UConn trades one experiment for another

By Darrell Laurant  |   Monday, August 25, 2008  |  Comments( 1 )

Connecticut Huskies
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According to the Connecticut press, Greg Lloyd Jr. won the starting middle linebacker spot for the University of Connecticut while he was still on I-95.

Before fall practice even began, Huskies coach Randy Edsall had decided to scrap the experiment of moving safety Dahna Deleston to outside linebacker and OLB Scott Lutrus (a freshman All-American last season) into the middle to replace current Green Bay Packer Danny Lansanah.

Instead, the final verdict was to keep Deleston and Lutrus where they were, and instead plug the middle with Lloyd, a 6-foot-1, 234-pound sophomore who excelled on special teams last season.

Edsall called Lloyd, en route from Clermont, Fla., to give him the news, and Lloyd told the Hartford Courant, "I thought I'd done something wrong."

Not yet. Of course, there will be a learning curve for Lloyd, son of former NFL linebacker Greg Lloyd, at his new position. But his forte is quickness, a quality that enabled him to make 154 tackles as a high school senior.

The middle was his job to lose in August, and he didn't.

"He's a hell of a player," said Lutrus of Lloyd.

Deleston, meanwhile, told reporters, "I'm not upset at all. I can move a lot faster at safety."

If Lloyd is up to the challenge, the move fills what would have been a vacancy in the secondary and leaves UConn with nine returning starters on a defense that could be the second-toughest (behind South Florida) in the Big East.

Lloyd is reportedly estranged from his former Pittsburgh Steeler father, who was once accused of putting a loaded gun in his son's mouth (two hung juries later, the charge was dropped).

That relationship, obviously, is beyond Edsall's control. He just wants his new middle linebacker to play like Greg Lloyd.
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