University of Connecticut Athletics
Randy Edsall Live Chat Transcript
2/5/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
February 5, 2003
STORRS, CONN. - University of Connecticut head football coach Randy Edsall announced on Wednesday that the Huskies have signed 20 student-athletes to a National Letter of Intent to join the UConn program.
"I’m extremely happy," Edsall said. "We filled our needs. When you look at our board and our overall depth, you could see what we needed to do and I think we accomplished all of those goals. Our coaching staff did a great job and our players did a great job hosting these young men. Our professors and administrators that were involved with this did a great job too."
UConn posted a 6-6 mark in a highly-successful 2002 campaign, highlighted by a 38-0 shutout win at Navy and a convincing 37-20 victory on the road against Iowa State on Nov. 23 in the season finale. The Huskies, who last year ranked fifth in the nation in passing defense and 19th in total defense, joined Division I-A for the 2000 season and will begin play in the BIG EAST Conference in 2005.
The following is a full signee roster and short biography of each:
PLAYER POS. HT. WT. HOMETOWN / HIGH SCHOOL DL 6-2 220 Temple Hills, MD / Crossland DL 6-2 260 Bethlehem, PA / Freedom OL 6-5 295 West Springfield, MA / West Springfield DB 6-0 175 Starke, FL / Bradford County DL 6-4 225 Pittston, PA / Pittston Area FB 5-10 225 Lauderhill, FL / Cardinal Gibbons WR 6-1 190 Morgantown, WV / Morgantown DB 6-1 180 Dania, FL / Hollywood Hills LB/DL 6-2 225 St. Petersburg, FL / Lakewood LB 6-1 230 Arlington, TX / Nolan Catholic OL 6-5 295 Lititz, PA / Manheim Township LB 6-1 225 Harrisburg, PA / Harrisburg RB 6-1 195 Bloomfield, CT / Bloomfield DL 6-3 215 Kingston, PA / Wyoming Seminary DB 6-1 180 Tampa, FL / Blake DB 5-11 180 Suitland, MD / Suitland DL 6-1 220 Temple Hills, MD / Bishop McNamara DB 5-11 180 New Brunswick, NJ / New Brunswick OL 6-4 250 Hatfield, PA / North Penn DL 6-3 245 New Haven, CT / Hyde LeadershipNamed second-team all-county…Four-year starter at tight end and linebacker…Team captain… Senior season cut short after six games due to a hand injury but still made 73 tackles with 7.5 sacks, forced four fumbles, recovering two and contributing 16 catches for 286 yards and three touchdowns...Led his team with 85 tackles as a junior to accompany six sacks.
Pronounced OFF-ah on-oh-WAH-hee… Selected for the 2003 U.S. Army All-American Game at the Alamodome in San Antonio…Named all-state as a senior and was a three-time all-area pick on the defensive line by both the Allentown Morning Call and the Easton Express Times…Named first-team all-region by PrepStar…Also a three-time all-conference pick… Has been nominated for the Big 33 (Pennsylvania-Ohio) All-Star Game, but teams have not yet been chosen…A three-year starter and team captain as a senior…Also played fullback…Made 214 career tackles, including 23 sacks and 34 total tackles for loss while also recovering 12 fumbles...Father, Afa, and uncle, Sika, formed the three-time WWE tag-team champion "Wild Samoans."
Named All-Western Massachusetts and All-League…Started for four years at offensive tackle, two years at defensive tackle and also punted during his senior year…Helped his team to the 2000 Western Massachusetts Super Bowl…In his two years on defense, made 125 tackles, nine sacks, blocked seven extra points, knocked down 11 passes, forced six fumbles and recovered nine.
Was a first-team all-area pick and received honorable mention all-state honors…Participated in the North Florida Shrine Bowl All-Star Game…Made 16 career interceptions and returned two for touchdowns…As a senior, recorded 55 tackles with 12 pass breakups and also caught 28 passes for 575 yards and four touchdowns…Played cornerback, wide receiver, quarterback, running back and punted in high school…Team captain…Also lettered four years in track and three years in basketball.
Has been nominated for the Big 33 (Pennsylvania-Ohio) All-Star Game and the Pennsylvania East-West Game, but those teams have not yet been chosen…Started at both tight end and linebacker…Transferred for his senior year from Marshall High School in Rochester, New York…Was named first-team all-city at Marshall and was the school’s Offensive Player of the Year as a wide receiver…Also started on the varsity basketball teams at both Pittston Area and Marshall.
A second-team All-Broward County pick…A two-way player who ran for 563 yards and eight touchdowns in just six games as a senior and also made 79 tackles for the year…A team captain…Also an all-state wrestler who won two county and three district championships…Helped Cardinal Gibbons win the 2002 1A State Wrestling Championship.
