Fans will have their first opportunity to see Jason Candle‘s inaugural Huskies’ roster as the spring game returns to Connecticut, kicking off at 2 p.m. in East Hartford.

The event will be free of charge and feature tailgating opportunities, Fan Fest games and attractions along with a preview of the 2026 football team.

UConn is encouraging fans to arrive early to tailgate in the Blue Lot. Parking, also free of charge, will open at noon before gates and concessions open at 1 p.m. with the Fan Fest – which includes face painters, temporary tattoo artists, caricature artists, photo booths, lawn games, and more – available on the concourse under the scoreboard.

After the game, fans will be invited to join the team on the concourse around section 111 for a meet-and-greet, which will include autograph and photo opportunities.

Fans who attend the event will receive a special ticket offer at a later date for the upcoming 2026 home schedule.

The Huskies will begin their 2026 season at Rentschler Field on Set. 5 with a visit from Lafayette in their first of seven home games this season. Maryland will visit the following weekend, Sept. 12, with other home games against Syracuse, UMass, North Carolina, James Madison and Old Dominion slotted for the fall.

Candle, who never had a losing season in 10 years at Toledo, took over the program in December following back-to-back 9-4 campaigns under coach Jim Mora, who moved on to Colorado State. The 2026 roster includes more than 70 new players and an almost entirely new coaching staff.

Free tickets for the spring game are available here.

“You know, it was tough, initially a lot of the guys who were on the old team were down in the dumps about going to the same bowl, a lot of guys who had played a lot of games thought about transferring in general before hand,” said Ty Chan, who eventually reupped with UConn. “Having that transition was definitely tough for me, but I definitely wanted to see what things were like here and see what the new staff was offering and I definitely was sold. Being here is something I’m very grateful for.”

Chan, an offensive linemen from Boston, met with new head coach Jason Candle and was one of a handful of Huskies who have stayed on to bridge the Jim Mora years with the Candle era, which began with spring practices this week. There are more than 70 new players, including a large influx from Toledo, who followed Candle here.

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So any culture shock must be processed quickly, as two cultures are molded into one. There is common ground, as both UConn under Mora and Toledo under Candle are underdog programs where overlooked or undervalued players often found homes.

“Coach Candle and Coach Mora, the way they recruit, I think  they recruit the same type of player,” said defensive lineman Matt Hoffman, who chose to stay put at UConn. “Players who might have been doubted, but aren’t afraid to do hard work, so that automatically makes it easier to mix as a group.”

Receiver Shamar Porter, who had transferred from Kentucky last year, also chose to stay. Candle, a former receivers coach, figures to bring an offensive approach to his liking.

“Before the bowl game, I met with him,” Porter said, “we had an hour-long conversation and I honestly didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know much of him, I knew a little bit about his history. We definitely had a good introduction, he told me what it was going to be like if I decided to stay here. The basics, he broke it down for me how a receiver is supposed to do everything.”

As players arrived, or returned to campus in January, the bonding process began, in the weight room, in the training facility. Now they’re beginning light practices which will culminate in a spring game on April 11 at Rentschler.

“The two (groups) bonding was something that took a little bit, at least for the first two weeks,” Chan said. “We had a good amount of captain-leadership guys meet up and do things together that could help the team, the guys who joined the team this year and the younger guys who might develop. The blending of that is something we’re working on currently and developing throughout spring ball, day by day, one percent better.”

Of the Huskies holdovers, most are from the Northeast. Chan was at Notre Dame for three seasons before transferring to UConn and playing regularly, starting nine games, at right or left guard, so he figures to be an achor of the new offensive line. For his last year of eligibility, he has been joined by a former high school teammate at Lawrence Academy, tight end Matt Ragan, who transferred from Boston College.

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Receiver Jediyah Willoughby, who missed much of that year with a leg injury, was one of the dozens to follow Candle to Connecticut, where he can help those new to his coaching style learn the standards.

“The first meeting with Coach Candle, you can tell he’s a guy you want to be around,” Willoughby said. “The way he coaches you, the way he’s on you every day, it’s hard to explain but when you know, you know. I feel like a lot of guys here understand the process of transferring and coming into a new program, so they know they have to work to come together.

