Dashing Through The Snow...

December 23, 2004

Suddenly walking in a winter wonderland, the University of Connecticut football team awoke to eight inches of fresh snow on Thursday morning at the Motor City Bowl. The team held an uneventful two-hour practice session at Ford Field, which closed with the squad's first media opportunity of the trip. The formal bowl week activities begin on Friday with the Kickoff Luncheon and the Players Night Out at the Utopia Night Club, both of which will allow the Huskies to get to meet their counterparts from Toledo on a personal level as they enjoy bowling, arcade games, billiards and other similar activities in the multi-purpose complex, which is similar to a Jillian's or Dave & Buster's.

Left, Randy Edsall and Ryan Krug trudge through the snow to get on one of the team busses to practice on Thursday. Thankfully, the game will be played indoors at Ford Field (right). Although empty for UConn's practice, a near-capacity crowd is expected on Monday at the ultra-modern 65,000-seat venue.

Left, Krug pauses for a breather during practice...Right, offensive tackle Aloys Manga proudly holds a football aloft. Occasionally after practice, Edsall will make the native of Cameroon field punts. If he can catch one, the team doesn't have to run sprints. After a half dozen attempts, Manga fielded one cleanly on Thursday, although the jubilant 6-7, 316 pound sophomore did not turn up field to run for a touchdown.

A bird's eye view of graduate assistant coach Joe Villapiano showing a play diagram to the scout kickoff return team (left) and offensive coordinator Norries Wilson running the linemen through a drill (right).

Linebacker Alfred Fincher video tapes, and successfully attempts to distract, Dan Orlovsky as he is interviewed after practice by Jemele Hill from the Detroit Free Press...Right, Fincher soaks in his impressive surroundings as he is interviewed on the field by Donna Tommelleo of the Associated Press' Hartford bureau and Neill Ostrout of Bridgeport's Connecticut Post.

In addition to the familiar faces of the players and coaches, many other UConn athletics employees are sacrificing their Christmas holiday at home to be with the Huskies in Detroit. Many of these people perform important tasks that keep the well-oiled machine in operation, yet are often hidden from the public's eye. At left, Head Athletic Trainer Bob Howard (center) and team physician, Dr. Jeff Anderson (right), chat with Fincher...Right, Director of Strength and Conditioning Jerry Martin chases appropriately-named redshirt freshman Donnell Ford up the 41 rows of seats in Ford Field's lower bowl as he helps Ford rehabilitate an injury. Ford Field is not named for Donnell Ford, but rather the Ford Motor Company, whose world headquarters is located across the street from UConn's team hotel in suburban Dearborn.

The man behind the man, perhaps the busiest person connected to the team, is Director of Football Operations Don Corzine. Corzine is shown here at a rare down moment as he is only talking on one cell phone instead of the his impressive, yet unfortunately frequent, juggling act of talking on two at once...Right, two of Corzine's trusty student assistants, Jon Dahlquist and Justin Wolf, pause for a photo in the press box.

Senior Liz Carlson is one of several students who record the team's games and practices on video so the coaching staff can further analyze them...Right, in the back of the coaches' booth high above Ford Field, Assistant Director of Video Services Jason Isenberg digitally edits and marks the tapes, from four different cameras, continuously on a laptop throughout the practice, seeming the four feeds into one.

What Isenberg sees as he uses state-of-the-art Pinnacle software to view and log some of Carlson's high end zone angle footage...Right, Howard and Anderson can't work alone. The nine-member traveling athletic training and medical staff pauses for a group photo before practice.

Not included in the group photo is Howard's 10-year old daughter, Emily, who lends a hand before practice taping a Husky's wrist...Right, William Beatty gets his ankle taped in UConn's training room at Ford Field before practice.

University of Connecticut police officers Ray Lachance and Chris Casa handle the team's security on the road, often coordinating with their city and state counterparts on site...Right, when the team got back to the hotel on Thursday, several nice things awaited them. First was a deep-dish pizza lunch, being enjoyed here by some of the team's younger linemen in the Hyatt Regency's lobby.

After finishing their lunch, the players and support staff stopped by a meeting room where UConn's student managers fervently prepared and distributed the team's bowl gifts. NCAA rules permit bowl committees and schools to give the players up to $350 worth of "schwag" apiece. In addition to the nice travel bags, the Motor City Bowl also gave the team watches and commemorative footballs. The bags also contained new practice gear for the week, provided by UConn, that featured the bowl's logo...The next stop was to see Director of Equipment Services Larry Hare to get sized for a ring that will be a part of UConn's gift allotment. At right, Rhema Fuller sees how his hand measures up.

The last stop for the team was a visit with Associate Director of Athletics for Compliance Bill Shults, in the blue shirt, who sorts through the team's ticket request forms. The NCAA allows each player to receive up to six complimentary tickets for the game. Helping Shults is Eric Christian, another one of Corzine's student assistants...Shown at right in the background of Edsall's Thursday media session, Leigh Torbin from the Athletic Communications office serves as the team's publicist and, along with official photographer Bob Stowell, makes sure that Husky fans everywhere can see what's happening with their beloved team on its first ever bowl trip by keeping both UConnHuskies.com and UConnBowl.com ripe with fresh photo updates. 

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