University of Connecticut Athletics
A Busy First Day In Birmingham
12/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 30, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The University of Connecticut football team is spending its first full day in Birmingham on Wednesday in preparations for Saturday's Papajohns.com Bowl game against South Carolina.
Head coach Randy Edsall and selected players attended a morning press conference and the entire traveling party then attended the Monday Morning Kickoff Club Luncheon. 1992 Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta was the featured speaker.
The team then had a practice at Hoover High School of MTV "Two-A-Days" fame and then the bowl treated the two teams to a night at a comedy club.
Here are quotes from Randy Edsall from the morning press conference."I thought we had productive practices on campus. Thank goodness we have an indoor practice facility; we got hit by some snow. We were able to practice everyone and then kept our young guys out there for an additional about 30 or 40 minutes to work and develop them a little more. We took a week off for exams and then we got back into it on December 19 and started our preparation for South Carolina.
"Then being Christmas we gave them three days off and let hem go home and spend some time with their families. We came back on the December 26 and had a couple more days of practice and then we head down here yesterday. Thank goodness that y'all had this heat way for us down here, because yesterday it was 18 degrees with a wind chill of zero before we left. This feels like sunny and 90 degrees almost down here. We are looking forward to playing the game and getting involved in all the activities of Bowl Week and going to practice this afternoon. We are grateful to be here and we thank everyone for the opportunity to be here.
About South Carolina "When you look at their defense they are very athletic and are fast. They play the run and play the pass well, so we have our work cut out for us.
"Offensively you see a team that is very balanced in what they do. In terms of running and throwing the ball and they added the wildcat in their last game (Clemson). They have speed and athleticism. You see that they are well coached on both side of the ball and on special teams.
The goals of the team this year "The number one goal you have each year is to win your conference and go to a bowl game. Four out of seven years we have gone to bowl games and that is pretty darn good. We want to establish a tradition that we want to go to a bowl game each and every year and to win the bowl game.
"I think this has been a great accomplishment this year. I am so proud of these players and assistant coaches. For what we have been through this year, we had five losses by a total of 15 points and then the tragic death of Jasper Howard. What we all went through there as a team. For these guys to hang in there and again we played our way into this, we did not back into this; we won three straight at the end of season. We played pretty good football and the guys never gave up and kept pressing forward and really hung together.
"This is a bunch of young men who, I thought back in January was a really a special group. I could see the closeness, the chemistry that as a coach you look for and these guys had it. They carried it all the way through the spring workouts and then through the summer and into the season. Then most especially you can tell what kind of guys these guys are because of what took place during the season. How they stayed close together and really became a tighter knit group through all the things they went through. To end up here in the Papajohns.com Bowl is, I think a great accomplishment, and something we are extremely very proud of.
What the victory over Notre Dame meant to the program "That victory has done more for our program than anyone can imagine. Beating Notre Dame on their home field and being national television and how the game unfolded and the way it ended, it brought a lot more notoriety than anyone could imagine. It is going to help us tremendously with everything were doing. Now what we need to continue to do is go out and play and represent ourselves the way we have been. Now people know more about UConn football than what they did before.
Did that game mean more emotionally because of all that had happened with the tragedy? "Yes, emotionally because as a team and most especially as players and coaches wanted to get that win. We wanted to get that win against West Virginia, we wanted to get that against Rutgers; we wanted to get it against Cincinnati for Jasper Howard. We came so close, but yet we did not win and I think it started to wear on us as a team. To get that win (Notre Dame), now we can move forward and I think that helped us against Syracuse and also against South Florida.
"The game of football is what it is, it's a game; but the game of life is what it is really all about. What these young men went through this year, with this experience, they are winners in the game of life. The game of football, like I said is just a game, but life is much more valuable and much more important.
"I think being down at the end against South Florida, with 40 seconds to go and two timeouts and trying to win the ballgame. There was no doubt in my mind that our team was not going to panic with all that they had been through. These young men have grown in years that you cannot comprehend what they have gone through this year, both on and off the field. They have a better feeling and a better understanding that you live one day at a time and do the best you can each and every day and you give it your best effort each and every day. At the end of the day sometimes it is good enough and sometimes it not. I think that is what I have seen out of these young men, they do not get too high or too low. They have learned a lot about life this year."
Players Mentioned