“I feel like everybody’s getting along. I see a guy from UConn working, it’s only going to make me want to work and vice versa. I feel like the locker room, we have a good relationship right now. Everybody’s here to compete.”

Linebacker K’Von Sherman, who was in on 93 tackles for Toledo last year, is another who followed Candle to Connecticut.

“When you have players from (the coach’s) previous school, it kind of makes the transition a little easier,” Sherman said. “The guys I was around, players and coaches, Coach Candle has a really good system and I knew it was the right place for me. The way he has us prepare, he’s more on the mental side, taking advantage of walk-through. … One of the reasons I came here, I knew they were going to need someone who could come here and lead.”

Virtually every room in the Shenkman Training Center will have Toledo vets, UConn vets and newcomers. If things go as planned, the melting pot will yield a productive, well-organized UConn football team by summer.

“(The UConn holdovers) have a lot of sweat equity in this place and it means a lot to them,” Candle said. “It’s important to them, and we’re trying to get everybody to where it’s as important to them as it is to those guys when we kick the ball off in September. It’s critical that they set the foundation for what we’re trying to do; you mix that with some of the guys we brought from Toledo and I think they understand the expectations. There have been great organic conversations amongst the team about it, and they’ve handled it really, really well.”

He started his playing career as a walk-on at Cincinnati, where he earned a scholarship and was part of a Big East championship defense in 2008 before earning an undrafted free agent contract for a short stint with the Buffalo Bills.

After he was cut, Manalac ventured into the business world for a short time before he realized it wasn’t for him and returned to his roots at Pickerington Central High in Ohio, when a conversation with his former coach, Jay Sherrett, encouraged him to get into coaching.

“He told me he always thought I’d be a coach, so when you hear something like that from someone you really trust and respect, I listened,” Manalac, now 40, told The Courant.

So he sat down with Mark Dantonio, his first coach with the Bearcats who’d moved on to Michigan State, at a high school coaches clinic. And Dantonio tried to talk him out of it.

“Maybe knowing who I was, the makeup I had competitively, he knew what he was doing and drove me to it,” Manalac said. “About two weeks later I was up at Michigan State working as a graduate assistant coach, and I haven’t looked back.”

Over four seasons with the Spartans, Manalac fell in love with the different facets of college football and decided to dedicate his life to it. He went on to coach linebackers at FCS Valparaiso, then took on the defensive coordinator role at Division II Ohio Dominican and FCS Bucknell. Working his way back up to the FBS level in 2021, Manalac went to Pittsburgh as a linebackers coach, where DC Randy Bates was operating the same four-down, attacking scheme he thrived in as a player.

“I spent the whole time taking notes on what I would do the next time I got that opportunity to be at the head of the table again,” he said. “I felt like I already had a doctorate in that defense. But now I literally went five more years in there, so (I’m a) specialized doctor of the defense, if you will.”

The Pittsburgh defense was known for being aggressive and pressure-heavy. It ranked top 30 in the FBS in turnovers gained in three of the five seasons Manalac was there.

“They’re gonna put pressure on you in a lot of different ways, they’re gonna mix up the looks, but yet keep it very simplistic for our guys,” UConn head coach Jason Candle said. “In today’s college football, you want to be aggressive. The rules are starting to change in the sense that it’s limited possessions, you want to be able to create as much havoc as you can, create as many turnovers as you possibly can. And give the punches rather than take them.”

Pittsburgh had 11 defensive players drafted during Manalac’s time, and will likely see the list grow in April. Kyle Louis, who he helped develop into an All-American linebacker, is projected to hear his name called in the middle rounds.

The Panthers made four bowl appearances in the last five years, including a six-overtime loss to Candle and Toledo in the 2024 GameAbove Sports Bowl. When Candle took the UConn job, he was looking for coordinators who can teach and develop players. Manalac had a proven track record.

“This is still amateur athletics and as much as we try to cloud that picture at times, I think this is a very influential age for young people and we want to surround them with really good representations of what it should look like,” Candle said.

Manalac was quickly sold.

“It felt very similar to those types of programs that I’ve been a part of and enjoyed, a developmental program. Coaches wanted to be there, won championships, developed guys for the NFL. I wanted to be here and build it, so that was exciting for me,” he said. “Doing my research, obviously they had back-to-back nine-win seasons and bowl games here. I was certainly excited to join Coach Candle and his staff and work under his leadership. Really excited to be here.”

