QB Job Open Competiton For '07 Season

After the Huskies' 48-17 loss at Louisville to close the season Saturday afternoon, head coach Randy Edsall wasted no time in wrapping up the year and looking ahead to the future.

"The 2007 season started today," Edsall proclaimed in a conference call Sunday.

Although UConn, who finished the year at 4-8, saw chances to become bowl eligible slip away down the stretch, Edsall remained focused on the fact that there are still several positives that emerged from the losing season.

"It was a trying season," he said. "It was a disappointing season in terms of wins and losses, but I think we established some things this year with the number of young people we played."

Perhaps Edsall's biggest announcement was that the quarterback position is completely open at this point.

"To me, the quarterback position is wide open," Edsall said. "It's a wide open job. I think that's going to be very healthy. I thought we would be a little bit better and have a little more production [this season]."

D.J. Hernandez, who was given the position after summer workouts, started just six of the team's 12 games, with senior Matt Bonislawski taking over in the Huskies' other six contests. The competition is expected to include Hernandez and will also see Dennis Brown, who started one game last season as a true freshman but redshirted this year, will return to try to claim the position.

Edsall may potentially look outside the program for a starter as well. Cody Endres, a quarterback from Trinity High School in Washington, Penn., has verbally committed to the Huskies and could be given a look. Potential quarterbacks also include Tyler Lorenzen or Billy Bob Orsagh, both of whom won honors playing at community colleges last season, or Cameron Ely or Kirk Cousins, a pair of high school signal callers. Edsall has said he plans to sign two quarterbacks as part of the incoming class.

One lesson the coaching staff will take out of this season was that there were several young players - six true freshmen and 11 redshirt freshmen saw action this year - who now have game experience. Much was made of wide receivers Terence Jeffers and Brad Kanuch, both true freshmen whom Edsall turned to for the first time against South Florida Oct. 7, and Donald Brown, a redshirt freshman who stepped in after running back Terry Caulley got hurt before the Huskies' game at Rutgers Oct. 29. The offensive line also saw a position crunch as nine players - three freshmen - made an appearance during the season.

"The guys that we ended up having to use at the end that we didn't think we would use would have been Robert McClain and Robert Vaughn," Edsall said. "The other guys, I think we would have used regardless. It's those two I think we ended up playing because of the numbers situation that we were in."

The head coach also said he has talked to individual players about position changes for next season but declined to say who would be moving around. The Huskies had a team meeting Sunday afternoon and Edsall plans to talk to each and every player at some point before spring practice - preferably before break, he said - but was already happy with what he saw from the players just a day after suffering a season-ending loss. Several were already working out in the weight room in the Burton Complex Sunday.

"They have to prepare for finals," he said, "but the weight room is open to them to lift all this week, and next week is finals, and it wouldn't surprise me to see guys in here just throwing the ball around and doing some things in here within the next two weeks."