Announcement of UConn's starting QB could come tomorrow

If interim head coach T.J. Weist has made a decision on who is going to be UConn's starting quarterback against Southern Methodist, he is not ready to announce it just yet.

Chandler Whitmer started the first four games of the season but when Weist was named interim coach following the firing of Paul Pasqualoni, he named true freshman Tim Boyle as the starting quarterback. In four games as a starter Boyle has no touchdowns and eight interceptions. Redshirt freshman Casey Cochran came in late in three of those four games and threw touchdown passes in the last two games.

"We are still evaluating it," Weist said on Monday's American Athletic Conference coaches' call. "We put him (Boyle) down as the starter on the depth chart yesterday. At practice yesterday we reevaluated it and will make my decision tomorrow on who I am going to go with."

I asked him if he split first-team reps three ways when UConn hit the practice field yesterday.

"I wouldn’t say that," Weist said. "I will look at things tomorrow and decide who our starting quarterback is going to be and go from there, open up competition a little bit and see how things shake out."

Since UConn normally doesn't practice on Mondays and we meet with Weist before Tuesday's practice, he either has made his decision but doesn't want to announce it until tomorrow or he wants to sleep on things before announcing the QB.

There are no such quarterback issues at SMU. Senior Garrett Gilbert, the American Athletic Conference's reigning offensive player of the week. He leads all AAC quarterbacks and is seventh nationally in passing yards (3037 in eight games). He is averaging 379.6 passing yards per game and only Oregon State's Sean Mannion and Fresno State's Derek Carr average more passing yards per contest.

"It is impressive that he gets the ball to his weapons," Weist said he has some good weapons obviously, three of the best receivers in the league and two of the best receivers in the country so he spreads the ball around and he is very efficient. He has a very strong arm and he is physical."

UConn quarterback situation could be addressed again

UConn interim head coach T.J. Weist didn't exactly give freshman quarterback Tim Boyle a ringing endorsement on a conference call earlier today when he was asked whether he was committed to Boyle moving forward.

"It is always a thought," Weist said of potentially changing quarterbacks again. "You say you are committed to him but I am not really committed to any player and keep him in the game no matter how he is playing. I think he has to do a better job throwing the football, handling the offense and he has to get better at it. We will reevalute it and we have to make some decisions on who our quarterback is and if we keep him there, we will look at the film and make the best decision for the team. I am watching film a couple times, I am going to meet with our staff. I am going to put pressure on him and the quarterback, really decide who is best for our team and who is the best quarterback. Tim has to show improvement, significant improvements every game for us to be patient with him. He has to be more efficient throwing the ball, handling the offense. We are going to evaluate that and see what is best for our team."

Boyle was 14 of 29 passing for 113 yards and three interceptions in a 31-10 loss to Louisville.

It was the third straight game that Boyle was pulled in the fourth quarter with UConn being blown out and redshirt freshman Casey Cochran finished off the game.

"That is another challenge," Boyle said after the Louisville game. "Casey is my teammate, we spend a lot of time together all the quarterbacks and he works his butt off, he watches a lot of film and he knows what he is doing out there. It comes down to being a competitor and watching somebody else do my job, it is a challenge but it is what is best for the team at that point so I can’t get too sour about it."

Boyle was named the starting quarterback after Weist was elevated to the role of interim head coach after the fourth game of the season. Boyle has not thrown a touchdown and has eight interceptions in the four games he has played.

"I haven’t done my job to the best of my ability in my four starts," Boyle said. "We have played a lot of good teams since I have been starting and I don’t look at the game and see what I did well, I see more what I didn’t do well so I can try to fix it. Seeing defenses, seeing blitzes, seeing when I am hot and stuff like that is something I am really going to have to work on this next week. I don’t see myself doing too much good out there which is a problem I am having right now and I need to fix.

"I don’t think it is confidence. It just comes down to me executing my job on every single play and I am not doing it as well as I should be and knowing I could be doing better. It is just me going week to week trying to fix that."

So where does Boyle think he needs to make the most strides to successfully lead the UConn offense?

