University of Connecticut Athletics
Four Huskies to Sign as NFL Rookie Free Agents
4/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
STORRS, Conn. (April 26, 2005) – Four former University of Connecticut football players, wide receiver Keron Henry, defensive end Tyler King, offensive tackle Ryan Krug and cornerback Justin Perkins, have all agreed to terms on rookie free agent contracts with National Football League franchises. The deals will become official as the four report to their respective teams’ rookie mini camps.
Henry will sign with the New Orleans Saints, which drafted his Husky teammate Alfred Fincher in the third round of this past weekend’s NFL Entry Draft. King will sign with the Arizona Cardinals, Krug with the defending Super Bowl Champion New England Patriots, and Perkins with the Kansas City Chiefs.
The quartet are part of a senior class that helped shepherd UConn’s transformation from the Division I-AA ranks to a potent presence on the Division I-A level in a Bowl Championship Series member conference. UConn went 23-13 during its first three seasons at the Division I-A level, posted a 3-3 mark this past fall in its inaugural BIG EAST season, and earned the school’s first ever bowl bid, resulting in a 39-10 win over Mid-American Conference Champion Toledo on Dec. 27 in the Motor City Bowl. The 23 wins mark the most successful three-year span in UConn’s 106-year football history. UConn is one of only five teams to ever move up to the Division I-A level and finish its first three seasons with a record of .500 or better. These four Huskies helped the balanced squad lead the BIG EAST in both total offense (429.8 ypg) and total defense (327.4) in 2004. UConn was one of just eight schools nationally to rank in the final top 27 for both total offense and total defense, joining an elite list (Auburn, California, Louisville, Oklahoma, Texas, USC and Virginia) that includes three of the four BCS bowl game winners.
Henry came to UConn as an option-oriented quarterback out of Brooklyn, N.Y. and left as one of the school’s leading receivers of all time. Pushed to the backup quarterback role his sophomore year by Dan Orlovsky (a fifth round pick of the Detroit Lions on Sunday), he happily moved to wide receiver where his size and raw athletic ability could be better utilized. Building off a junior year in which he averaged 17.0 yards for his 39 catches, Henry caught a team-high 67 passes for 891 yards with five touchdowns as a senior in 2004. He ranked fourth in the BIG EAST in 2004 in both receptions and receiving yardage. In his Husky career, Henry caught 111 passes for 1,615 yards with nine touchdowns. The 1,615 receiving yards rank ninth in UConn lore, a career he capped in style with a nine-catch, 109-yard effort in UConn’s 39-10 win over Toledo in the Motor City Bowl. Should Henry not make the final Saints roster for this upcoming season, he will not lack for fall-back options. Henry will graduate from UConn on May 8 with a double major of computer science and electrical engineering with a mathematics minor.
King, a native of North Attleboro, Mass. and the son of former New England Patriots (1973-81) linebacker Steve King, is best known for having a motor that won’t stop. King's impact on UConn as a senior in 2004 is most easily summed up by his being named the Huskies' defensive MVP in a vote of his teammates despite playing in less than half of the regular season games. Through five games, King led the BIG EAST in tackles for loss and ranked first amongst all BIG EAST defensive linemen in total tackles, but he broke his leg in the waning moments of UConn's historic 29-17 victory over Pittsburgh at sold out Rentschler Field, UConn's first ever BIG EAST win. Players valiantly stepped up their play in the wake of his absence, but his pass-rushing presence in particular was often irreplaceable. UConn's defense yielded an average of 271.2 yards last fall in the games that King played in and 383.8 in the six games that he did not. His return for the Motor City Bowl was a triumphant one as he was a disruptive force throughout UConn's 39-10 win over Toledo. King was named the UAW (United Auto Workers) Lineman of the Game award for his efforts in the Motor City Bowl in which he played as tough as the daily tasks of rank-and-file members of the group that sponsors the prize. It perfectly capped a career in which he made 167 tackles, including 19 sacks. His total of 40 career tackles ranks third in UConn annals.
Krug, a native of Pine Beach, N.J., was a respected leader as a tri-captain of the 2004 Husky squad who battled hard in the trenches throughout his career. Krug earned All-BIG EAST honors as a senior after being an All-Independent pick as both a sophomore and junior. Anchoring the offensive line at left tackle, Krug was a critical part of the BIG EAST’s leading total (429.8 ypg) and scoring (30.2 ppg) offense in 2004. Starting each of his 44 career gams played, he proved to be a capable run and pass blocker by both valiantly opening holes for a pair of 1,000 yard rushers during his career and helping Orlovsky stay upright as he threw for a total of 10,706 yards and 84 touchdowns. In 2003, UConn allowed just nine sacks (on 493 passing attempts), the third fewest in the nation.
A native of Fort Lauderdale, Perkins was a first team All-BIG EAST pick as one of the league’s top cover corners. Perkins tied for 14th in the nation last year in passes defended and 16th in interceptions despite that fact that teams often threw away from him. He returned two of his five interceptions for touchdowns, becoming the first Husky to ever have a pair of INT return touchdowns in either a single season or his career. His nine-yard interception return for a touchdown helped spark the Huskies early in their landmark 29-17 win over Pittsburgh on Sept. 30, a game which marked UConn’s first ever BIG EAST win as the Huskies played both their first ever nationally televised home game and their first night game at Rentschler Field. In all, Perkins picked off 12 passes as a Husky, to rank sixth in school history. He started each of his 36 career games played for UConn, making 170 tackles, 131 of them solo, including eight for loss. He broke up 42 passes as a Husky.
In other NFL news relating to UConn, another former Husky has been performing well for league scouts on a daily basis. Offensive tackle Steve Cully (1999-2002) has earned a starting spot at right tackle for the Cologne Centurions of NFL Europe. The Centurions are presently tied for first place with a 3-1 record. Signed as an unattached free agent, Cully will be able to entertain free agent offers from NFL clubs following the season, which concludes with World Bowl XIII on June 11 in Dusseldorf, Germany.
An off-the-field avenue to the NFL is also growing in the UConn equipment room. Director of Equipment Services Larry Hare, himself a summer intern for the Carolina Panthers in 1995 during their inaugural training camp, will send five of his student assistants to NFL teams this summer to hone their craft. Don Papio (Avon, Conn.), Jon Reynolds (Rutland, Vt.) and Seth Brohinsky (Simsbury, Conn.) will each work a summer internship with the Cardinals while Tom Wood (Shelton, Conn.) will assist at the San Francisco 49ers’ training camp and Matt Manciero (East Haven, Conn.) is headed south for summer work with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Manciero was one of eight students accepted by the Jaguars out of a pool of 120 candidates. Helping Papio, Reynolds and Brohinsky get their deal with the Cardinals was the strong and growing legacy of UConn students providing summer assistance in Arizona, a role performed in 2003 by Matt Fraulino and in 2004 by Ryan Broderick. Hare himself helped the Cardinals staff on game days during the 1996 and 1997 seasons while he was working at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.