The Huskies will have a different look on defense from the 3-3-5 scheme that Matt Brock introduced and had success with over the last two seasons. But the core principles will largely remain the same.

“We want to be aggressive,” Manalac said. “I think for fans watching us on TV or at the stadium, I hope it’s as simple as watching a group of guys running fast, hitting hard and making plays, and having fun playing the greatest game in the world.”

Notre Dame announced on Wednesday that Holtz died in Orlando, Florida, surrounded by his family. Spokeswoman Katy Lonergan said a cause of death was not provided by the family.

Holtz became the first and so far only coach to lead six different teams to bowl games during a career in which he compiled a record of 249-132-7. He still ranks 10th all-time in career victories by a Football Bowl Subdivision coach, eighth all-time with 388 games coached. He has ties to Connecticut where he served as an assistant coach at UConn during the 1964 and ’65 seasons. Holtz’s son Skip would later become head coach of the Huskies from 1994-98.

At Notre Dame, he went 100-30-2 in 11 seasons producing both the third-highest win total in school history and the second-highest loss total.

Holtz won at every stop — except for a brief stint in the NFL.

He didn’t just win games, either. The diminutive coach captivated fans with his occasionally fiery sideline demeanor, his self-deprecating wit and folksy phrases all while demanding excellence, on and off the field, from his much larger players.

Holtz became such a popular personality that after coaching his last game, in 2004 with South Carolina, he parlayed that into a broadcasting career and motivational speaking.

The NFL Combine, which ends Monday, offered a chance to show their skills for all 32 teams and improve their chances for the NFL Draft in April.

“Huge, man. Can’t remember the last time we had a skill player at the combine other than Byron Jones,” Bell told reporters on Friday. “Being back here puts UConn on the national stage, brings more eyes on us, will lead to success in the future.”

Jones made waves at the combine in 2015 with a record broad jump, catapulting himself into the first round. He had a long NFL career as a cornerback. Since then, UConn’s best prospects and high draft picks have been offensive linemen.

Dom Amore: Joe Fagnano has taken his last snap for UConn football, now he’s aiming for the NFL

Fagnano, 25, broke through to gain national attention last season, his seventh in college, and throwing to Bell was a big part of that. “Credit to him, he deserves to be here,” Fagnano said. “He’s a heck of a football player. Being able to work with him the last two years elevated my game.”

Bell started his career at Wisconsin, then transferred to UConn with the hope of being a No. 1 target. He caught 50 passes in 2024, then last season caught 101 for 1,278 yards and 13 touchdowns. An All-American and Fred  Biletnikoff Award finalist, He had a knack for making difficult and clutch catches, but the combines are about “measurables,” the raw numbers NFL teams look at to determine whether a college player has the skills to play in the NFL.

“I wouldn’t be here without Joe,” Bell said. “He’s the guy that gets me the ball. We were talking about it here, all the late night throwing sessions, the extra routes, extra reps, it paid off.”

In the 40-yard dash, Bell finished in 4.4 seconds. His 10-yard split was 1.53, his vertical leap 41 inches, his broad jump 11 feet, 1 inches. These numbers indicate his quick acceleration, and translated to a score of 77 and an “athleticism score” of 83, seventh among wide receivers at the combine. His scouting grade was 6.25, which is considered an NFL-starter level.

Bell is projected as a second-to-fourth round draft pick. “I model my game after guys like Ja’Marr Chase, Stefon Diggs, Jaxon Smith-Njigba,” Bell said. “Those guys can do a lot after the catch, create separation, contested catches. They model my game a little bit, same size.”

At 6 feet, 192 pounds, Bell, his hands measuring 10 inches, his arms 31 1/8, made his reputation by breaking tackles after making the catch. “I just try to let my tapes do the talking,” he said. “I can take a short pass and take it the distance.”

All the players at the combine speak to numerous teams. In his interview, Bell was asked about and acknowledged meeting with the Cowboys, Vikings and Bills.

Fagnano is a unique prospect, given he was in college so long. His age isn’t expected to concern teams, since he brings so much game experience. At UConn, he completed 69 percent of his passes in 2025, for 3,448 yards and 28 touchdowns, with only one interception.

