Anxious couple of days for UConn's NFL draft hopefuls

Blidi Wreh-Wilson and Sio Moore lead the list of former
UConn players expected to be taken in the NFL draft.

All the workouts and interviews are in the books, the countless hours of film study are also complete and now it is finally time for the NFL draft.

For a handful of former UConn players it is a couple of days they won't soon forget.

It's a foregone conclusion that cornerbacks Dwayne Gratz and Blidi Wreh-Wilson, linebacker Sio Moore and defensive end Trevardo Williams will heat their names called but the question is which day and by what team.

Donald Brown is the only UConn player to be taken in the first round when the Indianapolis Colts selected him with the 27th overall pick in the 2009. Will he have some company after all 32 first-round picks are announced tonight?

Wreh-Wilson figures to have the best shot of going in the first round although most of the pre-draft databases have him slated as a second rounder. There have been mock drafts with Wreh-Wilson going late in the first round so that means a long night of watching and wondering for the two-time UConn captain as the first round is held tonight. Tomorrow figures to be a special day in UConn football history with as many as four Huskies going by the end of the third round. The NFL draft marathon ends on Saturday with rounds 4-7.

The NFL Network's Mike Mayock, considered by many to be the best NFL draft analyst in the business, has Moore as his top-rated UConn prospect at No. 64 in his final pre-draft Big Board which is two spots ahead of Wreh-Wilson and eight ahead of Gratz.

This draft is intriguing on a variety of levels for the UConn prospects. Of course you have the story line surrounding whether Wreh-Wilson or perhaps even Moore could sneak into the end of the first round and then will four Huskies be gone by the end of day two or will one of them have to wait. Finally, you have players like tight end Ryan Griffin and linebacker Jory Johnson would have a chance to hear their names called late in the draft or at least will get signed as free agents. They could have company as receivers Michael Smith and Nick Williams, tight end John Delahunt and offensive guard Adam Masters are in some draft prospect databases.

Barring a stunning development, there will be a player from Connecticut taken in the first round tonight - kind of. Bjoern Werner out of Florida State is one of the top defensive ends available in the draft and his football career began at Salisbury. As for the former Connecticut public school stars, I would guess that Georgia defensive tackle John Jenkins, who played at Maloney High in Meriden, will be the first one taken. Jenkins' situation is similar to that of Wreh-Wilson as he figures to go either late in the first round or in the second round. Other Connecticut natives to keep an eye on are Florida tight end Jordan Reed out of New London and Rutgers receiver Mark Harrison from Stratford who are projected to go between rounds 3-5.

Former NFL GM impressed with UConn prospects

                                                                                                                          (Associated Press photo)
Blidi Wreh-Wilson and Sio Moore could be taken in second round in the upcoming NFL draft

I reached out to Senior Bowl Executive Director Phil Savage, the former general manager of the Cleveland Browns for a couple of NFL Draft preview stories I am working on and I thought I would share some of his thoughts on the UConn players expected to be taken in the NFL draft.

Savage got to see cornerbacks Dwayne Gratz and Blidi Wreh-Wilson and linebacker Sio Moore as they all played in the Senior Bowl. Defensive end Trevardo Williams was also selected to play in the Senior Bowl before an ankle injury sidelined him but Savage was at the NFL scouting combine so he was able to see Williams put on an impressive show there.


"I was impressed with UConn’s prospects with those two (Gratz and Wreh-Wilson) and then Sio Moore who was a late add to our game and Trevardo Williams fits and he draws interest from teams who runs a 3-4 and the kid from Mobile Jory Johnson who actually played (in the Raycom Classic) who will probably end up being a free agent or a late-round pick at most. They are a good team to watch because they play a pro-style system under Paul (Pasqualoni). Most teams have one defensive back in the whole group that is a possibility of being drafted and they are going to have two corners and maybe even three linebackers too.

                                                                                          (Associated Press photo)
Dwayne Gratz, seen during the NFL combine, is one of four former UConn
players who could be taken in the first four rounds in the NFL draft.

"I thought Sio really elevated himself. He was a late addition to the game. He came in, was vocal, played with a lot of energy and really showed up in the game itself. He filled up the stat line. There were times when the tape of the season doesn’t match up with what we saw at the Senior Bowl practices and in the game. The positive is he definitely has the capability and I think he can fit in either scheme. I think he is scheme friendly as a 4-3 Mike (middle linebacker) or Will (weakside linebacker) or in a 3-4. I personally don’t see him as a pass rusher. I think he is a better blitzer than rusher but he will play on special teams and I think he is a good worthwhile prospect and I would venture to guess somewhere in the third or fourth round area as well based on what he did at the Senior Bowl and he had a good combine too, he tested well there. The tapes didn’t always reveal the ability he had but at the combine he stood out.

