Tuesday Practice News And Notes Including The Return Of Quarterback Scott McCummings

What’s goin on?

Let’s get at it….

We got to speak with reserve sophomore – No.1 wildcat – QB Scott McCummings today.

The Courant first reported he rejoined the Huskies over the weekend after being excused from camp for personal reasons by head coach Paul Pasqualoni.

“I was at home dealing with some problems with the family and stuff…It was pretty..I don’t know I don’t really want to get into it but coach Pasqualoni was very understanding, let me come back and it feels good to be back,” McCummings said after practice Tuesday

The 6 foo2 McCummings looked a tad lighter than the 224 pounds he carried last year but Pasqualoni said he thinks McCummings looks great and is great shape.

McCummings ran the ball well. Thats’s always there given how big McCummings is but he was off on some of his passes (not the deep ones). Some required touch and he didn’t have it on a couple throws. He’s got time to straighten that out but accuracy is something McCummings, as he will tell you, is something he’s always striving to get better at.

Right now, it’s not the only things because of the time he’s missed.

“Sometimes I feel great, sometimes I feel terrible,” McCummings said smiling. “Today was probably one of the hardest days working on protection stuff because that’s the most mental aspect of the game and just focusing on that, focusing on footwork, focusing on accuracy, focusing on coverage recognition, all the things a quarterback needs to process just like that (McCummings snaps his fingers) it’s going to take some getting used to again.”

Lastly on McCummings, because the young man wasn’t at camp to start, didn’t mean he was leaving the program. There were doubts that the young man was returning although the head coach gave an explanation of where the young man was and there was no indications anywhere that McCummings was leaving – just talk.

Anyway, let’s hear McCummings on the transfer or leaving the program business.

“I love football but first and foremost I’m here to get an education, you know?” McCummings said. “I’m here to get my degree. I hadn’t considered leaving here at all. I’m ecstatic, happy I get to play on the field. I love the experience. It’s a great aspect to the whole college experience but my main focus in college is to get my degree.”

Moving on…

Pasqualoni on the hiring of Connecticut native Mike Aresco as Big East commissioner.

“Mike is a tremendous guy, very, very knowledgeable. I think he’s got real passion and energy for what he does. He does great, very bright, very, very energetic. He’s been in the college football industry a long time. I think it’s a great hire.”

On the injury/personnel front…

Still no timetable for the return of junior defensive tackle Shamar Stephen.

“He’s making progress…we’re optimistic,” Pasqualoni said.

- Junior guard/center Tyler Bullock had his left foot in a boot.

“He’s coming along pretty quick,” Pasqualoni said.

Freshman defensive end E.J. Norris (elbow) was in full pads but wearing the medical jersey with the red cross meaning he’s very limited in what he can do. WR Shakim Phillips, LB Ryan Donohue, DT Angelo Pruitt and DE Jesse Joseph were among the yellow jersey wearers, too but they all had the green cross meaning they could go hard with minor limitations.

Sophomore fullback Mike Osiecki of Seymour wasn’t at practice Tuesday.

“I gave Mike permission to go home for a couple days,” Pasqualoni said. “He wanted to go home and just settle down and just think about what he’s doing and being here and football…he was having a good camp. So, I told him to go home, relax for a couple of days and we’ll go from there…We like Mike. He’s a great kid, like his family. We’ll see. I want to do what he wants to do so whatever he wants to do I’m here to help him.”

We saw some position flips, primarily on the defensive line none of which Pasqualoni was not going to talk about in detail, probably won’t and asked that we not get into for obvious reasons. I can respect that until the season starts. It’ll be obvious then if we see them or perhaps will be told if changes are imminent in any event we’re about 16 days away from the season opener.

Anyway, here’s Pasqualoni on the position flipping…

“Our philosophy is, we want everybody up front to be able to play every position,” Pasqualoni said. “You guys know last year Twyon Martin could play all four (defensive line positions), Kendall Reyes could play all four. So we pick days where guys just play, move around and play different spots just so that if something happens we’ve got a limited number of guys on the travel squad you’ve got to be able to play.”

- New 6 foot 9 Husky, Pasqualoni said, is coming along well. He didn’t want to say if he’d be ready to go Game 1 just yet.

- Redshirt freshman David Stevenson is battling for the fourth cornerback spot behind Blidi Wreh-Wilson, Dwayne Gratz and what appears to be Taylor Mack, however, Pasqualoni mentioned freshman Ellis Marder as a speedy player who is listed as a safety but is versatile enough to play cornerback as well.

- plays/action

Best play of the day? For those who were at practice today would you agree Deshonn Foxx’s one-hand grab of Johnny McEntee pass deep down the middle was it?

Great play by the athletic and speedy Foxx but what wonders if he could have been able to haul a pass in like that on a rope. McEntee floated that puppy out there which was the way to go there.

- Freshman tailback Joe Williams shot through a pile of players seemingly untouched. When he got touched the ball came loose.

- Was really – really – impressed with the offensive today. You know, these practices go until about 5:30. At about 5, Pasqualoni, offensive line coach George DeLeone and defensive line/assistant head coach hank Hughes the offensive and defensive lines headed up to a corner of the fields behind Memorial Stadium and went at it in one-on-one drills, another called “twister” when they send two D lineman against one side of the line trying get through by twisting, stunting, whatever. It gets rough and it gets heated and the coaches are bellowing at the top of their lungs for the action to kick until the play is over. It was exciting to watch. The offensive line held it’s own. DE Trevardo Williams and DT Ryan Wirth really were fits to contain though.

The first line good but I thought 6-6 junior right tackle Kevin Friend was outstanding all day, particularly in those drills. And his footwork? All the offensive linemen’s footwork, especially the first unit, was very good.

These guys are coming along.

“I think us brawling right now is going to make us feel a lot more comfortable when the season starts,” Friend said.

Think about how fortunate this offensive line is in that it gets to see one of the nation’s sack leaders every day in Trevardo Williams, a 6-9 defensive lineman in Andreas Knappe, a 6-5 defensive end in Teddy Jennings and a 5-11, 281-pound whirling dynamo in tackle Julian Campenni.

“There isn’t going to be a standard or prototype guy you’re going to see out there,” Friend said. “Every team has their mixes and matches. We have a lot of variety and I think that’s going to help us, too.”

Visitors

Shout out to Lisa and Dan Lowry and DE Kenton Adeyemi’s dad and also Nick Williams’ parents. Oh, my friend UConnBob was there, too…

Special shout out to former UConn quarterback Shane Stafford who was at practice and former running back Andre Dixon who will be joinging the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the UFL again, still following his dream of making it to the NFL and as always we wish Dre the best there.

Peace

DC

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