UConn football’s Jason Candle era set to begin with fall camp this week

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Jason Candle has been hard at work preparing for his first UConn football season since he was hired in December, making the first move of his career as an FBS head coach.

In less than eight months, he put his entire staff together, recruited around 100 players to form what he hopes will be a competitive roster, which was able to bond through winter workouts and spring ball. Now, he and his coaches have four weeks to prepare the new-look Huskies through fall camp for their first game of the season, which will take place at Rentschler Field when Lafayette, an FCS opponent, visits on Sept. 5.

After a decade without a losing season at Toledo, Candle is tasked with continuing the momentum built over back-to-back nine-win campaigns in 2024 and ’25. The last two years of Jim Mora’s tenure proved that the program has gotten to a place where it wins games it is supposed to win and can compete in games that, in recent history, would’ve quickly gotten out of hand.

The last time that happened was in the 2024 season-opener, when the Huskies visited Maryland in College Park and left with a 50-7 loss – the team hasn’t lost a regular-season game by more than a touchdown since.

Mike Locksley’s Terps will make the return trip to East Hartford in week two as the first of three power-conference opponents on the Huskies’ schedule, which takes a step up in difficulty this fall.

UConn’s slate – rated 111th-most difficult of 138 FBS teams by Phil Steele – includes two other power conference visits from Syracuse and North Carolina on Oct. 3 and Nov. 7, respectively. The Huskies will also host James Madison, which is coming off of a trip to the College Football Playoff, on Nov. 14, and travel to meet opponents like Miami (Ohio), Southern Miss and Wyoming.

But there is a lengthy checklist to get through before then.

Five questions UConn football faces on offense ahead of fall camp

UConn’s quarterback competition is expected to be a tight one, likely between Toledo transfer Kalieb Osborne and Tennessee transfer Jake Merklinger, though returning Husky Tucker McDonald could have a shot and freshman Bo Polston has been impressive, according to offensive coordinator Nunzio Campanile.

Osborne, a sophomore, figures to be a slight favorite having already spent a year in Candle’s system, though his only career start came in the Rockets’ bowl game against Louisville, which Candle did not coach. He did see action in six games prior to that and finished his freshman year having completed 32 of 52 passes for 427 yards and three touchdowns, no interceptions. He is also a dynamic runner with the football, rushing 51 times for 282 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Merklinger, a former four-star recruit, is more of a pro-style option who didn’t see much action over two years at Tennessee, where he became the third-string option as a true freshman and then a backup to Joey Aguilar last fall. The Savannah, Georgia, native has completed 19 of 33 passes for 221 yards and three touchdowns over his career, and ran 11 times for 38 yards.

The Huskies will need to sort out a deep running back room, which will likely be headed by another Toledo transfer,  Kenji Christian, and establish their offensive line. There is plenty of potential in the receiver room, where Ryder Treadway, also from Toledo, figures to be a high-volume option.

Five big questions facing UConn’s defense ahead of fall football camp

On defense, UConn’s front seven should be a strength as it boasts the most FBS-level experience on the line and in the linebacker room, where K’Von Sherman resides as the leader of the unit. He had 93 tackles last year at Toledo. The Huskies, switching to a 3-3-5 scheme under defensive coordinator Ryan Manalac, will also have to identify their rotation in the secondary, where 10 transfers will compete for playing time. Safety Braedyn Moore, who was on the same Wisconsin roster as former Huskies Skyler Bell, Nick Evers and others in 2023, made six tackles in five appearances at Toledo last season.

Those questions will all start to be answered this week, when the team takes to the newly resurfaced practice fields in Storrs and throws on the pads.

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