"He is 240 so he is big enough to play inside the box, he has enough quickness to blitz, he uses his hands well and he seems to have a nose for the ball. He has a knack for showing up around the ball and I think he drew quite a bit of attention this spring."

Williams was only able to go through one day's worth of drills before his ankle injury sidelined him. Ironically, Moore was brought in to take his spot on the roster.

"Unfortunately for him, he came in and had a little bit of a bum ankle before he got here and was only able to practice one day," Savage said. "I did watch a bit of tape on him during the season. He plays defensive end there and I think he projects well as a 3-4 outside linebacker. I don’t think he can be a full time defensive end in the NFL, he is not big enough but as a 3-4 outside backer he’s got some good qualities. He has good acceleration, good first step off the edge, he plays hard especially when he gets a whiff of the quarterback he seems to be able to finish the deal. I am not sure how he has worked out this offseason. I wasn’t privy to how his workouts went in terms of position drills went as an on his feet linebacker but based on his pass rush skill and the fact that he does look like he moves around pretty well I would think that he is going to be a mid-round guy for somebody looking for a 3-4 outside backer that might be a good developmental candidate."

Savage sees Wreh-Wilson as the better prospect among the two UConn corners although he is impressed with Gratz as well.


"I think with Blidi he has height, he has long arms, I think he is a good athlete but I think at times he can get a little leggy in terms of his change of direction. He is going to be attractive to those teams looking for the taller corner with long arms. My impression of him based on conversations with scouts in the league is that he is somewhere in the second or third round area. I know in some of the mock drafts, at least early on, they were putting him in the first round but I don’t think he is going to go in the first round. I think he is more of a second-round corner that will play on the outside. I don’t think he is necessarily a nickel or slot corner, I think he is more of an outside, cover 2 zone style corner.

"Dwayne Gratz he is physically built, he has some explosiveness in his body. For a vertical standpoint, he is a little tight in terms of the change of direction stuff. The good news is he is big enough and physical enough of being a safety if it doesn’t turn out at corner. I think he is another prospect who fits a bigger corner who plays predominantly cover two. He is a willing run supporter. He is a good prospect. I think he is rated a little lower than Blidi based on the conversations I’ve had and based what he did in the Senior Bowl game because he is a little tighter athletically. I think he is probably a third or fourth round."

Finally, I asked him about Meriden's John Jenkins, a defensive tackle out of Georgia, who could very well be the top Connecticut native taken in the draft.

"I like John," Savage said. "I went during training camp in August and watched all of their practice reps and pass rush because Georgia would take him out when it was a passing situation his junior year and even a lot his senior year. He was kind of an early down run defender and when I watched those practice videos, the one on ones in the pass rush and based on what he did at the Senior Bowl in the pass rush drill, I think he has a chance and I think he offers more than maybe what he has gotten credit for by some of the scouts. An obvious comparison is Terrence Cody who played at Alabama and ended up in the second round to the Ravens (with the 57th pick in the 2010 draft). I do the broadcasts for Alabama and I know Cody well but personally I like John Jenkins more. I think he is a better athlete, I think he has a better body. I think he gives you more potential in pass rush. I think he will go a little earlier than that (57th pick). I will be disappointed if he doesn’t. He is an ideal 3-4 nose candidate."

Plenty of Huskies on NFL Draft Bible's Big Board

                                                                     (Associated Press photo)
Blidi Wreh-Wilson (left) and Sio Moore are both projected to be second-round
 selections in the NFL Draft Bible database which was released on Thursday.

The NFL Draft Bible site released one of the largest databases of draft prospects with 10 members of the 2012 UConn team among those prospects listed.

The list of more than 1,500 players is done by position. Sio Moore, who was the No. 6 outside linebacker Blidi Wreh-Wilson (No. 8 CB) and Trevardo Williams (No. 9 OLB) were the only UConn products to crack the top 10 at their position. A total of 10 Huskies are on the list (actually the number is 11 but Jesse Joseph is listed as the No. 69 defensive end and he is still a member of the Huskies).

