EAST HARTFORD – Ahead of Saturday’s 48-14 win over Florida Atlantic, Jim Mora and the UConn football team didn’t plan on running the ball 66 times, passing only 15 times total, just four in the second half. But it was clear as early as the Huskies’ second drive of the game that they could get whatever they wanted on the ground.
After halftime, up three scores, the Huskies fully committed.
It was a pair of transfers, Durell Robinson from Charlotte and Mel Brown from Gardner Webb, who waited patiently at the line before finding a hole and taking off. They each rushed for 156 yards as the Huskies surpassed their single-game FBS record with 421 total yards on the ground.
“I have to shout out my O-line,” Robinson said before taking six minutes worth of questions from reporters, smiling the entire time. “You can’t rush for 400 yards without a great O-line. I did the easy part in my opinion, they did all the dirty work, sacrificed their brains. Shoutout that O-line. Thank God.”
That offensive line, one that had question marks as it replaced all three interior positions this offseason, had to replace one of the new starters, Ben Murawski, on Saturday. Brady Wayburn and Kyle Jeurgens, who competed for the spot in the summer, stepped into his place and highlighted the team’s depth.
UConn is an outside zone running team, which requires patience as blocks are picked up and a hole is opened for some running room.
“And then you put your foot in the ground and you get vertical,” Mora said. “The best outside zone teams are the teams that have backs who can do that. They can be patient at the line of scrimmage, they understand where the hole is going to open up and when it does, they put their foot in the ground and get vertical.”
The Huskies have four different running backs who’ve shown they can effectively move the ball.
Last week, it was Norwalk native Cam Edwards who was called on to be the workhorse against Duke. Edwards ran 21 times for 106 yards and a touchdown, earning some rest as the team returned home, and was tapped for only seven carries and 30 yards Saturday. Victor Rosa, who had surgery on a broken finger on Sept. 11, stood on the sideline without pads for the second week in a row. Before the year, running backs coach Antonio Wilcox made sure his talented group understood that sometimes it might just be someone else’s day.
Norwalk’s Cam Edwards accepted the challenge and has become UConn’s workhorse in the backfield
Robinson and Brown were the stars on Saturday.
“I feel like it’s a big problem… for the defense. When you have three backs who can take it for 80 yards at any point in the game, I feel like that’s dangerous – very, very, very dangerous,” Robinson said. “You could see some plays FAU was trying to sub, we got a fresh new back who’s ready to go and just as hungry as the other one. That’s a great complementary offense. We complement each other so well, we all bring something to the table. It’s just a great feeling to have guys who can make plays just as much as you. It feels like a boulder off my shoulder. I don’t have to make the big play – I could get the four yards here, because if Mel gets it he might go for 90 the next play, you never know.”
Nearly matching his rushing total from his lone season at Charlotte, where Robinson ran 40 times for 166 yards over four games, the 6-foot-1, 200-pound back ran for more than 10 yards on six different occasions Saturday. His longest run went for 28 yards in the fourth quarter, and he took off for 21 once in the second.
After each of his touchdowns, three so far this year, Robinson has shown off a new end zone dance.
“(My teammates) always ask me, ‘What you got next? What you got next?’ I’m like alright, I’m gonna show off for y’all,” Robinson said.
Describing his running style, Robinson says he has several, some of which haven’t been seen yet.
“Sometimes I might have to be patient, finesse, depending on the run scheme, sometimes I might have to run through somebody’s face. And if I’m mad, I don’t really think too much about scoring, I think about hurting people a little bit, I can’t lie,” he said.
Brown, 5-feet-8, 176 pounds, has a smaller frame that allows him to be more shifty. Robinson compared his teammate to his favorite players of all-time, former Chiefs wideout De’Anthony Thomas and former Rams receiver Tavon Austin.
“The cuts he makes, as a bigger guy I gotta get a little lower to make those cuts. I can make them, but Mel just makes them a lot better sometimes, I can’t lie but I’ll never say that to his face though,” he said. “We both can break a run, we both can pass block, we both can catch, we both can do it all. It’s just whose turn is it to do it?”
Brown broke a 46-yard run, the Huskies’ longest of the day. He had two games last season at Gardner Webb with over 140 yards, but his 156 on Saturday was a career-best.
Like quarterback Nick Evers and the 27 other transfer portal additions, UConn’s two new stars in the backfield bought in to an opportunity where they could shine and be part of building a program. The motivation for some came onto the field after the opening quarter, when the men’s basketball team was recognized for winning back-to-back national championships.
“I don’t have to worry about any of the outside stuff, I’m just worried about football and winning this program football games and changing the name. That’s everything that everybody wants to do. It seems like Connecticut football is kind of the little brothers and we’re trying to change that dynamic,” Robinson said. “We’re trying to win just as much as our basketball team. That’s keeping a chip on our shoulder – we see them winning, we’re trying to replicate the same way.”
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