Quotes and more from Tuesday's practice

Tight end Ryan Griffin didn't practice Tuesday, with what Randy Edsall described as "a couple bumps." He looked fine walking off the field, but it is my guess he will see limited time, including today's scrimmage. He's clearly the best TE on the team and there's no benefit in risking a prolonged injury.

Not happy with the depth at TE -- especially with Griffin banged up -- Edsall is moving LB Andrew Opoku to that position. Opoku played some TE before and at 6-4, 227 pounds, could give UConn another option. However, his play at TE is raw, so don't count on him to be a contributor at least just yet.

"You sit there and you look and you see a position you are in, and you're always trying to evaluate and kids and getting them into the best spot," Edsall said. "We're sitting there and looking at where we are from a Husky (linebacker) standpoint and when you have Jory (Johnson), you have Martin (Hyppolite), you have David Kenney there at that position, and you have Andrew there. You're sitting there saying, 'Geez, you got four guys who are athletes who can help you.' and you look at other positions where you might need help. It's one of those things that we saw. We saw, 'Hey, Andrew's battling for those spots.' But we felt maybe some of those other guys were maybe a little closer and we felt we had a need at tight end and he's played receiver/tight end type things before. So we just say, 'Hey, let's take a look at it,' because now we have a bigger, faster guy than what we had there. We have to teach him how to block a little bit, but it's going to allow us to take advantage of his abilities a little bit."

Another reason Edsall likes the move is he sees a lot of depth at LB and Opoku made the most sense in terms of shifting personnel.

Senior FB Brett Manning had someone fall on his leg during Monday's practice and was wearing a boot on Tuesday. It's not a great loss for the Huskies for two reasons -- Anthony Sherman is a beast who can be counted on like the Sun, and if they needed another FB, D.J. Shoemate could slide back there from TB since that was where he played at USC. There is also freshman Reuben Frank, someone Edsall is high on. At any rate, Manning is listed as day-to-day.

As long as Cody Endres is suspended, the Huskies are in need of a second-string QB. Initially, Edsall didn't want to make a proclamation, but just from the few media availabilities, it was clear who No. 2 is: Mike Box.

"I would say Michael has the edge, yeah," Edsall said. "You can probably tell that (Tuesday). He was doing some things with the exception of the sack in the two-minute drill, (but) he's doing some things."

There was a lot of praise for Zach Frazer's camp performance. Maybe it's because Edsall is VERY disappointed in Endres or maybe it's because EVERYONE on both sides of the ball are raving about how much Frazer has matured and developed since April.

The coach also noted that this season's freshmen may be the best incoming class he has ever had. Of note were WR Tebucky Jones, from New Britain, who Edsall said will be redshirted this season; Frank; Lyle McCombs;and the new offensive linemen (Teddy Baker, Gus Cruz, Mark Hansson, Greg McKee and Bryan Paull). On defense, he praised the new DBs and linebackers, the latter he said need to get stronger. Edsall singled out Yawin Smallwood, who he put in at MLB on Tuesday.

"To me, I think this is our best freshmen class we ever had here, top to bottom, no doubt," said Edsall.

It was also noted that the season opener at Michigan will be played before 109,901 fans -- the largest crowd in NCAA history.

There's a lot of competition at running back, and there's no question Jordan Todman is the No. 1 guy. But with the addition of Shoemate there was speculation he would be No. 2 behind Todman. Edsall wouldn't say, but based on what we've seen and heard (including the upcoming quote from Edsall), it's looking like Robbie Frey is ready to shine.

"I wish I had a 105 Robbie Frys. Just his work ethic, his character, his love of the game, his respect of the game. He just works. He's had a good camp and has been very, very productive. He's a guy I know we can count on," Edsall said.