Most of you know that I spend 99 percent of my working days covering UConn athletics in some capacity. A lot of time covering the men’s basketball team. A lot of time covering the football team.
During the offseason I still cover those teams (recruiting, coaching changes, scheduling, etc…) but I do other work for the Post. One of the things that has become my responsibility over the years is high school track championship meets.
I live closer to Manchester or New Britain then most of the folks at the Post and I usually have the time to cover Class L, Class MM, the Open, and the rest.
I kind of like it. It’s a nice break, I enjoy the competition, the outdoors, the athletic feats. But rarely to do I dream about a nice day of covering high school track.
Tuesday was different.
From a morning spent in Rockville Superior Court covering the Nate Miles experience and an afternoon in Storrs trying to gather stories and information for the UConn-North Carolina football game, I’m beat.
I just finished writing my two stories and planning my week, so sorry for the delay in updating the blog today.
Anyway, here’s some quick hitters before I drift off and dream of pole vaults, shot puts and 4×400 relays:
– On the Miles situation, little has change legally. He appeared Tuesday morning in court with his attorney (the always affable Rob Britt) and briefly before Judge Kenneth Shluger.
The judge imposed an order of protection to bar Miles from having any contact with the victim in the case, a 19-year-old UConn student from Manchester. It’s similar to the restraining order he’s already accused of violating.
Anyway, the case was continued until Nov. 25 and Miles was instructed to undergo counseling.
No word from UConn athletic folks yet. Miles still has to face a university review board Thursday and could face some non-legal but basketball or academic-related sanctions.
On to the football news:
– As promised, Randy Edsall did not allow quarterback Zach Frazer to speak to the media.
This kind of restriction bothers me as a journalist but I understand where Edsall is coming from. He thinks it will help Frazer concentrate. OK, I get that.
Do I think he could have concentrated just fine for the entire week after spending 15 minutes Tuesday afternoon with idiots like me? Yes, but I digress.
“The young man is making his first start this week,” Edsall said. “The only thing he needs to focus on is getting himself prepared for the game, to play the best game he possibly can.
“It’s my prerogative as a head coach to protect my players and to allow them to prepare the best way I feel possible,” Edsall said. “That’s what I’m doing, and I told him that, and he appreciated that.”
I really wanted to break into Bobby Brown’s greatest hits and start dancing around the room but it’s doubtful that anyone would have appreciated it.
A few of the state’s columnists pressed Edsall for an explanation (that’s their prerogative, of course) on the Frazer situation. The coach appeared to answer rather truthfully, saying he doesn’t mind getting ripped by the media if it means his QB plays better.
“This will get all blown out all over the newspapers and the blogs, all that stuff,” Edsall said. “So good, I can take some of the attention off him being the starter this week. Good, I like that.”
No hard feelings from me. That’s just Randy being Randy.
It’s kind of like Manny except without the dreadlocks, baggy clothes, attitude and everything else.
– The coach does expect all of his injured defensive tackles _ Rob Lunn, Alex Polito and Kendall Reyes _ to play against North Carolina. Each has sprained ankles in the last two weeks.
– Somewhat lost in the loss of QB Tyler Lorenzen is the fact that the Huskies will be without TE Steve Brouse for perhaps the rest of the season.
Martin Bedard is a capable backup but Edsall was asked if his skills are similar to Brouse’s.
“He can do SOME things that Steve can do,” Edsall said.
– Edsall was asked, since cornerback/wide receiver Darius Butler appeared to play even more offense against Louisville than in previous games, if he might get even more snaps and become almost like a full-time offensive player.
“To be determined,” the coach replied.
– To the average viewer and the only slightly above-average sportswriters like me it seemed that UConn’s biggest area of injury concern last Friday was defensive tackle. The Huskies were without three of them for a time against Louisville.
Edsall, however, said there was a bigger concern. Long snappers.
“The thing that was scarier for me was the fact that Steve had gotten hurt and Martin went in,” Edsall said. “If Martin would have gotten hurt then who was going to snap?”
Lunn was about to get undressed and return to the field in the second half in street clothes. But he was stopped by linebackers coach/special teams coordinator Lyndon Johnson.
“Alex (Polito) is a snapper for us and he wasn’t on the trip,” Edsall said. “And then Nate Sherr is a snapper for us and we didn’t travel him. Now, Nate Shearer is going to be on every trip.”
– Edsall on what it means to be ranked: “Got to keep winning…It’s good for the fans but it’s not going to help us go to North Carolina and get a win.”
On what it’s like to play at 1 o’clock on a Saturday: “I don’t know if we’re ever going to find that out this year.”
– In the most recent issue of Sports Illustrated, UConn running back Donald Brown is said to have a run a 4.29 in the 40-yard dash. Like many speed numbers, this one appears rather inflated.
“There’s not a lot of sub-4.3 guys,” Edsall said. “If they are, then they better be running track and trying to get a gold medal.”
Edsall didn’t say how fast he thought his back was.
“All I know is he can run,” Edsall said. “Very fast.”
Brown said later that it was a hand-held timing device that clocked him in 4.29 as a high school junior. The +/- on hand-timed sprints means Brown probably ran in the 4.4 range.
- Neill
