Honoring college football’s best from Connecticut
The college football season came to an end with LSU rolling past Clemson to win the National Championship.
With many of the nation’s top players coming to New Haven for the annual Walter Camp weekend extravaganza, what better time to honor the best of the best homegrown prospects.
Here is a position-by-position look at an all-Connecticut team. The criteria is that the player was a member of a Football Bowl Subdivision program.
Finding a kicker was an issue. Wallingford’s John Tessitore was a member of the Boston College team and New Canaan’s Wes Farley is at Vanderbilt but neither of them were called upon to kick as freshmen. Perhaps some negotiations could be conducted to let former Trinity College kicker Eric Sachse handle the kicking after he was 61 for 62 on extra points and 14 of 17 on field goals in his lone season at Boise State. Another option would be to dip into the Football Championship Subdivision pool as Brookfield’s Dane Borges made eight field goals as a senior at Sacred Heart. Here is the team:
Quarterback: Quentin Harris, Duke — The senior from Wilton threw for 2,078 yards and 16 touchdowns and ran for seven more. He had 10 TD passes and no interceptions during a threegame winning streak in September.
Running back: AJ Dillon, Boston College — The New London native finished sixth among FBS players with 1,685 rushing yards as a junior despite not playing in the Eagles’ bowl game as he prepares for the NFL draft. Dillon finished his career at BC with 20 100-yard rushing games.
Fullback: Ben Mason, Michigan — The former Newtown High star has played fullback, defensive line and linebacker at Michigan. His impact can’t be measured by his one rushing attempt or seven tackles as a
junior.
Receiver: Tarik Black, Michigan — Hamden native had season highs with four catches and 80 yards in the season opener against Middle Tennessee. Finished season with 323 yards on 25 receptions.
Receiver: Isaiah Wright, Temple — Waterbury native had a careerhigh 47 catches as a senior and recorded his third consecutive season with at least 1,000 all-purpose yards.
Receiver: Nico Ragaini, Iowa — East Haven native and two time New Haven Register Male Athlete of the Year during his days at Notre Dame of West Haven finished second among Big Ten freshmen with 46 catches. He had touchdown catches in back-to-back games against nationally ranked Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Tight end: Jay Rose, UConn — Junior from Southington is a converted quarterback who finished with 27 catches. He had touchdown catches against UMass and East Carolina.
Offensive line: Evan Adams, Syracuse — Probably the most difficult position to pick. Adams, a senior from Norwalk, got the nod over Boston College tackle and former Fairfield Prep star Anthony Palazzolo largely because he started every game at left guard while Palazzolo started the first six games at left guard for the Eagles. Adams started 45 career games and was the highest graded Syracuse offensive lineman according to Pro Football Focus.
Offensive line: Jack Driscoll, Auburn — Madison native started every game at right tackle as the Tigers had more than 2,500 yards rushing and passing for just the third time in the last nine seasons.
Offensive line: Bobby Haskins, Virginia — Sophomore from Fairfield started the last 13 games of the season at left tackle to help the Cavaliers reach the ACC title game. It’s been a remarkable transformation from being Fairfield Prep’s leading receiver as a tight end in 2016 to helping Virginia to the ACC Coastal Division title.
Offensive line: Christian Montano, Tulane — Orange native was named the Walter Camp Connecticut Player of the Year, starting all 13 games at center after transferring from Brown. He helped Tulane finish 11th in FBS with an average of 243.2 rushing yards per game.
Offensive line: Lucas Niang, TCU — New Canaan native had the 20th best pass-blocking grade among FBS tackles according to Pro Football Focus. His season was cut short after seven games due to a hip injury. He finished his TCU in glorious fashion as he opted to play against nationally ranked Texas despite being advised to shut it down immediately by medical professionals. He led the Horned Frogs to the upset win knowing it would be the final game of his collegiate career. TCU’s total offense per game dropped by 79 yards without Niang in the lineup.
Defensive line: Kevon Jones, UConn — Sophomore from East Hartford made the transition from linebacker to defensive end and finished with 40 tackles to go with three sacks in 10 games.
Defensive line: Travis Jones, UConn — Sophomore from New Haven had 40 tackles including six tackles for loss and was credited for three quarterback pressures.
Defensive line: Rondell Bothroyd, Wake Forest — E.O. Smith graduate had 31 tackles during redshirt freshman season including six in a win over North Carolina. Also had a sack against Clemson.
Linebacker: Jarvis Miller, UMass — Suffield native had 60 tackles including 4 1/2 tackles for loss and his lone sack came against Coastal Carolina.
Linebacker: Jackson Mitchell, UConn — The true freshman from Ridgefield had two tackles in the first five games but finished with 65 stops, the most of any freshman in the American Athletic Conference.
Linebacker: Koby Quansah, Duke — Senior from Manchester and Kingswood Oxford had a breakthrough season with 105 tackles, four more than he had in his first three seasons combined. He had 12 tackles for loss including one against Alabama in the season opener and also broke up three passes.
Linebacker/defensive back: Omar Fortt, UConn — Junior from Stamford had 70 tackles and broke up three passes while playing the hybrid linebacker/safety position for the Huskies.
Defensive back: Jason Pinnock, Pittsburgh — The junior from Windsor had 16 tackles, broke up seven passes and had an interception in a win over UCF.
Defensive back: Brandon Sebastian, Boston College — Sophomore from West Haven had 45 tackles, broke up nine passes and for the second season in a row recorded an interception against Virginia Tech. He accounted for all of the Eagles’ points in the Birmingham Bowl when he returned a blocked field goal 58 yards for a touchdown.
Defensive back: Tyler Coyle, UConn — Junior from Windsor finished as the Huskies’ leading tackler for the second straight season and only UConn defensive player to start every game in 2019. He had 262 tackles in three seasons but announced his intention to play his final season elsewhere.
Defensive back: Marquis Wilson, Penn State — The freshman from Windsor didn’t play in the first three games of the season and didn’t record a tackle until the seventh game of the season but at least two tackles in five of the last six games and had interceptions against Michigan State and in the bowl win against Memphis.
Punter: Dillon Jones, TCU — Junior from Darien averaged 44.3 yards on three punts in win over Texas and had a 45-yard punt the following week against Oklahoma State.