UCONN FOOTBALL JOURNAL INQUIRER / THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2018 45 Coaches UCONN FOOTBALL GAMEDAY Just the factoids UConn: Randy Edsall, 77-79 at UConn (3-9 UConn has had seven consecutive losing in ‘17; 74-70 1st stint; 22-34 at Maryland); Opener: No. 21 UCF at UConn seasons, and the conventional wisdom is UCF: Josh Heupel (first year; former this will be the eighth. UCF, which declared Missouri offensive coordinator) 7 p.m.., Pratt & Whitney Stadium, East Hartford itself the 2017 national champion after fin- ishing an unbeaten season by defeating Series TV: ESPNU Radio: ESPN-FM97.9 Auburn (which beat national champ UCF leads 3-2; Knights won 49-28 in 2017 Alabama and runnerup Georgia), is again Line: UCF by 231/2 in Orlando. expected to contend for the AAC East title. UCF When UConn has the ball… When UCF has the ball UCONN The Huskies are on their fourth offensive coordi- Statistically, UConn was one of the nator in the last three seasons but the newest, worst defenses in the nation, allowing BY THE NUMBERS John Dunn, appears to have put together a solid 415 yards and 38 points per game. BY THE NUMBERS (2017 w/returning players only) attack and primed to follow one-and-done coordina- The defense has been revamped, (2017 w/returning players) RUSHING tor Rhett Lashlee’s success last season, when with nine new starters. In addition, RUSHING ATT YDS AVG LNG TD UConn improved to 50th in the nation in total the 3-3-5 defense that coordinator ATT YDS AVG LNG TD Killins 122 790 6.5 96 10 offense from 122nd in 2016. Billy Crocker employed last season Mensah 192 561 4.5 70 4 Milton 106 613 5.8 55 8 has been replaced, with UConn likely Pindell 72 289 4.0 19 3 Anderson 69 494 7.2 65 4 QB David Pindell will start his second straight UCONN 486 1752 3.6 70 17 McGowan 69 235 3.4 29 8 season opener, though he hopes to make it to use a four-man front for long OPPONENTS 447 2221 5.0 65 26 UCF 500 2583 5.2 96 39 through the whole first game this year. All signs are stretches now. OPPONENTS 498 2078 4.2 66 16 that Pindell is much-improved and much more con- As many as five true freshmen could PASSING start for UConn on defense, including COM ATT PCT YDS TD INT PASSING fident. Pindell 84 159 52.8 937 4 6 COM ATT PCT YDS TD INT UConn is rshort on running backs, with one East Hartford’s Kevon Jones at middle UCONN 256 421 60.8 3230 18 11 Milton 265 395 67.1 4037 37 9 transfer (Nate Hopkins) linebacker and New Haven’s Travis OPPONENTS 318 473 67.2 4007 34 6 UCF 287 484 67.7 4313 38 9 Jones at nose tackle. OPPONENTS 261 471 55.4 3485 24 20 and one injury RECEIVING (Donevin O’Reilly) They will face a Herculean test NO. YDS AVG LNG TD RECEIVING thinning those ranks. tonight. UCF averaged a national-best Mayala 43 615 14.3 80 7 NO. YDS AVG LNG TD 48.2 points last season, scoring at Skanes 35 335 9.6 37 1 Snelson 46 1171 19.8 79 13 Redshirt freshman Dixon 33 360 10.9 59 1 Anderson 30 351 11.7 41 3 Zavier Scott will start but least 30 points in each contest. McLean 31 472 15.2 64 2 Davis 27 391 14.5 80 4 Kevin Mensah, UConn’s Quarterback McKenzie Beals 30 266 8.9 47 0 Killins 25 169 6.8 41 3 Milton (inset), the reigning AAC UCONN 256 3230 12.6 80 18 UCF 287 4313 15.0 80 38 leading rusher in 2017, OPPONENTS 318 4007 12.6 95 34 OPPONENTS 261 3485 13.4 86 24 offensive player of the year and will see plenty of action. PUNTING PUNTING UCF had 20 intercep- dark horse Heisman candiate, NO. YDS AVG LNG BLK NO. YDS AVG LNG BLK tions last season, No. 2 threw for 37 touchdowns and Loudermilk 46 1822 39.6 69 0 completed 67.1 percent of his Graham 63 2442 38.8 61 0 in the nation. Although PUNT RETURNS PUNT RETURNS standout cornerback Mike Hughes is passes. NO. YDS AVG LNG TD in the NFL now, the Knights still return Speedy running back Adrian NO. YDS AVG LNG TD UCF 17 250 14.7 66 1 Killins averaged 6.5 yards Skanes 7 41 5.9 18 0 OPPONENTS 6 41 6.8 