Here's the list:
Rank Player Position  Projected round
6 Sio Moore OLB                   2
8 Blidi Wreh-Wilson CB          2
9 Trevardo Williams OLB      2/3
14 Dwayne Gratz CB            2/3
27 Ryan Griffin TE                 FA
45 Jory Johnson OLB           FA
68 John Delahunt  TE            FA
78 Michael Smith WR           FA
83 Adam Masters OG           FA
112 Nick Williams WR          FA

Also listed is former UConn safety Jerome Junior is the No. 50 listed strong safety, the University of New Haven has three players listed as Ryan Osiecki is the 68th quarterback, Kameel Lashley is the 70th rated tight end and Jason Thompson is 159th at the wide receiver position. New Haven native Jeremy Moore out of Georgetown is the 95th rated cornerback sack, Meriden's John Jenkins out of Georgia is No. 5 defensive tackle while Rutgers receiver Mark Harrison out of Stratford is 20th at his position.

Looking back at Pro Day

                                                                                      (Associated Press photo)
Former UConn teammates Nick Williams and Sio Moore share a laugh
during a break at Wednesday's Pro Day at UConn.

There's no question who the headliners are among the current group of former UConn stars taking part in pre-draft preparations.

There are some who believe that comeback Blidi Wreh-Wilson may have run his way into first-round consideration after a pair of impressive 40-yard dashes at UConn's Pro Day on Wednesday and linebacker Sio Moore have been soaring up the draft boards with eye-opening efforts in post-season all-star game. I have seen Dwayne Gratz rated higher among corners than Wreh-Wilson and Trevardo Williams certainly has the production as UConn's career sacks leader and dazzled at the NFL combine.

Likely the majority of the 29 teams represented at the NFL timing day were lured by the aforementioned quartet who all had scintillating efforts at the NFL combine. However, the Pro Day was a chance for some of the other Huskies to show what they could do.

Receivers Nick Williams and Michael Smith, linebacker Jory Johnson, offensive lineman Adam Masters and tight end Ryan Griffin were among the under the radar prospects who should at least be on the radar of the teams who made the trip to Storrs.

"I think a lot of these guys have long careers ahead of them and I am really excited for them," Nick Williams said.

"I think we will have a few guys drafted and we will have a couple of guys in camps. It just shows that UConn 10 years ago, that wasn’t the case and now you can see that you can make the professional ranks out of UConn and it is all a cycle."

While Gratz, Moore, Trevardo Williams and Wreh-Wilson already posted the numbers to catch the attention  of all the NFL teams regardless of what happened on Wednesday, that was not the case for their former UConn teammates.

"I woke up this morning and said this is really my opportunity to show so I wanted to come out here and have a good day. I think I did pretty well in the weight room and with some other stuff," Johnson said. "Hopefully I did as well as I could, I have been planning for this for a few months. It was great being out there with those guys, they did a great job at the combine and we really showed what kind of players we had.

"I've been very busy, it's a lot of hard work. A lot of us were real dedicated, we want this so bad so we put a lot of work into it. You saw it (Wednesday) and you saw it at the combine.

"It has been kind of shocking. I heard a lot of scouts were going to be here but then you see all of these guys out here and it is not every day that this many teams come to UConn. It was great. There are a lot of guys out here who didn’t get to go (to the combine or all-star games) so it was good to show. I was real nervous to get out here and I am relieved that it is over, show what I can do and it is kind of out of my hands right now."

While the main objective was to dazzle the NFL scouts on hand, Wednesday's event brought out plenty of emotions as it is the last time UConn football's Class of 2012 will share a football field together.

"It is fun being back with the guys, just be loose and have fun even though there is some pressure on us, it is fun being back," Griffin said. "It is a good opportunity to show what we’ve got."

It's job interview time for former Huskies

                                                                                   (Associated Press photo)
Blidi Wreh-Wilson, Sio Moore and Trevardo Williams lead the list of UConn
products for the 2013 NFL draft. Nearly every NFL team is expected to send
representatives to today's pro day being held at UConn.

It was impossible to walk around the Burton Family Complex during the time that UConn was holding its most recent spring practice yesterday and not bump into one of the seniors from the 2012 squad.

I spotted Sio Moore, Adam Masters, Nick Williams and Michael Smith checking out the practice. They had a good reason to be back in town as they will
take part in UConn's annual pro day this afternoon.

Between strong showings in postseason all-star games or eye-opening efforts at the NFL combine, there is quite the buzz surrounding the UConn's pro prospects.

There may not be a player at any school who has upper his stock more since the season ended than Moore. He went from being an under the radar guy to being the No. 4 rated 4-3 outside linebacker by NFL Network's Mike Mayock. Blidi Wreh-Wilson is Mayock' No. 5 rated cornerback and Wreh-Wilson has been slotted in as a late first-round pick on previous mock drafts done by ESPN's Todd McShay. There are some, however, who rate Dwayne Gratz ahead of Wreh-Wilson in their pre-draft coverage. Trevardo Williams is another one of the former Huskies who put up scintillating testing numbers at the NFL combine. It's not out of the realm of possibility that all four of them could go somewhere in the top four rounds.

