UConn Football Recruiting: National Signing Day Primer

With National Signing Day coming up tomorrow, let's take stock of who we believe the Huskies have coming to Storrs next year.

But first, a quick update as two high school seniors have accepted scholarship offers from UConn:

Catch up on all of our 2015 Football Recruiting coverage here!

Zordan Holman

Let's get the most important fact about Zordan Holman out of the way, he's a jiu-jitsu world champion. In reading about the sport in that article it sounds like some of those skills may translate to the football field.

Holman is a 6-foot-6, 235lb. prospect who plays defensive end and tight end for Cheverus High in Portland, Maine. 247 Sports has him rated as a 2-star prospect, and he's expected to play tight end at UConn. He received his scholarship offer after a visit last spring, according to an interview with Rivals. Zordan had been in talks with a number of schools in the area but his only other scholarship offer was from Maine.

There are a number of players with verbal commitments to UConn who played tight end in high school, though it is unclear as to how many of them will end up at the position once they arrive on campus. I'll take an educated guess at the end of this article- STAY TUNED!

David Ryslik

David Ryslik endured some hardships along his journey to UConn (h/t our friends at A Dime Back) to make his official visit. During that time, various outlets were reporting his verbal commitment even though this tweet came out last night.

Blessed to say that I have officially commited to play football at the University of Connecticut ✊ #Huskies #Uconn #DLinePride ⚪️

— David Ryslik (@DRyslik_77) February 2, 2015

Ryslik is rated a 3-star prospect by 247Sports and also held offers from Cincinnati, Duke, Syracuse and Temple. He will be playing defensive line and possibly projects as a space-eating defensive end in Bob Diaco's preferred defensive scheme. He played on the nose in high school, but I would imagine his best fit at the collegiate level is at end in a 3-4 front or tackle in a 4-3.

Preferred walk-ons

The Hartford Courant's Desmond Conner wrote an informative article about Bob Diaco's strategy for the recruitment of preferred walk-ons. These student-athletes are guaranteed a spot on the 105-man roster which every team takes into camp before whittling it down to 85 during the regular season. The one major difference is that they pay their own tuition but ultimately will have the same opportunity to earn playing time.

So far UConn has received verbal commitments from seven players with preferred walk-on offers:

Brandon Bisack (6-6, 210), QB from Fairfield

Warde Jack Dexter (6-3, 215), LB from Wilton

Tom Tabur (6-3, 290), DT from Worcester Academy in Mass

James Bedell (6-3, 205), LB/Long Snapper from New Jersey

Bryan Coney (6-1, 190) WR from Naugatuck

Luke Sowa (6-4, 230) from the Gunnery School in Washington, CT

Dario Highsmith (5-10, 185) ATH from Middletown -  received an offer from Army yesterday

This strategy is employed at numerous institutions, including programs Diaco has been a part of at Iowa, Cincinnati and Notre Dame. For a team in UConn's situation, these players have as good a chance as any to make it onto the 85-man roster and be contributors down the road. It also helps the Huskies drive interest locally by being able to bring in more 'homegrown' players.

It does look like Pasqualoni did this as well, only with less vigor. For example, tomorrow, UConn's preferred walk-on commitments will be announced by the school on National Signing Day.

Anticipated 2015 Recruiting Class

*QB Tyler Davis has enrolled early and is on campus already.

**TE Ben Hartwick suffered an injury during his senior season. He will grey-shirt and according to Rivals plans to enroll at UConn next January.

DECOMMITMENTS

• In December we reported that Florida DE Kirk Livingstone had verbally committed to UConn. Multiple sources are now reporting that he has flipped his commitment to USF. More fuel to the flame of this hot AAC #Rivalry.
• You may also recall that promising young cornerback Justice Pettus-Dixon from Maryland had verbally committed over the summer while holding offers from Boston College, Cincinnati and NC State. In mid-December he flipped his commitment to Towson. Somehow, this actually isn't our worst loss to Towson in recent memory.

Thanks to contributing writer Dan Connolly for his help with this chart

Name/Position	Height/Weight	High School(Hometown)	247 Rating	Rivals Rating
Kevin Murphy - DT	6-2/265	East HS (West Chester, PA)	81 (3-stars)	5.5 (3-stars)
Tyler Davis - QB*	6-4/213	Mepham (Bellmore, NY)	80 (3-stars)	5.5 (2-stars)
Marshe Terry - S	6-3/190	N. Burlington (Columbus, NJ)	81 (3-stars)	5.2 (2-stars)
Connor Freeborn - OLB	6-5/225	Salesianum (Wilmington, DE)	80 (3-stars)	5.3 (2-stars)
Ben Hartwick - TE**	6-5/215	Mahwah (Mahwah, NJ)	78 (2-stars)	5.3 (2-stars)
Aaron McLean - WR	6-6/215	St. Mark's (Southborough, MA)	78 (2-stars)	5.3 (2-stars)
Ian Campbell - TE	6-4/225	Pequannock (Pompton Plains, NJ)	78  (2-stars)	5.2 (2-stars)
Nazir Williams - LB	6-3/210	Bridgeton (Bridgeton, NJ)	82 (3-stars)	5.3 (2-stars)
Aaron Garland - CB	5-11/191	Fenwick (Oak Park, IL)	81 (3-stars)	5.5 (3-stars)
John Robinson - CB	6-2/177	Dwight Morrow (Englewood, NJ)	79 (2-stars)	5.3 (2-stars)
Frank Battle - WR	6-4/185	Belen Jesuit Prep (Miami, FL)	81 (3-stars)	5.4 (2-stars)
Philippe Okounam - DE	6-4/260	St. Paul (Concord, NH)	87 (3-stars)	5.2 (2-stars)
David Ryslik - DT	6-4/295	The Peddie School(Hightstown, NJ)	80 (3-stars)	5.4(2-stars)
William Richardson - DE	6-3/234	Frank W. Ballou(Washington, D.C.)	80 (3-stars)	5.4 (2-stars)
Chris Lee - TE	6-7/260	Severna Park(Severna Park, MD)	79 (3-stars)	5.4 (2-stars)

Felton "Trey" Blackwell - DT

6-2/315

Cedar Creek High (Egg Harbor, NJ)

79 (2-stars)

5.4 (2-stars)

Michael Tarbutt - K	6-0/180	Canisus (Buffalo, NY)	73 (2-stars)	5.4 (2-stars)
Tyraiq Beals - WR	6-0/180	East Orange (East Orange, NJ)	78 (2-stars)	5.5 (3-stars)
Brian Cespedes - OL	6-7/260	New London (New London, CT)	77 (2-stars)	5.2 (2-stars)
Hergy Mayala - WR	6-2/190	Trinity Pawling School (Montreal, QC)	86 (3-stars)	5.4 (2-stars)
Matthew Peart - OL	6-8/270	(The Governer's Academy (Byfield, MA)	77 (2-stars)	5.2 (2-stars)
Dallas Parker - DE	6-5/230	Point Vendra (Point Vendra Beach, FL)	78 (2-stars)	5.4 (2-stars)

Zordan Holman - TE

6-6/235

Cheverus (Portland, ME)

76 (2-stars

5.3 (2-stars)