29 0 plenty of pick-happy defenders. UCONN 10 67 6.7 18 0 per carry in 2017, and also OPPONENTS 17 64 3.8 17 10 KICKOFF RETURNS The Knights are also dealing with the loss of linebacker Shaquem Griffin to has been a weapon on KICKOFF RETURNS NO. YDS AVG LNG TD the NFL. Senior LB Pat Jasinski is kickoff returns. NO. YDS AVG LNG TD Killins 5 75 15.0 19 0 — UCF 36 894 24.8 41 0 back, however, on the heels of a Neill Ostrout Skanes 26 540 20.8 42 0 OPPONENTS 78 1859 20.4 91 1 Buss 10 240 24.0 38 0 105-tackle season. Associated Press UCONN 50 1054 21.1 60 0 INTERCEPTIONS OPPONENTS 22 509 23.1 50 0 UCF: 20 (Gibson 4). OPPONENTS: 9 Starting Lineups INTERCEPTIONS SACKS UCONN: 6 (Coyle 2, Terry 1). OPPONENTS: 11 UCF: 27 OPPONENTS: 13 UCF OFFENSE UCONN OFFENSE SACKS SCORE BY PERIODS WR 5 Dedrick Snelson 6-0 206 Jr. WR 2 Tyraiq Beals 6-0 190 Sr. UCONN: 23 (Beavers 3) OPPONENTS: 35 1 2 3 4 OT PTS WR 16 Tre Nixon 6-2 180 So. WR 1 Hergy Mayala 6-2 203 Sr. UCF 155 198 129 131 14 627 WR 13 Gabriel Davis 6-3 210 So. WR 11 Kyle Buss 6-1 181 So. SCORE BY PERIODS OPPONENTS 68 109 83 62 7 329 TE 86 Michael Colubiale 6-1 223 Sr. LT 74 Ryan Van Demark 6-7 282 So. 1 2 3 4 OT PTS LT 78 Wyatt Miller 6-4 306 Sr. LG 70 Cam DeGeorge 6-6 290 So. UCONN 49 54 91 89 0 283 KICKING OPPONENTS 101 130 106 118 0 455 PAT FG LNG PTS LG 53 Tyler Hudanick 6-2 320 Sr. C 63 Ryan Crozier 6-4 300 Sr. Wright 80-81 13-18 47 119 C 72 Jordan Johnson 6-4 312 Jr. RG 64 Christian Haynes 6-4 295 Fr. KICKING UCF IN THE NATION (2017) RG 65 Cole Schneider 6-3 315 Sr. RT 65 Matt Peart 6-7 301 Jr. PAT FG LNG PTS RT 60 Josh McMullen 6-5 290 Jr. TE 9 Tyler Davis 6-4 243 Jr. Tarbutt 27-29 12-18 53 63 OFFENSE: Total 5th (530.5 yds/g); passing 10th QB 10 McKenzie Milton 5-11 185 Jr. QB 5 David Pindell 6-0 195 Sr. (331.8); rushing 33rd (198.7) RB 9 Adrian Killins 5-8 164 Jr. RB 10 Zavier Scott 6-1 195 Fr. UCONN IN THE NATION (2017) DEFENSE: Total 93rd (427.9); rushing 59th (159.8); OFFENSE: Total 50th (415.2 yds/g); passing 34th passing 115th (268.1) (29.2) rushing 87 (146.0) INDIVIDUAL: Milton, 2nd in passing efficiency, 4th in UCF DEFENSE UCONN DEFENSE DEFENSE: Total 126th (519.0); rushing 86th total offense, 7th in passing yards, 5th in pass DE 10 Titus Davis 6-3 250 Sr. DE 96 James Atkins 6-3 275 So. (185.1); passing 129th (333.9). yards/completion. DT 54 A.J. Wooten 6-5 285 Sr. DT 57 Travis Jones 6-4 350 Fr. DT 91 Joey Connors 6-1 313 Sr. DE 52 Caleb Thomas 6-0 280 Fr. DE 6 Brendon Hayes 6-3 293 Jr. LB 43 Darrian Beavers 6-3 235 So. UCF SLATE SLB 4 Shawn Burgess-Becker 6-2 224 Jr. LB 48 Kevon Jones 6-2 230 Fr. UCONN SLATE MLB 56 Pat Jasinski 6-1 208 Jr. LB 22 Eli Thomas 6-1 218 Jr. Today at UConn , 7 p.m. WLB 12 Eric Mitchell 6-1 187 Jr. H 44 Ian Swenson 6-1 197 Fr. Today UCF, 7 p.m. Sept. 8 So. Carolina State, 6 p.m. CB 14 Nevelle Clarke 6-1 190 Jr. CB 14 Tahj Herring-Wilson 6-1 190 So. Sept. 8 at Boise State, 10:15 p.m. Sept. 15 at North Carolina, Noon CB 20 Brandon Moore 6-0 186 So. S 25 Tyler Coyle 6-1 205 So. Sept. 15 Rhode Island, Noon Sept 21 Florida Atlantic, 7 p.m. FS 27 Richie Grant 6-0 194 So. S 27 Omar Fortt 6-1 189 So. Sept 22 at Syracuse, TBA Sept. 29 Pittsburgh, TBA SS 25 Kyle Gibson 6-0 184 Sr. CB 24 Keyshawn Paul 6-0 170 Fr. Sept. 29 Cincinnati, TBA Oct. 6 SMU, TBA Oct. 6 at Memphis, TBA Oct. 13 at Memphis, Noon UCF SPECIAL TEAMS UCONN SPECIAL TEAMS Oct. 20 at USF Oct. 20 at E. Carolina, TBA K-KO 11 Matthew Wright 6-0 179 Sr. K-KO 40 Michael Tarbutt 6-0 190 Jr. Oct. 27 UMass, TBA Nov. 1 Temple, 7:30 p.m. P-H 48 Mac Loudermilk 6-1 234 Sr. P 99 Luke Magliozzi 6-3 197 Fr. Nov. 3 at Tulsa, TBA Nov. 10 Navy, TBA KR- 9 Adrian Killins 5-8 164 Jr. KR 23 Keyion Dixon 6-3 190 So. Nov. 10 SMU, TBA Nov. 17 Cincinnati, TBA PR PR 18 Kyle Buss 6-1 181 Sr. Nov. 17 at East Carolina, TBA Nov. 23 at South Florida, TBA LS 47 Caleb Perez 6-1 232 Sr. LS 53 Brian Keating 6-0 227 So. Nov. 24 Temple, TBA