UConn sports

Here’s the release from the office in Providence:

BIG EAST OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Jarrett Brown • Sr. • QB • West Virginia • West Palm Beach, Fla.

Brown had 407 yards of total offense to key West Virginia’s 35-20 win against East Carolina. He completed 24 of 31 passes for career highs of 334 yards and four touchdowns and added 73 rushing yards on 10 attempts. Brown had a hand in 80 percent of West Virginia’s 509 total yards against the Pirates and became just the fourth Mountaineer player in history to register 400 yards of offense in a game.

BIG EAST DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Adam Gunn • Sr. • LB • Pittsburgh • Vandergrift, Pa.

Gunn, a rare sixth-year senior, registered three sacks and had 11 tackles in Pittsburgh’s 54-27 win at Buffalo. His three sacks resulted in a combined loss of 25 yards and his third sack denied a Buffalo red zone scoring chance in the fourth quarter. Gunn, who suffered a broken neck in last year’s season opener and missed the remainder of the 2008 season, has five sacks through two games.

BIG EAST SPECIAL TEAMS PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Mardy Gilyard • Sr. • WR • Cincinnati • Bunnell, Fla.

Gilyard had a 53-yard punt return for a touchdown as part his four-TD effort in Cincinnati’s 70-3 win against Southeast Missouri State, becoming the first Bearcat player to return a punt for a score in 12 years. Gilyard, who had 197 all-purpose yards against the Redhawks, became the first FBS player to score on a punt return, run and catch in the same game since UCLA’s Maurice Drew (now Maurice Jones-Drew) did it against California Oct. 8, 2005.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL

Lindsey Witten, DE, Connecticut — Had three sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss in a 12-10 loss to No. 19/19 North Carolina.

Dion Lewis, RB, Pittsburgh — Ran for 190 yards and two touchdowns on 24 carries in a 54-27 win at Buffalo.

Jourdan Brooks, RB, Rutgers — Ran for 124 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-7 win against Howard.

Moise Plancher, RB, USF — Ran for 115 yards and two TDs in a 35-13 win at Western Kentucky.

Brandon Hogan, DB, West Virginia — Had a game- and career-high 11 tackles with two pass breakups in a 35-20 win against East Carolina.

The injury news out of Storrs this afternoon isn’t good.

Quarterback Zach Frazer (right knee) is out for at least the next two games and perhaps more. Tight end Ryan Griffin (back) is in a similar situation. Both were hurt in Saturday’s 12-10 loss to North Carolina.

UConn coach Randy Edsall, who perhaps enjoys root canal more than discussing injuries with the local media, was his usually vague self when discussing the prognosis for his injured players. Still, the coach did say Frazer and Griffin were definitely “out” for this week’s game and almost certainly out for the Rhode Island game in two weeks.

“They’re out for this week right now and we’ll see where they are for next week,” Edsall said at first.

Edsall didn’t say exactly what was wrong with Frazer’s knee (sprain, ligament tear, charlie horse, pimple, etc.) but that’s to be expected these days, I guess.

Then he opened up slightly, saying Frazer would miss at least two games.

“I don’t think he’ll be ready for next week,” Edsall said. “I don’t think Ryan will be ready for next week, either.”

The coach did say neither injury involved surgery.

“They’re not season-ending injuries. I would tell you if they were. Time frame? I can’t tell you,” Edsall said. “A lot depends on how they heal and how they go.”

Cody Endres is your new starting quarterback. John Delahunt is the new starting tight end. Mike Box (QB) and Corey Manning (TE) move into backup roles.

Edsall said he thought Frazer was getting in something of a groove before he went down.

“I thought he was doing some good things out there, I thought he was throwing some good balls,” Edsall said.

– S Jerome Junior and WR Michael Smith are both “fine” according to Edsall.

– Linebacker Scott Lutrus, according to his coach, is questionable for this week’s game against Baylor.

This is just a guess, but it’s not likely his shoulder stinger forces him to miss another game. He’ll probably be in the lineup for Saturday.

– Missing Lutrus didn’t kill the Huskies on Saturday. Kijuan Dabney stepped in and played pretty well in the Brookfield native’s place.

