Images courtesy of Ian Bethune

By Aman Kidwai
NEFJ Correspondent

Last preseason, many analysts and commenters were (fairly) questioning if UConn football could even compete at the FBS level — the Vegas over/under for wins was 2.5 last August. This year, they’re wondering if a Power 5 invite is coming and how the Huskies can build on a bowl appearance in Jim Mora’s first year.

“The standards are much higher,” linebacker Jackson Mitchell said. “We expect to improve on what we did last year.”

It looked like a minor miracle for Mora and his staff to coax six wins out of a roster that was decimated by defections during the Randy Edsall regime and also hit with an unfortunate slew of injuries last fall that particularly hurt the offense. Their wins over Boston College, Liberty, and Fresno State represent a foundation that they can build on.

UConn has a difficult 2023 slate ahead, however, and also lost a handful of key players to transfer, including RB Nate Carter to Michigan State, WR Aaron Turner to Cincinnati, and WR Keelan Marion to BYU, though Carter and Marion didn’t play most of last season.

The Huskies open with NC State on Thursday, August 31st, then visit Georgia State before hosting a Duke team two weeks later that won eight games last year. They also have road games at Tennessee and James Madison, two of the best teams in their respective conferences, with a visit to Boston College before that. A lot of the remaining games—a road trip to Rice, home dates with Utah State and South Florida—will be a coin-flip at best.

“Going into NC State Week One, we know what they did to us last year so that’s something we wanna show that we can improve on,” Mitchell said, pointing out that last year they got revenge on Fresno State, which had beaten them pretty badly the year before. “6-6 and Myrtle Beach Bowl isn’t exactly what we want for our program.”

Offensively, the Huskies were the 126th-ranked team (out of 131) in the 2022 F+ Ratings and the defense was ranked 108th. Both units have a lot to work on, but are bolstered by a wave of depth via transfer.

In 2023, UConn could be a better team than it was in 2022 but still not win as many games.

“There’s a lot more confidence going into this season,” Mitchell said. “We know we can win games now. We can come out here, play a little more free.”

Camp Notes

-Mora emphasized that the quarterbacks are in an open competition. “It’s anything but clear-cut,” he said. “It’s a very healthy competition.”

-After watching Maine transfer Joseph Fagnano in the first open practice, it’s clear he has a big arm and the ability to push Ta’Quan Roberson, last year’s opening-day starter who transferred over from Penn State, and Zion Turner, the Florida product who started 12 games as a true freshman. Whoever ends up the backup will also have pressure from a talented third-stringer.“You’d love it to be clear-cut. Hopefully as we go through the next two to three weeks it gets more defined for us,” Mora said.

-At running back, Mora revealed his depth chart, which has Devontae Houston and Brian Brewton on top and Victor Rosa third. All three made contributions last year and should factor into a committee, but lots of playing time is also open for guys like Camryn Edwards, a sophomore from Norwalk, and Louisville transfer Jalen Mitchell. “We ran the ball well [last year],” Mora said, adding that a key to offensive improvement this year will be getting better in the passing game.

-Transfers are also expected to make an impact at receiver, where Brett Buckman and James Burns arrive after productive runs at FCS programs Delaware and Austin Peay, respectively. Cam Ross’ return from injury was a welcome sight for UConn as well. Also expect tight end Justin Joly to pick up where he left off after a productive freshman year and maybe have a few other options alongside him at the position, including transfers Alexander Honig and Louis Hansen, from TCU and Michigan, respectively. Bo Estes, a juco transfer, has also been involved.

-Four starters return on the offensive line, which was one of the most impressive turnaround jobs last year, going from struggling to competent in 2022. This group includes All-American guard Christian Haynes. “We brung back a lot of guys, and I feel like we’re very comfortable with each other,” Haynes said. “Anybody can be that fifth guy, there’s going to be a lot of competition [for the fifth spot].” He added that among the younger guys, Alabama transfer Dayne Shor has been impressive early. “He’s been really improved from spring to now.”

-Defensively, LB Ian Swenson is out of eligibility but the star Mitchell returns and a lot of transfer help promises to improve the Huskies depth at all three levels. “Last year, sometimes we struggled with depth at multiple positions, next year maybe we can rotate guys in, stay a little more fresh,” Mitchell said.

-Mora is handling defensive coordinator duties after Lou Spanos, a former coordinator for Mora at UCLA and UConn’s interim head coach in 2021 after Edsall’s mid-season departure, left right before the 2022 season began. They have not backfilled the position on staff. Last year was tough, we didn’t get a full offseason to work together [in that configuration]. This year they did, so I think it’s gonna be a lot smoother for us,” Mitchell said.

-A lot is changing in the world of college sports with realignment, NIL, the transfer portal, and relaxed transfer rules, but Mora does feel that recruiting has gone better over the last year and that his program’s in good position. “Our ability to attract the eyes and ears of better players is certainly enhanced this year,” he said, though he said he still loses battles to P5 programs with recruits who say they like everything else about UConn.

-Whether the Huskies will have a Power 5 program any time soon is anyone’s guess, but it’s certainly something that would supercharge Mora’s rebuilding effort.“When I look at it as a football coach, of course we want to be in the Power 5,” he said. “If we get that opportunity you gotta take it…we’d all look back in a few years and every sport would benefit from it.”