Dom Amore: At UConn, a three-way battle to start at quarterback comes from all the angles

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STORRS — Tucker McDonald is a veteran of all of this. It’s his fourth year at UConn and he has been part of quarterback competitions with Zion Turner, Ta’Quan Roberson, Nick Evers, Joe Fagnano among others.

“Lucky enough, guys I’ve been in quarterback competitions with, I’ve been really good friends with,” McDonald said. “So obviously, everybody wants to win the job, everybody wants to play, but at the end of the day the best guy’s going to play, the guys who is going to get out there and get wins is going to play. So you got to leave it all out there and let the chips fall where they fall.”

Now McDonald is in the cast with Jake Merklinger and Kalieb Osborne in this unique, but familiar football reality show, combining elements of “Jeopardy,” “Shark Tank” and “American Idol.” The 2026 edition is underway, to be played for keeps. Among these three quarterbacks, one will start the first game against Lafayette on Sept. 5, though his identity may not be revealed before the kickoff. The others will be disappointed, but ready should the wheel of football fortune be spun again.

All three came over to speak to state reporters Saturday, a change from past years when contestants were kept away from the cameras and microphones most of camp, sometimes well into the season. For the benefit of those grasping desperately for clues, the order of interviewees was Merklinger, Osborne, McDonald.

“There’s a great competitive spirit,” coach Jason Candle said. “And when that room has that, it’s contagious to the rest of the team and natural leadership qualities emerge. Look, the opposite of a leader is not a follower. The opposite of a leader is a pessimist. ‘When it doesn’t go my way, can I pick my chin up and play the next play?’ So we’ll continue to put those guys in those situations and some of those leadership qualities will start to show. I’m not picking who the quarterback is, that will play itself out. You’ll see who moves the team well and how the guys rally around that particular person. So you guys (in the media) are excited to know who the quarterback is, you’re way more worried about it than I am.”

Yes, when the Nielsen Ratings come out, they usually show quarterback competitions are the most watched, for college or pro football, so we ask. This one is a must-see for the contestants themselves; they come at it from all the angles. Merklinger transferred in from SEC blue blood Tennessee, where he played in a few games as a backup for the Vols in 2024 and ’25, as a four-star recruit from Georgia.

“It was crazy, but I’m super fortunate to be here,” Merklinger said. “The coaching staff, the place, everything about it, the offense, its track record. Football is football, guys came from a lot of different places. Football is football, but I do feel like (the Tennessee experience) prepared me.”

His strengths? “I’ll keep it short and sweet,” Merklinger said. “I’d say my mind. My knowledge of the game and situations.”

At 6 feet 3 and 215, he has the build and look of a pro-style QB. “Oh, yeah, that boy is slinging it,” Osborne said. “Mentally, he’s there. He knows a lot about the game and I’ve learned a lot from him.”

Osborne,  6-3, 218, imposing, out of Pontiac, Mich., brings his own set of skills and experiences, and can share his knowledge of Candle’s play book. As a true freshman, he got into several games for Candle at Toledo last season. When Candle left and players opted out, Osborne is the only one of the three who has started a college game, the 2026 Bush’s Boca Raton Bowl against Louisville, and he completed 17 of 28 for 167 yards in a 27-22 loss. Then he entered the portal and followed Candle to Connecticut.

“It gave me a lot of confidence,” Osborne said. “Louisville was a great team, but I knew I had great guys on my team, too. That week I was just focused on just getting better, not taking everything on my shoulders. I took it here and kept building my mental game. (My strengths are my) athletic ability, my agility and my arm strength. But this offseason I’ve been really focused on the mental side of the game, reading defenses and coverages and executing every play at a high level and being a leader.”

Dom Amore: When perseverance pays off, UConn quarterback Tucker McDonald is holding a large IOU

The big winner in UConn quarterback sweepstakes the last several years has been Fagnano, transfer from Maine, who won the job in 2023, then got hurt, wrestled it back in mid-season of ’24 and never looked back. Last season, he threw for 28 touchdowns and only one interception, a jump-off-the-page stat that helped land him an chance with the NFL’s Ravens.

McDonald, 6-2, 210, the Massachusetts native, spent a lot of time with Fagnano, roomed with him before game days, and his new teammates/competitors have been asking just of he got there from here.

“I always tell them Joe watched more film than anybody I knew,” McDonald said. “The moment practice ended, he would be in the film room until 8 O’Clock at night, watching practice, watching game film, correcting his mistakes. He was a great mentor for me.”

After a long night meeting with Candle last winter, McDonald took his name out of the portal and committed to returning to UConn, where he has thrown only eight passes in three seasons, to try again.

“Kalieb and Jake are great friends of mine,” McDonald said. “We compete every day, but we also love each other. I want as much success for them as they want for me, because ultimately that’s going to make everybody better.”

Merklinger said, “It’s a unique dynamic. We’re pretty tight, we get along with each other but we also compete with each other. During fall camp, you’re spending every waking moment with each other. You wake up at 6 a.m. and you’re with each other til 8 or 9 O’Clock at night. We all want the same thing, but we like to have fun and be with each other.”

This is not strictly a local show. Quarterback competitions are going on everywhere all summer, ever complicated by the possibility of fifth, sixth and, in Fagnano’s case, seventh-year players, the introduction of NIL or revenue share money into the equation for decision makers.

For new coach Jason Candle, team building takes shape as the UConn football season draws near

“These guys understand,” Candle said. “This is the most scrutinized position in sport and they picked this. I didn’t pick this for them, this is what they wanted. You want to sit in that chair and lead another group of young men, there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with that, it’s more than just throwing the football in shorts. It’s an extensive process and it will play itself out the way it’s supposed to.”

Long before the eased transfer rules, the runners up in these competitions tended to look elsewhere, as no quarterback goes to college to stand on the sidelines with a clipboard. When the tailgaters leave the lot to watch the Huskies play Lafayette, QB1 will be starting, QB2 ready to go in on a moments notice, QB3 a long shot to play. Another, Bo Polston, a true freshman, will be learning behind the scenes.

“At the end of the day, we just want what’s best for the team,” Osborne said. “Coach is going to make the right decision that’s best for the team. We don’t worry about that. It’s the ultimate team sport. You can’t be selfish or you’re not going to win a lot of games.”

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