2010 season preview

This is a personnel-oriented look at the season's opponents. The game-week previews will be more matchup based. Last year's stats are presented with projected starters in bold and departed players in italics.

Quarterback

UConn's QB situation was fluid last year, with both opening day starter Zach Frazer (formerly of Notre Dame) and Cody Endres going down with injuries during the year. Though Endres's final stats were far more impressive, Frazer's strong run to end the year saw him named the starter for spring. Both guys are experienced (Frazer's in his fifthth year, Endres is a redshirt junior) and battle-tested.

UConn QBs 2009
Name	Comp	Att	%	Yds	Yds/Att	TD	Int
Zach Frazer	116	218	53.21	1461	6.70	10	9
Cody Endres	98	154	63.64	1461	8.79	6	4

UConn QBs Rushing 2009
Name	Att	Yds	Yds/Att	TD
Zach Frazer	17	-28	-1.65	0
Cody Endres	17	-97	-5.71	0

As you can see, both are pure pocket guys. Frazer may be experienced but he looks like one of the less threatening QBs Michigan will go up against. A comparable from last year: Frazer was 12 of 25 for 141 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT against the Notre Dame team that Forcier shredded (23/23, 240 yards, 2 TD, 1 INT, 70 rushing yards).

Running Back

Jordan Todman and Andre Dixon split carries last year, with Todman having slightly more success. Both earned secondteam all-conference honors. Todman's back this year as a junior. Dixon has departed. With little experience behind him, Todman should get the lion's share of the carries. Robbie Frey should get a few touches himself, as he's shown his speed on kickoff returns and a 54-yard TD run against Rhode Island last year.

UConn RBs 2009
Name	Att	Yds	Yds/Att	TD
Jordan Todman	235	1188	5.06	14
Andre Dixon	239	1093	4.57	14
Robbie Frey	5	69	13.80	2
Anthony Sherman (FB)	1	3	3.00	0

UConn did pick up USC transfer DJ Shoemate, who is immediately eligible and may get a dozen carries as a power back. UConn runs it a lot: last year almost 60% of their plays were on the ground.

Wide Receivers

UConn returns the vast majority of its receiving corps, but loses the top two performers in Marcus Easley and Brad Kanuch. Easley had an outstanding senior year, and was responsible for a ton of the success Connecticut QBs had - which helped him go in the fourth round of the NFL Draft. Kashif Moore will probably replace him as the team's deep threat, but his loss should be substantial. If there's to be a significant step back from UConn's offense, it will probably be because they can't stretch the field as well as last year.

UConn WRs 2009
Name	Rec	Yds	Yds/Rec	TD
Marcus Easley	48	893	18.60	8
Brad Kanuch	27	325	12.08	1
Isaiah Moore	24	286	11.92	1
Ryan Griffin (TE)	23	272	11.83	0
Kashif Moore	22	370	16.82	3
Michael Smith	15	170	11.33	0
Dwayne Difton	8	45	5.63	0
Mike Lang	2	58	29.00	1
Nick Williams	2	18	9.00	0

UConn WRs Rushing 2009
Name	Att	Yds	Yds/Att	TD
Kashif Moore	5	24	4.80	0
Marcus Easley	1	11	11.00	0

Offensive Line

UConn's offensive line returns intact except for the tackles, depending on whether you consider LT Dan Ryan a starter (he started the first few games for UConn before going down with injury). The Huskies were 39th in rushing last year and improved over the year with some lineup changes, but were only 64th—essentially average—in YPC. They were 45th in sacks allowed.

The interior of the line should be impressive. The starters, from left to right, should be mostly the same as last year, going Mike Ryan—Olivier or Kuraczea—Petrus—Hurd—Masters. Zach Hurd was first team All-Big East last year.

Defensive Line

Lindsey Witten was by far UConn's best player in the front four, racking up as many sacks as the rest of his linemates combined and earning first team All-Conference honors. He's gone, but sophomore Trevardo Williams should be ready to step into a starting role. Sophomore Jesse Joseph returns as the other bookend. In the middle, redshirt juniors Kendall Reyes and Tywon Martin return. UConn's rushing defense was slightly above average last year, and it should improve this season with their line starters maturing into upperclassmen.

For the record, they held mobile quarterbacks (Boo Jackson of Ohio, Robert Griffin of Baylor, Jarrett Brown of West Virginia depending on how you classify him) to meager rushing totals early in the year, but Zach Collaros of Cincy and BJ Daniels of South Florida had decent (or ridiculous, in the case of Collaros) days against them. Season-long fatigue? Opponents seeing something on film?

UConn Defensive Line 2009
Name	Tack	TFL	Sack	Int
Lindsey Witten	45	13	11.5	0
Jesse Joseph	38	5	3.5	0
Kendall Reyes	37	6	3	0
Tywon Martin	36	8.5	3.5	1
Trevardo Williams	19	2.5	2	0
Brandon Dillon	7	1	0	0
Alex Polito	6	0	0	0
AJ Portee	1	0	0	0

Linebacker

Senior Greg Lloyd is considered a DE on the spring roster, though he started last season at MLB before getting injured at the end of the year (he missed the final two games, but still made second team all-conference ). He may step up into the DE role vacated by Witten, allowing others to step up. Scott Lutrus moved from strongside linebacker to middle linebacker in Lloyd's absence, and will start spring of his redshirt senior year in the middle. Lawrence Wilson led the team in tackles from his weakside spot, and returns as a redshirt senior. He was first Team All Big East. Jory Johnson started at strongside backer when Lutrus moved, and will probably start there.

UConn Linebackers 2009
Name	Tack	TFL	Sack
Lawrence Wilson	140	11	5
Greg Lloyd	91	8	1
Scott Lutrus	69	5.5	3.5
Jory Johnson	28	5	0
Mike Cox (DE)	10	0	0
Kijuan Dabney	7	0	0
Sio Moore	6	1	0
Greg Robinson	2	0	0
Jerome Williams	1	0	0

Defensive Backs

The Huskies were subpar in pass defense (#85 in efficiency, #88 in yardage), but what do you expect when they're dealing with the untimely death of one of their best DBs halfway through the year? Sophomore safety Jerome Junior returns, as does redshirt sophomore corner and tongue-twister Blidi Wreh-Wilson. Classmate Dwayne Gratz will probably step into the starting role vacated by Robert McClain (a second-team all-conference selection, drafted in the 7th round of the NFL draft), and redshirt junior Harris Agbor will probably start at the other safety spot.

UConn Defensive Backs 2009
Name	Tack	TFL	Sack	TD
Robert McClain	64	11	5	8
Robert Vaughn	63	8	1	1
Jerome Junior	48	5.5	3.5	1
Blidi Wreh-Wilson	40	5	0	0
Jasper Howard	35	0	0	3
Dwayne Gratz	20	0	0	0
Aaron Bagsby	19	1	0	0
Harris Agbor	3	0	0	1
Jonathan Jean-Louis (RB)	3	0	0	0
Gary Wilburn	3	11	5	8

Et Cetera

MGoUser lfj75 put together a diary looking at UConn's performance against spread offenses last year. The takeaway: UConn was shredded on the ground by spread offenses (Baylor, WVU, Cincinnati, and South Florida) and excellent against conventional teams. Some of that has to do with the opposition. Other than Pitt all the conventional rushing attacks on the schedule are terrible. Meanwhile, Dion Lewis and his backup combined to average 6.6. YPC on 32 attempts. Since all the good rushing teams on UConn's schedule put up big numbers, the moral of the story may be that UConn's rush defense (45th nationally) is a mirage based on poor competition.