"Seeing blitzes and knowing when to get rid of the ball quickly and seeing hot (reads)," Boyle said. "The pass rush is definitely different at the college level and the D-linemen are a lot faster, the linebackers disguise blitzes and until I am a senior in college it is something I am going to have to work on throughout my career. It is something I am going to have to go watch film, try to correct and spend time on."

Casey Cochran now No. 2 QB at UConn

UConn released its depth chart for Friday's game against Louisville and the most noteworthy change came at quarterback when redshirt freshman Casey Cochran is listed as the No. 2 QB instead of former starter Chandler Whitmer.

Since freshman Tim Boyle replaced Whitmer as the starting quarterback, Cochran is the only other quarterback to see the field for the Huskies. Cochran was 2 for 3 for 11 yards against Cincinnati and was 7 of 11 for 95 yards including a 46-yard touchdown pass to Brian Lemelle in a loss to Central Florida.

Whitmer started the first four games and passed for 896 yards with five touchdown passes and six interceptions.

Obviously I will have more on this tomorrow when we meet up with UConn interim coach T.J. Weist and selected players on the weekly media interview session.

Also, senior Tyler Bullock is listed as the starting right offensive guard but also as the second stringer at left guard, a spot previous held down by freshman Kyle Schafenacker.

Cornerback Taylor Mack is back in the two-deep but listed as the backup to Jhavon Williams.. Linebacker Graham Stewart is also back on the two-deep chart. Like Mack he began the season as a starter before being sidelined by injury.

Also, more than 30,000 tickets are already out for the next two home games against Louisville on Friday and against Rutgers on Nov. 30.

Boyle trying to deal with the pressure

Nobody ever promised freshman Tim Boyle that taking over as UConn's starting quarterback was going to be a walk in the park.

After nearly coming away with a victory against South Florida in his first career collegiate start Boyle ventured into rougher waters in Saturday's loss at 2012 co-Big East champion Cincinnati.

Boyle threw three interceptions and was sacked eight times in the 41-16 loss.

Boyle took responsibility for the mistakes that he made against the Bearcats.

"I put a lot of those sacks on myself just not going through my progressions as fast as I can," said Boyle, who was 22 of 39 for 310 yards. "I think our offensive line did a great job of protecting me, everyone sees the stat of eight sacks and they are in awe. I think a key thing I have to do is keep getting up from the sacks and showing the team that I can take them and keep getting up.

"One interception I left it inside, the one by the goal line was just me being a freshman and throwing the ball up. That is something I am going to have to learn from and the last one, I just left it short. I think I could have had a touchdown to Shak (Phillips) on that play but that is something I have to learn from."

Boyle didn't have to deal with a ton of pressure from opposing teams during his days at Xavier High. His tendency to step up right into the area where the defensive pressure is coming from is just one of the areas where Boyle knows he needs to improve.

"It’s a double-edged sword because I feel like if I make a lot of mistakes, I learn from those mistakes but at the same time I don’t want to make those mistakes and do the right thing," Boyle said. "It is hit or miss, either I do the right thing and it looks really good or I don’t do the right thing and I learn from it. I think I did more bad than good in the game and that is something that Coach Weist (has talked about)."

When quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck were squaring off in a highly-anticipated showdown on Sunday night Weist called Boyle and suggested that he not only watch the game but also see how the two quarterbacks are able to step up in the pocket and make throws down the field.

"You sit there and watch the game the other night with Peyton Manning, you watch Luck and Manning and you watch them step up into the pocket and they are throwing the ball as they are getting hit," Weist said. "I talked to him about it and you see them handling pressure because everybody has pressure, you look at the sacks that are happening in any league. You see pressure, how does he handle it? How does he secure the football? How fast does he make decisions? How fast does that ball come off his hands in those situations? That is where he has to learn from that last game that he had pressure and he has to learn to make that decision and let that ball go before the pressure closes in on his and how to move around in the pocket with that pressure. The pocket is always changing and any good defensive coach is going to do a good job of learning what our pocket is and how to put different pressure angles on it so that is what he has to do."

UConn is last among 123 FBS teams by surrendering 5.17 sacks per game and future opponents are going to see how Cincinnati was able to harass Boyle and attempt to do the same thing.