“Credit to the offensive line, where credit’s due,” Fagnano told reporters. “They kept my jersey clean. It’s easy to sit back there when you have a clean pocket and get through your reads, check down on your receivers. (Teams would get) a disciplined player, tough, competitive.”

Fagnano touched on his journey, getting few offers out of high school, going to Maine, an FCS program. After transferring to UConn, suffering a season ending shoulder injury, winning and losing the starting job, before taking over for good in mid-2024.

“I don’t know how many people know my story, but I don’t think there’s a lot of people who would go through the journey I’ve gone through to be here,” he said. “I think it just speaks volumes. The bumps in the road have gotten me where I am, made me who I am.”

Fagnano worked out with some of best-known quarterbacks in the country, like Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, who is expected to be the first  pick in the draft, Miami’s Carson Beck, Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia. In his workouts, Fagnano, 6-3 and 226, was measured with 10-inch hands, 31 3/8 arms. He ran a 4.83 in the 40-yard dash, with a 1.67 split, had a 35-inch vertical and 9-10 in the broad jump. He also ran a 20-yard shuttle in 4.35 seconds.

“Rare seventh-year senior with the size and production to warrant a deeper dive,” wrote Lance Zierlein for NFL.com. “Fagnano is a ball-distributing pocket passer with an average arm and inconsistent accuracy. He’s highly experienced, showing adequate command of his offense.”

Fagnano was graded at 70, 12th among QBs in Indianapolis, and projected as a late draft pick or undrafted free agent.

“(I’m) somebody that can still be a leader in that role even though there might be somebody ahead of you and it’s his offense at that time,” Fagnano said, “somebody who doesn’t let circumstances dictate how they work, it doesn’t change your preparation whether. first, second, third string.”

Fagnano opted out of UConn’s Fenway Bowl game, and Bell played only one offensive series. Both went to post-season all-star events, Fagnano going 5-for-5 on a game-winning drive in the East-West Shrine Game. Bell has some injuries and did not play in the game. Both will have workouts for individual teams, and most, if not all teams will send reps to UConn’s Pro Day, scheduled for March 24.

“Bell is an inside-outside target with adequate size and field-stretching speed,” Zierlein wrote. “He has the tools to beat press quickly and the acceleration/cut quickness to open clean windows. The TDs left on the field due to underthrown passes at UConn will turn into NFL touchdowns with an accurate passer. Bell’s speed and upside should make him a productive starter.”

Former UConn tight end Justin Joly, who played the last two years at NC State, graded at 6.16 at the combine, which translates to a potential NFL starter.

As the football program turns the page from the prosperous Jim Mora era to the new Jason Candle coaching regime, they’ve tapped into another famous Jersey family. Meet Nunzio Campanile, offensive coordinator, from the first family of football coaching in the Garden State.

“That’s football royalty right there,” Hurley said. “… They’re like the Hurleys of football in New Jersey. No pressure.”

Campanile, 49, was lured from Syracuse, where UConn twice fell victim to the quarterbacks who flourished under his tutelage. Though Candle and Campanile had no previous history, they connected in a ZOOM interview and both determined their philosophies of offense aligned. So here he is. Campanile’s father, Mike, is the patriarch, who coached Paramus Catholic for many years. Mike’s sons, Mike Jr., Vito, Anthony and Nunzio, fanned out across the state. At one point, 17 of 20 Jersey state championships were won by a Campanile-coached team.

Mike Campanile, 80, is still involved, working with freshman at Bergen Catholic, where his Vito is now head coach. Nick Campanile is head coach at DePaul High, and Anthony is defensive coordinator of the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars. The five usually get together around the Fourth of July on the Jersey Shore.

“The lessons I’ve learned from my Dad were the most influential; he just was such an incredible coach when it came to building relationships and what that took,” Nunzio said. “As a high school coach he was an innovator, he was ahead of the game as far as the style he wanted to play. My three brothers are my go-to when it comes to how to handle anything, how to address something, maybe a different way to do it.”

