UConn’s Edsall returns, along with most of his offense

By Darrell Laurant  |   Monday, January 21, 2008  |  Comments( 0 )

Connecticut Huskies
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Second in a series on Big East football teams and the 2007 season.

UNIVERSITY OF CONNECTICUT HUSKIES.

RECORD: 9-4, 5-2.

BOWL RECORD: Lost 24-10 to Wake Forest in the Meinecke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte, N.C.

HIGH POINTS: A 38-19 victory over Rutgers; a 21-17 defeat of Louisville at Homecoming.

LOW POINTS: Losing three of their last four -- a 27-3 loss to Cincinnati, a 66-21 drubbing at the hands of West Virginia and the bowl defeat.

MAJOR LOSSES: DT Dan Davis, LB Danny Lansanah, DB Tyvon Branch, OG Donald Thomas, KR Larry Taylor.

KEY RETURNEES: QB Tyler Lorenzon; RBs Donald Brown and Andre Dixon; WRs Terrence Jeffers and D.J. Hernandez; five offensive line starters, safeties Dahna Deleston and Robert Vaughan, LBs Scott Lutrus and Lawrence Wilson; DE Julius Williams.

OUTLOOK: Randy Edsall is no dummy.

After years of coaching on both the college and pro level, he knows that his job is often a lot like blackjack -- the ideal situation is to take a downtrodden team and build it up. And up, and up, until you decide that it's not going any higher. Then you bail for another upwardly mobile program.

Certainly, Edsall feels a lot of love and loyalty to the University of Connecticut program that he has nurtured from -- and even before -- its Division I-AA origins in 2002. But he still felt a pull to a couple of storied schools down on their luck -- Georgia Tech and Syracuse -- before deciding to return to UConn for a five-year deal.

The Huskies were good last season, finishing 9-4 and going to a bowl. But they could be even better in 2008.

On offense, the Huskies return 6-foot-5 quarterback Tyler Lorenzon, a rising senior and juco product who progressed nicely in his first season; leading rushers Andre Dixon and Donald Brown, their top two tight ends and five starters off a young and improving offensive line. Sweet.

The defense will be a bit more problematic with the loss of Branch, Davis and Lasanah -- all potential pros -- but 2007 freshmen Scott Lufrus and Lawrence Wilson learned a lot as rookie linebacker starters bracketing Lansanah (who should be replaced by rising junior Aaron Bryant), and Vaughan and Deleston will anchor the secondary.

The Big East will be fiercely competitive next season, with UConn, Cincinnati and South Florida all striving to topple West Virginia.
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