University of Connecticut Athletics
Tyler Lorenzen Named Starting Quarterback
8/14/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
STORRS, Conn. (August 14, 2007) -- University of Connecticut head football coach Randy Edsall announced on Tuesday afternoon that junior Tyler Lorenzen (Fremont, Iowa) will be the team's starting quarterback for the 2007 season. Lorenzen had been competing for that role with sophomore Dennis Brown (Miami, Fla.) since arriving on campus in January.
"We have decided to name Tyler as our starter for the 2007 season," Edsall said. "We feel that it was a good competition between Tyler and Dennis but that Tyler has clearly solidified himself as the number one quarterback at this point. Dennis will be a more than capable backup. I am confident in his abilities. I know that he will be a solid number two and will give us a great performance if needs be. I feel like it is time to go forward from here with Tyler as the number one and have the whole offensive unit working together."
Lorenzen spent the 2006 season at Palomar Community College in San Marcos, Calif. (near San Diego) where he was named a first-team J.C. Grid-Wire All-American and Offensive Player of the Year for California Junior Colleges. He completed 229 of 332 passes (69.0-percent) for 2,960 yards, throwing for 26 touchdowns against only three interceptions for a 167.90 efficiency rating while also carrying the ball 134 times for 836 yards with eight touchdowns. Lorenzen had four 300-yard passing games to guide the Comets’ offense, which averaged 467.7 yards per game and 40.0 points per game. Meanwhile, Lorenzen carried a 4.0 grade point average as a business major.
The remainder of the team's quarterbacking corps includes true freshman Cody Endres (Washington, Pa.), redshirt freshman Zach Frazer (Mechanicsburg, Pa.), who must sit out the 2007 season after transferring from Notre Dame, and redshirt freshman walk-on Matt Vollono (Annapolis, Md.).
UConn opens its 2007 season on Sept. 1 at Duke.
