so we’re looking at big things from him.”
McAllister had two interceptions, including one that he returned for a touchdown and a forced fumble in a seasonopening win over Duquesne. He registered a career-best 13 tackles the following week against Boston College.
“He had some good hits against BC and got nicked up,” Whipple said. “He tried to go against (Georgia Southern) which was a mistake, I didn’t know him that well but we should have protected him from himself. We had to sit him and he’s back healthy playing well so we’re excited about how he can finish the season.”
There are obviously plenty of emotions for McAllister to deal with this week. His phone has been lighting up with text messages from his former UConn teammates. Long snapper Brian Keating joked that if McAllister plays on special teams, he will run him over. Cornerback Tahj HerringWilson, who also played with McAllister at Suffield Academy, already suggested a jersey exchange after the game.
“I’ve been in contact with a lot of them so it should be pretty fun,” said McAllister, who enters the game with 99 career tackles. “It’s starting to hit me, I’ve been playing there for four years and it definitely is going to be a real emotional game, but on the schedule it’s just another game so hopefully it should be a good one.
“Those guys down there, we went through a lot together. We look back at the experiences we’ve been through. I talk to (former UConn safeties) Obi (Melifonwu) and Tony (Watkins) basically every week about everything that’s been going on, looking at the future and just a lot of the relationships that I built there really have lasted for a while now.”
McAllister is not the only person from UMass with ties to Connecticut.
Whipple was the head coach at the University of New Haven from 1988-93 and, counting his two stints at UMass, has a 2-1 record against UConn as a head coach. Offensive line coach Mike Foley spent nine seasons as an assistant coach at UConn, while athletic director Ryan Bamford previously worked at Yale. Linebacker Bryton Barr, who is second nationally with 103 tackles, made eight tackles including 1 1⁄2 tackles for loss to help Towson beat UConn in the 2013 season opener. Starting
defensive end Jake Byczko was a former UConn commit. Then there is senior offensive lineman Jake Largay, a former star at Granby High School who has started games at three different positions this season.
“I’ve definitely had this circled on the calendar for a while ever since I saw we were playing them, I think it was two years ago that they came out with the schedule. I’ve been so excited to go back to the home state,” Largay said. “I wasn’t recruited by UConn, there’s no bad blood or anything, but I’m just real excited to go back, get a W for sure.”
One of Largay’s uncles was a UConn football season ticket holder but his best memory came when he was in attendance when the Huskies won at Notre Dame in 2009. He said his parents have already purchased about 30 tickets, and with high school teammate Andrew Miglaccio a reserve defensive lineman for the Huskies, he is expecting plenty of high school classmates to come to the game as well.
Foley was the offensive line coach at UConn when Largay played at Granby and didn’t hear a peep from the UConn staff and yes, that subject matter has come up a few times.
“Coach Foley is a great coach,” Largay said. “I always mess with him that I guess the O-line coach (at UConn) didn’t really like me back when they were recruiting. I think he fits in great here, all the guys love him. He’s one of my favorite coaches ever, he definitely wants this game too so there’s going to be some fuel to the fire for him too.”
Largay leads all UMass offensive players with 24 consecutive starts and for most of that time, Andrew Ford was the quarterback. That figures to change as the senior injured his knee in last week’s loss to Coastal Carolina.
“It’s hard to see anybody go down, quarterback is the position on the team everybody looks to,” Largay said. “He was the captain, him going down was definitely hard to see but Ross (Comis) is a great quarterback too. At this point I feel bad for Andrew because he had four more games in his senior year. I have all the confidence in the world in Ross and we’re going to try to get these next couple of wins for Ford because I know he’ll be there with us, leading us on the sidelines. I don’t have any doubt that Ross can get it done.”
Comis has thrown 13 touchdown passes with two interceptions with seven scoring runs in 27 career games.