UConn sports

UConn offensive coordinator George DeLeone speaks with a few reporters Monday afternoon at the Burton Family Football Complex. The Huskies take on Fordham Thursday night. (Neill Ostrout photo)

If we’re in the defensive team meeting room at the Burton Family Football Complex, it must be football season.

Head coach Paul Pasqualoni went through the first of his “Tuesday” meetings with the media. (I know it’s Monday but most of these chats will take place on Tuesday’s this year.

The Huskies are getting ready to open the season against Division I-AA (FCS) Fordham.

A few notes from the festivities:

– Still no quarterback decision. The announcement apparently will wait until Thursday.

“We’re going to have three quarterbacks ready to play in this game,” Pasqualoni said, of Johnny McEntee, Scott McCummings and Mike Nebrich.

Pasqualoni seemingly has made a decision but doesn’t want to share it yet.

What exactly is Pasqualoni looking for from his quarterback(s)?

“I want to see production. At the end of the day, who you play is based on production, not really any other statistic or any other number,” Pasqualoni said.

Pasqualoni did say when asked that it’s possible three quarterbacks could play, though that’s obviously the longest of shots.

– How does the coaching staff feel right now?

“There’s plenty of excitement. There’s also that anxiety of ‘Did we get it all covered and are they ready to play?’ ” Pasqualoni said.

– Pasqualoni wouldn’t separate the “OR” on the tailbacks D.J. Shoemate and Lyle McCombs, saying they’ll both play.

He also said Jonathan Jean-Louis and Deshon Foxx would be ready, too. It looks like Foxx is unlikely to redshirt.

But Pasqualoni also said those true freshmen not in the two-deep are unlikely to play special teams (or at all).

“I’d rather not do it,” Pasqualoni said.

– Pasqualoni raved about the new grass at Rentschler Field and about the facility as a whole.

“That grass, that stadium is very, very impressive,” Pasqualoni said.

– Fordham’s starting quarterback is something of a mystery, too, with three candidates.

“My sense is they’re going to start the freshman from Houston,” Pasqualoni said of Peter Maetzold.

– Pasqualoni, a Cheshire native and former WCSU head coach, is excited to be back “home” at UConn.

“For me, to be in this position to start this season, is very, very important and very meaningful to me,” Pasqualoni said. “It’s not a responsibility I take lightly, I promise you.”

– As we noted late last week, no major changes on the depth chart.

– The game, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Rentschler, will be seen on ESPN’s on-line platform ESPN3. Bob Picozzi and Christian Fauria will have the call, in case you’re wondering.

– The Huskies, who did practice Sunday in the relatively comfy and safe confines of the Shenkman Center, practiced late Monday morning indoors again. The grass on the practice fields was obviously quite soggy.

– UConn is 7-2 in season openers since moving to Division I-A (FBS).

– Pasqualoni is attempting to become the first UConn coach to win his debut since Sumner Dole in 1923.

Randy Edsall (to Hofstra in 1999), Skip Holtz (to Nicholls State in 1994), Tom Jackson (to Rutgers in 1983), Walt Nadzak (to Lehigh in 1977), Larry Naviaux (to Lehigh in 1973), Bob Casciola (to Vermont in 1971), John Toner (to Yale in 1965), Rick Forzano (to Yale in 1964), Bob Ingalls (to Yale in 1952), Arthur Valpey (to Yale in 1950) and J.O. Christian (to AIC in 1934) all lost their first games as UConn head coach.

– One previous meeting between the teams, a 1915 affair won by the Rams 35-0.

– This is UConn’s 112th season of football, in case you were wondering. It’s the Huskies’ ninth season at Rentschler Field and their eighth in the Big East.

– Fordham began offering football scholarships for the first time since 1954 last season, and is now an associate member of the Patriot League for football.

– Fordham has eight players from Connecticut on its roster.

Safety Brendan Melanophy (Danbury), linebacker Andrew Delaire (Bloomfield), linebacker Jake Rodriques (Southington), guard Andrew Milmore (Fairfield-Warde), defensive tackle Billy DeLuca (Greenwich), cornerback Justin Chapman (Southington), linebacker Brett Biestek (Sheehan-Wallingford) and wide receiver Nick Talbert (Weaver-Hartford).

– Forhdam is coached by Tom Masella, who also has plenty of ties to Connecticut.

