Kendall Reyes tries to get by the offensive line against Virginia on Sept. 13.

Reyes making the switch, getting the start

By: Kevin Duffy

Posted: 11/19/08

Redshirt freshmen Kendall Reyes and Twyon Martin are in and veterans Rob Lunn and Alex Polito are out.

Prior to last week, Lunn, a senior, and Polito, a redshirt sophomore, manned the starting defensive tackle positions, but that changed prior to UConn's 39-14 win over Syracuse Saturday when coach Randy Edsall inserted the two youngsters - who were roommates last season - into the starting line-up.

Reyes, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound converted defensive end, and Martin, a 6-foot-3 270-pound defensive tackle, knew this day would come eventually - but not this soon.

"Once I moved to defensive tackle I was like 'Yeah man, it's going to be me and you on the inside someday,'" Reyes said. "I guess it happened earlier than expected."

Once buried on the depth chart behind defensive ends Cody Brown, Julius Williams, Lindsey Witten and Marcus Campbell, Reyes wasn't exactly excited about his initial move inside, even though it would give him the chance to earn more playing time.

"When he first moved in there, he would always complain and nag," Martin said. "He would always complain about double-teams because at [defensive] end, you rarely ever face a double-team. When you're in the trenches at tackle, you face it a lot."

Coach Randy Edsall echoed Martin's sentiments.

"I think Kendall always envisioned himself as a defensive end," Edsall said. "I think he can be a better tackle than he was end and he's slowly starting to realize that."

Williams, the senior defensive end whom Reyes backed-up from spring practice to early in the season, knew Reyes was a special athlete from the minute he signed with UConn.

"We watched his tape from high school and he returned a kickoff for a touchdown," Williams said. "I was like 'Is this guy really a defensive end?'"

In fact, at that time - he wasn't. Reyes said he weighed 220 pounds as a senior at Nassua High School (N.H.) and played anywhere from wide receiver to safety.

Martin, on the other hand, has been in the trenches his whole life. His experience at defensive tackle helped ease the transition for Reyes.

"I told him to stay low, stay stout and be explosive," Martin said. "He's doing a good job already. Both me and him have a lot of stuff to work on, but we're only going to get better."

Butler on the road to recovery

When he first went down, Darius Butler thought his career was over.

"It was upsetting knowing I couldn't get up," Butler said. "I wasn't even thinking about that game, but the rest of the season. Just thinking that my career was going to end when I was on the bench - they told me how long I was going to be out - it was tough."

Butler soon found out that the awkward twist his knee made while blocking on a kick-off return in the third quarter versus West Virginia caused ligament damage to his left knee and would keep him out at least 4-6 weeks.

Butler, who joked that he would want to be out there for Sunday's South Florida game, said a return for a Dec. 6 season-closer against Pittsburgh or a bowl game was a more realistic possibility.

Instead of wasting time and feeling sorry for himself, Butler bought into the rehab right away and has made vast improvements since the injury occurred 17 days ago.

"I was blessed that it wasn't an ACL or a broken bone," Butler said. "I had pretty successful career in college. I played a lot more games than most people played. I kind of looked at the cup half-full and I still have a career left in me to play, so I feel kind of lucky, actually."

That career, of course, is in the NFL - a league that most scouts envision Butler playing in next season. The 5-foot-11, 185-pound cornerback was at one time ranked as ESPN's Mel Kiper Jr. No. 12 available prospect for the 2009 NFL Draft. Since the injury, he's fallen off Kiper's "Big Board," but he still projects as Kiper's No. 3 overall cornerback, a ranking that should earn him, at worst, a second-round pick. Butler isn't the least bit concerned about risking his potential pro career by coming back for next week's match-up with Pitt, however.

"I talk to guys in the NFL all the time, Tyvon [Branch], Danny [Lansanah], Donald [Thomas]," Butler said. "They all say there's nothing like college football, man. These are your brothers out here."