"When we didn’t handle it earlier, they kept bringing the pressure," Weist said. "The overall speed of the game is what he is learning. It is different from high school because it is always faster and they bring pressure, they bring pressure again and they keep bringing pressure. It is not just handling it once, it is handling it again and again and again. That is what he learned in this game, that is where he was deficient in this game than against South Florida. He didn’t handle the pressure as well and it happened in some critical situations, down in the red zone. Some of the sacks were due to him taking one more step, not throwing the ball on time. He has to trust that when he lets that ball go that the receiver is going to make plays. He held the ball a couple of times which cost us and other times we went empty and we had hot throws that he didn’t really see and he has to work on. He will get better at that."

Clock mismanagement dooms UConn

Despite all of the missed steps, the blocked field goal and a sack that turned into South Florida's only touchdown, UConn has in position to possibly send the first game during the T.J. Weist/Tim Boyle era into overtime.

Boyle had just hooked up with fellow true freshman Dhameer Bradley for a 16-yard completion with 16 seconds to play. With the clock stopping while the officials set the chains, the Huskies needed to either quickly snap the ball and spike it or call a timeout. They did neither. Nearly 10 seconds ran off the clock before Weist finally used UConn's final timeout.

No longer able to try to pick up the 15-20 yards to give Chad Christen a chance to attempt the game-tying field goal, the Huskies were left with little choice but to have Boyle loft a pass into the end zone and hope Geremy Davis could make the catch. However, a pair of South Florida defenders were in better position and the Bulls' Mark Joyce made a play to knock the pass down to give the Bulls a 13-10 victory.

Weist, who doubles as UConn’s offensive coordinator, took the blame for the disarray at the end of the game which dropped UConn to 0-5 for the first time since 1977. A loss to Cincinnati next week and the Huskies will open the season with six straight losses for just the third time since 1935.

“This loss is on me, it is my responsibility to win this game and we didn’t,” said Weist, who was named interim coach on Sept. 30 after UConn director of athletics Warde Manuel fired head coach Paul Pasqualoni. “We had the opportunity, the defense played a great game and didn’t allow a touchdown and they gave us every opportunity on offense with field position, they gave us every chance to make play
“I am calling plays and I thought the clock was stopped at 16 (seconds) and it wasn’t. I didn’t make the play call, I was deciding what play to call and whether to call timeout and I didn’t and the clock started again. I made a mistake in clock management. I have to learn from it.”

The lessons will come with the Huskies trying to avoid starting a season with six straight losses for just the third time since 1935. They will take on Cincinnati with Boyle once again the starting quarterback.
Boyle, a member of three state championship teams at Xavier, was 15 of 43 for 149 yards in his first collegiate action. He showed the ability to make plays with his feet, running for three first downs but he was also hurt by at least a half dozen dropped passes including three within the shadow of the goal line.
Still, through it all Boyle had a chance to walk out to Rentschler Field with a victory, something he did in each of his final three high school seasons.

“I felt pretty comfortable, I didn’t get rattled,” Boyle said. “We didn’t execute like we planned.
“We are all football players, we all want to win coming that close and losing by three points obviously sucks but we have to turn the page.”

Connecticut back since McCombs’ 63-yard run against Syracuse in 2011. He finished with a career-high 164 rushing yards. However, 135 of those came in the first half.

The Huskies got back some key offensive players as Friend and receiver Shakim Phillips returned after missing the last two games due to a high-ankle sprain and hamstring injury respectively. However, Phillips only lasted a series before being sidelined again. Starting cornerback Taylor Mack (shoulder) and linebacker Ryan Donohue (concussion) miss the game.

UConn lost freshman receiver/punt returner Brian Lemelle was knocked out of game in first half and did not return.

UConn’s Cole Wagner became the program’s all-time leader in punting yards on a day when he had two punts downed inside the 5. He also tied Adam Coles’ program record for most career punts.

Boyle ready for challenge of starting at UConn

One by one the UConn players headed into the lunch room which doubles as the interview area during UConn's weekly press availability sessions.

Captain Steve Greene and top receiver Geremy Davis drew a few reporters to the tables they were sitting at as did the handful of other Huskies. Then when freshman quarterback Tim Boyle walked into the room and the things changed in a heartbeat as reporters circled him in record time.