Considering how well they performed at the combine, I would not be the least bit surprised to see those four sit out many of the drills today since they have done more than enough to catch the eyes of NFL scouts. However, this is a huge day for players like tight ends Ryan Griffin and John Delahunt, offensive guard Adam Masters, linebacker Jory Johnson and receivers Smith and Williams.

UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni has encouraged all the 2012 seniors to take part because you never know who might catch the attention of the NFL scouts converging on UConn this afternoon.

Here is where the UConn players are ranked on CBS' NFLDraftScout.com database
Player                                 Pos      Posiiton Rank     Overall Rank      Projection
Dwayne Gratz                   CB               12                          86                    2nd-3rd
Ryan Griffin                      TE               22                        414                  Free agent
Jory Johnson                    OLB             34                         366                  Free agent
Sio Moore                        OLB              6                           66                     2nd
Michael Smith                   WR             91                        692                   Free agent
Trevardo Williams           OLB              8                           76                     2nd-3rd
Blidi Wreh-Wilson            CB              14                        101                     3rd

Former UConn WR in all-star game tomorrow

Former UConn receiver Michael Smith, who was third on the 2012 squad with 31 receptions and 407 receiving yards, is the latest Husky to get a chance to shine for NFL scouts when he plays in tomorrow's Texas vs. The Nation Game.

Smith, a Houston native, will be playing for the Texas squad in the game being played at Eagle Stadium in Allen, Tex., at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Smith will become the seventh member of the 2012 squad to appear in a postseason all-star game.

Sio Moore starred in the East-West Shrine Game and joined Dwayne Gratz and Blidi Wreh-Wilson in the Senior Bowl, Jory Johnson and Ryan Griffin played in the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic and receiver Nick Williams took part in the Casino Del Sol All-Star game.

Trevardo Williams was selected to play in the Senior Bowl but he injured his ankle during a Senior Bowl practice and was replaced on the roster by Moore.

Jory Johnson has a pair of tackles in Raycom Classic

Former UConn linebacker Jory Johnson had two tackles as the Stripes team defeated the Stars 31-3 in the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic. Tight end Ryan Griffin also played for the Stripes team but did not record a reception. I only saw him targeted once when he dropped a swing pass but did have nice blocks leading to touchdown runs by Virginia's Perry Jones and Missouri Western's Michael Hill in the second half and was on the field for all five of the Stripes team's five scoring drives.

Sio Moore started at linebacker for the East squad in the East-West Shrine Game. I haven't seen any official defensive statistics yet but I taped the game and unofficially had Moore with four tackles (although the three-hour window I taped ended with 1:33 remaining). He has been drawing plenty of praise from people who were at the game.

I am watching a replay of the game and after Moore made a tackle behind the line of scrimmage on Texas A&M running back Christine Michael, the NFL Network announcing crew sounded like they were members of Sio's fan club.

They mentioned that East head coach Jerry Glanville, a former head coach of the Houston Oilers and Atlanta Falcons, said "put an asterisk next to that guy because you are going to know who he is in the next couple of years."

Mike Mayock raved about Moore as well.

"I like the combination of heavy production at a BCS school, a great week of practice and following it up with a solid game. I thik as this process goes on you are going to see this guy start to rise and I wouldn't be surprised at all if at the end of April he doesn't end up in the third round."
Also, heights and weights were announced for the Senior Bowl. Cornerbacks Dwayne Gratz and Blidi Wreh-Wilson came in at 6-0, 198 and 6-1, 190 respectively while Trevardo Williams, who will play linebacker in the game, is listed at 6-2, 233.

Three Huskies in action today

Three members of the 2012 UConn football team will get some air time today and even more importantly will be playing in front of a host of NFL scouts in a pair of all-star games.

Tight end Ryan Griffin and linebacker Jory Johnson will be playing in the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic. Both Griffin and Johnson and will playing for the Stripes squad. Griffin will wear No. 94 and Johnson No. 28 (the same numbers they wore with such distinction at UConn). The game can be seen on CBS Sports Network

Then at 4 p.m. linebacker Sio Moore will be suiting up for the East team in the East-West Shrine Game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. Moore will be wearing No. 3 and the game can be seen live on the NFL Network.

Speaking of NFL Network, that station will be airing Senior Bowl practices next week beginning on Monday at 4 p.m. so there could be a chance to see the three former Huskies (Dwayne Gratz, Blidi Wreh-Wilson and Trevardo Williams) playing the game during the week.

