Bo Polston committed early to play quarterback at Toledo, had been set on his choice for more than a year and a half. He completed his studies at Decatur Central High in Indianapolis early and was packing to move to Ohio and enroll next month.
But when the business of college football threw a curve ball, it was no longer wholly Toledo; Polston was ready to adjust. And quickly.
“When I committed to the University of Toledo, I committed to the people,” Polston told The Courant Thursday, after pivoting to UConn. “Coach (Jason) Candle and some other people who have had a huge impact on my life and helped me in so many ways. Coach Candle called me Saturday morning (Dec. 6) and told me he was going to take the UConn job and I was nothing but excited for him. He’d expressed to me before, wherever he’s at, I’m with him, I’m his quarterback. And I could not appreciate that more.”
So Polston, who led Decatur Central to the only state championship in school history as a junior, decommitted from Toledo, got necessary clearance from the NCAA to set aside his signed letter of intent, and within five days recommitted to Jason Candle and, presumably, Robert Weiner, who has been Toledo’s co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Though he has never been to UConn, Polston is a Husky, talking all the right talk, dropping all the right names, and could soon be the face of the football program.
“My perception of the school is, ‘winners,’” Polston said. “If you go to UConn, you’re going to be a winner. I actually know (men’s basketball freshman) Braylon Mullins pretty well because he’s right around my area. He’s going to do special things. You start with basketball, you look at coach (Dan) Hurley, coach Geno (Auriemma) and now coach Candle, they just win. My perception of Connecticut is winning, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
Polston, 6 feet 2 and 200, has imposing positional size and exceptional poise. First impression, he just sounds like a quarterback, with that certain, ringing resolve and confidence that commands a huddle. Coach Kyle Enright started him as a freshman at Decatur Central, and neither looked back.
“Starting his very first game with many seniors on the field,” Enright said, “three and four years older than him, just the poise and leadership he had from an early age to never be daunted by the magnitude of being a starting quarterback, that was special.”
Rather than go to a prep school to try to boost his stock, Polston stayed with the kids who had been his teammates since he was 7 years old. “I was not ever leaving my brothers at Decatur Central, I had their back and they had my back,” he said. “These are my best friends.”
Polston led DC High from 4-7 his freshman year to the state finals his sophomore year and the championship is junior year. “When we rose that trophy at Lukas Oil (Stadium), it was a surreal moment,” he said. “To be able to leave knowing I was a part of that, it’s amazing.”
This past season, Decatur Central moved up to the highest division, 6-A, in Indiana and reached the playoffs, eliminated by the eventual champion. Polston started 47 of a possible 51 games during his career, throwing for 6,541 yards and 68 touchdowns, in addition to 1,500 yards and 20 TDs rushing, an all-stater three times.
“Just a tough, hard-nosed kid who’s a great leader,” Enright said. “He’s a people-oriented person, and really loves Coach Candle and Coach Weiner.”
Candle and his staff were the first to aggressively recruit Polston, a three-star prospect, and they stayed on him, so he committed before his junior year and though he had some Power 4 offers, he stayed the course until last week. One of the things that attracted UConn to Candle was his effectiveness on the recruiting trail; Polston was the headliner of one of the highest ranked recruiting classes ever in the Mid-American Conference, is is likely to be the first of a string to follow Candle to Connecticut.
“He’s one of a kind,” Polston said. “There is nobody like Coach Candle. He cares about you more as a person than as a football player. He’s the most competitive human being I’ve ever been around, and he’s a player’s coach. He’s going to put you in position to succeed. I told him my goals, I want to get my degree and play in the NFL, and he looked into my eyes and said, ‘without a doubt, we’re going to make that happen.’ That sums up the person Coach Candle is, and I’m so happy I get to call him my coach.”
Dom Amore: After breaking bread with UConn’s perfect closer, Candle had an offer he couldn’t refuse
Polston will be enrolling at UConn for the spring semester in January and hit the ground running (and passing). With Joe Fagnano out of eligibility (really, this time), UConn has three quarterbacks on the roster, Nick Evers, the transfer from Wisconsin who lost the starting job to Fagnano; K’saan Farra, who just finished up his freshman year, and Tucker McDonald, who has taken only a handful of snaps in his career. Jim Mora’s Class of ’26 quarterback recruit, Carter Emanuel, flipped with him to Colorado State. Candle figures to go to the portal to add experience to the room, but Polston will arrive ready to compete and to repeat his historic feat at Decatur Central.
Have you ever heard a coach or player come to UConn talking about winning national championships in football? … You’re about to.