The former Xavier High star handled it all with relative ease.

"We have a a great game plan," Boyle said, "Coach (T.J.) Weist does a great job with that and our coaches on offense have done a really good job on offense finding what works and putting us in that specific position. I think we just need to come together as a team this week because obviously losing four games is tough but we are excited with the bye to come back (strong).

"I wasn’t really told until a couple of practices ago. The first reps they didn’t really tell me until the word came out that Coach Weist is going to do that. I was just going with the flow and whatever the team needed me to do I was doing. I knew I was going with the first-team reps and obviously I wanted to jump on that, do the best I can do."

Boyle is not concerned about kissing his redshirt season goodbye as his focus is on trying to lead UConn to its first victory of the 2013 season.

"My standpoint is the UConn football team and we want to win badly and the coaches understand that. I think the coaches are going to put the players (in) who they think will win games, if that is me as a true freshman or Chandler (Whitmer) as a redshirt junior then it is going to be them," Boyle said. "I am not worried about that too much, my redshirt is my redshirt. I am a football player, I didn’t come to UConn to redshirt my freshman year. I came here to play. I am happy with where I am right now and I am not worried about the fifth year.

"I just turned 19 years old, I played in a state championship 10 months ago so I think it is just me getting prepared for this week and trying to play as fast as I can so my mistakes are limited. I think every quarterback makes mistakes, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning they make mistakes so I don’t expect perfection out of myself but I do hold myself to a certain standard. I am not really worried about making mistakes in my head, I am worried about making good plays trying to visualize in my head I am going to make big plays and not ‘am I going to get sacked this play, am I going to get intercepted."

Playing true freshman quarterbacks a risk/reward proposition

You'd probably have to go back a ways to find a freshman at UConn making a more heralded first career start than what is awaiting former Xavier High quarterback Tim Boyle.

In his conference call the day that he was fired, former UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni said he was intending to start Boyle against South Florida. Interim coach T.J. Weist wasted little time in announcing that he would be starting Boyle for the Huskies' inaugural American Athletic Conference game.

Obviously the subject will be a popular topic of conversation at tomorrow's press availability. Considering that Houston true freshman John O'Korn (the high school teammate of UConn freshman OL Kyle Schafenacker) ranks third in the American Athletic Conference in passing efficiency and fifth in passing yards per game, I asked Cougars' coach Tony Levine about the challenges that go with starting a true freshman at quarterback on today's AAC conference call.

"He was a real outstanding high school player and he really reminds me of John," Levine said. "I think he was very mature as a high school senior, certainly very talented. When you look at what we did with John’s development and how our schedule played out, we were able to play him basically a half in our opening game against Southern. We went up in game two and unfortunately lost our starter due to injury and because of the experience we gave John the week prior he was able to go in, be successful and slowly develop. I like how Coach Weist is now making the progression to  Tim and gave him another month or five/six weeks to develop, learn their system and adjust to the speed of the game.

"I think as coaches I think when you are going to play a young man at that position you have to make sure they are available especially early in the game to take some pressure off of him. We have done that in our program playing Greg Ward 25 snaps a game at quarterback as well. That position is so important but an 18-year-old has enough to worry about with classes, study hall, workouts and the transition to college that you can’t put the weight of the world on his shoulders too quickly because I have also seen true freshmen have a negative experience early and not be able to recover from it. I knew Tim from the recruiting process and was extremely impressed with him in high school and I think he will do a fantastic job there."

Levine believes having the extra week to prepare will make things more manageable for Boyle and the UConn coaching staff.

"The more these young men play the more snaps they get whether it is in practice on in games the faster they are going to improve, the better they are certainly going to perform," Levine said. "One thing as coaches you are always talking about is experience, well this guy’s got so much experience and to have an extra week to prepare, to get all the reps at practice, to continue to transition and adjustment to the speed of the game at this level because it is so much faster than high school, I think it is something that is invaluable."

Weist said he was impressed with Boyle's approach during practice last week.

