It’s rare to have a senior day just as a program is kicking off the final third of the season, but with the BC game, originally scheduled to take place at The Rent for the first time since 2003, moved to Boston, the last home game of the year will take place on the very first weekend in November. On Tuesday, UConn head coach Randy Edsall noted that several players will graduate and not take in their final year with the program.

“There’s a couple that we’ll be honoring that weren’t listed as seniors, but they completed their eligibility and they will be moving on,” Edsall said. “[RB] Jason Thompson is one. I love being around that kid, he’s something special. He really gives you everything he has. Brad Westmark is one, Dan Oak and Anthony Watkins, those guys will be recognized along with all the other guys that are listed as seniors. That will be a nice honor for them prior to the game.”

With Thompson, who is a member of the leadership council implemented by Edsall in the summer, it’s clear he’s made a positive impression.

“You could just see when I first got here how hard of a worker he was and how much pride he had in doing things the right way,” Edsall said. “His position group selected him as the leader of that group. When you watch the kid go out and practice, he just goes hard every play and gives everything he has, whether it’s practice or it’s the game, that’s what you want from everybody. He sets a great example for not only his position group, but for his unit and the team. Earlier this season, he had to go down and do some work on the scout team and he just went out and did his job, but was still always prepared to go in and play.”

“So that’s a guy you know you can depend on,” he continued. “He’s reliable and he’s going to be very successful at whatever he does. He goes in there and he has productivity when he’s in there. We put him on a couple special teams just because you knew he’d go in and get the job done. He’s a really good kid, a good leader, has his priorities in line and gives it everything he has each and every day. He’s been a joy to be around. He came in and asked me for a recommendation for grad school and without a doubt you want to recommend some guy like that because to me, he’s one of those special type of young men. He has everything you are looking for.”

The four will be joined by twenty seniors, including the injured E.J. Levenberry, who suffered a torn ACL back in the spring. The entire senior class also includes: Alec Bloom (TE), Luke Carrezola (DE), Vontae Diggs (LB), Steve Hashemi (OL), Brice McAllister (S), Arkeel Newsome (RB), Trey Rutherford (OL), Jamar Summers (CB), Tre Bell (CB), Foley Fatukasi (DL), Tommy Hopkins (OL), Junior Joseph (LB), Tommy Myers (TE), Cole Ormsby (DE), Will Rishell (K), Kyle Schafenacker (OL), Bryant Shirreffs (QB), Cam Stapleton (LB/DE) and Brendan Vechery (OL).

Edsall shared his message with the leadership council and how their efforts throughout 2017 are the groundwork for future success with this program.

“I told them that maybe you guys may not be able to reap all the benefits that you would have liked to, but I hope you take some satisfaction in developing the culture that sets this program up for where we want to go,” Edsall said. “These guys, just like when I first got here, some of those early guys, they are more important and special because of them laying the ground work and they weren’t able to reap all those benefits that those guys did. When you build a house, you better have a sturdy foundation. If you don’t, it’s going to crumble. You better have the right ingredients or you’ll see what’s happening here in the state with the foundations we have now. You need to make sure that you have those proper ingredients to set that foundation to build it all. A lot of these guys are that foundation. They are the ones that have to have all that weight sitting on top of them. Everyone will see the finished product at some point, but they’ll forget about that foundation that the whole thing is standing on and that’s what these guys are.”

DEPTH CHART CHANGES

There are a few depth chart changes of note. Tre Bell will start at cornerback in place of Jamar Summers, Nate Hopkins is not listed at running back and finally, Tyraiq Beals has regained his starting spot at wide receiver. Redshirt freshman Keyion Dixon, who had a drop or two in the loss to Missouri, drops down. The Huskies receivers made nine drops by Edsall’s count a week ago, so it’s no surprise a move was made. How does the receiving group prepare differently to ensure a repeat performance doesn’t happen?

“All the drops, those are unacceptable,” Beals said. “We know we have to work harder, do extra things to stop that from happening. We’ve been in the tennis machine, jugs, everything to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

SUMMERS ‘DISCIPLINE’ MEANS MISSING FIRST THREE QUARTERS OF FINAL HOME GAME

Saturday will surely not be the senior day that CB Jamar Summers had envisioned. Following his first interception of 2017 against Missouri, he promptly threw the ball into the back of the intended receiver on the play. Edsall immediately sent Summers off and to the locker room for the remainder of the game and left the additional punishment up to the leadership council.

