Starting QB is a Game Time Decision

It’s Thursday afternoon; do you know who your starting quarterback is? Well, with only two days before the Huskies put any realistic thoughts of a Big East championship on the line against West Virginia at Rentschler Field (noon), Huskies coach Randy Edsall isn’t telling.

Zach Frazer is said to be fully recovered from a head injury suffered two weeks ago against Rutgers and Cody Endres is coming off a steady first career start. Frazer or Endres may already be decided in the UConn locker room. The rest of the world, including the West Virginia Mountaineers (5-2, 2-0) won’t know until Saturday afternoon.

“That will be a game-time announcement,” Edsall said Thursday, choosing his words carefully. “When decisions are made, anyone who needs to know what the decisions, know what they are.”

Frazer took over late in the first half against Louisville on Sept. 25 when Tyler Lorenzen went down with a broken right foot. In three games – two starts – Frazer has passed for 536 yards and two touchdowns with three interceptions. A strong-armed transfer from Notre Dame, Frazer missed the Huskies’ 40-16 win over Cincinnati last week after sustaining a head injury against Rutgers the week prior.

Frazer suffered a concussion at the end of fall camp and missed several weeks. Frazer’s injury against Rutgers led to him being held out of Saturday’s win over Cincinnati, which snapped a two-game losing streak for the Huskies (6-2, 2-1).

Endres, making his first career start after some mop-up duty early in the season, passed for 194 yards on 18-of-42 passing. The most important aspect of Endres’performance was he committed no turnovers.

On Tuesday, Endres was prepared to take any role the coaching staff had for him this week.

“You know how things go. Zach is a great player and he will be back. It is an OR situation right now,” Endres said Tuesday. “You have to prepare like you are going to be a starter.

“I would like to know as soon as possible (if he is starting). But, with Coach Edsall you never know.”

Edsall said that Frazer is back healthy and has practiced this week and is available on Saturday.

“He and Cody have looked good in practice this week,” Edsall said.

Butler to WR?

The struggles the Huskies have had in the wide receiver corps are no secret. On the season, the Huskies have had only three pass plays over 30 yards this season, one from a fullback, with the leading receiver being redshirt freshman Kashif Moore with 18 catches, tied with running back Donald Brown for the team lead.

Perhaps to combat that lack of productivity, the Huskies may be looking at moving cornerback Darius Butler to offense for more than a limited numbers of plays.

In a Wednesday morning story in the new Haven Register, Butler was quoted as saying he will be seeing more time on offense, and that would lighten the load on defense giving way to junior cornerback Robert McClain.

Butler, regarded as one of the top NFL prospects in the country and the best athlete on the Huskies’ team, has caught eight passes for 107 yards and a touchdown. Butler also has a rushing touchdown and has been used mostly in third down and redzone situations. He also returns kickoffs.

If Butler has an expanded role on offense that keeps him from playing defense, it will be a risky move by the Huskies’ coaching staff. Edsall doesn’t talk about his game plan publicly and wouldn’t comment on the Register story Thursday.

“I have no comment on that, I don’t know what you are even talking about, but I have no comment on it,” Edsall said.

Edsall said later in the conference call that perhaps McClain or Terry Baltimore may start against West Virginia.