Nunzio, longtime Giants fan, started as offensive coordinator at Don Bosco Prep, where he coached Phil Simms’ younger son, Matt. Then he became head coach at Bergen Catholic, where he was 60-29, winning a state championship in 2017. He moved on to Rutgers, where he worked with running backs, tight ends and quarterbacks and finished the 2019 season as interim head coach. He was also an interim head coach at Syracuse in 2023, but as quarterbacks coach in 2024 and 25, he worked with transfers Kyle McCord, who threw for 470 yards vs. UConn,and Steve Angeli, who engineered a fourth-quarter comeback vs. the Huskies.

“Coming from where I came from (Toledo) and having control of the offense for 14 years, I wanted to have a staff, starting with the coordinators, who believed in the same things philosophically that I do,” Candle said. “Being able to run the football and set the table with that, and be able to get into some really good play-action passes off of that. You’re based off of your reputation and what you are in coaching by word of mouth, you get a lot of recommendations and a lot of people recommended (Campanile) very highly.

“Then you get on a ZOOM call and get to know him as a coach and what he is as a coach and a teacher and if that matches up with what you are, it’s probably a good natural fit.”

UConn has more than 70 new players, including freshman quarterback Bo Polston, who switched from Toledo, veteran Kalieb Osborne, who transferred after playing for Toledo in a bowl game, and Jake Merklinger, who transferred from Tennessee

“They all have a different set of skills, but they’re all really high-character, hard-working guys,” Campanile said. “Highly intelligent, they love to be in there learning football. How we fit the offense very much ends up on who ends up being the guy behind center. My track record says, ‘What can that guy do, and let’s do that.’ The ability to adapt to your quarterback is critical, and you have to build your offense that way.”

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The Hurleys and the Campaniles have crossed paths. When he was coaching in North Jersey, Nunzio made several pilgrimages to Jersey City to watch 28-time state champ Bob Hurley Sr. work with the basketball players at St. Anthony’s. The sports were different, but it was the coaching of young people that mattered.

“Three or four years in a row I was fortunate enough to go down and watch Coach Hurley run practice and go out to dinner with him and just talk,” Campanile said. “I know nothing about basketball, but I have just incredible respect for what he’s about, what the whole family is about, so to me as a young coach, it was an incredible opportunity to learn from someone who’s done this better than anybody ever in the history of their sport. …  The Hurleys, that’s rarified air, those guys are winning national championships.”

Candle and his staff were at the UConn-St. John’s game Wednesday night, speaking of rarified air, a glimpse of the electricity they want to turn on across the river at Rentschler Field.

How did UConn land a coach with such pedigree? It’s another indication of the rising perception of the football program out beyond Connecticut’s borders. Now add the power of the Campanile name to recruiting efforts in Jersey.

“I’d followed (Candle) for a long time, and his reputation speaks for itself,” Campanile said. “We’re aligned, culturally, I’m aligned with a lot of things he believes in. The opportunity to coordinate at a place like this, the trajectory of this program is so high, going in the right direction, it’s really an exciting time to be here. The future of our program is phenomenal. For me it was a no-brainer.”

More for your Sunday Read:

Shea: Hey, it’s not magic

*Former UConn player and coach Shea Ralph, who has Vanderbilt on a rapid rise in women’s basketball, discussed what she took from Geno Auriemma on Yahoo’s 360 Hoops podcast this week.

“It’s not magic; it’s not rocket science,” Ralph said. “It’s not like you go to UConn and they sprinkle magic fairy dust and, bam, you’re an All-American and win a national championship. They make it look that way, which speaks volumes because it’s very hard. But it’s also very simple. There’s a level of buy in and simplicity that I love. It doesn’t have to be so thick and complicated with words and messages. It’s ‘Do you want to do this or not? And this is what it takes.’ And you’ve got to get people there who do what it takes.”

Here’s an indirect branch off that UConn coaching tree: NYU’s women, who took an 86-game Division III winning streak into their regular-season finale Saturday, are coached by Meg Barber, who was on Tonya Cardoza’s staff at Temple from 2012-16. Cardoza rejoined the UConn staff in 2022.

Sunday short takes

*Looks like UConn hockey landed its goalie of the future, with Tyler Muszelik set to run out of eligibility. Veeti Louhivaara, a native of Finland and a fifth-round draft pick of the New Jersey Devils, has committed. Louhivaara, who turned 20 this year, has been playing in the USHL with Chicago. He’s rangy at 6 feet 4, 207 pounds, and he would compete with Kam Hendrickson, who will be a sophomore next season.

