UConn's Diaco signs 21 football recruits, focusing on size

STORRS, Conn. (AP) Bob Diaco signed 21 players to letters of intent on Wednesday, filling his first full recruiting class at UConn with size.

A 22nd member of the class, quarterback Tyler Davis, from North Bellmore, N.Y., is already enrolled at UConn for the spring semester.

Diaco, a 41-year-old former Notre Dame defensive coordinator, took over the program in December 2013, and had a little more than a month on the job before introducing last year's recruiting class of just 14 players.

Coming off a disappointing 2-10 record in his first season as a head coach, Diaco focused his recruiting efforts on getting a certain type of player - a good student with a big frame who comes from a winning program.

The average recruit is 6-foot-4 and just one recruit, 5-11 defensive back Aaron Garland from Oak Park, Illinois, is less than 6 feet tall.

''We believe as a staff that if our team is big, we're going to have a good team,'' Diaco said. ''You can always have a good team if you are bigger than the opponent.''

The recruits have an average grade point average of 2.8 and an average SAT score of 910.

Several, such as 6-6 tight end Zordan Holman, a North American jiu-jitsu champion, also excel at other sports.

The class also has just one player from Connecticut, 6-foot-7, 260-pound offensive lineman Bryan Cespedes from New London High school.

Diaco said the recruiting effort will bring UConn up to 82 scholarship players. The Huskies had just 60 players on the active roster at the end of last season, forcing Diaco to play 10 true freshmen.

He said he expects to redshirt the vast majority of this class.

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UCONN

Top 25 Class: No

Best in class: Kevin Murphy, DT, West Chester, Pa.

Best of the rest: Nazir Williams, LB, Bridgeton, N.J

Late addition: David Ryslik , DE, Freehold, N.J.

One that got away: Nolan Ulizio, OL, West Chester, Ohio.