The Uconn Blog, Sox and Dawgs and myself are in the middle of our second roundtable. The topic? Breakout players for 2010. My #1 pick? You guess it, Marcus Campbell. Yesterday we got word that Marcus blew out his knew in Saturday’s practice…brutal news, both for the kid and the team.
Campbell was poised for a big season
Campbell (Bloomfield, CT) was slated to start this season and was going to be counted on to pick up where Lindsey Witten left off. At 6’3″ 232 lbs, with sprinter speed, Campbell was poised to have a huge season. He had 2 sacks in limited time during the 2008 season, and was not with the team in 2009. When I spoke with Lindsey Witten in April, he told me he was very excited that Campbell was returning, and thought he was going to have a big year.
What does it mean? It means someone’s going to have to step up. Sophomore Jesse Joseph, who was slated to start on the opposite side from Campbell this season, showed some nice flashes last season. Just a true freshman, Joseph notched 38 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 5 tackles for loss. He also forced a huge fumble vs South Carolina in Birmingham. He should be improved this season, but his role just became that much more important.
Trev Williams
Bridgeport Central’s Trevardo Williams will be called upon as well. Williams played in all 13 games a season ago, and notched 19 tackles and 2 sacks. Listed behind Joseph as the back up right defensive end, Williams may be called upon to move to the other side. He’s quite undersized at 6’1″ 225 lbs, but he’s a speed guy so he might be the most natural replacement for Campbell. Both Campbell and Williams ran sub 11 second 100 meter dashes in High School.
Redshirt sophomore Ted Jennings, who’s huge at 6’5″ 247 lbs, was currently listed behind Campbell in the depth chart, but we’ll have to see how Campbell’s injury changes things.
6’4″ 237 lb Georgia product AJ Portee, who chose the Huskies over Auburn in 2008, is also listed as a right end in the depth chart. Perhaps Portee is asked to move over to the left side now as well? Portee looked very good in the Spring game…he spent much of the afternoon in the backfield.
I don’t know how or if Greg Lloyd is going to play into this equation. Lloyd was moved to defensive end during the offseason, but recently we learned he would be redshirting (to give his knee more time) and moving back to middle linebacker. The only reason I bring him up is he’s been cleared to practice and has been out there working with the team. Might the latest turn of events cause yet another change of plan?
We’ll find out how it all shakes out soon enough, but no matter how you slice it this is a huge blow to the Huskies’ defensive line. Campbell very well may have been the team’s best defensive end, and although the Huskies have multiple ways they can go on this, none of their options are proven commodities.
UPDATE : Randy Edsall answered the question today (Per Des Conner) : “People have to step up and replace other guys. What we’ll do is have Trevardo [Williams] at one end and Jesse [Jpse[h] at other other. A.J. [Portee] will back up Trevardo and Teddy backs up Jesse…Greg Lloyd is not going to defensive end. He’s not ready to play.”
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