Takeaways from UConn football’s spring game: Fans get chance to see new coach, many new Huskies

EAST HARTFORD – UConn football’s Spring Game on Saturday wasn’t much more than a dress rehearsal for the fall. It was the first time most of the players and the coaching staff had been at Rentschler Field as it was set up for a game day experience with uniforms, cheerleaders and the band, a couple thousand fans in the stands.

On the field, perfectly manicured with a fresh Husky logo painted in the middle, the team went through varying individual and situational periods with limited contact and all of the units constantly rotating in and out.

The program, with around 70 new players and an almost entirely new coaching staff, is still in a transition phase.

“That was one of 15 (spring practices). That’s a small snapshot of what 15 practices were,” said new head coach Jason Candle, just four months into the job. “I think that we’ve improved steadily from the beginning of spring ball (March 3), but I’m not naive enough to think that we’re a finished product here.”

Saturday was a fun, family-friendly day for fans to see Candle’s program operate for the first time. For those hoping to get a sneak peak at who the starting quarterback might be, that day is a ways away.

Tennessee transfer Jake Merklinger, the favorite to win the job from the outside, was out on the field throwing and looked sharp warming up early. He took part in the initial individual and goal-to-go periods, starting the day off with a short red zone touchdown pass to Toledo transfer Ryder Treadway, but soon went back to the locker room and replaced his pads with a hoodie and shorts, signaling the end of his day. Tucker McDonald, Kalieb Osborne and Tyler Smith rotated reps for the rest of the afternoon. Candle didn’t provide any update on Merklinger’s situation.

“They’ve had great competition all the way through. Spring, to me, is a rep thing, not a depth thing. So we try to practice three groups the best we can and get as much work for them as possible. A lot of that is pre-snap work, a lot of that is post-snap work, there’s segmented things when we’re trying to get specific work from them, and they’ve all handled it very well,” Candle said. “I want to make sure that we get to the next segment of summer and we can put a lot on their plate, OTAs type of work and just continue to work on football IQ, because I think at the end of the day, that’s who will win the job. The guy that’s got that part of it in line.”

Candle said he’s rotated the quarterbacks “pretty equally” throughout the spring, giving them all opportunities to work with what could be perceived as the first, second or third units.

“You put ones, twos and threes on a tag for guys to get reps, but I don’t have a depth chart right now,” he said. “We head to the next phase of summer, we turn the team to the quarterbacks, we figure out who’s leadership skills will surface and who we can count on when things get hard because they’ve really invested in their teammates.”

Some additional takeaways from a first look at the 2026 Huskies:

Get used to the name: Trey Cornist

There wasn’t any tackling on Saturday, but one look at running back Trey Cornist would suggest he’d be hard to bring down anyway. The 6-foot, 215-pound transfer from Central Michigan will be used in a number of different ways from short-yardage situations to runs outside the tackles; he even caught a handful of screen passes.

“Trey’s a big-bodied back that does a great job in pass protection, catches it pretty well out of the backfield for his size,” Candle said. “Look, I’m not here to coach guys on what to do after they get the ball in their hands when they go run with it, so he’s good at that too. He could be a three-down back.”

Treadway stands out amongst deep receivers group

One of several carryovers from Toledo, Treadway is a 6-foot-3, 193-pound rising sophomore who looked comfortable in every situation and saw a high volume of targets on Saturday. He had 13 catches for 176 yards and three touchdowns as a freshman in Candle’s offense last season.

“He came up in some big moments, made some big plays in tough moments and tough situations. Just a high accountable guy that you can put a lot on his plate,” Candle said.

Treadway lined up with the first team offense alongside receivers Jediyah Willoughby and Javon Brown, both also coming from Toledo. Youngstown State transfer Ky “Flash” Wilson also figures to be a factor in the fall, but was not in pads on Saturday.

Experienced linebackers

John Lista, a redshirt senior from Penn, broke through for a sack on McDonald and later intercepted a pass to stand out on the defensive side of the ball.

“He’s been great. He’s a veteran player that’s played a lot of football, highly intelligent guy, throwback type of player. Not afraid to put his face on you and get in the fight,” Candle said. “You have to have guys on defense that have an edge and that are willing to do that. He’s gonna be a major part of what we’ve got moving forward.”

UConn’s defense, focused on being relentless and physical, also features junior K’Von Sherman, redshirt senior Luke Murphy and classmate Kylish Hicks, among others, at the linebacker position.

Candle embracing program, community as a whole

There was a breakfast with more than 100 alumni at the stadium prior to the spring game. A handful made it to the sideline during the event, including All-American receiver Skyler Bell, who is preparing to hear his name called in the early rounds of the NFL Draft. He has been around campus, visited spring practices and participated in the March Pro Day.

Bell was joined by Reymello Murphy, D’Mon Brinson and Malachi McLean as he looked over the new team.

“I tell our team all the time, ‘It’s hard to know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve come from.’ This is their program. They’ve helped create so many memories here for themselves, for the fans. Some guys played in eras that were maybe better than others, but you ultimately want to come back (and) help the younger players,” Candle said. “I really feel that if we can engage that group (of alumni), then that just spreads community throughout the whole entire thing. So whether you played in the ’60s or ’70s or ’80s, or if you’re Skyler Bell that was just done here a few months ago, they’re always welcome back. This is their place. They built this place and they’ll help lead our guys into the future. The thing about football is the cleats are coming off at some point in time. Somebody up there is gonna hire one of these guys some day. And if we don’t help create that community and help build that, then I think we’re missing the boat.”