Football Fever — Catch It!
The Story: Let’s celebrate the start of the football season by reacclimating ourselves with all that has gone on in Storrs in the last few months ahead of the Huskies’ game at Utah State on Saturday.
NEW COACH, NEW ATTITUDE: Perhaps the biggest change comes from the man who will be patrolling the sidelines. Jim Mora has taken over as the Huskies’ head coach five years after he last ran a program and has brought big changes.
• Mora, whose stint as the coach at UCLA ended so long ago that the Bruins hadn’t decided to join the Big Ten, has brought along a crop of new assistants — and, for a time, a familiar face. But Lou Spanos, the interim coach last season who returned as defensive coordinator, has taken an indefinite leave of absence and it seems he’s unlikely to remain that role.
• UConn has added a significant number of players via the transfer portal, including many who will contribute this season. Aside from quarterbacks Ta’Quan Roberson (Penn State) and Cale Millen (Northern Arizona/Oregon), the Huskies landed wide receiver Nigel Fitzgerald (Old Dominion), linebacker Marquez Bembry (Kentucky), running back Will Knight (Garden City CC/Delaware) and offensive linemen Jack Stewart (Michigan) and Dayne Shor (Alabama). All those transfers means Randy Edsall is surely rolling over in his grave, or at least a lovely Florida sand trap.
QUARTERBACK QUANDARY: Same team, same problems. The Huskies enter the season without a starting quarterback, with Roberson, Millen, freshman Zion Turner and last year’s hero, Tyler Phommachanh, all battling for that role.
• Roberson, a redshirt sophomore, has taken most of the first-team snaps during training camp, which makes sense. He’s the most proven of the crop thus far. Millen, who began his college years at Oregon, didn’t get on campus until late, Turner is young and Phommachanh is still recovering from a season-ending injury.
• Phommachanh, “The Puma,” tore the ACL, LCL and meniscus in his left knee during the game at Vanderbilt last season. He’s trying to work his way into the conversation 10 months after the injury, but if we’re being honest, it’s not the worst thing if he were to take a redshirt and get fully healthy. After all, he said he’s not yet 100 percent healthy.
STARTERS UNCERTAIN: Exactly what’s going on with the depth chart remains fluid, but expect to see running back Nate Carter, wide receivers Matt Drayton, Keelan Marion and Kevens Clercius and linebackers Ian Swenson and Jackson Mitchell making an impact again this season.
• One player who still won’t be back? Poor wide receiver Cam Ross, who missed all of last season with a broken foot and then broke the other in training camp and is likely to miss this one, too. Let’s hope it’s a minor setback before a major comeback for an incredibly talented player.