"He has done a good job, he has shown maturity, physically he has done a good job handling the offense, getting the football off and handling all the schemes," Weist said. "The kid, he is well beyond him years from a maturity standpoint and now it is just a matter of getting him game experience and you never know how a kid is going to react, you never know how a player is going to react out there when there is pressure under the fire. We are going to try to put him in those situations in practice, try to get him to react this week to speed and pressure. It is going well, we have been pleased with him."

Change is music to T.J. Weist's ears

UConn interim head coach T.J. Weist just spent about 45 minutes answering a variety of questions with the local media on a variety of subjects.

Pretty high up on the list was his decision - at the request of the players - to allow music to be played at the beginning of practice to get the team in the right frame of mind.

"I sat down with some of the seniors and team captains  and I wanted to get their input of what changes they think can help us in this transition and can help us to win games," Weist said. "One thing they said is they’d like to have some music. It is kind of a new thing around the country that people are doing and when players see those things, they see other teams with music, they all watch the videos there are videos everywhere of teams practicing and they get excited about it so we added some music early in practice during the (team) stretch just to get the practice started out right. We really don’t want to have music during practice necessarily but just to get them started out. It is my music. It is like the weight room, in the weight room you have different days for the country guys, for the rock and roll guys, rhythm and blues and everything so we started out and I made it easy, it is my music to start and I was going to allow the players to pick out some clean versions of some of the music out there so that is what we’ve got.

"I focused on some of the music that other teams play in stadiums, whether it is Back in Black or Enter the Sandman. I have no idea about some of the latest hits so I let some of the players pick that, I couldn’t name any of them. I try not to go back too far to the 70s. I don’t know how long there are going to let me keep the music going on my terms because they don’t recognize any of it. I want to teach them musicology, I want to teach them the evolution of music. I want to get them motivated for practice so I don’t want to make it a learning session but they appreciate it and I will mix it up every day throw in some country and throw in some rock and roll, throw in some opera, punk and dance music or whatever gets these guys motivated. Heck, half the time I have to make it the instrumental because we have some people out at practice and I can’t hear those words they are saying but the worst part is they play the instrumental (version) and the players sing it anyways."

It might not come as a shock that the most popular topic for discussion centered around the quarterback position with freshman Tim Boyle set to make his first career start on Oct. 12 against South Florida.

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"He has done a good job," Weist said. "He has shown good maturity in handling the offense, he is handling the scheme and making decisions throwing the ball, handling everything with the run game and all the calls that we have, every day he gets better and every day he is going to have to improve and take steps improving until we get to game time and really find out how much pressure he can handle, instinctually how he can lead this team, drive us down the field and keep drives alive and make smart decisions so that is what we are looking for out of Tim, smart decisions, efficiency, let him play with maturity and handle the offense and he is on his way to doing those things

"We are not married to any player on this roster, a starter, we evaluate them every single game. I would say this for Tim and any young player that we play we are going to be patient, obviously the quarterback position is a different position. If I had to play a true freshman, there has to be some patience, they has to be a period where he makes some mistakes where our last starting quarterback, our last starting wide receiver or our last anybody that a freshman replaced, they are going to make some mistakes and you were patient with the other guy at times so we will be patient with him. I treat him like most of the players and you have to go out there and perform, our goal is to win and you need to do the things to help us win. If he goes out and doesn’t perform the way we want that we are going to keep him in the game and stick with him no matter what. We have to do what is best for the team at any position. We are going to give him time but we have to win."

Weist was quick to point out that many of the interceptions previous starting quarterback Chandler Whitmer threw including the one returned for a touchdown in the loss to Buffalo were not his fault and that Whitmer will see normal reps as the No. 2 quarterback.

He also said he is not planning any changes to the starting offensive line and hopes to have starting right tackle Kevin Friend back for the USF game. Weist said the entire offensive line plays better when Friend is out there.

More on the injury situations. fullback Jazzmar Clax is out there practicing and Weist likes what he sees out of him and receiver Kamal Abrams, who was hurt warming up for the Towson game, has also been back at practice.

When asked about other young players who could see bigger roles now that he is calling the shots, he mentioned freshman wide receivers Brian Lemelle and Dhameer Bradley and offensive guard Tyler Samra, who moves up in the rotation following the suspension of Tyler Bullock.