Warde Manuel mum on coaching staff changes

Shortly before the start of the UConn/Louisville women's basketball game at the XL Center last night I caught up with UConn director of athletics Warde Manuel.

Considering the news that broke earlier in the day that George DeLeone was relinquishing his offensive coordinator position, it wasn't too hard to figure out what was the first subject broached with him. However, Manuel declined to comment on either the move of DeLeone to associate head coach while remaining the offensive line coach and the departure of defensive coordinator Don Brown to Boston College.


"I don't want to comment on that until we have our coordinators," Manuel said. "I’ll comment when we have hire our coordinators."

I was able to ask Manuel about a conversation I heard he had with the team shortly after the end of the regular season. I had heard that he lit into the team telling them to get with the program or head for the exits and that head coach Paul Pasqualoni has his full support.

Manuel said he did meet with the team but the conversation did not transpire the way I described above.

"I talked to them but it wasn’t because I felt like I needed to stand up for the coaches and I think they knew that," Manuel said. "It wasn’t a question about that but it was making sure they understood that we need to continue to work, we need to continue to get better and depending on their effort, the coaches’ effort, everybody in the room’s effort including mine that we have to put ourselves in the right position to do the right things and be prepared to have success."

Coming off back to back losing seasons, I was curious if he viewed this upcoming season even more pivotal than normal.

"Every game and everything we do is designed and should be designed to win and have success and when we don’t have a winning record we have to work even harder, work smarter and put ourselves in position in the right positions to do the right things to make success happen," Manuel said. "Every season is important and when you don’t win whether it is one season, two seasons you have to get down to the work and make things happen."

Since I periodically see reports out of Michigan with Michigan AD Dave Brandon continuing to hope that next year's UConn/Michigan game gets moved out of Rentschler Field and into a larger stadium, I asked Manuel for his take on the subject.

"It hasn’t been raised by their AD and I am not changing my perspective," Manuel said.

Finally, he spoke about having eight members of the 2012 squad playing in postseason all-star games as Nick Williams returned a pair of kickoffs for 37 yards in the Casino Del Sol College All-Star Classic last week, Jory Johnson and Ryan Griffin are playing in the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic on Saturday while Sio Moore will be playing in the East-West Shrine Game on Saturday as well. On Jan. 26 the trio of Dwayne Gratz, Trevardo Williams and Blidi Wreh-Wilson are taking part in the Senior Bowl and Michael Smith compete in the Texas vs. The Nation event on Feb. 2.

"That I love, it always wonderful when any of our guys go and to have eight is a real testament to talent we have on the squad and the potential that we continue to have," Manuel said. "We just have to fulfill the potential that we have because we have talent and we have a lot of guys with ability, a lot of high quality, high character kids. They’ve been through a lot and never stopped playing for UConn and their teammates. It is a testament of who they are and how they were raised, how they carried themselves and I will always be proud of this senior class."

Pair of former Huskies training in IMG program

Trevardo Williams, UConn's all-time leader in quarterback sacks, and two-time captain Blidi Wreh-Wilson are among nearly three dozen NFL draft prospects in Bradenton, Fla. right now taking part in IMG Academy's NFL Combine/Draft training program.

The list of players includes Heisman Trophy finalist Manti Te'o out of Notre Dame and six other players projected to be first-round picks in April's draft.


Luke Joeckel, Texas A&M, OT
Geno Smith, West Virginia, QB
Bjoern Werner, Florida State, DE
Manti Te’o, Notre Dame, LB
Sheldon Richardson, Missouri, DT
Tyler Eifert, Notre Dame, TE
Shariff Floyd, Florida, DT
DeAndre Hopkins, Clemson, WR
Eric Reid, LSU, S
Barrett Jones, Alabama, C/OG
Tyler Wilson, Arkansas, QB
Justin Hunter, Tennessee, WR
Zac Dysert, Miami (Ohio), QB
Margus Hunt, Southern Methodist, DE
Montee Ball, Wisconsin, RB
Blidi Wreh-Wilson, Connecticut, CB
Robert Alford, Southeastern Louisiana, CB
Aaron Dobson, Marshall, WR
Menelik Watson, FSU, OT
Trevardo Williams, Connecticut, LB
Gerald Hodges, Penn State, LB
Everett Dawkins, Florida State, DT
Kwame Geathers, Georgia, DT
Zach Line, Southern Methodist, FB
Vance McDonald, Rice, TE
J.C. Tretter, Cornell, OG
Tommy Bohanon, Wake Forest, FB
Gavin Escobar, San Diego State, TE
Albert Rosette, Nevada, LB
John Wetzel, Boston College, OT
Ty Powell, Harding, LB
Garrett Gilkey, Chadron State, OL
Devin Smith, Wisconsin, CB
Nick Williams, Samford, DT
Covaughn DeBoskie-Johnson, Cal, RB

Staying on the subject of UConn NFL draft prospects, today was weigh-in day at the Raycom Classic. Former Husky Ryan Griffin came in a little under 6-6 and weighed in at 254 while Jory Johnson measured 6-feet even and weighed 226 points.

