A star has emerged among the UConn football team this season, and it is again a Connecticut native.
In 2022, running back Victor Rosa, a Bristol, Conn. native, broke out on offense for the Huskies and scored 11 touchdowns while splitting carries with Devontae Houston and Nathan Carter.
This year, it is wide receiver John Neider, a Milford, Conn. native, who is seeing his hard work pay off in his redshirt sophomore season at UConn.
He walked on at UConn as a quarterback after winning the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year honor, after leading Jonathan Law High School to a 10-2 record during his senior year.
“I really didn’t have [many] offers out of high school at all,” Neider said. “I was actually committed to a [Division III] school at first, and eventually I was kind of like, ‘I can’t do that.’ So, I kind of rolled the dice and I took the walk-on spot here.”
It was at UConn that UConn head coach Jim Mora and his coaching staff decided to transition Neider to wide receiver, something that Neider said he is still developing in.
“He was a quarterback, and a dang good one, and we moved him to receiver,” Mora said following a 31-25 win over Ball State on Sept. 20. “[Former UConn linebacker] Jackson Mitchell can tell us, a couple years ago, he was tearing up the defense as a receiver.”
Following his redshirt season, Neider found his way onto the special teams unit for the Huskies during the 2024 season. He saw action in all 13 games, where he recorded 12 tackles total and forced a fumble in the thrilling win over Temple.
“It’s what got me the opportunity I’ve been getting the past few weeks,” Neider said on his action on special teams. So, I definitely take a lot of pride in that. It’s what helped me earn my scholarship.”
However, nothing can compare to the tremendous start to the 2025 season that he is currently having. While the nine receptions for 117 yards may not seem incredible, the highlight reel plays he has made that have put Connecticut in a position to score have made him a star among the 2025 squad.
“A couple of weeks ago, [my wife, Kathy] told me, late at night, she said: ‘You should get the ball to John Neider more. I think he’s a really good player,” Mora said. “She was right.”
It started in the second week of the season, when UConn quarterback Joe Fagnano lateraled the ball to Neider, who found tight end Alex Honig wide-open in the end zone for a 15-yard touchdown to break a scoreless tie at Syracuse.
While the Huskies may have lost that game, that was only the beginning of Neider’s season as a key playmaker.
“People don’t get to see it as much as we do,” Mora said. “You can see it on game day. He’s winning opportunities by the way that he prepares and practices, and then he goes out on Saturday and makes the plays… He just earns more repetitions and further confirms what we’ve seen out of him since he’s been here, which is: he’s very athletic, he’s got great hands, great concentration, he’s incredibly smart, he’s very competitive, he’s a hard worker.”
The following week, a loss at Delaware, Neider set new career-highs with four catches for 60 yards, headlined by a 29-yard diving catch that allowed a two-yard rushing touchdown by running back Cam Edwards.
In the win over Ball State on Sept. 20, he downed a punt at the 1-yard line. However, he is more known for his nationally recognized play where ESPN named Neider’s one-handed catch on fourth-and-8 the top play of the weekend. That play, which brought the Huskies at the Ball State 9-yard line, set up a 2-yard touchdown catch for WR1 Skyler Bell.
“I came from a smaller school, so never really got much media attention,” Neider said. “[The recognition] was rewarding, but work’s not done. I’m trying to keep going.”
Bell, fourth in the nation in receiving yards, has tons of praise for Neider and his ability to make plays whenever needed.
“That’s Money Man right there,” Bell said. “He’s a Swiss Army knife; he can do it all. Inside, outside, make plays, block, he does the whole thing.”
The pivotal plays did not stop there, as Neider reeled in a 15-yard catch to convert third-and-10 and move deeper into Buffalo territory. Fagnano was ecstatic about Neider finally getting the recognition he deserved.
“My trust for John has always been there,” he said ahead of the game at Buffalo last week. “It might be new for some people, but it’s not new for anybody in this organization… He’s been a ball player since he’s gotten here.”
Behind all the spectacular moments throughout his young collegiate career, he has dealt with health problems, most notably being a type-1 diabetic.
“A lot of kids think when they’re type-1 diabetics that you just can’t play sports anymore,” Neider said. “You can. It’s just another obstacle you have to overcome. It’s not something that’s gonna stop you.”
Being a type-1 diabetic, he aims to be a role model for kids who are dealing with a comparable situation to what he had to deal with growing up.
“I actually have a couple of kids reach out to me or they’ll come up to me,” Neider said. “They’re shy, they’re young kids, but I just try to tell them, ‘You could do it,’ like ‘Don’t let it stop you. It’s just another obstacle you’re gonna have to overcome.”
Week after week, Neider (or as his teammates like to call him, “Mr. Top Shelf”) has continued to defy the odds that are against him. He will look to make more impactful plays for the Huskies this Saturday against Florida International in Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field at 3:30 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.