Ansonia's Montrell Dobbs carries the ball during Saturday's Class S State Football Championship game at Rentschler Field. Photo: Lindsay Niegelberg / Connecticut Post
Ansonia running back Montrell Dobbs, the fifth all-time leading rusher in state history, has accepted a scholarship offer to play football at UConn.
Dobbs picked up the offer from UConn coach Paul Pasqualoni during his first (ever) visit to Storrs with Milford Academy coach Bill Chaplick on Wednesday.
After returning home to Ansonia, Dobbs didn’t wait long to give Pasqualoni his final decision.
“It didn’t take much,” said Dobbs, who has made no secret of his desire to play for the Huskies since his breakout, all-state senior year at Ansonia. “I pretty much ate breakfast on it.”
Dobbs called Pasqualoni around noontime on Thursday to say “yes.”
“It means everything to me,” said Dobbs, who ran for 3,445 yards and 40 touchdowns and led the Chargers to the Class S championship game. “I’m a Connecticut guy and to be playing for the best team in your state is an honor.
“It’s a huge weight off my shoulders. I got my first offer and it was from school that I wanted it to be. It took awhile before they came around. But it’s meant a lot. …Coach Pasqualoni said they were expecting big things out of me.”
Dobbs will be a member of UConn’s 2012 recruiting class. He is still required to attend Milford Academy this fall. He will sign a Letter of Intent in February, but will enroll as a UConn in January to participate in spring practice next year.
“This is the beginning of my new life,” Dobbs said. “This is just the tip of the iceberg.”
Dobbs, the second all-time leading rusher in Connecticut history behind former teammate Alex Thomas (now at Yale) and the 2010 Connecticut Post football MVP, said he spoke to Pasqualoni one-on-one during his visit to Storrs.
“Coach Pasqualoni is a straight-up guy, he doesn’t want people who he doesn’t think will contribute or truly loves football. We pretty much saw eye-to-eye on that,” Dobbs said. “Football is my life. I’d like to make a living out of it. I learned, from my senior year, that you have to work to be the best. Now I need to work even harder.”
Pasqualoni impressed Dobbs with his history of recruiting and developing Connecticut’s top football players while head coach at Syracuse in in the 1990s and early 2000s. New Britain’s Tebucky Jones, Bloomfield’s Dwight Freeney, Cheshire’s Kyle and Ian McIntosh, Greenwich OL Scott Kiernan all started for Pasqualoni at Syracuse.
“He was telling me back in the day, Syracuse was the place to go for Connecticut guys,” Dobbs said. “Now he wants to change that. He wants to make sure the best players in Connecticut play for UConn.”
Dobbs said he though his signing would open doors for all other Connecticut high school football players to come after him, especially his younger brothers. He’s the second oldest of seven boys.
“I see this as me setting the example for them,” Dobbs said.
VIDEO: Montrell Dobbs (5) and Ansonia playing in the CIAC Class S state championship game vs. St. Joseph (and future Milford Academy teammate Tyler Matakevich) in December.
VIDEO: Dobbs talks about playing in the Class S title game (with 2010 highlights)
Correction: Dobbs was incorrectly listed as the state’s second all-time leading rusher. He is listed fifth all-time.
If you haven’t signed up already, be sure to sign up for the Big Skill Clinic at New Canaan High School on July 9th. For more info, check out bigskillclinic.com.
That is awesome! Coach P’s mission is to retain the our best talent and build a strong pipeline at the grass roots. This could be the beginning of a fantastic trend for CT high school football and Montrell has the chance to be a leader for that way forward. We wish him huge success!
Good for montrell . Milford academy is loaded with ct players Tyler matakevich dobbs and Marc Desruisseaux (who change from lakawanna to Milford) who all plan to attend uconn together
This is great for Dobbs, Connecticut and Ansonia. Hopefully Dobbs who is a high oriole kid will draw other top CT players to be recruited by Uconn and choose to stay home. CT has may not have elite level kids but just like Iowa they work hard and make themselves elite. Now If Uconn can sign Matekevich, Cochran and gray that will be een sweeter.
I would be very suprised if he ever get’s on the field. Makes a nice story but he needs to grow up and learn how to study and LISTEN.
I mean come on people when you go to Milford Academy that means you just didn’t do what you were suppose to in High School can we wake up and relize that school is important the first time!!!
i love how people can come up here and rather than celebrate something good in someones life, youd rather say negative things. Thats ridiculous and you two need to do better things with your life. You never know anyones situation personally as to why they didn’t do well or whatever the case may be. Im sure either of you just always did everything right the first time and never made mistakes or listened.
Very happy for Montrell. Everyone here in Ansonia is. This was great news.
@spreadofan… or that many D1 colleges dont want to take a risk on a high school senior
Sorry spreadofan. Just look at the history of Ansonia players. I wish him well. Just don’t see it. Hopefully he reads this and proves us wrong.
These guys either hate Ansonia Football, lost to Ansonia in their careers, or are from Fairfield County. How about encouraging a kid who comes from a difficult background to take advantage of the opportunity he has been given? People who post things like this probably have now idea what it’s like to grow up in the situation half the kids from Ansonia do. Sometimes it’s more about surviving each day, not necessarily getting a B- in History Class. Unfortunately a lot of kids today grow up under extenuating circumstances. Circumstances that are out of their control, but certainly affects their day-to-day lives. Have Ansonia kids thrown opportunities away recently….Yes. However, many have succeeded over the years as well. I wish Montrell luck at both Milford Academy and UConn. He was given a choice heading into his senior season. He dedicated himself, put in the work, and persevered. If he continues to do that, then he will succeed on the field and in life. Best of luck Montrell.
What is the history of Ansonia players? We have a few pro players in our history and a ton of D1 and 1AA players. Bigguy, your a fool! Mont will see the field if he does what he needs to do in class. He has that kind of talent, like it or not!
Ansonia has an incredible history of sending ball players to the next level at great institutions: Class of ’83 sent 3 players to Yale, has any other CT team ever done that? How about the boys that went Harvard, Columbia, Dartmouth, Brown, Trinity, Williams, Uconn, Syracuse, Arizona State University, San Diego State to name a few since the new era of CT playoffs was instituted. Most left there mark at the college level by either being an All-American there or all conference player: All Americans: the McNamara brothers at Trinity, Dave Gracon at Uconn; Joe Potter’s career at Brown was one of the best ever as a QB there, and Alex Thomas is the currently the pride of AHS at Yale. More importantly than what they did on the field, these young men all became productive members of society after their football careers were over . Best of luck to Montrell, I’m sure he knows that hard work is the key to success. Go Chargers!
Correction…AHS Class of 83 sent 4 players to Yale: Ahearn, Goumas, Shea and Christowsky.
keep talking trash, it makes MONT’ play even better!!! lol, we need you’s to keep posting the garbage so he can play even harder at uconn!!
Valley guy – you on the computer at the Lemko club.