Nick Williams headed to Casino Del Sol All-Star Game

Receiver and record-setting return specialist Nick Williams will be playing in the Casino Del Sol All-Star Game which is being played a week from tomorrow in Tucson, Ariz.

Williams finished his UConn career with more combined kickoff and punt return yardage than any other Husky and is the only player in program history with multiple kickoff and punt returns for touchdowns.

Williams becomes the sixth UConn announced to play in postseason all-star games. Dwayne Gratz, Trevardo Williams and Blidi Wreh-Wilson will be playing in the Senior Bowl on Jan. 26, Jory Johnson will play in the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic on Jan. 19 in Mobile, Ala. while Michael Smith will play in the Texas vs. the Nation game on Feb. 2 in Allen, Tex.

Jory Johnson, Michael Smith invited to all-star games

Linebacker Jory Johnson and receiver Michael Smith are the latest UConn players invited to play in senior all-star games.

Johnson, who had 95 tackles as a senior and finished with 227 career tackles, has been selected to play in the Raycom College Football All-Star Classic on Jan. 19 in Montgomery, Ala.

Smith, who caught 31 passes for 407 yards as a senior, will play in the Texas vs. the Nation game on Feb. 2 in Allen, Tex.

Dwayne Gratz, Trevardo Williams and Blidi Wreh-Wilson have been invited to the Senior Bowl later this month.

3 Huskies will play in Senior Bowl

UConn cornerbacks Dwayne Gratz, Blidi Wreh-Wilson and defensive end Trevardo Williams have accepted invitations to play in the Senior Bowl next month.


Gratz had 53 tackles and three of the Huskies’ six interceptions during the 2012 season, He finished his career with 189 tackles and eight interceptions.

Wreh-Wilson, a two-year captain, had 47 tackles and broke up nine passes as a senior. His only interception of the season came in overtime in a win at Louisville. He finished his career with 181 tackles and eight interceptions. He is currently ranked as the No. 11 cornerback in the NFL Draft Scout site who projects Wreh-Wilson as a third-round pick in April's draft,

Williams had 11.5 sacks as a senior and finished as UConn's career with a program-record 40.5 sacks. The NFL Draft Scout site lists Williams as the 16th best outside linebacker prospect and projects him to be a fifth-round pick.

The Senior Bowl will be played on Jan. 26 in Mobile, Ala. and will be televised live on NFL Network.

Other Huskies in the NFL Draft Scout site are Sio Moore, the 13th best OLB,  Ryan Griffin (No. 19 TE), Jory Johnson (No. 25 OLB), Dwayne Gratz (30th best CB), Adam Masters (No. 34 OG) and Michael Smith (No. 73 WR).

Defensive coordinator Don Brown heading to BC

The feeling was that there could be a new coordinator in place for the UConn football team in 2013 but nobody thought defensive coordinator Don Brown would be the first one to go.

As first reported by Bruce Feldman of CBS Sports, Brown is headed to BC after two successful seasons running the defense at UConn. The Huskies finished the season ranked 10th in total defense among FBS teams while ranking seven in rushing defense and 13th tackles for losses.

Brown has an impressive resume finding success wherever he's been. Eight of his 10 stops have been in New England including head-coaching stints at Plymouth State, Northeastern and Massachusetts. Not only does Brown figure to improve the Boston College defense but with Brown joining BC head coach Steve Addazio, a Farmington native and former head coach at Cheshire High School, recruiting Connecticut and the rest of New England is about to become even more challenging. Brown also recruited Florida for the Huskies and of course Addazio built relationships in the Sunshine State during his time as an assistant coach at the University of Florida so it will be interesting to see if BC beats out UConn for Florida prospects.

Here is a link to Boston College's release on Brown's appointment

Even if Brown had stayed, he would have had plenty of work to do with the graduation of UConn's all-time sacks leader Trevardo Williams, starting linebackers Jory Johnson and Sio Moore, starting cornerbacks Dwayne Gratz and Blidi Wreh-Wilson and top interior defensive lineman Ryan Wirth. The Huskies do return leading tackler Yawin Smallwood and injuries on the defensive line enabled plenty of returning players to see quality time in the defensive line rotation. The defensive line should also get a boost assuming defensive end Jesse Joseph is granted a fifth season of eligibility.