UConn did miss the All-Big East performer on third downs, however. Normally middle linebacker Greg Lloyd (a fantastic run-stopper) doesn’t play when UConn goes to its five-DBs package. Lutrus shifts to the middle.

Without Lutrus on Saturday, however, Lloyd was in the mix on every down including obvious passing situations. That wasn’t always good for the Huskies.

“In our base defense we didn’t have too many issues. Where we did get hurt a little bit was in our nickel situation without Scott,” Edsall said.

– Edsall said after the game that he wanted to look at the film of the game-winning safety and the holding call on tackle Dan Ryan. He sounded sort of like he believed the ACC officials may have stolen on from him.

On Sunday, however, the coach didn’t challenge the officials or question the call.

“I’ve got no comments on any of that,” Edsall said.

Edsall is nothing if not a smart man. He may not have been able to tell if it was holding by watching it live, but he knows it was after watching the film.

Now, was the play like basketball referee John Clougherty giving Michigan’s Rumeal Robinson two freebies at the end of the 1989 NCAA Championship game against Seton Hall?

No, probably not. That one was less of a foul and in a gigantic spot. This one was pretty clearly a foul and only in a “big” spot.

– The playing time at wide receiver could be distributed very differently against Baylor. There were a number of drops and other poor plays Saturday and Edsall has been considering some changes.

“That’s something I thought about a lot last night,” Edsall said. “I might be making a change, making a move with somebody.”

The starters aren’t likely to change but the amount of time spent on the field could.

– The offensive line obviously didn’t grade out very well this week.

“I thought we got physically handled up front in the offensive line,” Edsall said of the Huskies’ performance against UNC’s defensive front.

– More on Monday and Tuesday. For now, I have to learn how to be a father.

My four-day-old son needs a bath, a feeding and a diaper change. I need two of those three, too, but we’ll see if there’s time for that.

- Neill

Quick update from Rentschler:

Scoreless first quarter.

WR Michael Smith is playing, but his left leg is heavily wrapped.

- Neill

A few quick hits as we get ready for UConn-North Carolina (yes, I’m back).

– LB Scott Lutrus won’t play for the Huskies. His shoulder stinger will keep the junior from Brookfield on the sidelines today.

Jory Johnson is listed as Lutrus’ backup but it’s more likely someone like Kijuan Dabney plays in Lutrus’ spot.

More info in a few.

– WR Michael Smith hurt his leg in practice this week and won’t play. No word on how serious the injury is but he’s out today.

- Neill

Didn’t make the trip to Athens with the Huskies this weekend but had a chance to get on head coach Randy Edsall’s conference call Sunday afternoon. Here’s the dirt:

– LB Sio Moore (hamstring) will be out for a number of weeks. What that number is the coach didn’t say.

– LB Scott Lutrus (shoulder) suffered a stinger in the win over Ohio.

“We’ll know a little bit more as the week progresses in terms of what his status will be,” Edsall said.

The coach said Lutrus would practice later Sunday, though the Huskies don’t do much heavy lifting (see: hitting) on Sundays.

– RB Andre Dixon (offense), DE Lindsey Witten (defense), RB Robbie Frey (special teams) earned game balls for the win.

– There were plenty of negatives and positives from the win.

Edsall liked the play of his tackle from Seymour, which set up Robert Vaughn’s interception/fumble recovery.

“Mike Hicks made a big tackle on that first interception. He went and cut his guy and then the ball was tipped. He goes and pushes a guy out at the six so we’re at least allowed to go line up and play defense,” Edsall said. “Lo and behold, two plays later, we get a turnover.”

– Though he wasn’t exactly thrilled with his performance, the coach didn’t heap all of the blame for the picks on QB Zach Frazer.

“Some of the interceptions, it wasn’t all Zach. The receivers have to make sure that they get to the proper depth,” Edsall said. “It’s like when a marriage goes bad: there’s two people that are accountable.”

Edsall didn’t feel like talking about Frazer’s unique mechanics, either.

“I’m done. I’m not going to talk about his mechanics again,” Edsall said. “I’m not going to beat a dead horse. And there’s no need to talk about that. He was just inconsistent.”

– The Huskies’ injuries might have been caused by bad technique, the coach says.