Bullock was arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence and failed sobriety tests according to the police report. While not mentioning Bullock by name, there was no question who he was referring to when he mentioned "the events that happened yesterday."

"We have a lot of things that are happening around us that we have to deal with obviously with some of the events that happened yesterday and that is part of it," Weist said. "Players have to realize that every decision they make is for the best of the team, they are representing the university, representing the athletic department, the football program, representing every former player who has played here, representing their families and our families as coaches. We are stressing the point that all of their decisions have an impact on this team on and off the field."

Weist said he is still contemplating whether to bring in another coach since UConn is down a pair of coaches right now following the firing of Paul Pasqualoni and George DeLeone but he is not considering pilfering a coach who currently has a job. He complimented the graduate assistants for stepping in and helping with the day to day coaching. He has liked what he has seen in the first three practices.

"It has been a great four days," Weist said. "It has been exciting, I think our players have responded well, we have had three spirited practices. We are getting back to work. There is nothing magic about it, get back to work, refocused on one purpose of this team coming together as a team to win football games and especially to focus on being South Florida, our next (opponent). I think we made good progress and have had good practices."

Freshman Tim Boyle handed keys to UConn's offense

Paul Pasqualoni had one last parting gift on his way out the door as he let slip that plans were in place to have true freshman Tim Boyle, a member of three state championship teams at Xavier High, start at quarterback beginning with the Oct. 12 game against South Florida.

“We had made that decision last week that would be the direction to go in and we tried to fair about everything there,” former UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni said on a teleconference Monday night. “We tried to give Timmy some time to develop, give him some time to be on the road and experience the whole thing before we threw him in there so I think would probably be the way T.J. goes, that was something we were going to do.”

The 6-foot-3 Boyle has been working his way up the depth chart since he arrived on campus in June. He quickly established himself as the best of the three true freshmen quarterbacks signed by the Huskies and was seeing time as the No. 3 quarterback when preseason camp started. After the season-opening loss to Towson, Boyle moved into the No. 2 quarterback behind Chandler Whitmer.

When the Huskies were getting blown out by Buffalo, Pasqualoni opted to put in Casey Cochran rather than put Boyle into a no-win situation in his first road game.

In between the Michigan and Buffalo games Boyle discussed his development as a quarterback since he arrived at UConn.

“I worked really hard in this offseason coming in and trying to pick up the offense,” Boyle said. “(UConn quarterbacks) Coach (Shane) Day, Chandler (Whitmer) and the other quarterbacks have done a great job of helping me. I didn’t want to sit on the bench my whole career at UConn so I really worked at the offense. This being my freshman year I didn’t think I was going to be a factor but I have worked hard and I think it has paid off.”

So where has Boyle made the biggest strides since the start of preseason camp?

“I would say recognizing defenses and making reads, my pre-snap reads seeing defenses and trying to slow down a little bit,” Boyle said. “There is a ton I have to change and become better at but at this point in time what I have become better at since my high school career is seeing defenses, trying to adjust and know where I go with the ball.”

Boyle is aware that he is the most high-profile in-state quarterback recruit to sign with UConn since Shelton Dan Orlovsky, the Huskies’ career leader in total offense, passing attempts, completions and passing yards who is now a quarterback with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“Just being an in-state guy I think people rely on me a little bit more than other people but I can tell you one thing just being in the meeting room with Chandler, I know the fans are putting a lot of blame on him but he is a tremendous quarterback,” Boyle said. “I wouldn’t sit here and lie to you; if he was bad I would tell you he is bad. He is a really good quarterback, he is very smart and has a really good work ethic and it comes down to execution so we need to do a better job with that.”

Tim Boyle confident Xavier's loss only a bump in the road

UConn freshman quarterback Tim Boyle enjoyed an incredible amount of success during his days at Xavier High School but he also knows what it is like to overcome an early loss to win a state title. So when Boyle heard about the Falcons' 42-28 loss to North Haven, he was disappointed but confident in what the season has in store for his former teammates.

