UConn DEs #56 Angelo Pruitt and #57 Cole Ormsby along with the entire defensive line listen to instruction from DL coach Kevin Wolthausen before the Stony Brook game at Rentschler Field on Saturday, September 6, 2014.

The UConn Huskies lost a key player on offense last week in QB Casey Cochran. Now they have lost a key defensive player as well as seldom used offensive lineman.

During his weekly press conference on Monday, UConn head coach Bob Diaco announced that DE Angelo Pruitt and OL Bryan Paull are no longer with the team and their careers at UConn are over due to medical concerns.

Pruitt had missed the last two games (Stony Brook, Boise State) with what Diaco had described before as a lower leg injury. On Monday, he clarified it to be a genetic issue in the lower leg that Pruitt has decided to get taken care of.

Pruitt played in 26 career games (21 starts) and had 51 tackles, two sacks, one fumble recovery and one interception.

Diaco described Paull’s injury only as undisclosed upper body issue. Paull, who cracked the two-deep depth chart for the first time last year, saw action in four games on the offensive line in 2013.

photo credit: ian bethune – sox & dawgs

Editor’s note: This should have been posted on Monday after the press conference. For some reason I thought I had written it up and posted. Unfortunately, I was wrong and am posting now though it is backdated to Monday. My sincerest apologies.

UConn Huskies football coach Bob Diaco held his weekly press conference in anticipation of Friday night’s matchup with the South Florida Bulls in Tampa, FL.

He opened up talking about the improvement of the special teams, including the specialists who helped out the defense. He is pleased with the improvement of the defense from week 1 to week 3.

Everyone is getting close to seeing the DNA of the team.

There were some positives on offense in regards to time of possession, better red zone scoring. They are an offense that can produce big plays.

He said they need to continue to reduce pre-snap penalties. They only had one last game.

They are having to many negative plays that can’t get started properly because of the struggles of the offensive line which he says is a work in progress.

He was pleased with the play of the cornerbacks as their timing was better.

He was pleased with Tim Boyle‘s production.

He talked about Max DeLorenzo being a veteran player who has good vision and good understanding of the defensive alignments which helped his running game in the second half.

He stated the defensive changes on two-deep were out of necessity. Angelo Pruitt‘s career is over due to a genetic issue in his lower leg. The decision to retire was made Monday morning.

Diaco stated that true freshman Luke Carrezola will be an impact player going forward.

He said Boyle played the exact amount of time they wanted him to.

Diaco said the offensive line is a group that needs a lot of mentoring and work.

He stated Andreas Knappe went out there and competed. He liked his hands and how he got to the second level. He needs to work on his footwork.

He reiterated that the team is still in the building phase. They won’t do anything to compromise the building process.

He said the game against USF is a very important game because it’s a conference foe and that the energy needs to be different. It’s an important moment for the seniors.

He talked about Obi Melifonwu and him being the last line of defense, hence why it looked like Obi was involved in every Boise scoring play. He said Obi is physically imposing and talented. In the grand scheme of things, Obi is on track.

He said USF true freshman running back Marlon Mack has elite, home run speed.  The defense needs to give maximum effort to stop him.

He’s looking at the USF road trip as a business trip. He likes that road trips can bring the team together since they are in a closer environment.

He stated that everyone that has participated so far will play going forward.

He was asked about OL Kyle Schafenacker who he said is getting better and is a great teammate. He’s very smart and needs to work on his foot action and bend/flexibility. Doubtful he cracks the two-deep this year.

He said the Florida based players will have lots of friends and family there. He doesn’t want to minimize it though.

Diaco said for the shorter week, he compressed the days. As of Monday, they were back on track.

He is impressed with the group of RBs. He was impressed with Joshua Marriner pass blocking and talked about Ron Johnson‘s beautiful run.

Asked again about USF, he said they have very talented players, a big mauling offensive line, fast at skill positions on offense and in secondary. He also said USF has probably the most talented TEs that UConn will play this year.

He’d like to get the wide receivers more touches. The younger ones all have bright football futures ahead at UConn.

He said Arkeel Newsome was hit before he could even saddle the handoff. He said it’s hard to evaluate that moment because of how the play developed.

He said the defense needs to attack the ball more. They are not an up the field feast or famine defense.

He added that Bryan Paull‘s career is over due to an upper body injury.

With Casey Cochran retiring, Diaco ended things by saying that they will now have to add another quarterback to the mix as they’ll have three on scholarship next year in Boyle, Bryant Shirreffs and recruit Tyler Davis.

We’ll have more before Friday’s game on USF and Cochran, who met with the media on Monday.

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UConn Football links

Video: UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco On Where His Team Is After Three Games [sox & dawgs]

Video: UConn Huskies QB Chandler Whitmer on Coach Casey Cochran [sox & dawgs]

Video: UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco on Reinforcing the Positives [sox & dawgs]

Video: UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco On His Younger Players [sox & dawgs]

UConn Football Depth Chart For South Florida [sox & dawgs]

Report Card: UConn Vs. Boise State [desmond conner – hartford courant]

UConn Football Coach Diaco: You Might Want To Write Something Different… [desmond conner – hartford courant]

Diaco: Pulling back on the O-Line [john silver – sny uconn]

UConn Football Coach Bob Diaco Says Huskies Have Long Way To Go [hartford courant]

Andreas Knappe gets first taste of action with Huskies [new haven register]

UConn Women’s Basketball links

Nurse Thankful For Opportunity To Compete With Team Canada [rich elliott – ct post]

Collier Draws High Praise From Staley [rich elliott – ct post]

UConn’s Stewart, four former Huskies make first of U.S. national team cuts [jim fuller – new haven register]

Taurasi’s late-game brilliance no shocker to UConn’s Auriemma [jim fuller – new haven register]