*Two landmark achievements at Sacred Heart last week. The women’s wrestling team won its first ever NCAA regional, and will send eight wrestlers to compete in the first NCAA championship meet in Coralville, Iowa, Friday and Saturday. In men’s track and field, the Pioneers won their first MAAC indoor team championship. Christian Morrison was the conference coach of the year.

*The retiring of CC Sabathia’s No. 52, to come this season, is another reminder the Yankees retire too many numbers. He’s very worthy of a plaque in monument park, as are a few players not there, like Graig Nettles, but this can be done without retiring every number. The only number that should be retired in the next 25 years is Aaron Judge’s 99.

*What’s the next jersey headed to the ceiling at Gampel Pavilion? Maya Moore will be done next year. On the men’s side, hmmm. How about Kemba Walker?

Yale tabs Lehigh’s Kevin Cahill to replace Tony Reno as football coach

*How fortunate was Yale to get Kevin Cahill as its next football coach? He worked, with great distinction on Tony Reno’s staff for 10 years, then got three years head coaching experience, with success, at Lehigh. Just an ideal choice.

*Reminder: If you’re going to the Big East Tournament next week, Jim Calhoun and I will be at Barnes & Noble, 555 Fifth Avenue, signing copies of our book, “More Than A Game,” on March 11, noon to 2 p.m.

*Former Huskies Donny Marshall and Scott Burrell, TV analyst and SCSU coach, respectively, have a podcast recorded at WTNH’s studio in New Haven called “The 2nd Half.” Calhoun and Chris Smith have been among their first guests. It’s worth checking out.

*Rockies fans have suffered a lot in recent years, but they’re in for a treat this spring training. Voice of the Yard Goats Jeff Dooley joined the MLB radio broadcast Saturday, and will also sit in Sunday and Monday. Who knows the prospects who will be playing spring games better than “Dools”?

Dom Amore: Proud, emotional day for UConn hockey coach as Thompson, Team USA strike gold

*Shoutout to my good friend Mike Vaccaro, one of the best in the sports writing business, who has a new book out on the Steinbrenners’ long stewardship of the Yankees. “The Bosses Of The Bronx” (HarperCollins) will be out March 24. Put it on your list. Love or hate the subject, it’s worth a read.

*UConn’s George Springer showed up at Blue Jays camp this week wearing a Team USA hockey sweater after the gold medal win over Team Canada. Hit a pennant winning homer, you can wear pretty much what you want.

 Last word

So Dan Hurley has given up swearing for Lent, dropping “bullcrap” instead, and it may take until Easter Sunday to get used to these self-filtered pressers, unless the unexpurgated Hurley reappears before then. He did let one slip after the St. John’s game. Me? With the UConn women playing at Madison Square Garden Sunday, and the men’s Big East tournament coming up, I’m giving up the giant meatballs they sell at MSG, with the red sauce and dollop of ricotta and … Yeah, we’re both going to struggle with this.

It should be a competitive slate for Year One of the Huskies under new head coach Jason Candle after they went 9-3 last year against the fifth-weakest regular season schedule in the country, according to ESPN’s Football Power Index metrics.

The most anticipated game of the year will likely be on Nov. 7, when legendary coach Bill Belichick leads his second North Carolina team into Rentschler Field. UConn beat the Tar Heels in the 2024 Fenway Bowl, 28-14, as Belichick was set to take over the program. The programs haven’t met in East Hartford since 2009.

The Candle era will begin at Rentschler Field with a visit from FCS opponent Lafayette on Sept. 5. UConn has played at least one FCS school in each season since moving up to FBS in 2002 and is 22-2 overall in such games.

The Huskies will then welcome Maryland, their only Big 10 opponent, to East Hartford for the first time since 2013 on Sept. 12. UConn visited Maryland to open the 2024 season and lost, 50-7.

Southern Miss. was the last opponent added to complete the schedule. It will be the first-ever matchup between the programs as UConn travels to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, on Sept. 19 for the first of three matchups against teams from the Sun Belt Conference this season. UConn and Southern Miss are scheduled for a return matchup at The Rent during the 2029 season.

The Huskies will visit Miami (OH) on Sept. 26 for their first-ever meeting with the Red Hawks, who are familiar with Candle from his time at Toledo competing in the Mid-American Conference.

