With QB1 decision made, UConn football kicks off Jason Candle era against Lafayette: How to watch

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Jason Candle named his quarterback less than 24 hours before the UConn football team’s season-opener against Lafayette College.

The dual-threat Toledo transfer, Kalieb Osborne, was named the Huskies’ starter, a source confirmed to The Courant Friday night.

Osborne won the job after a three-man competition throughout fall camp that included Jake Merklinger, a pro-style transfer from Tennessee, and Tucker McDonald, who has been in the Huskies’ quarterback room since his freshman season in 2023.

With good size at 6 feet 4, 218 pounds, hailing from Pontiac, Maryland, Osborne has the most experience of the trio after playing seven games as a backup in Candle’s offense at Toledo last fall. He started the Rockets’ bowl game and finished the year having completed 32 of 52 passes for 427 yards and three touchdowns. A real threat with his legs, Osborne also accumulated 282 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 51 carries.

He will lead the Huskies into Saturday’s game against Lafayette, which already tried to begin its season once.

But lightning struck as the Leopards attempted to get their season started at Georgetown, suspending the game halfway through. Lafayette scored on a 28-yard touchdown strike from QB Daniel Lipovski to Zane Wooldridge, but gave up a 95-yard kickoff return touchdown and trailed, 13-7, when play was stopped and the game was declared a no-contest.

Candle has been there before. He was the offensive coordinator at Toledo to start the 2015 season – which began his decade as head coach after Matt Campbell left for Iowa State – when the Rockets’ opener against Stony Brook featured three hours worth of weather delays before it was ultimately called off after midnight.

“I’ve lived that situation before, so I know they’re gonna be ready to roll and we’ve got to be at our best,” Candle said of the Leopards, who enter their fifth season under coach John Troxell on the heels of an 8-4 campaign in 2025.

Candle did his best to not make the first game – his first time wearing a logo that isn’t Toledo’s on the sideline since 2008 – all about him. But it is the start of a new era in Storrs, where Jim Mora built a new foundation and passed the reins after leading the program to consecutive nine-win seasons for the first time ever. Candle is tasked with maintaining the momentum and starting all over at the same time after an offseason that saw 80-plus newcomers fill out the roster.

“There’s gonna be pressures off every game, right?” Candle said Monday. “Your first pressure is game one. Being out there and being in pads and playing in front of fans for months at a time, you get back and everybody in the country feels the same anxiety when it comes to game one. So we’ve got to handle that part of it. All 12 opponents we have on our schedule, we’ve got to respect them the same and prepare each week like our goals and our aspirations depend on that preparation, and some teams do that better than others.”

UConn football, a 19.5-point betting favorite, has come a long way from its darkest days, when games against FCS opponents were toss-ups. But the new group, largely pieced together over a month-long period this past winter, won’t be overlooking anyone.

“I’m not gonna underestimate them; it’s just another football team,” said senior running back Kenji Christian. “They got guys that’s flying around, they’ve got scholarship guys, too, so it’s really about their game plan and our game plan, how well we execute.”

Saturday will reveal a ton about the group Candle and his staff put together.

“I’m just excited to watch them play,” Candle said. “I’m tired of practicing and going through the same process over and over. I feel like we’ve done a lot of football, it’s been a nine-month journey to get to where we’re at. Today’s college football, as you all know, there’s so many moving pieces and so many new things that come at you. And I’m just looking forward to three and a half, four hours of in between the white lines with these guys and our offense playing and supporting our defense, our defense playing and supporting our offense, and us coming together and being really strong in the kicking game.”

Players to watch

Kenji Christian: In line to be Toledo’s lead back if he and Candle had both stayed, Christian has overcome adversity throughout his career and, as the coach put it, now is his time to shine. The Birmingham, Alabama, native showed off his speed and elusiveness as he took 105 carries for 528 yards and four touchdowns, and caught 17 passes for 193 yards and another score, as the backup to 1,000-yard rusher Chip Trayanum last season. His opportunities will be largely dependent on how the Huskies’ all-new offensive line holds up, but he said things have “come together pretty well.”

K’Von Sherman: UConn has had a strong linebacker leading its defense every year since Mora’s “revolution” began in 2022. Sherman figures to be next in the line. The third-highest rated linebacker to not choose a power conference school in the transfer portal, based on 247Sports’ portal rankings, he is the most proven player to have followed Candle from Toledo after leading the Rockets in tackles with 93, 52 solo, and making 4.5 sacks.

What to know

Site: Rentschler Field in East Hartford

Time: Noon

TV: WFSB 3, UConn+, WWAX – Randy Brochu, Mark Robbins, Dan Booth

Friday morning line: UConn by 19.5

Radio: UConn Sports Network, Fox Sports 97.9 – Mike Crispino, Wayne Norman, Adam Giardino

2025 record: UConn: 9-4, Lafayette: 8-4

Series: Lafayette leads, 1-0.

Last meeting: Oct. 13, 1984 – Lafayette 20, UConn 13 at Fisher Field in Easton, Penn.

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