Freshman Lineman To Transfer

Football: Former 2-Star Recruit Seeks Education Opportunities At Ivy League School

By: Justin Verrier

Posted: 4/30/08

Playing for one of the most high profile high school football programs in the country, alongside the likes of Florida's Tim Tebow, Danny Russell almost felt obligated to continue his football career at a big-time Division I school.

To this day, people question why the 6-foot-3, 234-pound freshman defensive tackle from Nease High School (Ponte Vedra, Fla.) chose to come to UConn over schools such as Louisville.

But while most people would think playing for a top football school is a dream come true, it's not Russell's dream.

After redshirting his first year in Storrs, the freshman has decided to leave the program and will most likely transfer to Columbia, or possibly Yale after this semester.

"When you're an 18-year-old in high school, you're a senior and you're on this big profile team, people are following you around and there are cameras everywhere, there's this big signing day celebration, you're expected - [when people say], 'Oh, you have Division one offers' - to go with the Division I offers." Russell said. "'You have an offer from a top-25 school, why don't you take it?' I still get asked that today.

"I'm not going to say I made a mistake coming out of high school, but I had the chance to go to Georgetown - they were heavily recruiting me - I could've gone to the Ivy [League]."

UConn coach Randy Edsall could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

While he will continue to play football, Russell, a former two-star prospect coming out of high school, according to Rivals.com, said his new priority is academics and working toward his goal of becoming an investment banker in New York.

"If I had the opportunity to go to the NFL, that would be awesome," he said. "But I have different aspirations."

Russell said he harbors no ill feeling toward the coaching staff personally for the lack of playing time he received. In fact, he recently heard that after his impressive performance in the spring game -- where he recorded a team-high 6.5 tackles (two for a loss) and a sack for the Blue Team (second team defense, first team offense) -- the coaches were thinking about giving him a "few snaps" next season.

But while he still enjoys playing, he said he wants to focus on preparing for things other than football after college.

"[Football's] a business," Russell said. "If you're not in it to play for the NFL, it's kind of hard."

While his parents didn't attend Ivy League schools, education is a "big, big deal" in Russell's household. He said a few of his family members attend colleges such as MIT and Yale.

"I actually can't think of a person in my family that hasn't gone to college," he said. "It's just expected as soon as you get out of high school. I still, myself, expect to go to graduate school."

Russell said he tried to take education into account when choosing a college, using a scale he and some of his high school teammates created to make sure they chose a school that had more than just football.

But since then, Russell's scale has teetered in a new direction.

"Maybe my values have changed a little over college," Russell said. "I love UConn. I love the people here, love my teammates, the coaches are great, the professors have been great … It's not like I hate it here, but it's just different from what I want."

If Russell does transfer into the Ivy League, he won't have to sit out a year because it is a FCS school.

Contact Justin Verrier at

Justin.Verrier@UConn.edu.