"It was a tough game and it was an away game," Boyle said. "I don’t think there are any problems down the road. Last year we lost to Hand and there was this pit in our stomach, we didn’t want to feel it again so I don’t think they are going to lose another game. I read the newspapers, I read the online stuff, I text the captains, I text all the players and I am still close with them. I just want to see how they are doing and tell them to keep their heads up. I tell them to enjoy high school football because once you are in college it is a business and you have to enjoy high school football especially playing at Palmer Field and being at a historic program like Xavier, you have to take it in before it is gone."

Graham Stewart happy to be home

If Graham Stewart wondered whether he made the right decision when he left Florida to transfer to UConn so he could be closer to home they disappeared late last week.

Stewart's sister was getting married on the same day that UConn opened its preseason camp. As passionate as Stewart is about football, he knew that this is one day that football was second on his list of priorities so he missed the opening practice with the blessing of UConn head coach Paul Pasqualoni.

“That was tough for me,” Stewart said. “I told her ‘look, I am just not going to be there.’ All jokes aside, I am so happy for my sister. I did miss the first practice which did suck but I am here now and I am not going anywhere.

“It was awesome. You never know how it is going to go until you see you sister or your brother walking down that aisle but it was an emotional, happy time.”

Stewart admits it would have been a tougher scenario if he were still enrolled at Florida,

“Would I have been able to come all the way back if I was in Florida, the chances behind that are probably slim to none,” Stewart said. “It meant a lot for me to be there and be a groomsman and just see my sister being wed.”

It didn’t take long after Stewart hit the practice field for him to earn a spot with the starting unit alongside All-American candidate Yawin Smallwood and Ryan Donohue as UConn tries to move on after losing Jory Johnsn and Sio Moore (who combined to start 59 career games) to graduation.

“Being able to sit out last year, watching them and watching film the good thing was I was able to pick up the good traits from both of them,” Stewart said. “They are both guys who can play in the NFL and Sio is excelling (with the Oakland Raiders). I see myself fitting into Sio’s old role but putting my own stamp on the position.“I feel strong being able to pass rush and blitz but at the same time being able to cover a lot of ground.”

As much as Stewart is eager to make impact plays for the revamped UConn defense, he is driven even more by helping UConn shake off the frustration from back to back 5-7 seasons. Winning is nothing new to Stewart as he came out of the highly-successful Xavier program. Stewart joins redshirt freshman defensive end Sean Marinan and true freshman quarterback Tim Boyle to give the Huskies three Xavier graduates on the roster. The strong-armed Boyle has made an immediate impression during the first week of preseason camp.

“We are proud of that,” Stewart said. “We come from a program that is used to winning and we want to win. Sean is my closest friend and Tim is out slinging the ball and looking like Tom Brady which I know he wants to. I have a long extensive history with Tim, I know the type of person Tim is and Tim is the kind of guy who is always in the film room studying and he is a football junkie. He is going to do what it takes to get the job done at the end of the day.”

Dress rehearsal at Rentschler for pair of future Huskies

During their first few days as enrolled students at UConn there was some playful banter exchanged by former Windsor High School defensive end Cole Ormsby and Tim Boyle, a member of three state championship teams as a quarterback at Xavier High.

Not only where they the only two UConn football signees playing in the Hall of Fame Classic Military Bowl but since Ormsby and Boyle were on opposing teams in Saturday's all-star game at Rentschler Field, there was the potential for a vicious on-field reunion between the future college teammates.

"He is very athletic and has a very good offensive line," Ormsby said after his Marines squad fell to Boyle's National Guard team 15-14. "We talked about it at UConn about the game and I said 'if I have a chance I am going to hit you.' I am not going to be that guy to try to take out his legs, I am not that but I am going to hit him up top and make him feel it."

Ormsby, who finished with a pair of tackles, did get one hit on Boyle but it came after the ball was in the air. Still, it didn't take long for Boyle to realize that he'd better keep an eye on his fellow future Husky.

"Cole is a really good athlete and I kind of underestimated him coming into the game, he surprised me," Boyle said. "We couldn't block him so I had to let go and force some throws. He did a good job and he is somebody you want on your team and I am glad he is (going to be at UConn)."