Brown also coached the cornerbacks at UConn and there is no position on the defense which will be under more scrutiny than the CBs. The ability of Wreh-Wilson and Gratz to lock up in man coverage enabled Brown to be more aggressive in sending his linebackers on blitzes. Taylor Mack  played well at times but was also beaten in man coverage. The other cornerbacks coming back are untested and head coach Paul Pasqualoni said late in the season that starting safety Byron Jones could be shifted to cornerback.

Safety Ty-Meer Brown is also back as are eight other players (including Joseph) who started at least one game on defense for the Huskies and the linebacking corps will be aided by Florida transfer Graham Stewart so Brown's departure does not mean that it won't be a dominant unit but it certainly does not help.

Wreh-Wilson named UConn's MVP

Senior cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson was named UConn's MVP at the team's awards banquet on Sunday.

Senior tight end Ryan Griffin was selected as the Offensive Player of the Year, senior defensive end Trevardo Williams and senior receiver Nick Williams were named the Defensive Player of the Year and Special Teams Player of the Year.

Other award winners were DT Ryan Wirth (Jasper T. Howard Award), OG Adam Masters (Football Alumni Award), LB Sio Moore (Kendall Madison Award), TE John Delahunt (Joseph M. Gianelli Unsung Hero Award), LB Jory Johnson (John L. Toner Scholar-Athlete Award) and CB Dwayne Gratz (Brian Kozlowski Award).

Trevardo Williams would have taken win over sack record

It could have been Trevardo Williams' night.

The dynamic senior defensive end from Bridgeport broke a 27-year-old UConn record when he sacked South Florida QB B.J. Daniels in the second quarter. However, after the Huskies' 13-6 loss at South Florida, he was not in a mood to celebrate.

“It is a bittersweet moment,” Williams said. “Actually, that is for another time. I can celebrate after the season or something.”

Williams and his defensive teammates pretty much did everything they could to get the Huskies their first Big East win of 2012. After Daniels’ capped an impressive 80-yard drive with a 5-yard scoring run in the first quarter to give the Bulls the early 7-0 lead, the UConn defense stood tall.

South Florida’s only other points came courtesy of a pair of fourth-quarter field goals after a pair of Connecticut turnovers. UConn’s defense, which looked helpless at time two weeks earlier in a 40-10-loss to Syracuse, “regained our swagger” according to senior linebacker Jory Johnson.

But three fourth-quarter turnovers by the UConn defense were even too much for one of the nation’s stingiest defenses to overcome.

“That is just football,” Williams said. “It is unpredictable. You give your best and in the end the slightest mistake can turn the whole game around. There is not much to say about it.

“We know that there is time to turn the season around. All season we have played well but we haven’t been winning like we should. We are a good team and (Friday’s game against Pittsburgh) is another opportunity to prove to ourselves.

UCONN TRIES TO PICK UP THE TEMPO
With the extra week to prepare one thing I noticed when UConn had the ball was that the Huskies were breaking the huddle quicker and snapping the ball often times with 15 or so seconds on the play clock.

I was curious if I was just imagining things of if UConn was making a concerted effort to pick up the tempo.

UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni confirmed it was the latter.

"I think it was the way we practiced for the last two weeks," Pasqualoni said on a Sunday afternoon conference call. "We were sure of what we were doing in and out of the huddle. There was no special (hurry-up) call like racehorse or NASCAR or any of those things. It was just ‘here is the tempo that we want to play with.’ I thought for the most part we did a good job with that."

So will we be seeing more of that moving forward?
"Absolutely get the play in, get it to the line of scrimmage and get us going with some tempo, keep the pressure on them. We would like to play that way," Pasqualoni said.

Of course it should be pointed out that the quicker tempo resulted in all of six points so it will take more than just snapping the ball a few seconds quicker to fix what is ailing the Huskies on the offensive side of the ball.

Pasqualoni expressed optimism in what he saw after watching the tape of the game.

"We are so darn close from several of those runs, really having more production there," Pasqualoni said.

Pasqualoni said that UConn didn't have any injury issues of note coming out of yesterday's game. Center Tyler Bullock suffered an apparent head injury which forced him to leave the game but Pasqualoni said all the tests came back fine on Bullock and he doesn't figure to miss any practice time.

Mistake-prone Huskies fall into Big East cellar

Somehow it seemed apropos that the game between the only two Big East teams without a conference win in 2012 would come down to which team made the plays to lose the game rather the one which made the plays to secure the victory.

