UCONN football started it’s fall practice on Monday with pretty much a full roster. The biggest injury is to wide receiver Ellis Gaulden. He was injured during the spring and just had a screw removed from his foot. Also freshman tight end Yianni Apostolakos and fullback Anthony Sherman will be very limited for a while in practice. Apostolakos is recovering from an injury he suffered in baseball and may not see time until October. He could end up being redshirted. Notre Dame transfer Zach Frazier has to sit out this year because of transferring. While Edsall has said there is no favorite for the job, I think it’s Lorenzen’s to lose. The first game of the year is September 1st at Duke.
This is the third year in a row that head coach Randy Edsall has had a quarterback opening to start training camp. Last year’s starter, D.J. Hernandez has moved to wide receiver. Competing for the job are Juco transfer Tyler Lorenzen, Dennis Brown and freshman Cody Endres
John Altavilla from the Hartford Courant writes about UCONN freshman Lorin Dixon finding out about what college life is all about. While she thought she might go unrecognized in her summer classes, one of her professors announced that there was 3 women’s basketball players in the class. It’s a really good article on her adjustments from high school to college.
The UCONN women have already secured two oral commitments from recruits for next season. They are Tiffany Hayes (Winter Haven, FL) and Caroline Doty (Germantown, PA). Head coach Geno Auriemma has also offered scholarships to Heather Buck (Stonington, CT), Elena Delle Donne (Wilmington, DE) and Chelsey Lee (Miami, FL).
The athletic department also announced the exhibition games for the UCONN women’s team. They will play the US National team on November 2nd and Division II National Champion Southern Connecticut State University on November 6th. Both games will be held at Gampel Pavilion on the Storrs campus. Former Huskies Sue Bird, Diana Taurasi and Swin Cash are expected to be on the National team.
Mike Anthony from the Hartford Courant has a good article about what sophomore Doug Wiggins has done to help himself compete for a starter position or at least a spot in the guard rotation. With A.J. Price and Jerome Dyson the likely starters, Wiggins will have to compete with incoming freshman Donnell Beverly.