Despite winning offensive MVP honors for the winning National Guard squad, Boyle admitted it was hardly the best performance of his life. He was 14 of 28 for 102 yards. He threw a 29-yard touchdown pass on a perfectly thrown fade to New London's Sam Miranda. He was intercepted twice, once it was as a result of a pass going through the hands of a receiver and the other when he fired a throw off his back foot while under heavy pressure. He also had  14-yard touchdown run on a beautifully-designed play when he faked the pitch and raced nearly untouched down the right sideline on a naked bootleg.

"I went into this game knowing this was going to be my last high school game," Boyle said. "I had that mindset throughout the game and I wanted to go out with a bang, What better way to do it than at an all-star game with some people you don't know? I am happy with what happened. It wasn't the prettiest win but I am 4-0 (at Rentschler) and it is a nice launching pad going into UConn.".

Boyle, Ormsby and the rest of the incoming freshman class arrived in Storrs on Tuesday to start taking summer classes and take part in UConn's conditioning program.

"I've been there since Tuesday, back and forth, it has been fun," Boyle said. "It has been a rush, I have been busy 24/7 and I am glad I am busy 24/7. Football is my life, I love playing it all day every day. 

"I am very excited, I like the new offensive coordinator (T.J. Weist) a lot, the quarterback situation is not pronounced, all six guys going in are fair game. I know Chandler (Whitmer) is the starter going in and the I am going in trying to learn the offense, I am trying to get my feet wet, get into the locker room and work my way into college so I am not a little freshman anymore."

While much has been made of Boyle being one of three quarterbacks in the freshman class, no position was addressed more than the defensive end/outside linebacker spot. The last couple of weeks players like Junior Joseph, Cameron Stapleton, Sha'ki Holines and Ormsby all had a chance to strut their stuff in high school all-star games.

"We have some good players from Massachusetts, from Pennsylvania, from Maryland and the older players are helping us out," Ormsby said.

"I am ready to represent my town well, represent my family."

UConn commit takes in all-star game at Rentschler

While former Xavier High quarterback Tim Boyle and Windsor defensive end Cole Ormsby took a break from getting acclimated to life up at UConn by taking part in the Hall of Fame Classic Military Bowl at Rentschler Field, the first player from the Class of 2014 to commit to UConn was also in attendance,

Logan Marchi was on the sidelines of the victorious National Guard squad along with a few of his St. Paul teammates and his high school coach (Jude Kelly).

"I want to play, it is exciting,": Marchi said. "It is fun to watch the competition and how they get fired up and seeing the passion for the game, it gives me goosebumps.

"I can't wait to get started. I am pushing the season right now trying to get my school ready for our season 

and being able to continue football onto the next level is pretty exciting."

Marchi was drawing interest from college recruiters after an outstanding junior season at St. Paul before ending the recruiting process earlier this month by committing to UConn. He admits that he feels like a load has been taken off his shoulders now that he no longer has to worry about impressing college coaches with the hopes of landing at their school.

"The calls, having to portray yourself to impress coaches, it takes a load off," Marchi said. "You know where you are playing, you know where you are going and you can focus on other things to get there, to get yourself better and it is definitely takes a load off.

"I always told my parents that I wanted to be as far away as possible but the fact that I have been here since I was about 7 at camps, I have seen the stadium a thousand times, I have seen the campus a thousand times, it was already kind of like home. I came here, I knew the coaches 'hey Logan what's up.' You just felt welcomed here and I grew up with it so I might as well continue to play with it.".

So where does he want to improve before he arrives at UConn?

"Definitely the mental part of the game because you can never stop learning, you can never perfect a drop back, there is always going to be a flaw in it but offensively if you now what the defense is doing there 

is no way they can stop you," Marchi said. "I want to improve mentally, disguises, coverages, my O-line assignments and everything."

Marchi was able to see one of the quarterbacks he will be competing against when he arrives in Storrs.

Boyle was 14 of 28 passing with 102 yards with one touchdown passes and two interceptions and also had a 14-yard scoring run in the game to earn offensive MVP honors for the National Guard squad. So what was Marchi's impressions of Boyle?

"I have seen him play and he has real strong arm, he can make some throws into spaces, he is a good kid, 

a good athlete, a smart kid too and I look forward to working with him," Marchi said.