UConn Football Spring Ball Kicks Off With Bang
STORRS—The number 1,585 rolled off the tongue like a countdown from someone who was reunited with their first love.
“That’s how many days have passed since I last stepped onto the field as a football coach,” new Huskies headman Jim L. Mora told UConn Illustrated.
The Huskies kicked off Spring practice for the 2022 season this week with much anticipation and enthusiasm. Indeed, it’s the dawn of a new era and the presence of Mora, who brings nearly four decades of coaching experience at the NFL and Power 5 levels, has raised the bar of expectations.
“We’re off to a good start,” Mora stated. “I love their attitude, I love their work ethic, I love their willingness to do the things that we ask them with great energy. I feel like they’re really engaged and just a bunch of guys who are hungry getting better. That’s fun to be around.”
You would be hard-pressed to find a college football roster that has flipped more than the Huskies since the start of the new year. It’s a team filled with youth, hunger and optimism. Currently, there are just five seniors on the roster—a signal that there’s a renaissance on the horizon for the once bewildered football program.
“Your job as a head coach is to always act as a CEO but at my core I’m a ball coach, so when I get on the field it’s about coaching ball. I want to do everything I can to let these guys [coaches] focus on the players at their position that they’re coaching. So, I’m going to try and coach effort and try to coach finish and be aware of attitude and culture.”
Some would say, it’s a mountain of a challenge. Mora will need to find a way to blend one of UConn’s top recruiting classes in recent memory, which features a handful of in-state players, along with several promising transfers and the remaining upperclassmen, who have endured the worst of times.
“We’re going to be terribly demanding of these young men but we’re never going to be demeaning of them,” Mora continued to speak his vision into existence. “We’re going to be highly critical of their performance but encourage the performer.”
Yes, “Times They Are A-Changing” but you don’t need Bob Dylan to tell you that. The sound inside the Shenkman Training facility on campus was filled with a resounding buzz on Thursday, the first practice open to the media. As one school observer phrased it, “I’ve never seen so many people inside the building.”
For Mora, the act never gets old. After a four-year hiatus, the return to the sidelines has been ‘like riding a bike.’
“For me it’s a blast! I love being back out here again.”
Buckle up Huskies fans! This is your UConn football team. Be sure to follow @UConnSI for year-round coverage of all Huskies sports, home to 23 National Championships.
