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UConn Football's annual spring game will be played today at 3pm at Rentschler Field. The parking lot will open at noon for tailgating and stadium gates will open at 1pm. Parking and admission are free, and the weather.com forecast calls for a high of 56F and "abundant sunshine."
Unlike last year, where the offense played against the defense using some funky scoring system, the roster has been split into two teams which will play each other in a traditional format. There will not be kick-offs, but beyond that this should look like a normal football game. The coaches will be treating it as such, per Diaco, "We want to have it also be a great day for the coaches to get a dress rehearsal as it relates to game day."
All eyes, however many there may be, will be on the battle for the starting quarterback position. Diaco has said that newly-eligible transfer Bryant Shirreffs has separated himself from Tim Boyle, primarily due to his ability to extend plays with his legs. Boyle has played well, according to Diaco, but Shireffs has the edge right now. The two will be on opposing teams today.
The third QB on the roster is freshman Tyler Davis, who enrolled in January and will be on the White team with Boyle. Not surprisingly, he is behind Boyle and Shirreffs, though Diaco has been pleased with his progress. It will be exciting to see two newcomers under center for the Huskies. As is customary, the quarterbacks will be wearing red non-contact jerseys.
We will also get a chance to see if the offensive line has improved from last year. The Blue roster appears to hold its projected starters, with Andreas Knappe, Tyler Samra, Tommy Hopkins, Ryan Crozier and Richard Levy. They will be challenged by defensive linemen Mikal Myers and Cole Ormsby on the White roster. Luckily, it looks like most of the projected starters in the defensive front seven are on the Blue team.
In fact, in looking at the rosters it appears that most starters, offensively and defensively, are on team Blue. According to my #sources in the SB Nation blog manager community, this setup is very uncommon. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The spring football game usually plays host to a number of recruits, I know that some 2015 commits will be there. There is no video stream, but you can listen live here. I'll be on hand for the festivities and will be sure to keep an eye out for any 2016 prospects in attendance and provide live game updates via Twitter @TheUConnBlog.
GO HUSKIES!!