Tuesday practice update

The first scrimmage was in the books Saturday and after six practices the UConn staff has made some position changes. The most notable are at safety.

Kijuan Dabney is now back at safety moving from the Husky linebacker position. Dabney has ping-ponged between both in his career, but this may be a permanent move.

Andrew Opoku, a 6-4 January recruit, struggled at safety (not surprisingly, it's a tough position to learn) and is slated to move to Husky backer replacing Dabney.

What happened?

The Huskies are very young at safety and freshman Opoku was getting a lot of run with the first unit. But, after evaluating Opoku, the staff felt he would be better served at linebacker. Opoku has a nice frame, but I am not sure he was fast enough to play safety. He's a big hitter, and his quickness will be an asset at linebacker.

That really shifts the defense. Right now, Jory Johnson is the likely OLB with Dabney teaming up with Jerome Junior at safety. The rest of the guys are David Kenney, Marcus Aiken, Chris Lopes and Matt Edwards at safety.

Randy Edsall said Saturday that Dabney's move to LB was for good, but they thought long and hard about the switch and if the aim is to get your best players on the field, it makes sense for Dabney and Johnson to come back.

Of course, they would have liked for one of the young players to take the position and never make the coaches think twice, but that just wasn't the case.

Some other highlights:

* There were several big plays today by the offense. Malik Generett is a big receiver and you can see the big play potential. I like his progress. Not sure if he is going to muscle in for some time, but there is no one like him amongst the receving corps.

*Jon Jean-Louis broke away for a 65 yard TD and is very quick and agile. It's going to be a tough haul getting carries at RB, but he is showing some life. Todman also had some terrific runs, and the power run game with Zach Hurd pulling is a great play to watch unfold. Hurd is a terrific prospect. He has has size, strength and can move.

*Zach Frazer scrambled during the controlled-scrimmage portion and actually was tackled to the ground 15 yards down field. I cringed when I saw that. It's one thing to take the red shirts off the QBs, it's another one to have your QB take hits. It made me feel like fingernails against a chalk-board. Next time he did it he slid. Should be a rule, don't hit your QB 10 yards down the field during practice -- EVER.

*Tevrin Brandon getting plenty of reps with the first team. He looks to be a really good cover corner type. The key with Brandon is playing the run. He looks like the perfect nickel corner for this team.

* Lawrence "Bama" Wilson missed practice for academic reasons and will also be out Thursday. Also, Sio Moore continues to be out of practice as is Gerrard Shepperd with injuries.

That's it for now, gotta pay the bills.