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The University of Connecticut football team completed its No. 1 goal in the off season - more competition at quarterback.San Marcos Palomar Community College quarterback Tyler Lorenzen
officially became a Husky after faxing in his National Letter of Intent
to UConn on Thursday.Lorenzen, named a J.C. Gridwire All-American, will enroll at UConn in
January for the spring semester and will battle for the starting
quarterback job against incumbent junior D.J. Hernandez and redshirt
sophomore Dennis Brown.
"I'm very excited that Tyler is
going to join the UConn program," UConn coach Randy Edsall said in a
statement. "I am looking forward to him being here in January to get
his academic program in motion and also be involved with our team both
in weight room and on the field, something which will enable him to
compete for the starting quarterback job. He is a talented athlete who
has very good arm strength, good feet and all of the intangibles that
you look for in a quarterback. His athletic ability and his
understandings of the game, plus intangibles, is what attracted us to
him."
Lorenzen, 6-foot-5, is from Eddyville, Iowa and began
his college career at Iowa State. Lorenzen was switched to wide
receiver when he was a freshman and transferred after two seasons to
San Palomar. He has two years of eligibility left.
Lorenzen
completed 69 percent of his passes for 2,960 yards and 26 touchdowns
with only three interceptions in 332 attempts. He also ran the ball for
836 yards and eight touchdowns in leading San Palomar to a No. 24
national ranking.
Lorenzen will have ample opportunity to
win the job for the Huskies, who struggled at the position with
Hernandez and Matt Bonislawski.
Hernandez started six games
and passed for 849 yards and nine touchdowns with nine interceptions.
In wins over Rhode Island and Pittsburgh, Hernandez accounted for 313
yards and six touchdowns.
In his other five appearances,
four starts, Hernandez threw nine interceptions to three touchdowns and
536 yards. He also lost three fumbles.
Dennis Brown sat out the season as a redshirt and made two starts as a true freshman in 2005.
Edsall said at the completion of the season that the quarterback
position was up for grabs. Lorenzen hadn't committed yet, but it was
clear that the message sent was that he would have every opportunity to
take over the quarterback position during spring practice.
The Huskies also have Washington, Pa. Trinity quarterback Cody Endres
in the fold. Endres is a highly touted prospect and gave a verbal
commitment to the Huskies in the summer. He can sign a Letter of Intent
on Feb. 7 and will enroll in the fall.
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| Connecticut coach Randy Edsall has been coaching for 21 years, and has never had a team this young.
The Huskies (3-5, 0-3 Big East) will start eight freshmen, six on offense, when they host Pittsburgh (6-3, 2-2) on Saturday.
“The upside is that you're going to be good down the road,” Edsall said.
The downside is that the Huskies have not been very good this season.
Injuries
have forced Edsall to use players he would have liked to redshirt.
Others are getting time because they have beaten out upperclassmen for
the job.
As a result the offense will start three
freshman on the offensive line, two at wide receiver and one - Donald
Brown - at tailback. The squad will be led by the relatively
experienced D.J. Hernandez, a redshirt sophomore, at quarterback.
“You're
going to get gray hairs as you're going through this right now,” Edsall
said. “It's going to be a little bit frustrating at times. You're
playing them because you think those are the best kids you have right
now.”
Brown earned the starting tailback job by rushing for 199 yards in UConn's last game, a 23-14 loss at No. 15 Rutgers on Oct. 29.
He
is expected to share time Saturday with Terry Caulley, the school's
all-time leading rusher, who had 623 yards this season before sitting
out the Rutgers game with an ankle sprain.
“They've got probably as good a one-two combination as anybody in our conference,” said Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt.
Pittsburgh
will counter with an offense that features senior quarterback Tyler
Palko. The Panthers are averaging 232 yards a game through the air, and
are ranked second nationally in passing efficiency, with 21 touchdowns
and just six interceptions in nine games.
“He's making good
decisions, he's throwing the ball very accurate and he's not into the
mind-set that we've got to get the ball to one guy,” said Wannstedt.
“He's taking what the defense is giving and any time you do that and
believe in it, you're going to have success.”
The Panthers have
already qualified for a bowl game, but are riding a two-game losing
streak to Rutgers (20-10) and South Florida (22-12).
