Graduate transfers expected to bring maturity, leadership

STORRS — Art Thompkins won’t suit up with the UConn football program for the first time until spring practice begins next week, but in the eyes of UConn coach Randy Edsall, the former running back at Toledo has already made an impact.

“You can already tell the impact he has had on our guys here to come in and fit right in,” UConn coach Randy Edsall said on Thursday. “You see guys looking up to him and the way he works, he has already established himself as a leader.”

Thompkins, a running back who ran for 563 yards and had 15 receptions as a junior at Toledo, is one of four graduate transfers signed by the Huskies. Former Columbia defensive lineman Michael Hinton was also announced previously as being a part of this recruiting class. Mike Beaudry, who quarterbacked West Florida to the 2017 Division II national title game, and Ardell Brown, a record-breaking receiver at Seton Hill will all be immediately eligible to play.

Edsall dipped into the graduate transfer pool more than he has in the past, and with five remaining scholarships, he said he would keep looking for potential graduate transfers who can fill another position of need like tight end or defensive line.

“The maturity level is different from what a true freshman gives you and that is the difference,” Edsall said. “When you sit down and talk with Mike Beaudry, Art Thompkins, Ardell Brown and Michael Hinton there is a difference in maturity there. Also for us at this time in our program, it helps because those guys are leaders. They have been captains of their team so that is something that is also important as we took a look at guys in the [transfer]

portal.”

UConn announced it signed 13 players during the early period. Beaudry and Brown were among the seven new additions.

Receiver Cameron Ross has a connection to Edsall as the UConn coach recruited and coached his brothers Brandon, who rushed for more than 2,500 yards at Maryland and Jarrett Ross, who had 61 career tackles with Terrapins.

“We had history with the family,” Edsall said. “When we recruited Brandon and Jarrett to Maryland, I remember his mom said right there is the best one of the bunch and pointed to Cam.”

Ross and fellow receiver Michael Drayton both signed in December, but Edsall said he honored the request not to announce it until they had signing ceremonies at their respective high schools.

New signee Jeff Woods is already enrolled at UConn as is Thompkins and defensive lineman Eric Watts, so they will be able to take part in spring practice which

begins next week.

The Huskies will practice Tuesday, Thursday and Friday for five consecutive weeks beginning on Tuesday.

Edsall said he didn’t think there would be much scrimmaging during practices as the focus will be on teaching the fundamentals and getting acclimated to the offensive and defensive systems. That is especially important with Lou Spanos now serving as UConn’s defensive coordinator. Edsall mentioned some tweaks to the defense.

“We’ll basically play with two tackles, an end and what we call a rover,” Edsall said when asked about targeting defensive linemen in this year’s class.

The rover will bring some speed and pass rush potential to the defense. Edsall mentioned the speed and athleticism that Watts has shown since his arrival and he had similar things to say about Pierce DeVaughn a year ago before an injury in camp presented him from seeing immediate playing time.

Another newly named position is the “star” which could be similar to what

was referred to the “husky” position [a hybrid defensive back/linebacker position] last season with signee Malik Dixon projecting to play there.

Running backs Khyon Gillespie and Zavier Scott are still recovering from knee injuries suffered during the season and will miss spring camp. Fellow running back Donevin O’Reilly, who missed all of last season due to a knee injury, will be able to take part in position work but will be held out of all contact drills. Cornerback Jeremy Lucien will also be held out during spring after undergoing shoulder surgery after the season ended. Linebacker Eli Thomas is back with the team after suffering a stroke last year but has not been cleared for football activity.

SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED

UConn will kick off American Athletic Conference play with defending champion UCF for the second straight season.

The season begins with home games against Wagner on Aug. 29 and Illinois on Sept. 7. After a bye week, the Huskies’ road opener will be against Indiana on Sept. 21. The final nonconference game will be on the road against UMass on Oct. 26. That game was originally scheduled to be played at Gillette Stadium but is listed as “to be announced” on the UMass schedule. Hearst Connecticut Media has reached out to UMass to get clarification on where the game will be played with no response. The Huskies play at UCF on Sept. 28 in the conference opener. The Huskies have home AAC games against South Florida (Oct. 5), Houston (Oct. 19), Navy (Nov. 1) and East Carolina (Nov. 30) with the other road conference games against Tulane (Oct. 12), Cincinnati (Nov. 9) and Temple (Nov. 30).

Edsall wasn’t happy that despite having two bye weeks, the Huskies will play eight straight weeks including five road games beginning with the Indiana game and running through the Cincinnati contest.