“We had a couple of guys get hurt yesterday just because they didn’t use good technique,” Edsall said. “If Sio and Scott had used better technique, I’m not sure they would have gotten hurt.

“I know injuries happen in football but that’s the thing we always try to talk about. When you go to tackle somebody: bending at the knees not the waist, rolling your hips and running your feet, not tackling off to the side.”

– S Jerome Junior messed up, obviously, by letting Ohio’s Taylor Price behind him for a TD.

“Yeah, but the corner could have done a little bit more to prohibit him getting down the field so quickly,” Edsall said. “But ultimately yes, Jerome made the mistake there and allowed the guy to get behind him, not staying as deep as the deepest guy in his zone.

“Sometimes when that happens to a kid early, it’s probably not going to happen again,” Edsall continued. “If you’re going to have it happen, have it happen in the first game when you still get a win out of it.”

– Some praise for Bridgeport Central’s Trevardo Williams, who saw his first career action.

“I thought Trevardo really gave us a spark in the pass rush,” Edsall said. “I saw Trevardo do some things in the pass rush, we’ve got some other guys around here that can’t do what he does.”

– OK, two quick side notes.

1) I don’t get the chance to watch/listen to the broadcast of a UConn game very often.

On my first opportunity in recent memory: Wow, that’s frustrating!

I know, ESPN360 doesn’t exactly get the network’s No. 1 team but still.

I tried to sync up the radio call (Joe D and Wayne were great) with the internet but broadband signal was 5 minutes behind. Wanting the visual, too, I ended up going with the internet only for most of the game.

As far as the play-by-play guy being from the Ohio area and not being very familiar (sometimes at all) with the UConn players, coaches, history, etc. That happens.

As far as him not knowing the rules of the game, well, I guess that happens, too.

The analyst on 360 knew football, obviously, and was there to correct his partner in the booth when it came to X’s and O’s but he, too, didn’t know the personnel very well.

And does the viewing public always miss so many plays or referee’s calls or down-and-distance info or about a hundred other things? That is maddening.

I guess my college football viewing usually involved big games that you get every detail about or one that is just on in the background where I don’t care about every detail.

2) This might be the last blog entry by me for a few days (maybe a week).

I’m about to have a baby. Well, my wife’s having the baby. I’m just doing the important stuff like getting ice chips and agreeing to never touch her again.

So, enjoy Mr. Chris Elsberry’s work for a few days and maybe I’ll catch up with the Huskies on Saturday for the North Carolina game.

- Neill

We’ve got some information from head coach Randy Edsall on his weekly call with reporters.

Let’s run through a few points:

– No new injuries.

The coach likes to keep things close to the vest in this area every year but he clearly said “No injuries to report.”

Still one day of practice to go but the Huskies are apparently healthy (minus Jimmy Bennett, et al, of course).

– No true freshmen (other than the ones on the two-deep like Trevardo Williams, Jesse Joseph, etc.) will play on special teams, Edsall said Thursday.

That would appear to mean redshirts for the likes of KR/PR/WR Nick Williams, CB Tevrin Brandon, RB Martin Hyppolite, LB David Kenney and others.

S Marcus Aiken is in the two-deep but there’s no proof he’ll play.

WR Malik Generett and WR Michael Lang are also not in the two-deep. They, too, are likely to redshirt but (this is a guess) may have a chance to play on offense before the year is out.

– The players are ready to go, Edsall said.

“I think they’re very well-prepared,” Edsall said. “They’re as ready as any team I’ve been associated with.”

Edsall went on to say that he thought all of his teams at UConn were well prepared to play, but still, a pretty good assessment from the coach.

“If you practice the right way, you’re going to be ready,” Edsall said.

– Edsall provided a few more Zach-Frazer-doesn’t-have-to-do-too-much quotes.

He says his starting quarterback has done the same things he’s always done in practice this week with only a few exceptions.

“He’s put in extra time watching film,” Edsall said.

And this one is becoming a regular: “He doesn’t need to go out and make any spectacular plays.”

- Neill

Back from the first of 12 (maybe 13) media days with the UConn football team. Had some computer trouble that kept me from posting right away but here we go:

– OT Jimmy Bennett’s knee surgery went well according to coach Randy Edsall.