The last three times UConn had possession of the game, the Huskies turned the ball over. The first two were turned into field goals which enabled the Bulls to take a 7-6 lead and extend it to a 13-6 cushion. The final one, which is one of the most bizarre, pinball type of interception, allowed the Bulls to go into the victory formation and move out of last place in the Big East standings.


“We just didn’t come up with the plays that they did to win the game,” said Jory Johnson, a senior linebacker who had five tackles including the 200th of his career. “I think as a defense we did get our swagger back from last time when we played Syracuse but as a team we didn’t make enough plays to win the game.”

UConn (3-6, 0-4 in the Big East) seemed to be position to steal away a victory.

On the Huskies’ first play of the fourth quarter Chandler Whitmer connected with Geremy Davis for a 21-yard gain. On the second, he rumbled for nine more yards. No longer in the shadow of their own goal line, the Huskies seemed ready to march down the field and take lead. However, sophomore tailback Lyle McCombs wasn’t able to cleanly handle the ball after Whitmer gave it to him. McCombs’ fumble was recovered by Tashon Whitehurst.

Nine plays later Maikon Bonani booted a 27-yard field goal to extend the Bulls’ lead to 10-6. UConn was still within one score but disaster struck again when Whitmer, who threw for 284 yards, was hit as he threw the ball. Jon Lejiste came up with USF’s first interception of the season. Once again the UConn miscue turned into a South Florida field goal to make it 13-6.

“We couldn’t catch a break and it is tough when fluke things happen where it is just not in your favor,” Whitmer said. “It is frustrating because we fight for everything we get. We have been doing it all game and basically all year. Every game, except for Syracuse (was competitive) and it is tough to come down on the bad side of these games.”

The errors weren’t done just yet. Whitmer was sacked twice in the next drive and UConn’s final offensive play ended when Whitmer’s pass was deflected at the line of scrimmage and fell into the hands of Elkino Watson with 50 seconds to play.

“I thought if we hadn’t stopped ourselves in the fourth quarter,” UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni said. “You just have that many bad things happen in a close game and try to be successful. Too many bad things, great things you can’t turn it over like that and expect to win.”

Trevardo Williams became UConn’s all-time leader in sacks when he pulled down B.J Daniels during the first drive of the second quarter. Williams’ 27½ career sack breaks the mark of 27 set by Mark Michaels from 1982-85. It was Williams’ 8½ sacks this season.UConn senior linebacker Sio Moore did not play in the first quarter as a result of a sideline argument he had late in the Syracuse game.

“A program policy deal where he missed the first quarter” is how Pasqualoni defined Moore’s punishment.”

Byron Jones led the UConn defense with nine tackles but he also failed to come up with an interception which would have put the Huskies deep in USF territory. Dwayne Gratz had an interception in the end zone which allowed UConn to go into halftime only down by four points.

B.J. Daniels passed for 199 yards and ran for another 23. His 5-yard touchdown run in the first quarter was a program record 25th rushing touchdown for the senior quarterback. It may have been his final one as early reports are that he suffered a serious ankle injury which could end his brilliant career.

Looking back at historic '10 UConn/USF game

The home of the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers was the scene of one of the landmark moments in UConn football history as Dave Teggart’s 52-yard field goal in the closing seconds lifted the Huskies to a 19-16 win over host South Florida in the regular-season finale 2010. The victory secured the Huskies the Big East’s BCS bowl bid and a berth in the Fiesta Bowl.

"I remember us fighting for everything. It was a defensive struggle, we were struggling on offense but we were keeping our team in the game,” said UConn senior linebacker Jory Johnson. “We had the big pick 6 by Lawrence Wilson that really kept us in it. Then in a tie game we had the big return. The biggest thing I remember is we stayed in the fight, everything didn’t go our way. We had some tough breaks on offense, we really struggled against their defense but we were able to stay in it and we won a defensive battle.”

Johnson’s memory was spot on. The Huskies were outgained 332-223 in the game and only made two trips to the red zone. Thanks to the work of the Huskies’ rock-solid defense, UConn’s longest scoring drive was 37 yards but none of that mattered as UConn won the only statistic that mattered and that was the final score.

The stakes were significantly lower on Saturday night.

South Florida, picked to finish second in the Big East’s preseason poll, came into the game on a six-game losing streak while the Huskies lost their last three.

“It has been kind of frustrating,” Johnson said. “Our class, the seniors, it is kind of on us to keep the trend going and we haven’t been doing that. It has been frustrating, we have been in a lot of close games but we still have (three) games left so that is the most important thing to focus on is trying to make the most out of the last (three) games. We still have a chance to go to a bowl game and we are just trying to take things one game at a time.”