UConn is set to host Syracuse on Oct. 3 after losing in overtime to the Orange last fall, then travel to Temple on Oct. 10 and have a bye week before hosting UMass on Oct. 24, reviving the regional rivalry after a year break. The Huskies will also travel to Air Force to complete a home-and-home series on Oct. 31.

UConn will close its season with three of its last four games at home as perennial Group of Five power James Madison and Old Dominion will each visit on Nov. 14 and Nov. 21, respectively. The season-finale will take place at Wyoming on Nov. 28.

Game times and TV information will be announced at a later date.

2026 UConn football schedule

Sept. 5 – vs. Lafayette
Sept. 12 – vs. Maryland
Sept. 19 – at Southern Miss
Sept. 26 – at Miami (OH)
Oct. 3 – vs. Syracuse
Oct. 10 – at Temple
Oct. 24 – vs. UMass
Oct. 31 – at Air Force
Nov. 7 – vs. North Carolina
Nov. 14 – vs. James Madison
Nov. 21 – vs. Old Dominion
Nov. 28 – at Wyoming

The event will take place Feb. 23- March 2 in Indianapolis.

Both players put up numbers that ranked among the best in the nation statistically, with Fagnano completing 69 percent of his passes and throwing for 3,448 yards with 28 touchdowns and just one interception. Bell was one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s best wide receiver, and he hauled in 101 receptions (4th nationally), 1,278 receiving yards (2nd) and 13 touchdowns (tied for 3rd).

The two were among the 319 prospects invited to the combine, where they’ll have measurements taken and compete in drills testing their athleticism.

Bell is being projected as a potential third-round pick, according to various NFL Mock Draft sites, while Fagnano could go as high as the fourth or fifth round, or in the later rounds.

The NFL Draft is set to begin April 23.

That first day at Rentschler Field, in all of its pomp and circumstance, began a time frame of more than a month where he had to put together his staff and recruit 71 new players, around 30 returnees, to come along as he crosses into his second decade as a head coach.

The facility, the roster, the staff, the operations – all of it is in his hands now.

“I think we’ve got a really good group of guys in here, guys that are about the right things and made up the right way and really going to support our mission,” he said. “But everybody’s been really, really good here in the onboarding process from administration to other coaches in the department to everybody on the external that could help make the transition a smooth one as best they can and they’ve been fantastic.”

UConn signed its last group of incoming freshmen on Wednesday morning. They will join the program in the summer, but a good percentage of the roster is already on campus, working with the strength staff headed by Brad Bichey, who spent the last nine years with Candle at Toledo.

Dom Amore: Jason Candle’s whirlwind rebuild yields a whole new UConn football team

Candle hasn’t had the opportunity to look ahead at the Huskies’ schedule, which is close to being finalized. It includes seven home games with three power conference opponents – Maryland, Syracuse and North Carolina – set to come to The Rent, along with regular Group of Five power James Madison. The full schedule – which will be a much taller challenge than the 2025 slate – is close to being finalized. A trip to Southern Miss. in September will likely be the last addition.

“To be honest, I’m trying to get through February and March and get to spring football and find out who we have on our team and what that’s gonna look like before I even really worry about who else we play,” Candle said.

He will be bringing back the spring game so fans can see the team and the team can see the fans, maybe experience some pressure situations, ahead of fall camp.

From now until September, Candle and his staff will turn a collection of players from all over the country into a team that can continue to build on the program’s recent success under former head coach Jim Mora.

“There are a few guys that came from Toledo, so we do have that part of it. We do have a good background and a good base so we have some guys at each position that would be understanding of what the culture looks like,” Candle said.

“At the end of the day, your strength coach has got to be a rock star. And I think we’ve got as good as anybody in the country at developing relationships and going through that process in the month of January when coaches are on the road recruiting. And ultimately in February, this is a big month coming ahead for us here and that’s right in front of us. So we’ve got a lot of work to be done, a good foundation, but ultimately at the end of the day here, we’re far from a finished product.”

The six high school players announced by UConn on Wednesday’s national signing day: Grant Blascak, DB, Stow, Ohio; Tyrique Harris, LB, Clearwater, Fla.; Jackson Mangham, TE, Lewis Center, Ohio; Martece Smith, DB, Hammond, Ind.; Rodarion Tellez, edge, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Owen Winder, OL, Dexter, Mich.

