Excitement Builds For Huskies’ Opener
The Story: The football team is itching to play its first game in 637 days on Saturday when it travels to California for the first time and faces Fresno State.
READY TO GO: The last time the Huskies took the field was on Nov. 30, 2019, when they lost 49-17 at Temple after leading 17-7 four minutes into the second quarter.
• “It’s infectious, the energy here,” said senior long snapper Brian Keating, one of the team captains. “We’re really excited to get going. Being able to throw in on the pads and go against an opponent, which we haven’t been able to for the last year and a half, we’re so excited. We’ve been talking about this forever. We’re just pumped.”
• Although UConn has recruited in California, it has never played a game in the state. It played at Boise State in 2018 and played in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, in 2011.
IT’S GETTING HOT IN HERE: The weather forecast shows temperatures reaching 104 degrees on Saturday, though it should only reach a cool 95 degrees or so when the game ends at around 2 p.m. local time.
• NCAA rules only permit 70 players to travel to road games. There’s a good chance the Huskies will need to rely on a larger number of contributors than normal to make sure nobody is exhausted.
• “We’ve been talking about that since training camp started,” Edsall said. “It’s really taking care of your bodies and making sure you’re always hydrated.”
• Then again, this is the UConn football team we’re talking about. It’s been feeling the heat for years.
EDSALL TALKS QBS: The question was bound to come up, wasn’t it? As we’ve mentioned the last two days, the Huskies will begin the season with either Jack Zergiotis, the incumbent, or Steve Krajewski as their starting quarterback.
• “Those two guys have been competing and competing very hard,” Edsall said. “The one thing that you want, you want your quarterback to execute the game plan. You want them to be smart with the football. You want somebody that’s going to take what the defense gives you understanding that we have good skill players around them.”
• Left tackle Ryan Van Demark also addressed the situation: “Jack, he’s a great communicator. He really grabs the offense by the horns and puts everybody in their place. He’s a natural leader,” Van Demark said. “Steve is the same way. Steve is very vocal on the field. He’s always making checks and corrections, and that’s just really what a quarterback needs to do. A quarterback needs to go out there and control the offense, take what the defense gives them and then make their checks from there.”
Morning Reads
• The men’s basketball team has announced the addition of Corey Floyd Jr., a 6-foot-3 guard from Roselle Catholic High School in New Jersey and reclassified earlier this month. “Corey is a seamless fit within our culture,” coach Dan Hurley said. (Hearst Connecticut Media)
