UConn Football: End of Year Offensive Grades for 2024

UConn came away with a 27-14 win over North Carolina in the Wasabi Fenway Bowl on December 28, as they finished their football season with a dominant victory. It has been an overachieving year from the program; the Huskies saw an elite performance from Joe Fagnano, and great play from breakouts Mel Brown and Skyler Bell, as UConn won nine games for the first time since 2007. 

It was a tremendous season for this program. UConn had many players making worthy enough statements to have eyes on them in the transfer portal. The Huskies’ talent are in the eyes of major programs, with Michigan and Auburn as two schools with reportedly interested in some components of this group. Before the roster and the program gets shaken up, let’s take a quick look at each offensive position and grade their 2024 production.

UConn Football Offensive Grades

Quarterbacks: C+

The majority of UConn’s success on the offensive side of the ball came from their three-headed rushing attack. However, the QB play deserves their recognition for the offensive success the Huskies had in 2024. 

Nick Evers began the season as QB1, and for great reasons. Previously performing at Oklahoma and Wisconsin, Evers brought the most potential of any signal caller on the roster to the table. However, he later lost that coveted position during his junior campaign this past season.

Various injuries saw his season come short, while head coach Jim Mora gave him plenty of opportunities to return from them. However, he never fully developed as an accurate passer or ever had a proficient deep ball. He added value in the rushing game, as most of UConn’s prowess in the run game came with Evers calling the shots. Unfortunately, his lack of development in the passing attack had him lose his starting job midseason to Fagnano.

And Fagnano deserved it.

In his final year in FBS, the former Maine product made a statement about how talented he is and what he is capable of. An accurate thrower of the deep ball, Fagnano built an instant connection and rapport with Wisconsin-transfer Skyler Bell, and tied a program-record with five passing touchdowns against Merrimack in Week 2.

Despite continuously losing his job when Evers returned, Fagnano still continued to outplay the junior, and his experience was paramount in the bowl win. Fagnano became the clear starter, and the QB1 on this team, a position he had earned in 2023 before suffering a season-ending injury.

Yet, the quarterback play isn’t what demonstrated an elite offensive attack in Storrs. It was their rushing prowess with a three-headed monster at running back that carried the way.

Running Backs: A-

This entire Connecticut offense revolved around the success of its rushing game, which was very frequent. Camryn Edwards came into the season as the clear RB1, and played like it throughout the first few games. However, it was a breakout performance in Week 4 that showed the capabilities of his group.

Edwards, and freshman Mel Brown and Durell Robinson helped propel the Huskies to a program record in FBS, 421 rushing yards in the performance, climaxed with an 156-yard day from Robinson. That carried into a dominant win against Buffalo, and a season riddled with rushing success.

Edwards found his touches and was productive when getting them, wracking up a team-high 830 rushing yards and eight scores. Yet, he was just third on his team in yards per carry, because he had two elite runners next to him. Brown stockpiled 673 yards on the ground on an efficient 5.7 YPC, while also leading the team with 96 rush yards in their Bowl Win against North Carolina.

Robinson was also outstanding, and the biggest breakout star for Jim Mora’s squad, rushing for close to seven yards per attempt, the 10th-best mark among runners with 100+ carries in FBS this past year. He was a monster, and finished with over 73o rushing yards and eight touchdown runs. The one issue: he seems to be too good for the currently FBS-Independent Huskies.

The Auburn Tigers have recruited Robinson out of the transfer portal, who is leaving Connecticut after one season. Without Robinson, the UConn football team will have to move in a whole other direction with their rushing attack. However, the returns of Edwards and Brown should help matters quite a bit, as they did in ’24.

UConn finished 21st in FBS in rushing yardage with just under 200 yards per game.

Wide Receivers: C+

With the Huskies rushing attack leading the way, the wide receivers corps weren’t the driving force of the offense in 2024. However, they excelled and adjusted to play with two different QB’s for substantial portions of the year.

Skyler Bell led the way for Connecticut’s offense, leading the team in yards, yards per reception, and touchdowns. Bell built a great rapport with Fagnano throughout the entire season, catapulting his statistics to the top of FBS for the first half of the season. He finished with 860 yards and five touchdowns, along with four 100-yard performances.

Bell was the clear first option in this passing game, and set career marks in most major categories. However, the likelihood of Bell wearing a Husky jersey next year is in jeopardy. At the time of this writing, Bell is being recruited by schools of the likes of Michigan; and he may be transferring for his final year of FBS eligibility. Though, it doesn’t take away what he achieved in his lone year in Storrs.

Regarding the rest of the group, Shamar Potter had three scores, and Brett Buckman was used occasionally, though UConn mainly had two other primary pass catchers next to Bell.

T.J. Sheffield highlighted them, leading the team in receptions with over 500 yards. He was often a go-to option for Nick Evers, and excelled when Bell was double covered and contained. Yet Jasaiah Gathings also reached the end zone three times, while spending most of the year in his reliable third-option slot.

The passing attack may have not highlighted the Huskies offense. However, UConn had the pass-catching talent to make it a dangerous component for the football team.

Tight Ends: C

The UConn tight end group sure weren’t the standouts of a 9-win football season, but did add some temporary value. Louis Hansen had over 200 yards, and was used occasionally on short patterns. He also caught four touchdowns.

Alex Honig did not rack up the same statistical totals, recording just six catches for 59 yards. However, his importance came in the red zone, scoring three times in the terminal zone on just six receptions.

Neither made enough of an immense impact to be noted on postgame recaps or headline victories, but added some interim help in the passing game when Mora’s group needed it most.

Offensive Line: B

The one major question mark for the UConn football team was how the offensive line would rebound after losing Christian Haynes. An All-American in 2023, Haynes was a third-round draft pick to the Seattle Seahawks and is one of the better Huskies in recent memory. How did the O-Line adjust to his absence? Not too horribly!

When a team can rush for close to 200 yards per game, the offensive line was doing something right. UConn’s rushers had a field day with open lanes consistently, and the interior lineman on the roster were pivotal to their 2024 success.

Kyle Juergens has become one of the most underrated players in FBS, and the statistics prove it. He finished the season with a pass blocking grade per PFF of 85.5, a pretty solid mark. Not only is that top-50 among all FBS starting guards, that’s the best mark among FBS Independent schools. Yet, he may not even be the best guard on his own team.

Chase Lundt has taken a large leadership responsibility since Haynes departure, and he spoke about the O-Line’s adjustments without him earlier the season.

“Christian is just a tremendous mentor for me,” Lundt said to me postgame after the Huskies 48-14 win over FAU. “It’s tremendous to see the amount of growth I’ve had over the past three years with him playing next to me.”

Lundt followed in his former teammates’ footsteps, earning Senior Bowl eligibility as a possible NFL draft pick this April. His leadership on this successful group in 2024 will be desperately missed.