After being redshirted last year, quarterback Billy Cundiff took his first snap in a Husky jersey Saturday at the first scrimmage this spring season. Cundiff currently looks to be third in line for the starting job next fall, behind D.J. Hernandez and Matt Bonislawski, but he will have many eyes on him nonetheless.
"I just have to live up to my potential," Cundiff said, after hearing talk about him possibly being the next big thing at UConn.
Cundiff came to UConn from Green High School in Uniontown, Ohio where he was named first team all-league for three seasons in high school and first-team all district as a junior. During his senior season he suffered an ankle injury that cut his season short, but he still received second team all-state honors. He threw for a total of 3,337 yards during his four years with 42 touchdowns while completing more than 53 percent of his passes.
During the practice Cundiff saw more snaps because Bonislawski had soreness in his shoulder and head coach Randy Edsall decided to allow the other quarterbacks to get more snaps rather than injuring Bonislawski more.
When Cundiff took his first snap of the practice, rookie jitters could be seen, and Cundiff fumbled the snap. On the next play Cundiff threw to wide receiver Brandon Young, but cornerback Ernest Cole welcomed Cundiff to the gameday situation by intercepting Cundiff's inaugural pass.
Edsall, without being phased by the interception, had Cundiff and the offense lineup again to get it right. After another failed play, Cundiff finally got a completion when he completed a 40-yard bomb to Robert Theoudele, but that pass would be the lone highlight of the drive.
"I realized I could get a lot bigger and use that to work this year," Cundiff said about his weightlifting work done while he was a redshirt.
After two more drives by Hernandez, Cundiff got another chance and led a nice drive down the field that got capped off with a 25 yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Ellis Gaulden.
Then after a couple more shaky series, and swapping snaps with Hernandez and red shirted Denis Brown, Cundiff showed his accuracy during his second to last series by hitting Theoudele again for a 35 yard touchdown pass. On his next series he made another mistake and threw an interception to cornerback Terry Baltimore. That pass would close out the scrimmage for Cundiff, but he saw it as a learning experience.
"With every practice I get better," Cundiff said.
Edsall said he still believes it's too early to make any real comment on any of the players this spring, but he still thought it was good that he finally got to see Cundiff. Any mistakes Cundiff does make, Edsall knows he will learn from them and work hard to get better.
"I've got to work a lot harder now and in the summer," Cundiff said. "I'm still getting bigger and faster so anything can happen."
Be the first to comment on this article!