A bowl bid
could be jeopardized by a loss to Connecticut, because the Panthers
close the season with games against No. 10 West Virginia (7-1, 2-1) and
No. 3 Louisville (8-0, 3-0).
“It's important to get win No. 7,”
Wannstedt said. “We need to get things corrected that have not given us
a chance to win the last two weeks: Sacks, penalties and turnovers.
It's easier said than done, but you make it real clear to your players.”
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| In a non-conference showdown from East Hartford, the Connecticut
Huskies will host the Army Black Knights this Saturday at Rentschler Field.
Since opening the season with victories in two of their first three contests,
the Huskies have dropped two consecutive matchups, including a tough 38-16
loss to USF last week in their Big East opener. Since 2002, the Huskies are
an impressive 11-5 in games coming after a setback. As for the Black Knights,
they have alternated victories and losses, splitting their first six contests.
Last week, the Black Knights were relentless against VMI and cruised to a 62-7
victory. A win today would push Army's ledger over .500 for the first time
since the 1996 season and would also snapped a seven-game losing skid against
Big East opponents. This will be the fourth consecutive meeting between Army
and Connecticut and just the fifth overall. Army took the first contest back in
1979, but since then the Huskies have won three straight matchups, including an
easy 47-13 win last year at West Point.
For the most part this season the Black Knights have been mediocre at best
offensively. However, that was not the case this past week against VMI, as Army
exploded offensively, scoring 62 points. Army, which is averaging 164 ypg on
the ground, abused VMI's front line throughout the contest and finished with
an eye-popping 278 yards on 52 carries. The Black Knights scored six rushing
touchdowns in the win and now have scored 13 of their 16 offensive touchdowns
on the ground. Five different players scored rushing touchdowns in the
victory. Wesley McMahand led the team with 80 rushing yards and two scores,
while Tony Moore added 63 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries. On the season,
McMahand is leading the Black Knights with 456 rushing yards and four
touchdowns. While the ground game had most of the success in the win, the
passing attack did just enough to keep the defense honest. David Pevoto
completed 9-of-13 passes for 114 yards and one touchdown. Although Army is a
run-first team, Pevoto still has 727 yards on the season, but unfortunately
the signal-caller has made too many mistakes, throwing eight interceptions,
while completing just three touchdown passes.
Army's defensive unit has also been solid this season, as the Black Knights are
holding opponents to just 21.8 ppg on only 320.7 ypg. The weakest link for Army
this season has come against the run, as opponents are churning out 173.7 ypg
on the ground. The team has done much better against the pass, allowing only
147 ypg through the air. In the victory over VMI, the Black Knights put
together their best defensive showing up to this point, holding VMI to just
191 total yards. The front line was once again abused by the ground attack,
surrendering 170 yards on just 37 carries, but fortunately the team buckled
down against the pass, allowing just 21 yards through the air. The Black
Knights forced four turnovers in the contest and held VMI to just eight first
downs. On the season, Army is allowing opponents to convert on third down just
34 percent of the time and the Black Knights' success on third down continued
last week, holding VMI to just 1-of-11. Brian Chmura led the team with five
tackles in the win. Cameron Craig is currently second on the team with 40
tackles, but has a team-high 14 TFLs and 3.5 sacks.
Since scoring 52 points in the season-opener, the Huskies have had a tough
time offensively. Connecticut is currently averaging just 22.4 ppg this season
and only 355.8 ypg. The only real threat the Huskies is in the backfield. UConn
is producing a whopping 205.8 ypg on the ground, and just 150 ypg through the
air. In the recent setback to USF, the ground game was stymied by the Bulls, as
the team finished with just 60 yards on 26 carries (2.3 ypc). Terry Caulley,
who is leading the team with 453 rushing yards, was held to only 38 yards on 14
attempts. Ironically, while the Huskies struggled to run the ball, the passing
attack actually had some success, as quarterback Matt Bonislawski completed 20-
of-40 passes for 201 yards and one touchdown. It was easily the best
performance for Bonislawski on the season. Coming into this matchup, the
signal-caller has just 377 passing yards and has completed just 45.5 percent of
his passes.