Masella is a former head coach at Central Connecticut State and Fairfield, while also was an assistant under Skip Holtz at UConn in the late 1990’s.

He spent two seasons at CCSU, leading the Blue Devils to back-to-back Northeast Conference titles.

– Two Fordham assistants have UConn ties. Wide receivers coach Patrick Maguire is a 2009 UConn grad, while defensive backs coach Tim Cary (a Fairfield U. graduate) was a graduate assistant with the Huskies from 2007-09.

– UConn LB’s coach Jonathan Wholley was on the 2009 Fordham staff as running backs coach.

Here’s an early look at the UConn football preview package that is running in Sunday’s paper:

Which Paul Pasqualoni has come to UConn?

UConn players going through “slight” adjustment period.

Five questions for the Huskies and five players to watch.

The arrival of Paul Pendergast as UConn’s interim athletic director played a factor in the basketball team’s landing of standout center Andre Drummond.

Here’s the story.

Lost in the Andre Drummond news was a bit of info from the UConn football team.

For those of us hard-working scribes who try to stay on top of both sports, sorry but this was shoved to my back burner.

Anyway, enough apologies.

There are no real surprises in the two-deep.

– No decision was announced at quarterback, obviously.

Mike Nebrich, Scott McCummings and Johnny McEntee all officially remain “tied” for the top spot with “OR” between their names. Coach Paul Pasqualoni said this week that he’ll wait until just before the game to announce his choice for a starter.

– The left guard is also still in an “OR” situation. Sophomore Steve Greene and senior Gary Bardzak are apparently battling down to the wire.

– There were two other somewhat surprising “OR”s on the chart. At tailback, D.J. Shoemate and Lyle McCombs are listed as co-No. 1′s. Also at tight end, Ryan Griffin and John Delahunt aren’t separated.

– DE Jesse Joseph is still listed as a starter, probably indicating his right knee injury isn’t overly serious.

– Yawin Smallwood is listed as the starting middle linebacker with Sio Moore and Jory Johnson outside, with the injured Jerome Williams not on the chart. A pair of true freshmen (Marquise Vann, Jefferson Ashiru) and a redshirt freshman (Mike Osiecki) are the backup linebackers.

To call this one out of left field would be an understatement.

Andre Drummond, the No. 1 (maybe No. 2) prospect in the Class of 2012 (OK, 2011) says he’s coming to UConn this fall.

The 6-foot-11 Middletown native and former St. Thomas More center tweeted as much today.

“Husky fam welcome me cause I’m coming this year!!” Drummond tweeted, following that up with:

“It’s official I’m heading to the university of connecticut to be a husky this year!”

Drummond announced recently that he planned to spend a post-graduate year at Wilbraham and Monson (Mass.) Academy after leaving St. Thomas More. Many had thought that moved signaled Drummond’s wish to skip college entirely and enter the 2012 NBA Draft.

UConn quarterback Mike Box, seemingly the fourth man in a four-way battle to become the Huskies’ starting quarterback, plans to transfer out of the school.

Not a total shock, but the swiftness of these moves is always a jolt because of the timing it takes (have to enroll at new school quickly in order to gain eligibility).

UConn defensive end Jesse Joseph, sporting a brace on his right knee, shares a smile while working out on the sidelines during practice Wednesday afternoon. (Neill Ostrout photo)

The first 45 minutes of the UConn football team’s practice Wednesday afternoon was open to us media-types. The Huskies are done, but plenty of questions remain:

• DE Jesse Joseph did not practice, and it doesn’t look like he will for some time. Coach Paul Pasqualoni said very little on the subject but it looks like the junior from Laval, Quebec, could be out for a while.

“We expect to get him back,” Pasqualoni said without providing any estimated date of a return.

He was wearing a large black brace on his right knee while working on the sidelines Wednesday.

Joseph led the Huskies with 8.5 sacks last season.

• In the good news department, TE Corey Manning is back at practice after missing a week or so with an undisclosed injury.

WR Isiah Moore and WR Geremy Davis, too, appeared to be nearly healthy again. Both sported “red cross” jerseys on Saturday because of minor injuries.

Moore did require some extra stretching but appears to be nearly 100 percent.

• We weren’t allowed to watch any of the team periods or anything “serious” Wednesday and didn’t get a look at the quarterback situation.

It’s a safe bet the coaching staff has made its decision in regards to the competition between Mike Box, Mike Nebrich, Scott McCummings and Johnny McEntee.

