Huskies Landing Power 5 Transfers

The Story: Jim Mora appears to be living up to his late-season pledge to add impact players to the football team via the transfer portal as three prominent players have committed to joining the Huskies in the past week.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: The Huskies received commitments from two wide receivers, Wisconsin’s Skyler Bell and UCLA’s Keegan Jones, and their recruiting haul doesn’t appear close to being over.

• Bell, who will be a redshirt junior in the fall, is a 6-foot, 290-pound native of The Bronx who was a three-star recruit in the Class of 2021 out of The Taft School in Watertown. He had 30 catches for 444 yards and five touchdowns in 2022, his redshirt freshman year, and 38 catches for 296 yards and one touchdown this season.

• Jones, who is 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds and from Cleveland, Tenn., doubled as a kickoff returner. He will be a sixth-year senior in the fall. He has played in 12 games each of the last two seasons as a reserve and has also been used as a running back.

• UConn also announced last night the signing of Western Kentucky linebacker Aaron Key, a 6-foot-2, 230-pounder from Decatur, Ga., who had 29 tackles and an interception in 10 games this season. He’ll be a redshirt junior come September.

AS FOR THE OTHERS: UConn has already formalized the additions of Gardner-Webb running back Jayden Brown, UCF defensive tackle Kervins Choute, Indiana kicker Chris Freeman, Syracuse guard Wes Hoeh, Tulsa defensive tackle Jayden Simon, Sacramento State punter Connor Stutz, and Kansas State cornerback Jordan Wright.

• Others who have reportedly committed to UConn include New Mexico State cornerback Reggie Akles and safety Malachi McLean and TCU long snapper Logan Frederic.

• That means if Mora was aiming for a dozen or so impact transfers, he has already landed 11 of them. And that’s to say nothing of the players who are still considering UConn — a list that reportedly includes Charlotte running back Durrell Robinson. An Under Armour All-American in the Class of 2023 who was on campus for an official visit last weekend, Robinson had 177 yards and a touchdown on 40 carries as a freshman this season.

AND THOSE WHO HAVE LEFT? Unfortunately, few of the 16 players who decided to transfer from UConn have found new homes, including running back Devonta Houston.

• Tight end Justin Joly is off to N.C. State, running back Brian Brewton is heading to Middle Tennessee State, center Yakiri Walker signed with Colorado, and offensive tackle Dayne Shor, who transferred from Alabama, will play at Akron.

— Zac Boyer

Morning Reads

• The women’s hockey team, down from No. 11 to No. 12 after a pair of losses at No. 2 Minnesota, will be back on the ice today tonight for a game against Brown.

• The men’s basketball team remained No. 4 in the Associated Press poll while the women’s basketball team fell one spot to No. 13.

• Stephon Castle was named the Big East Freshman of the Week for the third time — and so was Ashlynn Shade.

Top photo: Jim Mora speaks with an official prior to the Huskies’ game against Syracuse. (Ian Bethune for The UConn Daily)