“To get here, get moving, get rolling in a very challenging time in college athletics,” Candle said Wednesday, in his first meeting with state reporters since his introduction. “You have so many moving parts you have to get in place; having to put together a roster in a short amount of time. … I made the joke the other day, ‘This is the first time I’ve ever had to do this, and it’s the last time I’ll have to do it, too.'”

Just 58 days after he arrived, Candle has signed 71 players — the last six incoming freshman were announced Wednesday — and hired 32 assistant coaches and staffers. He mined the transfer portal, migrated a number of coaches, players and recruits from Toledo, where he coached for a decade, and added new ones. Those numbers would usually suggest a demolition-down-to-the-studs rebuild, but the task of replacing Jim Mora didn’t require sledge hammers or dynamite. The job is to rebuild, reload, replace on the fly, keeping the momentum of back-to-back nine-win seasons going without a drop-off.

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There’s no way of knowing this frigid February how all these players and coaches will work out, but to get this much done in this short a time certainly shows high-level energy, high-level organization, unfathomable relentlessness. Where would one find a template for such a task?

“Roster construction is more an art than a science,” Candle said. “(Just because) something works at one particular place does not necessarily mean it’s going to work for another. There are some clear examples in college football of how people have done it the last two years, but there is another element to this in that these are uncharted waters. There is only one portal window, one crack at this. There is no going back, this is our team, there is no going back, so you have to be super intentional in the month of January; keep your eyes focused on what you need to be focused on.”

So Candle, 46, couldn’t afford a flat-footed start. He figured out a blueprint and immersed in it, and he and UConn emerged with a staff and a roster that erased the uncertainty of a successful coach’s departure and provided a fresh blast of excitement and anticipation for the new season. And that’s as good a sign as one could see at this moment in time.

“You are who you are, if there is one portal (window), two portals, eight portals, none of it matters.” he said. “Ultimately, this is a job for you, this is a passion of yours, and when it stops being a passion of mine I won’t be doing it. You get up every day and try to add value, put value and energy in the right place. I’m just a firm believer, whatever you’re chasing, if you continue to add value to it, it can’t be kept from you. ”

You’ve probably gathered by now, there’s not much about Candle that is performative. This is a straightforward college football coach. He didn’t grab the mic and make a speech at PeoplesBank Arena, he just watched as the UConn men survived overtime and beat Villanova, the women broke out of a halftime tie to blow out Tennessee, the kind of moments he’d like to create across the river at Rentschler Field.

“There are some things I have a high level of respect for that I’ve come across,” Candle said. “Inside out on this campus, there are a bunch of highly intelligent people who are very passionate about their place, really want to be successful. You go through our athletic department, there are coaches who expect greatness out of their individual sport. That’s encouraging to be around. You want to surround yourself with winners, be around a place where nobody wants to be the weakest link. We have that kind of mentality. It’s reassuring that everybody’s moving in the right direction here.”

At Toledo, Candle operated with high school prospects, retention and development. The transfer portal will be more important going forward at UConn, it was the main procurement vehicle for Mora. The new coach jumped right in with 57 players coming to UConn from the portal, 21 from Power Four programs. Quarterbacks Jake Merklinger, from Tennessee, and Kalieb Osborne, from Toledo, figure to fight it out for the first string job.

Candle was willing to go outside his circle for coordinators Nunzio Campanile, most recently from Syracuse, on offense, and Ryan Manalac, from Pitt, for the defense.

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When he says he doesn’t plan to do this again, that could mean a few things. Candle, who spent his entire coaching career in his home state of Ohio, does not have a job-jumping reputation, but he was likely referring to his commitment to keeping and developing young talent working behind the more experienced players that will form the core of his first UConn team, so that future rosters are not a revolving door.

Like a human buzzsaw, Jason Candle has cut through his first task as UConn football coach, an impressive beginning, but only a beginning.

“Can you win big yet remain small? Can we stay humble enough to stay in our lane and do our thing?” he said. “… We’re trying to create a championship culture, championship team here. We did a good job, but I learned a long time ago, the easiest path to failure is to be impressed by your successes.”