Coach P says he’s not going to say anything on the subject until next Thursday, as in gameday.

“I’m not going to make any kind of announcement until we get into the stadium for the game,” Pasqualoni said after practice Wednesday. “That’s for a couple reasons. I want to sure, number one, of what we’re doing. And number two, why give out information when you don’t have to? I’d rather collect it than give it out.”

Pasqualoni said he and the staff “haven’t finalized” their choice as a starting QB but it seems the four-man race is at least down to three. Box is the odd man out, for now.

It still looks as if true freshman Mike Nebrich is the man to beat, with McCummings and McEntee behind. That is just an educated guess on my part, but we’ll see.

Paul Pendergast, UConn's new interim athletic director, speaks to the media Monday evening at the Burton Family Football Complex in Storrs. Behind Pendergast is UConn President Susan Herbst. (Neill Ostrout photo)

Paul Pendergast, the former senior associate athletic director at UConn, is coming back to Storrs soon.

He was named interim athletic director by President Susan Herbst on Sunday. On Monday, both of them spent a few minutes chatting with the media in the Burton Family Football Complex (an ironic meeting location, no?).

Pendergast will assume his new duties Sept. 19. The now former UConn AD, Jeff Hathaway, will permanently leave Sept. 15. Hathaway is already technically “retired” but has agreed to stay on a while to help with the transition.

Here’s today’s story from the Post.

A few comments from Pendergast:

• Pendergast certainly would like to have this new job for some time, not just on an interim basis.

So is this permanent?

“It could be. I think I have to act that way,” Pendergast said. “It’s not necessarily the idea of just putting your finger in the dike and holding the level of the water where it is. The president has asked me to do things in a way I’ve done in the past wherever I’ve been, which is to be innovative, to do it with a level of foresight and vision.

“If I can do those things and make an impression when she does this national search that they’ll be done, I can still have my name in the mix there. I’m trying to make the best possible impression on everybody, including our staff, that we can do these things and do them right away.”

• Attendance (especially in men’s and women’s basketball) has slowly declined for a few years now. One of Pendergast’s goals is to change that.

“As much as anything I want to get people back in the arena, back enjoying what we do,” Pendergast said. “Having won a national championship in men’s basketball, we should have as many people as possible enjoying it. It’s going to be a really fun team to watch this year.”

• Pendergast on working with coaches like Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemma, who were something akin to co-workers when he was last at UConn but who now are his employees.

“It helps if they like you,” Pendergast said. “But if they trust you, if you’re an honest person and are doing things that are in their best interests, I don’t think it’s as big an issue as you might think.”

• One thing that should make Calhoun happy is that Pendergast’s feelings are similar to Herbst’s on a new basketball practice facility. He wants to see one erected “as soon as we possibly can.”

“There’s at least 40 others in the NCAA that have facilities that we should have here,” Pendergast said. “I’d like to put a hole in the ground today, but not just have it be a hole in the ground.”

• Pendergast was asked about Calhoun’s potential retirement and the fact that the coach hasn’t made a definitive statement about returning in 2011-12 (though it seems almost a foregone conclusion that he will):

“The man has a contract,” said Pendergast, smiling and using a mockingly stern voice.

• Speaking from the lobby of the UConn football team’s impressive facility, Pendergast admitted it was his first time in the building. He wasn’t alone. Calhoun set foot for the first time in the building about an hour before for an athletic-wide staff meeting with the new AD.

“It’s my maiden voyage in this building,” Pendergast said. “I was a big participant in helping raise money for this building but there’s two people who walked in here for the first time today and I was one of them.”

• Pendergast on working with big donors (ie. Burton, Shenkman):

“It’s about relationships and it’s about friendships,” Pendergast said. “It’s not just about donor and employee and that kind of thing. It’s about relationships.”

• There could be a change to the ticket pricing policy at UConn. Pendergast said his department may look at adjusting the prices by game.

“There’s a lot of schools out there that price their games by the opponent. We’ve never done that here,” Pendergast said. “Consideration should be given if we have a high-level opponent coming in and those seats are very, very valuable seats that we price it accordingly.”

He also said the school’s point system for seat purchases may change as well.

• Pendergast admits he gets some of his sporting expertise and advice from his oldest son Sean Pendergast, who is an afternoon host on Yahoo Sports Radio.