University of Connecticut Athletics
UConn Announces Depth Chart For BC Game
8/22/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
August 22, 2002
STORRS, CONN. – University of Connecticut head football coach Randy Edsall announced his team’s depth chart on Thursday for the Huskies’ season opener on August 31 at Boston College.
Amongst the highlights are the inclusion of several true freshmen, including the possibility of having an all-true freshman back field. Deon Anderson will start at fullback and, if healthy, Terry Caulley at tailback. Sophomore Chris Bellamy is also still a possible starter at tailback. Another promising true freshman, Brandon Young, will get a look at receiver and enters the season as UConn’s top punt returner. Sophomore Dan Orlovsky has won the starting role at quarterback while senior Roy Hopkins will start at left corner back after having a heated competition this fall with Marlon Jones. Alfred Fincher has assumed the starting role at middle linebacker from Razul Wallace who made nine starts in 2001. Also, seven players will see time at the three wide receiver posts with Wes Timko, Matt Cutaia and Shaun Feldeisen listed as the starters.
The following are coach Edsall’s comments on the depth chart:
"Defensively, the surprise to some, but not to me, is that Alfred Fincher is going to be the starting middle linebacker. He played consistently and overall very well during the preseason and really just overtook (incumbent) Razul Williams at that position in preseason training camp. Mike McIntosh will be the backup will linebacker (behind Maurice Lloyd). Going in, there was competition between him and Taurien Sowell and Mike ended up winning that one. At the corner spot, there was competition between Roy Hopkins and Marlon Jones and Roy won that position so he’ll be the starter there. The one thing with all these positions, though, is that the guys that are the backups know that they’re one play away from going in. We’ll make a decision on Tyler King and Hakeem Kashama [listed as an "or" at defensive end] as we go during the week but as we all know Tyler, Hakeem and Uyi Osunde will all end up playing there. True freshman James Hargrave ended up winning the backup spot at Husky linebacker. He’s a young man that has very good athleticism and picked up the system particularly well. Ernest Cole is another freshman on the defensive two deep as our backup right corner. He’s another young man who came in early this year and had a chance to be here working out which enabled him to pick up the system very well. I feel very good about where we are from a two-deep stand point defensively.
"Offensively, Dan Orlovsky is our quarterback. He clearly won the job from the winter through the spring and summer and in the preseason camp. He won that job from Keron and also Jermell Wallace has come a long way as well. We’re pretty good there. Deon Anderson will be our starting fullback as a true freshman and Terry Caulley or Chris Bellamy will be our starter come BC. We’ll see how that all plays out this week with the health of Terry’s big toe [sprained in Tuesday’s practice].
"At receiver, we’ve got seven guys in the mix. We’ve got quite a bit of depth there. Situations will dictate who’s in there but we’ve got seven guys there that we feel good about. I think we have seven that are at our disposal to use if we need to.
"The offensive line has stayed intact since the beginning of training camp. Billy Irwin was pushed quite heavily by Jeff Fox but ended up holding on to his job. And of course Tommy Collins is our starting tight end. The one thing about our offense is that most of these guys have been able to stay healthy and stay together and we’ve had a productive preseason with our offense since everybody has been able to stay out there. Defensively we’ve got to get all these guys that are nicked up back out on the field to get the continuity going again because we have missed a lot of guys at certain times during the preseason due to injuries.
"We’re solid at kicker and solid at punter. In the return game, I feel very confident with Brandon Young and also with Jason Dellaselva as our punt returner and kick returner respectively. But we have 101 guys on this football team now and at some point in time during the season there’s going to be a lot of guys who aren’t on this two deep that are going to be asked to step up and play a role. Hopefully, we can go through without any injuries, but we know that’s not the case. If we do, I think we have some people that will be able to step up and take over."
The following is UConn’s updated two-deep:
OFFENSE
WR: 82 Wes Timko (Sr., 6-3, 199)
88 O’Neil Wilson (Jr., 6-3, 192) OR
83 Brandon Young (Fr., 6-0, 191)
WR: 17 Matt Cutaia (So., 5-11, 176)
80 Jason Williams (Fr., 6-0, 180)
WR: 87 Shaun Feldeisen (Jr., 6-1, 212)
3 Cliff Hill (Jr., 5-10, 177)
LT: 73 Ryan Krug (So., 6-4, 300)
74 Michael Kodish (Fr., 6-4, 295)
LG: 54 Brian Markowski (So., 6-2, 293)
66 Laurence Oliver (Jr., 6-4, 294)
C: 58 Billy Irwin (So., 6-1, 267)
56 Jeff Fox (So., 6-2, 285)
RG: 78 Grant Preston (Fr., 6-5, 306)
63 Nick Graby (Jr., 6-4, 288)
RT: 79 Steve Cully (Sr., 6-4, 306)
68 Mike Henry (Fr., 6-4, 265)
TE: 42 Tommy Collins (Sr., 6-3, 253)
91 Tim Lassen (Fr., 6-5, 278)
QB: 14 Dan Orlovsky (So., 6-5, 228)
1 Keron Henry (So., 6-2, 213)
TB: 44 Terry Caulley (Fr., 5-7, 178) OR
34 Chris Bellamy (So., 6-1, 211)
FB: 30 Deon Anderson (Fr., 5-10, 203)
29 Evan Benson (Jr., 5-8, 209)
DEFENSE
DE: 52 Tyler King (So., 6-6, 258) OR
95 Hakeem Kashama (Jr., 6-5, 256)
DT: 55 Greg Smoot (Sr., 6-3, 290)
50 Chris Clarke (Jr., 6-0, 284)
DT: 99 Sean Mulcahy (Jr., 6-6, 294)
76 Deon McPhee (Fr., 6-2, 282)
DE: 97 Uyi Osunde (Jr., 6-3, 243)
61 Frank Quagliano (Sr., 6-2, 244)
SLB: 21 Jamal Lundy (Sr., 5-11, 224)
38 James Hargrave (Fr., 5-11, 212)
MLB: 48 Alfred Fincher (So., 6-1, 231)
43 Razul Wallace (Sr., 6-1, 232)
WLB: 11 Maurice Lloyd (So., 5-11, 224)
39 Mike McIntosh (Jr., 5-11, 213)
LCB: 7 Roy Hopkins (Sr., 5-7, 180)
32 Marlon Jones (So., 5-8, 167)
SS 5 Chris Meyer (Jr., 6-0, 205)
4 Jason Dellaselva (Jr., 5-9, 197)
FS: 22 Terrance Smith (Jr., 5-11, 202)
12 John Fletcher (So., 5-9, 181)
RCB: 2 Justin Perkins (So., 5-11, 167)
41 Ernest Cole (Fr., 5-10, 168)
SPECIAL TEAMS
PK: 8 Marc Hickok (Sr., 6-1, 183)
94 David Butts (Fr., 6-2, 234)
P: 6 Adam Coles (Jr., 6-6, 224)
8 Marc Hickok (Sr., 6-1, 183)
LS-P 42 Tommy Collins (Sr., 6-3, 253)
56 Jeff Fox (So., 6-2, 285)
LS-FG 56 Jeff Fox (So., 6-2, 285)
42 Tommy Collins (Sr., 6-3, 253)
H: 6 Adam Coles (Jr., 6-6, 224)
3 Cliff Hill (Jr., 5-10, 177)
KR: 4 Jason Dellaselva (Jr., 5-9, 197)
83 Brandon Young (Fr., 6-0, 191)
PR: 83 Brandon Young (Fr., 6-0, 191)
80 Jason Williams (Fr., 6-0, 180)