Nurse has business to take care of before heading to UConn [jim fuller – new haven register]

Nurse soaking up Team Canada experience [ct post]

UConn Freshman Going Against Auriemma’s USA Team [hartford courant]

Incoming freshman Kia Nurse gets some time with current, former Huskies [new haven register]

UConn Men’s Basketball links

Steve Enoch At Big Strick Classic [uconn huskies basketball]

Enoch ends up at UConn, just like he had hoped he would [the day]

Other UConn related links

W. Soccer. Gottwik And Houle Tally Twice In 5-0 Win Over UMass [uconn huskies]

Field Hockey. No. 15 Boston College Tips No. 2 UConn In Shoot-Out [uconn huskies]

W. Tennis. Huskies Impressive in Singles Play at QU Invitational [uconn huskies]

M. Soccer. Three First Half Goals Pace UConn To 3-1 Win Over Seattle [uconn huskies]

M. Tennis. Spreyer and Toner Lead UConn Men’s Tennis at Brown Invite [uconn huskies]

M. Golf. Top 20 Finish For UConn’s Zaback [uconn huskies]

Ahead of Monday’s pregame press conference for the South Florida Bulls game this Friday night, UConn Huskies football coach Bob Diaco has released his two-deep for the game and there are a few changes to it from the one versus Boise State.

Kenton Adeyemi takes overs for Angelo Pruitt as the starter at defensive end.

Cole Ormsby is now listed in “OR” situation at defensive tackle with B.J. McBryde after being the backup to Reuben Frank at defensive end.

Luke Carrezola takes Ormsby’s spot as the backup to Frank at defensive end.

UPDATE: Pruitt was originally on the depth chart as the back up to Ormsby and McBryde and had missed the past two games with a lower leg injury. Diaco announced during his weekly press conference that Pruitt’s playing career is over as he tends to a genetic issue in his leg.

Offense

LT: 71 Richard Levy (RSo., 6-6, 305)
74 Paul Nwokeji (RJr., 6-6, 287)

LG: 65 Gus Cruz (RSr., 6-4, 296)
77 Trey Rutherford (Fr., 6-5, 289)

C: 73 Alex Mateas (RSr., 6-4, 309)
70 Kyle Bockeloh (RSo., 6-3, 284)

RG: 60 Tyler Samra (Jr., 6-2, 288)
63 Ryan Crozier (Fr., 6-4, 297)

RT: 78 Dalton Gifford (RJr., 6-4, 304) OR
53 Andreas Knappe (RSo., 6-8, 300)

TE: 49 Sean McQuillan (RJr., 6-3, 239)
80 Tommy Myers (RFr., 6-5, 238)

WR: 85 Geremy Davis (RSr., 6-3, 216)
8 Thomas Lucas (RFr., 6-2, 198) OR
5 Noel Thomas (So., 6-1, 187)

QB: 10 Chandler Whitmer (RSr., 6-0, 192)
14 Tim Boyle (So., 6-3, 216)
16 Will Rishell (RFr., 5-10, 185)

FB: 34 Jazzmar Clax (RFr., 5-11, 241)
36 Matt Walsh (So., 6-1, 227)

TB: 44 Max DeLorenzo (RJr., 5-11, 210)
26 Joshua Marriner (RFr., 5-9, 193)

WR: 4 Deshon Foxx (Sr., 5-10, 172)
9 Kamal Abrams (RJr., 5-11, 182) OR
1 Dhameer Bradley (So., 5-9, 166)

Defense

DE: 95 Kenton Adeyemi (RJr., 6-4, 268)
93 Folorunso Fatukasi (RFr., 6-4, 307)

NG: 90 Julian Campenni (RJr., 6-0, 299)
92 Mikal Myers (RSo., 6-1, 312)

DT: 97 B.J. McBryde (RSr., 6-5, 304) OR
57 Cole Ormsby (RFr., 6-3, 248)

DE: 47 Reuben Frank (RSr., 6-4, 246)
15 Luke Carrezola (Fr., 6-3, 242)

LB: 46 Marquise Vann (RJr., 6-0, 226)
55 Jon Hicks (RSo., 6-2, 236)

LB: 32 Jefferson Ashiru (RSo., 6-2, 233)
39 Junior Joseph (RFr., 6-1, 242)

LB: 2 Graham Stewart (RJr., 6-1, 227)
10 Cameron Stapleton (RFr., 6-4, 226)

CB: 16 Byron Jones (RSr., 6-1, 196)
7 John Green (RSo., 5-10, 179)

S: 22 Andrew Adams (RJr., 6-0, 197)
28 Jordan Floyd (RSo., 6-0, 206)

S: 20 Obi Melifonwu (RSo., 6-3, 210)
23 Junior Lee (RJr., 6-0, 214) OR
19 Ellis Marder (RSo., 6-1, 193)

CB: 6 Jhavon Williams (RSo., 5-10, 190)
21 Jamar Summers (Fr., 6-0, 180)

Special Teams

K: 17 Bobby Puyol (RSo., 5-10, 174)
94 Chase Briley (Fr., 5-11, 165)

P: 42 Justin Wain (RSo., 6-3, 204)
94 Chase Briley (Fr., 5-11, 165)

HL: 82 Blake Feagles (RFr., 5-10, 205)
42 Justin Wain (RSo., 6-3, 204)

KR: 4 Deshon Foxx (Sr., 5-10, 172)
26 Joshua Marriner (RFr., 5-9, 193)

PR: 4 Deshon Foxx (Sr., 5-10, 172)
18 Brian Lemelle (So., 5-10, 165)

LS: 66 Dominick Manco (RJr., 6-0, 213)
67 Adam Mueller (RSr., 6-1, 212)