2020 First Glance Week 4: Indiana Travels East to Face the Connecticut Huskies

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Image: UConn Athletics

Image: UConn Athletics

Written By: Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Week Four: Connecticut Huskies

Date & Time: Saturday, September 26, 2020, Time: TBA

Venue: Rentschler Field, East Hartford, Connecticut

TV: TBA

Huskies at a Glance

Head Coach: Randy Edsall

Entering his 15th year as Connecticut’s Head Coach, 19th year overall

Record at UConn: 80-100

Overall Record: 102-134

Last Season: 2-10 (0-8) Last Place in the AAC

Huskies Returning Leaders

Passing: Jack Zergiotis (150-260 passing (57.7%), 1,782 yards, 9 TDs, 11 INTs)

Rushing: Kevin Mensah (226 rushes, 1,013 yards, 4.5 YPC, 9 TDs)

Receiving: Cameron Ross (60 receptions, 723 yards, 12.1 YPC 4 TDs)

Tackles: LB Omar Fortt (70 tackles, 35 solo, 2.5 TFLs, 1.5 Sacks, 3 PBU’s)

Huskies Preseason Predictions

Athlon: Independent ranked 123rd (3-9)

Lindy’s: 126th nationally

Phil Steele: Not Published

Street & Smith’s: No Prediction

SP+: 126th (3.7 wins)

Impact Newcomers for the Huskies

Alex Wyant, OT

Biggest Questions Facing the 2020 Huskies

1. What is the future of UConn football?

2. There will be improvements, but how much?

Program Preview

The Connecticut Huskies are now an independent after the school left the American Athletic Conference to return to its roots in the Big East, which is not a football conference. There has been a lot of noise surrounding the UConn football program dropping down to the FCS level or even doing away with the program altogether as they are hemorrhaging money. The Huskies finished 2-10 last season and it looks more and more like Randy Edsall will not be able to recapture the magic he had working there in the mid-2000’s.

Offensive Preview

2019 was an abysmal year for the UConn offense as they finished 125th in SP+ and 120th in scoring at 18.9 points per game. The Hoosiers held UConn to just 145 total yards, nine first downs and three points.

The UConn offense will be centered around 1,000-yard rusher Kevin Mensah who was held to just 34 yards on 10 carries against the Hoosiers in 2019. He will probably see his workload increase as there is little behind him. Nathan Carter, a freshman and former two-star recruit, will likely win the backup role.

Quarterback Jack Zergiotis is back after throwing for 1,782 yards and nine touchdowns, but had 11 interceptions and completed just 57.7% of his passes as a freshman. One would have to think that he will improve as a sophomore. The backup quarterback will be Steven Krajewski, a sophomore who played in four games last season and completed 24-of-38 (63.2-percent) passes for 292 yards and three touchdowns. He is a more accurate passer than Zergiotis and could battle for the starting job if Zergiotis doesn’t improve his passing accuracy.

Zergiotis will have one of the better young receivers in the country to throw to in sophomore Cameron Ross. The 5’9” dynamo caught 60 passes for 723 yards and four touchdowns as a true freshman. Fellow sophomore Matt Drayton, who is 6’1”, also had a solid freshman year catching 21 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns. Another sophomore Herron Maurisseau rounds out the starting lineup and has 16 games of experience under his belt. He has 14 career catches for 201 yards and a score. Cameron Hairston (8 catches 168 yards) and Elijah Jefferies (11 catches 143 yards) both bring experience and production to the depth chart while freshman Kevens adds some size at 6’3”. He is a former two-star recruit.

Tight end Jay Rose is back after a solid junior season where he put up 27 ctaches for 261 yards and two scores. Rose is 6’3” and 248-pounds and played in 11 games last season. Behind him is sophomore Jayce Medlock, who is built more like a big wide receiver at 6’2” 225lbs. Medlock made eight catches for 93 yards in 2013.

The offensive line returns just two starters on a unit that allowed 33 sacks and 84 tackles for loss in 2019 which was middle of the pack in the AAC. The lone senior in the two-deep is Ryan Van Denmark at left tackle. The Huskies need JUCO transfer Alex Wyant to be a productive starter.

Defensive Preview

In 2019 the defense was still worse than the offense. UConn was ranked 128th in scoring for the 2019 and 124th in SP+, which was up two spots from 130th in 2018 when they couldn’t be ranked any lower. The Huskies only registered 19 sacks and 47 tackles for loss in 12 games.

The good news for UConn is that they return 10 of their 11 starters from the 2019 defense including four seniors and five juniors. Experience should help the Huskies climb out of the basement of the defensive rankings. UConn returns nine of their top 10 tacklers from a year ago.

The entire front seven is back in 2020. The defensive line is led junior Kevon Jones at defensive tackle. Jones made 40 tackles including 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks in 2019. Dillion Harris will be at the other end position after moving from linebacker to add speed to the position. Travis Jones (6’4” 336lbs) and Caleb Thomas (6’ 287 lbs) clog up the middle at the defensive tackle positions.

The linebacking group is led by seniors DJ Morgan and Omar Fortt. Fort is the team’s leading returning tackler and Morgan led the team with seven tackles for loss. The middle linebacker in UConn’s 4-3 scheme is Jackson Mitchell who posted 65 tackles and two tackles for loss as a freshman. Ian Swenson, a junior who started in 2019, will be a key reserve in 2020.

The secondary will have to replace two starters from a year ago, but return free safety Diamond Harrell who led the team in interceptions while playing in only eight games. Robert King III will take over the strong safety duties after posting 59 tackles in nine games last season. He also broke up three passes. On the corners will be juniors Keyshawn Paul and Jeremy Lucien. They combined for just three pass break ups in 2019.

Special Teams Preview

UConn ranked 109th in special teams SP+ which is the best of their three units. Place kicker Clayton Harris hit only 10-of-16 field goals as a freshman in 2019, and he could be pushed by Noah Iden for the job. Iden was used on kickoffs 14 times and had only two touchbacks. Junior Luke Magliozzi is back after averaging 42.4 yards per punt.

The return game may get a boost with Cameron Ross returning both punts and kicks after losing both main returners from 2019. The Huskies are looking to get the ball in his hands as much as possible.