“They’re going to get a really competitive, do-anything-for-the-team guy,” Polston said. “Most importantly, we’re going to win at Connecticut, nothing short of that. We’re going to be in the College Football Playoff, not just strive to be in the playoff, but strive to win the national championship. I’m so excited to meet all the fans in Storrs and East Hartford, I can’t wait. It’s going to be amazing.”
More for your Sunday Read:
One Hall of a ballot
I’ll be checking boxes and sending in my Baseball Hall of Fame ballot by the end of the month. A few thoughts. I was a consistent Jeff Kent voter, so it was no surprise he got in. Every candidate on that Contemporary Era Committee’s ballot was worthy of strong consideration, but players with a handful of HOF-caliber years, like Don Mattingly or Dale Murphy, are always going to be borderline candidates. And every new inductee sets a precedent.
Players like Kent, and many other recent candidates, did not get more votes or get in earlier because the steroids-tainted players created a log jam, never getting in or falling off the ballot. Voters who took the all-or-none approach there had to use six or seven of their boxes on them every year, and you can only vote for 10. My compromise was always to vote for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens and hold off on others, so I would have room to vote for the Jeff Kents, Larry Walkers, etc., That was just me. If Bonds and Clemens were put in by the committee, I would be voting for Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez this year, but that did not happen, so those boxes will remain unchecked. It’s really an entire ballot of borderline guys, but only four of my choices from last year remain, so I have room. I will reveal my ballot in this space, after I send it in.
I do not have a vote for the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasters. If I did, John Sterling would have gotten it years ago
The Baltimore Ravens signed UConn’s Travis Jones to a contract extension to keep him off the free agent market..
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Sunday short takes
*Travis Jones, the defensive tackle from New Haven and UConn, has solidified his niche in the NFL with the Ravens, who drafted him in the third round in 2022. To preempt free agency, Baltimore signed Jones, 6 feet 4 and 341 pounds, to a three year extension worth a reported $40.5 million. Players who can create that much havoc in the middle are always in high demand. “‘Big Trav’ is an ascending player and having him continue to man the middle of our defense is very exciting,” GM Eric DeCosta said in announcing the deal.
*The three most important factors in conference realignment are money, money and more money, so be skeptical of this sudden talk of Notre Dame bolting from the ACC. These decisions involved hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, and cannot be knee-jerk reactions to hurt feelings, so if ND does leave, you can bet they have been crunching the numbers for a long time and are just using the playoff snub as a flash point.
*Splashy G-League debut for former UConn center Samson Johnson, 15 points, five rebounds in 14 minutes for the Noblesville Boom, the Pacers affiliate. Yes, the former Fort Wayne franchise now plays in Ashlynn Shade’s home town.
*UConn goalkeeper Kyle Durham, who is expected to be a high draft pick by Major League Soccer, was invited to the MLS college showcase in Arizona this weekend. It’s a closed-door scouting event for 45 top players.
How Kyle Durham became latest star at ‘Goalkeeper U,’ leading UConn men’s soccer to Sweet 16
*Include me in the camp that thinks the CIAC should start high school football in Connecticut earlier, to take advantage of good weather and avoid playing in sub-freezing temps at the end. Also, there are still a lot of multi-sport athletes out there, which should be encouraged and facilitated, and as it is, basketball season starts three days after the championship games.
*So something screwy happens every time I ask Dan Hurley a question. It’s not by design, I assure you, I’m just on a heater.
*Connecticut Sun president Jen Rizzotti and young star Aneesah Morrow were at the Naismith Hall of Fame celebrating World Basketball Day on Saturday. The Sun covered admission for 200 fans to enter the museum and participate in the festivities.
*Seriously, did anyone really expect UConn and Toledo to play in a bowl game? Why would either want that?
*The Big East has begun requiring injury reports for men’s and women’s basketball games, which Geno Auriemma figures will not have much impact on his plans. (When the point spread is like, 62 1/2, how much does this info mean?) But he got his dig in on the hypocrisy involved: “I’m not one of these people who is going to hide on Thursday that someone’s not playing on Saturday,” he said. “But it seems like everything we do is to make sure all the gamblers in the country get what they need, then we get (annoyed) when people bet when they’re not supposed to. Otherwise, what could be the reason for putting out an injury report?”
Last word
Not a fan here of simple answers to complicated problems, but I honestly do not believe fixing the FBS mess is that complicated. A model that works, the FCS playoffs, is right under our nose. Go with a 24-team field, automatic bids for 10 conference champs, so every team in the country has something to play for. Top eight seeds get byes, up to 14 at-large bids, 18 total, for Power 4 conferences. The bowl games could continue at their discretion, inviting non-playoff teams that want to play.