“I sat down with our leadership council and talked to them about the situation that took place and what they thought we needed to do as a team and as a program regarding that situation,” he said. “I was very, very impressed with the response and feedback that I got back from those nine young men. They felt there was a component that needed to be dealt with away from the playing field in terms of if there was going to be playing time or not. They set that themselves. I won’t get into what they said, but it was a pretty harsh discipline that they put in place for Jamar to fulfill. They felt there should also be game-time taken away.”

“I asked them to give me parameters for what they thought would be fair given the situation that happened,” Edsall continued. “I got a range of things; half game, full game, a quarter that they all brought up. Each man had the opportunity to express themselves in what they thought and as I sat back and listened, I told them that I’ll make the final decision based on the recommendations that they put out there. I made the decision, brought the leadership council in with Jamar and I told them what we were going to do so Jamar could hear it in front of his teammates who are the leaders of this team. I told him that he will not be able to play in the first three quarters of this game, which really make it a full-game suspension given the last quarter of the last game and the first three of this one. Tre’ Bell will start and if he’s playing well and doing what he needs to do, I’m not going to make a substitution. I’m proud of those guys in how they handled it and what they felt was necessary in order for our program moving forward, in terms of what they want to establish and what I want to establish from a culture standpoint.”

PREPARING FOR USF A SECOND TIME

This matchup was originally supposed to take place in week two, but Hurricane Irma had other plans. It’s certainly given USF additional film on the new system the Huskies are running, but it also gives UConn a chance to get a better look at USF, who had played two games prior to the originally scheduled meeting. It’s likely Edsall and the rest of the staff were relying on a lot of 2016 Texas tape to help prepare for the schemes and formations in week two, but the extra time has given them a chance to see how head coach Charlie Strong is running his system with the players in place at USF over eight games.

“You study them and now you’re a little bit more familiar,” Edsall confirmed on Tuesday. “Now you go back and say, here’s what we had in place the last time, is that something we can still do based on who we are and based on what they do. It’s a combination not only of what they do, but what are we doing well and what have we improved upon since that time when we formulated those game plans.”

HUSKIES THIN AT RUNNING BACK

As mentioned, Nate Hopkins is not listed on this week’s depth chart, leaving the Huskies very thin at running back as they are already missing senior Arkeel Newsome.

“He [Hopkins] has a bad shoulder and I don’t expect him to play, so I didn’t want to put him on the two-deep,” he said. “Right now, Donevin O’Reilly is our third tailback, but I have confidence in Kevin [Mensah], confidence in JT [Jason Thompson] and if Donevin had to go in. From the information I’m getting from our medical people, we don’t expect him to play. He didn’t take any reps today.”

Edsall addressed why redshirt freshman Ja’Kevious Vickers wouldn’t get a look, but O’Reilly, a walk-on from Glastonbury would. It had everything to do with effort shown in practice.

“[He won’t play] this week,” Edsall said adamantly. “No [he’s not injured]. It’s called ‘head coach’s decision.’ Well, you know what it is? It’s not a head coach’s decision, it’s a player’s decision. You watch players work and watch players practice. Both these guys were on the scout team. He [O’Reilly] didn’t become eligible until Friday of last week, but what I saw and the effort that guys were giving down on the scout team, if I’m going to move somebody up, I’m going to move the guy up that I think has been busting his butt and giving the effort and doing the things you need to do. Whereas, if another guy is down there just going through the motions and not pushing himself? In the NFL, if a guy comes in on the practice squad, he doesn’t get it done and isn’t working hard, guess what? He gets cut and you bring in another guy. I can’t do that, sometimes I wish I could. I wish there was a waiver wire, but you can’t do that. If I’m true to the team and I’m true to the word that I tell those guys, the guys who work the hardest, I don’t care, freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, scholarship or non-scholarship, if I stand up in front of them, say things to them and then I don’t follow through, then I don’t do right by those kids. He’s earned that right to be up over the other guy.”

Vickers showed an impressive ability to hit the hole, be shifty in it and also possess the speed to outrun the third level throughout practice in 2016, so this news does come as a bit of a surprise. Edsall’s explanation, however, drives home his assessment of building the culture and it begins and ends with showing up and working hard each and every day.

MATT SCHONVISKY / SITE CREATOR