Injury bug spreads to UConn defense and more football notes following loss to No. 12 NC State
Turning around a program that hasn’t had a winning record since 2010 with an entirely new coaching staff and at least 40 new players on the roster is going to take some time. Beginning in the preseason, injuries have made the process significantly slower for the UConn football team under first-year head coach Jim Mora.
It started with a torn ACL for kicker Joe McFadden before preseason practices began, then the broken foot of top receiver Cam Ross during camp, a torn ACL for starting quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson and Keelan Marion’s broken collarbone in the season opener.
Return man and backup running back Brian Brewton went down with a broken finger and a fractured elbow in the Syracuse game Sept. 10, and defensive end Collin McCarthy has been out for the last two weeks with a calf injury. The Huskies traveled to NC State without defensive back D’mon Brinson, who was supposed to start before spraining an ankle in practice. Starting running back Nate Carter, who was among the FBS stat leaders in nearly every rushing statistic, separated a shoulder against Michigan and did not play on Saturday. Mora said he is worried that Carter might not return this year.
Then Saturday, the defense added another pair of names to its injured list.
Kaleb Anthony, a starting defensive back, went down with what Mora fears is a torn ACL in the second quarter. Ian Swenson, who has been on the roster since 2017, a standout linebacker, went down during pregame warmups with back spasms. He ended up playing in the game but doubled over in the fourth quarter and had to be taken out.
“It was pretty significant. He was doubled up, and he was able to stand up and move around, but he wasn’t well enough to play at that point,” Mora said after the game. “It was pregame warmups with about two minutes before going into the locker room and all of a sudden our starting linebacker is on the ground and no one was quite sure what happened. It was a little bit of a shocker.”
Brandon Bouyer-Randle, a sixth-year transfer from Texas Tech who originally played at Michigan State, picked up most of Swenson’s snaps during the game and watched as one of NC State quarterback Devin Leary’s mistakes flew straight into his hands. Bouyer-Randle caught the ball for his second interception of the season and returned it 31 yards down to the NC State 11, setting up Noe Ruelas, McFadden’s replacement, for a field goal to get the Huskies on the scoreboard before halftime.
Mora listed 12 players who are likely out for the season in his media call on Sunday.
“Injuries are not excuses, but they’re opportunities for other guys to step in and get some playing time, and that’s what we’re going to do,” Mora said. “We’re going to make the best of it.”
Mora says coaching staff didn’t do a good enough job game planning on offense: To say the UConn offense struggled against NC State’s defense, which is one of the best in the nation, would be an incredible understatement. The Huskies gained 160 total yards on offense compared to the Wolfpack’s 492. On third down, UConn failed to convert 10 of 12 times and went 0 for 2 on fourth.
The passing game has struggled all season, mostly due to receivers failing to get open down the field. Freshman quarterback Zion Turner had just two incompletions on 12 pass attempts, but still only registered 39 passing yards, a testament to the short pass play calling offensive coordinator Nick Charlton and Mora have drawn up.
“Well, we were playing one of the best defenses in college football, No. 1, on the road without our starting quarterback, without our top two running backs, without our top two receivers, so I’ll start there,” Mora said. “From there, we didn’t do a good enough job of scheming to put our players in position to make plays. And then we made some mistakes on the field.”
UConn will game plan this week for Fresno State, a defense near the middle of the FBS at No. 80 in passing yards allowed per game with 238. The Bulldogs allowed 35 points to Oregon State and 45 to No. 7 USC.
Yardage doesn’t show it, but UConn defense is making progress in the pass game: Leary completed 32 of his 44 passes for 320 yards and four touchdowns for NC State on Saturday — a stat line that doesn’t reflect a UConn defense on its way up.
“I don’t think the yardage is going to reflect it at all because they had some big chunks,” Mora said. “We played tighter. We changed up our our strategy a little bit on the outside and played more bump and run rather than off or bail. I thought for the most part the guys responded well.”
The Huskies lost Anthony but used junior defensive back Juan Rosario from Stamford, who hadn’t played in his previous three years at UConn. Mora noted that true freshman Isiah Davis is going to see a more prominent role with Anthony out.
