Head Coach: Jim Mora Jr is entering his 4th season as the head coach of the Huskies with an 18-20 record. This represents a great start for a program that had struggled, he’s brought them to 2 bowl games, their previous before he arrived was in 2015. 2024 was his best season yet as they won their bowl and finished with 9 wins, even more wins than they had in the Fiesta Bowl season. Now what does he do for an encore?
Program Outlook: Football is always a challenge for UConn’s program, they aren’t in a region that’s great for recruiting and of course basketball always comes first, heck you could argue Women’s Basketball comes before football even. To keep the basketball programs aligned with a better conference football doesn’t play in a conference, it creates a strange and challenging schedule but after a long road it feels like the program is finding it’s footing. That’s not to say more challenges aren’t ahead, there will soon be limits on where you can allocate your resources and you can expect UConn to apply more of them to the basketball programs.
How does the 2025 Roster look?: UConn ranks 55th in the country returning 58% of their production per Punt and Rally’s returning production rankings. Key players starts with QB Joe Fagnano who was remarkably effective running this offense finishing with 20 TDs and 4 picks, he’s not alone running it as Nick Evers became more heavily involved late in the year, particularly as a running threat. The Huskies had a really good committee of backs last year, they split carries and all were effective Cam Edwards and Mel Brown return from that group, plus they added Eastern Illinois transfer MJ Flowers. WR Skyler Bell is a star for this team and a former top recruit Caleb Burton comes in from Auburn and could be a great slot receiver. The defense has a good pair of safeties back in D’Mon Brinson and Malachi Mclean, along with corner Cam Chadwick who did really good as a freshman and will continue to get better. The Huskies also have some interesting portal adds with LBs Tyquan King (Temple) and Bryun Parham (Washington). The biggest question mark for the team will be the defensive line overhaul they went through via the portal, but there’s some promising additions here. The offensive line was dominant last season but must replace several starters from last year, they have great depth so I’d imagine they will be solid but it may take some time to get on the same page.
Screenshot from FBSchedules.com
2025 Schedule Thoughts: UConn’s schedule is pretty favorable in 2025. Their biggest challenges look like they’ll be Duke at home, plus Syracuse, Boston College and Buffalo on the road. They also have a Delaware team transitioning to FBS and 4 teams with a new head coach. Central Connecticut State is their FCS foe, they had a really good year last year as one of the best teams in the NEC. I also like how many regional opponents UConn plays. Overall this schedule doesn’t get in the way of their goals.
Final Thoughts: UConn’s program is really on the right track under Jim Mora Jr, they keep getting better and now I’m curious if they can continue to take a step forward. One key will be to keep their RedZone execution at a high level, UConn was top 5 in the country in the RedZone last year. At a minimum, I see them reaching a bowl once again and a 10 win season is not out of reach.
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