Named first-team all-state as both a junior and senior and each year was a finalist for West Virginia Player of the Year…Also twice named all-conference and named to the Dominion Post All-Star team…Gained 2,003 receiving yards on 110 catches with 22 touchdowns during his combined junior and senior years…Helped Morgantown to the 2000 AAA State Championship with a 14-0 record as the starting strong safety and started at wide receiver as the team advanced to the 2001 state semifinals…Also a four-year basketball letterman…Honor Roll student who also volunteers for the Special Olympics and the Boys & Girls Club…Younger brother of UConn redshirt freshman quarterback Shane Fogarty.
Named all-county as both a junior and a senior…Was the leading tackler in Broward County for 2002 amongst safeties…Played in both the Florida North vs. South All-Star Game and the Dade-Broward All-Star Game...Team captain.
Named St. Petersburg Times’ All-Suncoast first team…Received All-Pinellas County recognition three times and was also named first-team all-conference as a senior…Helped Lakewood to district title in 2002 and a berth in the 4A regional semifinals…Team captain…Honor Roll student who won an Ebony Scholar’s Award…Has earned a student pilot’s license and gained the rank of Cadet Major in the Civil Air Patrol.
Named first team all-state and his district’s Defensive MVP as both a junior and senior…Named all-area as both a junior and senior in Fort Worth/Arlington…Recorded over 30 career sacks, 14 of them coming his senior year…Named one of the Southwest’s top 200 prospects by The Sporting News…Rated as a national super sleeper by Max Emfinger’s Blue Chip Recruiting…Will become the first Texan to play for the Huskies since LB Louis Waggoner (Vernon, Texas) in 1998.
Pronounced KERS-man (“c” is silent)…Named first-team all-state, all-district and all-league in 2002…Also named second-team all-league on defense…Has been nominated for the Big 33 (Pennsylvania-Ohio) All-Star Game, but teams have not yet been chosen…Also named all-league as a junior…A Pennsylvania Academic All-American…A three-year starter on both sides of the ball.
Pronounced lān-sān-ah…Named first-team Mid-Penn All-Conference at tight end and second-team all-conference at linebacker…Participated in the East-West All-Star Game…Also played forward for 16-0 state championship basketball team and was named the MVP of the recent Slam Fest Tournament.
Rushed for 1,950 yards as a junior on 130 carries (15 yards per carry)…SuperPrep All-American in 2001 and named to Tom Lemming’s National Top 100 list…Named MVP of the 2001 State Championship Game after rushing for 268 yards and four touchdowns in the first half…A two-time all-state and all-conference selection…Started at tailback for two years and started at free safety and wide receiver as a sophomore…Also earned all-state honors in the triple jump and competed in the 100 yard dash and on the school’s 4x100 relay team…Helped the Warhawk basketball team to the 2001 Class S State Championship...Team captain.
Was named first-team all-conference at both defensive end and tight end in 2001 and garnered conference Defensive MVP honors…Earned four varsity letters in baseball and wrestling in addition to his three in football…Went 25-3 on the mats in 2001 to earn all-conference honors...Great uncle is Billy Joe, head coach at Florida A&M, who has compiled a 228-94-4 career record.
Pronounced don-tay…Named a first team all-star in 2002 for football-rich Hillsborough County…Had 116 tackles with 12 pass break ups and three interceptions as a senior, after making 73 tackles with 16 pass break ups and three interceptions as a junior…Also caught 27 passes his senior year for 407 yards and two touchdowns…Returned punts and kicks as well...Team captain.
Pronounced jah-hee…Honorable mention all-metro by The Washington Post…Was named All-Prince George's County and all-league as a senior…A three-year starter and four-year letterman…Also ran track as a freshman and sophomore and was a regional finalist in the indoor 55 meters as a sophomore…Honor Roll student.
A consensus first-team all-state choice in 2002 and an honorable mention all-state selection as a junior…Named all-metro by The Washington Post…A three-time all-conference pick at defensive end…Had 89 tackles and 11 sacks as a junior en route to the school’s career sack record…A two-way starter at both fullback and defensive end…Team captain…Also played basketball during his freshman and sophomore years.
Named to the Gannett New Jersey All-State first team as a defensive back…Named Offensive Player of the Year by the Home News Tribune as a quarterback…Combining his junior and senior seasons, had nine interceptions on defense and offensively passed for 2,664 yards while rushing for 1,576 more…Team went 11-1 his senior year, losing by one point in the Central Group II Championship Game…Also named all-state in basketball as a junior, averaging 21 points per game…Is averaging 19 points a game so far this year as a senior.
Named all-area by the Philadelphia Inquirer, Norristown Times Herald and Doylestown Intelligencer…Also named All-Southeastern Pennsylvania by the Inquirer…A first team all-conference choice…Named team captain…In 2002, team posted a 10-3 record and captured the Suburban One National Conference Championship, the first team in school history to win the District One title.
Named honorable mention all-state by the New Haven Register as a senior and a two-time first-team all-conference selection at defensive end…Had 151 career solo tackles and 78 assists to accompany 15.5 sacks, four blocked punts, four blocked extra points, seven fumble recoveries and a touchdown…2001 Connecticut Class S State Outdoor Champion in the discus throw and placed third in the state in the shot put at the 2001 Indoors.
