College football: UNH's Brosmer, Edgar open CAA schedule Saturday at UAlbany
DURHAM – Sophomore quarterback Max Brosmer wasn’t the only University of New Hampshire football player who made a long-awaited return to the playing field in the season opening win over Monmouth University last Thursday.
Receiver Andrew Edgar was excited to get back into action as well.
Edgar caught three passes from Brosmer for 57 yards, all in the second half and each for a first down. The biggest went for 33 yards and set up a Dylan Laube seven-yard touchdown two plays later.
For his efforts, Edgar moved into a starting spot on the depth chart for Saturday’s game at the UAlbany at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium at 7 p.m. The Great Danes come into the game off a 69-10 loss at Baylor, ranked No. 9 this week in the AP Top 25 poll.
“Andrew made some huge plays,” UNH coach Rick Santos said after the Monmouth game. “He has that ability to lean on the DB, create separation legally, and catch the ball in traffic. On that long ball he got absolutely crushed by the safety. It took a lot of courage. That play showed who he was.”
The Monmouth game was Edgar’s debut as a Wildcat and his was a roundabout route to Durham and back to the field that included surgery, thoughts of hanging up his cleats and a connection to a childhood friend in the Chicago area who is a UNH quarterback turned coach.
While Brosmer had played one game since November of 2019 leading into the Monmouth game, Edgar had played only a few snaps since December of 2019. Brosmer’s game was against Albany in what became a one-game season for UNH in the spring of 2021. He injured his knee before the fall season began and missed all of last year.
Edgar played at Illinois State, a strong team in the powerful Missouri Valley Conference, before UNH.
He had a standout season in 2018 with 44 catches for 746 yards and four touchdowns and was named to a couple of freshman All American teams.
He missed half the 2019 season to injury, but had 19 catches for 321 yards and four more scores and helped the Redbirds to an 11-5 record. His last full game before Monmouth was in a 9-3 loss to North Dakota State in the FCS quarterfinals that year.
In August of 2020, he had knee surgery and he missed that fall season and then played a few snaps in a game the following spring. He considered retiring from college football in July of 2021 and kept rehabbing but was not on the team at Illinois State last fall while he finished his degree work.
Last December, he decided to give football one last shot and entered his name into the NCAA transfer portal.
Tommy Herion, the friend from home, showed his playing tape to the UNH staff and got in touch. Herion, who started his only game as a Wildcat quarterback against Maine last November, is now coaching UNH’s running backs.
“There weren’t that many teams that were interested in me,” Edgar said. “They were kind of looking at me as damaged goods, I assume.”
Santos was willing to take a chance and Edgar signed on.
The early returns have been promising.
“I’m so happy for him that he proved to himself that he still has that ability,” Santos said.
“It was surreal to me,” Edgar said of getting on the field and being a part of the win. “It felt really good. It felt great to just win the game. Having that win, going crazy in the locker room with my teammates was a real cool moment. That was like, ‘Wow.’ That’s something you don’t always get to experience. It allowed me to put it all in perspective.”
What’s Ahead
After Saturday's game with Albany, UNH returns home to play North Carolina Central for the first time on Youth Sports Night on Saturday, Sept. 17 in Wildcat Stadium at 6 p.m.
The Wildcats go back on the road for another CAA game at Towson on Saturday, Sept. 24 and then are at Western Michigan for their FBS game on Saturday, Oct. 1.
They return to Wildcat Stadium for Homecoming against Stony Brook on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 3:30 p.m.
Game notes
Albany has won the last three, and five of the last six, games in the series against UNH.
The last win for the Wildcats in Albany was a 24-14 decision on Nov. 14, 2015.
The teams are playing for the second straight year at Albany and last year the home team won, 20-7.
UNH junior Dylan Laube, who rushed for a pair of touchdowns against Monmouth, missed the UAlbany game last year.
Tight end Kyle Lepkowski caught six passes for 70 yards against the Great Danes last year. He had career highs with seven catches and 121 yards against Monmouth.
Junior cornerback Randall Harris had a pair of interceptions against Monmouth and sealed the game with a pick-6 in the fourth quarter. Harris had two interceptions last year.
Sophomore defensive end Josiah Silver forced a couple of fumbles and recovered one of them against Albany last year. Silver blocked a punt that Charles Briscoe III returned for a touchdown against Monmouth and was named the Colonial Athletic Association’s Special Teams Player of the Week.
Reese Poffenbarger, who redshirted last year at Old Dominion, started at quarterback for Albany against Baylor.
“It was obvious on tape that he has big play ability with his legs,” Santos said. “He’s got good mobility, good pocket vision.”
The Albany touchdown against Baylor came on a Poffenbarger to Julian Hicks 17-yard pass play. Hicks is a transfer from Central Michigan.
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: UNH college football visits Albany Saturday in FCS CAA game
