Record-breaking Husky would trade achievements for wins

It was a day when Cole Wagner forever etched his name into the UConn record books but even as he was becoming the all-time leader in punting yards at UConn Wagner was in no mood for celebrating.

Wagner moved by Adam Coles to set the program record for most career punting yards and his seventh and final punt in Saturday's 13-10 loss to South Florida matched Coles' mark for career punts. Still, the Huskies are 0-5 with a pair of challenging road games coming up the next two weeks.

"I have loved every play here. I was lucky enough to start as a freshman and have a four-year career," Wagner said. "The records are great but I look back and think ‘man, I wish I could have had some more wins.’ Freshman year we peaked, reaching the Fiesta Bowl and haven’t been to a bowl game since and it has been frustrating. We have the players to do it and we all know it. We keep saying we should have done this, we should have won that game but we just have to start winning and we are running out of opportunities. The seniors, we have seven games left in our career and we definitely don’t want to keep throwing it down the tube."

Wagner had some issues getting the hang time and distance on the punts earlier this season. He averaged less than 40 yards per punt in each of the first three games of the season and the streak dates back to the 2012 regular-season finale. Wagner had not gone more than two consecutive games with a punting average under 40 and he worked diligently to get back to punting the ball as well as he did during preseason camp. He began to strike the ball better in the loss to Buffalo setting the stage for one of the best games of his collegiate career. Wagner had a career-high six punts inside the 20.

"I am hitting the ball with confidence which is the most important thing," Wagner said. "I went back, I was hitting the ball really well in camp and I went back to watch what I was doing there. I was just getting the ball too far out in front of me so I was getting the ball back into my sweet spot, swinging easier. It is just confidence, I hadn’t hit the ball well at practice. I hit the ball well in warmups, I hit the ball well in practice and hit the ball well in games."

The first six times Wagner punted the ball South Florida was pinned inside the 15 yard line. He had punts down on the 2 and 3 and three other times the result was a fair catch. The only two times the Bulls got a return a punt by Wagner they managed a total of six yards. Freshman Noel Thomas made the highlights for downing both punts inside the five.

"That is the biggest play we can have and the biggest play we can do for our team," Wagner said. "I tell them when I am around them, don’t he is the left gunner and my pooch (punt) is always coming left. I tell him it is coming, he has done a nice job of getting down there and making the plays. We had some that got away from us that we had the ball there but we didn’t make the plays."

Already owning the UConn record with 11,051 punting yards (Coles had 10,904 yards from 2000-03) and sharing the school mark with 271 punts, he has a chance at another mark. California's Nick Harris set the FBS record with 322 career punts from 1997-2000 meaning that Wagner would have to average 7.3 punts a game the rest of the way. Of course that is one record I am sure Wagner could do without because it would be a reflection on how much the Huskies offense has struggled over the last four seasons. For those wondering, Cal had four straight losing seasons and a 15-29 record while Harris was the punter.

UConn players look back to 2010 game at Michigan

With UConn ready to host Michigan on Saturday night in what could be the most high-profile home game in program history, it seems like a perfect time to look back on UConn's 2010 game to Michigan.

Although he did not start in the game, senior defensive tackle and captain Shamar Stephen made one of his two tackles on UConn’s first defensive series.

“That was the first time I ever played in a game so it was definitely a great experience for me,” Stephen said. “I remember it was a pretty fast tempo, getting into it was a little different and as the game wore on, I adjusted and started making the plays.

“It was definitely nerve wracking at first but once you make that first hit, it all goes away and you are into the game. I was more focused on my assignments. I just didn’t want to mess up in my first game but it was pretty crazy.”

Stephen was one of six current Huskies to play in the 30-10 loss to Michigan in the 2010 season opener. Jesse Joseph started at defensive end and made four tackles, Cole Wagner had a 66-yard punt, Chad Christen averaged 65.3 yards on three kickoffs while Martin Hyppolite and Taylor Mack also played in the game.

Many of the current seniors were on the travel squad for UConn’s lone trip to Michigan Stadium.

“It was a fantastic experience,” UConn senior offensive tackle Kevin Friend said. “I was a redshirt freshman and I have never seen a stadium like that before and just to see it, looking up at it and seeing that it was full it was awesome. Just feeling what the team felt in the locker room and how everyone came together before the game and psyched everybody up. It was an awesome experience.”

Fellow senior offensive lineman Steve Greene also has mostly positive memories of the trip to Michigan.

“I remember it was a big place and we were in the game and we had a chance to win it too,” Greene said.
“It is one of the most famous arenas in college football so obviously it is a great experience.”

Smallwood a preseason All-American

UConn rising junior linebacker Yawin Smallwood was named a fourth-team All-American by Phil Steele.

Smallwood led UConn with 120 tackles during the 2012 season. He had six double-digit tackle games as a sophomore including back to back 14-tackle efforts against North Carolina State and Maryland. Smallwood also had four sacks, forced two fumbles, 15 tackles for loss and recovered a fumble.

Smallwood, running back Lyle McCombs and cornerback Byron Jones were all named to the American Athletic Conference preseason first team, offensive tackle Jimmy Bennett and kick Chad Christen were third-pick pick while offensive guard Steve Greene, linebacker Graham Stewart and punter Cole Wagner were fourth-team selections.

Huskies among NCAA's active leaders

UConn's Trevardo Williams, Cole Wagner and Sio Moore are among the top 10 active leaders at the FBS level in their specialities.

Williams, a senior defensive end, is second behind only San Jose State's Travis Johnson is sacks among active players. Williams has 30.5 sacks in 49 career games while Johnson has 31 sacks in 49 career contests. Williams is also 14th with 40.5 tackles for losses.

Wagner, a junior punter, is second in average punts per game (which is more of a signal of the struggles of the UConn defense over the last three seasons) and his 9,484 career yards ranks seventh.

Moore, a senior linebacker, is ninth with 42 tackles for losses.

As for this season's statistics, Williams ranks fifth with 1.05 sacks per game.Yawin Smallwood is 19th nationally with an average of 10.1 tackles per game and 25th with 1.36 tackles per loss a contest followed closely by Moore and Williams who rank 28th and 34th respectively. Nick Williams' average of 12.7 yards per punt return ranks 16th.

In the team rankings, UConn is ninth in rushing defense (100.3 yards allowed per game), 10th in total defense (305.7), 13th in sacks (2.9), 14th in tackles for losses (7.4) and 19th in scoring defense  (18.6)