As for the Huskies' defensive unit, the team is allowing just 23.4 ppg and
331.4 total ypg. The biggest weakness for the Huskies has been against the run,
as the team is allowing the opposition to collect a whopping 193.2 ypg on the
ground. In the setback to USF, the Huskies were once again abused by an
opponent's ground attack, this time it was the Bulls and they posted 205 yards
on 41 carries. Overall, the defense surrendered 358 yards and allowed USF to
collect 18 first downs. The defense also went without creating a turnover in
the contest, which should not be surprising, considering the Huskies have
forced just seven turnovers all season. Connecticut held USF to just 3-of-9 on
third downs, but struggled inside its own territory, as the Bulls converted on
all six red zone chances. Ryan Henegan led the defense with 10 tackles, while
Darius Butler added seven stops. Danny Lansanah collected five tackles in the
loss and now has a team-best 35 stops on the season.
Both Connecticut and Army have had success running the ball this season and at
the same time the two teams have struggled to stop it. Expect to see both
teams put their ground games on display, in an entertaining game from start to
finish.
Sports Network Predicted Outcome: Connecticut 31, Army 24
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| Former University of Connecticut student-athletes Cornell Brockington, James Hargrave, Ed Nelson and Jason Williams have all received free agent invitations to NFL rookie mini camps.
Nelson is prepared to sign a two-year free agent contract with the St. Louis Rams. Brockington and Williams have a try-out arrangement in place with the Redskins while Hargrave will be reunited with former UConn quarterback Dan Orlovsky (2001-04) during an upcoming try-out with the Detroit Lions. The deals will become official as the former Huskies report to their respective teams’ rookie mini camps.
 Brockington, an early entrant into the league, ranks fifth in school history with 2,198 career rushing yards on 454 carries, the sixth most in UConn lore. Brockington is tied for fourth on the Husky career chart with his 25 rushing touchdowns. His best season was in 2004 when Brockington by far led the BIG EAST with 1,218 rushing yards to help power the Huskies to a win in their first ever bowl appearance, downing Toledo, 39-10, in the Motor City Bowl. He was named first-team All-BIG EAST after averaging 156.0 all-purpose yards in conference play. The NFL is in Brockington’s blood as his cousin, John, played in the league for seven years during the 1970s, mostly with the Green Bay Packers, after an All-American collegiate career at Ohio State.
 A team captain this past fall, Hargrave finished his Husky career with 270 tackles, including 43 for loss, 15 of which were sacks. The 43 TFLs are the third highest in school history while the 15 sacks tie for eighth best. Hargrave missed only one career game, playing in 46 with 36 starts. Hargrave was named first-team All-BIG EAST in 2005 after leading UConn with both 13.5 TFLs and five sacks, making a total of 62 tackles in all for the season. Hargrave also intercepted a pass, broke up three more, forced two fumbles and recovered another en route to earning UConn’s Defensive MVP award.
 Nelson played in 60 games with two starts in two years at UConn after transferring from Georgia Tech. A physical role player off of head coach Jim Calhoun’s bench, Nelson averaged 3.1 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in Storrs as he helped the Huskies capture the 2005 and 2006 BIG EAST regular season titles and earn a pair of NCAA Tournament berths. Nelson was the 2002 ACC Rookie of the Year after starting 28 games for the Yellow Jackets and averaging 8.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. Should he make the Rams’ active roster, the 6-8, 260-pound forward would be the second Husky ever to do so without playing football for UConn. Booth Lusteg, a former UConn baseball player, went on to an AFL/NFL career as a kicker with Buffalo (1966), Miami (1967), Pittsburgh (1968) and Green Bay (1969).
Williams did not miss a game in his UConn career, playing in all 47 with 22 starts. He caught 118 passes to rank eighth in school history while his 1,469 career receiving yards are 13th best in Husky history. He also caught 12 career touchdowns. Williams led UConn in 2005 with 32 receptions for 315 yards while scoring five times. He had career highs in 2004 with his 44 catches and 661 receiving yards with four scores. Williams also saw action for the Huskies over the years as a kick returner.
 UConn defensive end Shawn Mayne will not sign with an NFL team and, after graduating on Sunday, will return to his native Canada to play for the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Hamilton selected Mayne with the first pick of the third round (18th overall) of the league’s draft on April 20. Hamilton opens its 2006 season on June 17 at Toronto.
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