“Jimmy’s surgery went very, very well. They’re very pleased with where he’s at already,” Edsall said.

Bennett hurt his knee in a scrimmage during training camp and will miss the entire season.

Safety John Yurek suffered a similar injury. He’ll have knee surgery Sept. 18.

– No new injuries according to Edsall, who knocked on the wooden podium in front of him after saying it.

– A few questions for the coach about the Rich Rodriguez/Michigan/practice time issue.

Edsall says the Huskies play things by the book (you shouldn’t have expected anything else from Randy…he’s a details guy and it’s doubtful he’d add an extra hour by ‘accident’). He also says 20 hours a week is enough to succeed.

“You can get it done in the 20 hours,” Edsall said

Actually, the coach thinks it would be hard to get more out of his players.

“I don’t know how you’re going to get more time out of them with what they have to do academically,” Edsall said.

The Huskies’ practice time includes weight lifting, something that isn’t always part of each school’s equation.

“I put two 50-minute sessions into our accountable time. That’s part of our 20 hours,” Edsall said. “Some schools don’t count the weight lifting because they say it’s voluntary.”

Now, Edsall admits that in order to be really good at the game players have to do more work by themselves like watching film or working out more.

“If you want to be good, there’s things you have to do on your own,” Edsall said.

– Edsall says he knows a lot about his team already. He also thinks he knows what he’ll get out of his team Saturday in Athens, Ohio.

“I know a lot about it right now, it’s just a matter of how they’re going to perform,” Edsall said. “Some guys that are performing for the first time, how are they going to handle their first game? … You really don’t know until you go against different competition.”

– DE Jesse Joseph was just a little bit better than fellow true freshman Trevardo Williams this August, it seems.

Joseph won the starting job based on “just his overall play and how consistent he was,” according to Edsall.

“He’s a young man that doesn’t say a whole lot. He just works,” Edsall said. “He has a knack for the game. He has very good savy.”

Of course, Trevardo is going to play, too.

– Plenty of confident words from the coach on his starting quarterback.

“I think he’s completely ready to go out and run the show,” Edsall said of Zach Frazer.

But, using a familiar refrain, Edsall is just a little wary of Frazer trying to do too much.

“Just like all of our guys, they just have to execute the plan we have and not try to do too much by themselves,” Edsall said. “If Zach does that, Zach will be fine. Zach just needs to take what the defense gives him.”

– Don’t ever accuse Edsall of giving away a game plan through the media. Far from it.

He doesn’t usually provide bulletin board material, either.

When asked if his team might try to dominate an opponent with smaller front seven on Saturday the coach laughed playfully and gave his usual cryptic answers.

“We want to be a physical, aggressive, football team. That’s going to continue,” Edsall said.

And as for “saving” some things for game plans later in the season or for league play, that may not be the case either.

“We’re going to put together a plan … to win,” Edsall said. “We’re not holding anything back.”

– LB Scott Lutrus is probably the defense’s most important player. Edsall would of course never say this but he came close Tuesday.

“You hate to say that one guy is everything because it’s a team game,” Edsall said. “But the amount of things he does for us defensively, we want him to stay healthy. We wouldn’t be able to do some of the things we do defensively without him being in there.”

– New UConn offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead knows plenty about Ohio. After running Akron’s offense for the last few years he game planned for a game against head coach Frank Solich’s Bobcats every season.

“He has a pretty good knowledge of what they do schematically and their personnel on defense,” Edsall said. “But it’s still the first game and they might do some things differently.”

– Moorhead’s no-huddle offense, which will make its UConn debut Saturday, isn’t fun to face. That’s what Lutrus said Monday.

The Husky captain also said it wasn’t fun for the offense to run when it first tried it in March. It’s designed to wear down the opposition but sometimes it takes the offense time to adjust and not get winded themselves.

“In our first spring practice when they put the offense in you could tell the linemen were sucking wind,” Lutrus said. “Big (Mike) Hicks thought he was going to die. I thought he was going to fall on his facemask.

“But they’ve become more conditioned now.”

That’s it for now. Look for a story on Jerome Junior in Wednesday’s Post and we’ll talk to you here on the blog soon.

- Neill