UConn football had another disappointing season in 2019. As a result lots of Huskies have decided to enter the transfer portal. Photo by Eric Wang / The Daily Campus.
After its disappointing conference finish last season, the UConn’s football program has been met with a hail of transfer requests from nearly two dozen players. Despite closing out the 2020 class with five additional signees this January, the wave of transfer requests leaves a dent in the team’s struggling program. The five additions bring UConn football up to 25 members of its 2020 class, which is the maximum allowable under NCAA rules.
Former defensive lineman Jesse Joseph said that despite his belief that players have the right to make that decision, he also advised that transferring does not always work out.
“I’ve seen players transfer while playing at UConn, and the results weren’t always in their favor. The grass is not always greener on the other side,” he said.
Head coach Randy Edsall went 2-10 in 2019, his third season of his second stint as head coach. Since his return in 2017, Edsall has managed a mere six wins, seeing the worst three-year stretch in the program’s FBS history, 247 Sports reports.
Joseph, who was a part of UConn’s football roster between 2009-2013, says despite the current struggles facing the program, there’s still a long way to go.
“I think it would be unfair for me to judge the UConn football program as it is now. I had gotten into UConn while its foundation in the Big East was solidifying,” he said.
Within recent weeks, the Huskies have seen several departures from the program, with receiver Garrison Burnett, as well as safeties Oneil Robinson II and Messiah Turner, among the latest departures.
Transfers have increased significantly across college football, largely due to the NCAA’s Transfer Portal, which was introduced in 2018. The initiative has sparked relaxation of the NCAA’s transfer eligibility rules. UConn ranks high among programs with a significant number of players currently in the portal, per reports.
Nicholas Martin is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at nicholas.r.martin@uconn.edu.
