Recently, there’s been a bit of a shake-up in the NFL with respect to the Jets’ new starting quarterback. After losing Aaron Rodgers to an Achilles injury in the first game of the season, former first-round pick Zach Wilson took over the role. Wilson failed to impress in what is likely to be his last shot at taking over the position in New York, but a peculiar replacement was made. Veteran Tim Boyle took over the reins against the Bills last Sunday and made his first start of the year against the Dolphins on Friday.
Boyle has been in the NFL since 2018 after going undrafted out of Eastern Kentucky. He started off with the Packers as Rodger’s backup and landed with the Lions and Bears for a few seasons before following Rodgers to the Jets. Friday wasn’t even his first NFL start, as he made three starts in the 2021 season for the Detroit Lions, all of which were losses. Jets’ head coach Robert Saleh has already announced that Boyle will at least have one more chance to get his first win as a starter in the NFL against the Falcons next week.
Looking back at his college days, Boyle started his college career here at UConn. Raised in Middlefield, Connecticut, Boyle attended Xavier High School in Middletown before committing to UConn in 2013. (A quick side note: with Boyle starting for the Jets and Will Levis starting for the Titans, it makes Xavier the only high school to currently have two starters in the NFL.)
While at UConn, Boyle made eight starts over three years with the Huskies. In his freshman season, he was the first true freshman since Dan Orlovsky to start a game for UConn. He started four games that year and finished the season with 621 yards, the most he attained with the Huskies.
In 2015, Tim Boyle was the quarterback for the Huskies when they took down the No. 19 Houston Cougars at Rentschler Field. The usual starter, Bryant Shirreffs, went down after just one attempt (though it was a touchdown), leading to Boyle having to take over for the Huskies. Despite not throwing a single touchdown in the game, Boyle threw for 110 yards and didn’t turn the ball over, allowing UConn to stay in the game. After Houston scored a third-quarter touchdown, UConn ran a trick play that had Garrett Anderson throw a pass to Noel Thomas, which was completed for a 45-yard touchdown. Houston answered back immediately with a kick-off return touchdown to bring the score to 20-17, but UConn’s defense caught a game-sealing interception to ice the game. This was the program’s last win against a ranked opponent until last season when the Huskies took down No. 19 Liberty at home 36-33.
Originally, Boyle had planned to attend Boston College but was convinced to stay in the state and play for UConn. He ended his Huskies career with 1,237 yards throughout three seasons with one touchdown and 11 interceptions.
At the end of the 2015 season, Boyle hit the transfer portal and joined the Eastern Kentucky Colonels for his final college season. As a redshirt senior in his lone year at Eastern Kentucky, Boyle played in all 11 games and threw for 2,134 yards and 11 touchdowns. While he led the Ohio Valley Conference in passing yards for 2017, the Colonels went 4-7 overall and failed to make a bowl game.
As mentioned, Boyle went undrafted but signed with the Green Bay Packers practice squad. He impressed the team and, more importantly, Aaron Rodgers, so he made the roster as the team’s third-string quarterback. While with the Packers, Boyle has kneeled some games out, which made him the first former UConn quarterback since Orlovsky to play in an NFL game. (For those looking for more Connecticut football lore, his new backup is quarterback Trevor Siemian, born in Danbury, Connecticut.)
With Wilson benched, and Rodgers hurt, he remains the Jets starting quarterback moving forward. Last weekend against the Dolphins didn’t look like a promising start, especially with the fail-mary 99-yard interception return to end the half, but Boyle will be trusted again to keep the Jets afloat.