UConn RB #22 Arkeel Newsome turns the corner on the Boise defense in the first quarter at Rentschler Field on September 13, 2014.
There’s no doubt that the UConn Huskies football program has a lot of young players. All you need to do is go look at the roster and look at the class listings.
And because of the youth, UConn head coach Bob Diaco has had to play them because they need to develop and he’s said time and time again, the only way for that to happen is to play them.
In the first four games, he used 57 players against BYU, 55 against Stony Brook, 56 vs. Boise State and
55 vs. USF. In those games, 22 of the players, who made their collegiate debuts, were either true freshman, redshirt freshman or redshirt sophomores.
- True Freshmen (8) – TE Alec Bloom, LB Luke Carrezola, OL Ryan Crozier, LB Vontae Diggs, TB Ron Johnson, RB Arkeel Newsome, OL Trey Rutherford, CB Jamar Summers
- Redshirt Freshman (10) – H Blake Feagles, DL Foley Fatukasi, OL Tommy Hopkins, LB Junior Joseph, WR Thomas Lucas, RB Joshua Marriner, TE Tommy Myers, LB Cole Ormsby, LB Cameron Stapleton, LB Jalen Stevens
- Redshirt Sophomores (4) -C Kyle Bockeloh, OT Andreas Knappe, DL Sean Marinan, P Justin Wain
This also doesn’t include sophomores QB Tim Boyle, WR Noel Thomas, FB Jazzmar Claxx, FB Matt Walsh, WR Dhameer Bradley, NG Mikal Myers, LB Jon Hicks, CB John Green, S Obi Melifonwu, S Ellis Marder, CB Jhavon Williams, K Bobby Puyol and WR Brian Lemelle.
Folks, that’s 36 players playing either their first or second year of college football. Sure that’s a lot, but with them getting experience, that bodes well for the future of the UConn Football program.
Watch and listen below as Diaco as well as QB Chandler Whitmer, CB Byron Jones and S Junior Lee talk about the younger guys and how they’ve adapted this season.
