The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Orlovsky back in fold for Huskies
STORRS » Dan Orlovsky pondered the question and pondered it and pondered it some more.
The former Shelton High star and owner of just about every passing record in UConn football history hasn’t been connected with the football program for several years, but thanks to few posts on his Twitter account as his alma mater limped to a 3-9 record with a series of blowout losses, his opinion on the state of the program was rather easy to decipher.
“I feel terrible for the folks of CT who bought in and supported this program from the beginning. Hoping it comes back soon. #UConnFootball” is what Orlovsky tweeted on Nov. 26, the day that Bob Diaco coached his final game at UConn.
The day that UConn barely escaped with a win over Virginia, he posted, “Does UConn football know it’s 2016 and teams score 30+ a game?!?!?!? I feel like the O hasn’t been good there in a decade.”
Those two posts generated 278 retweets and nearly 500 likes on Twitter and raised a few eyebrows since not many UConn football alums have been that outspoken on the direction of the program.
Orlovsky’s tone on social media towards the program has changed since Randy Edsall, his coach at UConn, was brought back.
Still, when Orlovsky met with the media during UConn’s pro day on Wednesday, there was one question that he knew he had to be careful in responding to.
“Have you felt welcome here?” Orlovsky was asked.
The trace a smile crept onto his face and after a couple of delays, he proceeded.
“I’ll say this, it was hard for me to wrap my brain around how far it fell so fast,” Orlovsky said. “Did I feel welcome? I had stuff going on in my life that probably contributed to me not coming around enough and I feel bad about that. I even mentioned that to Coach Edsall, that is just bad by me. I feel really welcome now. I don’t want to say that I felt unwelcome, I think it was as much of me being busy with life more than anything but I feel welcome now.”
Orlovsky said it has been seven years since he last stepped foot on campus. As the father of triplets and not living close enough to drive, it became difficult for him to return to Storrs especially with the time he devoted to remaining in the NFL.
“I think Coach (Edsall) not being around was a part of it,” Orlovsky said. “I didn’t know anyone here that much anymore, the athletic director left, the coaches left, the equipment people left. We had our kids, lived in Tampa. We lived far away, traveling with kids is hard and my time to be like a normal person is like three months. There were some challenges, but I am hoping to be back a lot more now that Coach is back and some familiar faces. I am a drive away instead of a flight away.”
Edsall reached out to Orlovsky for multiple reasons including having him finish up the last few classes necessary to graduate. So Orlovsky is on campus taking classes and Edsall has put him to work as a student assistant.
“These current players have to understand that (Orlovsky) is the face of the UConn program, that is who it is. It is not anybody else, it is not me or anybody else,” Edsall said. “He’s the guy that did it. He was the guy who stood up and said I am going to be different, I am not going to go to Purdue or Michigan State, I am going to come to UConn and make it special. To have the face of the program back after I think he said he hasn’t been here for seven years and to be able to have a guy like that who had 12 years, hopefully 13 in the NFL and it really says a lot about who he is as a person and how you have to be a professional and how you have to go about taking care of your body to be able to stay in the league. Anytime I can have people like that or Geremy Davis to come back, the more we can have those guys back and make them welcome.”
Naturally, Orlovsky has been overseeing the quarterbacks during the early days of spring practice. He has been stressing to them how rare it is to be in the position they are in and certainly helping with some technical advice along the way.
Orlovsky doesn’t hide his delight that Edsall is back trying to return UConn to the days when making a bowl game was the rule and not the exception.
“I am confident in Coach,” Orlovsky said. “It is not going to happen tomorrow, I hope that people are understanding of that, but I always say I think it takes 24 months to see where it is but I am confident in him. The reason I came here was Coach Edsall. I fell in love with who he was, what he was selling, what he was preaching, kind of the opportunity that he presented to me so the guy I believed in as a 16-year-old kid is the guy that I believe in now.
“I think it is one of those things where some guys are just fits for some places, some people fit in places and some don’t. I think he fits here, I think this place is really important to him, it is like when you are a 10-yearold kid and you get to spend your own money on something, you take care of it a lot better than if your parents buy it for you so it is his baby, I think it is a big deal to him.”
Orlovsky said he has been in contact with NFL teams with the hopes of returning for NFL for a 13th season. Even if it doesn’t happen, he has so many memories from his time in the NFL.
“I think there would be a massive sense of pride,” Orlovsky said. “I know how hard it is to play in that league and stay in that league for three, four or five years and being there for a dozen years is really cool. I have been fortunate enough to stay healthy, I was fortunate enough to have a really good foundation from my dad, a work ethic from my high school coaches so I think just a sense of pride. I think as I get older, I realize how awesome it is. I want to play more now than I did 10 years ago, I want to be part of the group.
“I was telling the quarterbacks that there are 100 of us NFL quarterbacks on the planet, that is really cool. I think I relish it more than I did when I was young. I was dumb, ignorant and kind of just going rather than just realizing how special it is. I look back at the teammates I have had, the friendships that I have had, the things I have been able to do have been awesome.”