It may seem like forever, but it has really been only four weeks since Joe Fagnano threw his final passes for UConn, led his last drive, 75 yards to the winning touchdown in the final seconds at Florida International.
Four days later, on Nov. 26, coach Jim Mora left for Colorado State, then 10 days after that UConn had its new coach, Jason Candle. On Dec. 7, the Huskies learned of their return ticket to the Fenway Bowl, where they will play Army on Dec. 27.
“It’s not as crazy as people would think,” Fagnano said Wednesday night, after finishing his daily workouts. “I kind of had time to reflect on the season, it was a fun one for sure, one that I really didn’t expect to be a part of, let’s be honest, at the end of last year. I had a chance to take everything in with such gratitude for my teammates, the opportunity to play another year and what we were able to do this year was super cool.
“I was happy with the way that last game ended, it was sick, it was great to get a win. All the other stuff, that’s how college football is nowadays.”
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Believing his career was over, Fagnano was the MVP in UConn’s win over North Carolina in the Fenway Bowl a year ago, but he found a seventh year of eligibility somewhere between the cushions of his couch and he used it lead UConn to another nine-win season, to perform in a way and put up numbers that could not be ignored.
He will not play in the Fenway Bowl this time, a decision in which we are soon likely to learn he will be far from alone at UConn. After throwing for 3,446 yards, 28 touchdowns and one interception, Fagnano, at 6 feet 4 and 225 pounds, is a pro prospect, invited to play in the East-West Shrine Game Jan. 30 in Arlington, Texas. He will devote all his time to giving the NFL Draft his best shot.
“Early in the season, he did not have a high grade with the scouts,” said Joe Linta, long-time Connecticut-based player agent who has taken Fagnano as a client. “Then I watched his first couple of games, and I said, ‘There’s definitely something here with him, far greater ability than the grades he had gotten.’
“Then when he got in that BC game and the Duke game, you could really study and see that, athletically, he stacks up with anybody out there. What really enamored me with him was the ability above the shoulders, the ability to process routes, process reads and go from read one, to read two, to read three, side to side. That Boston College game, if you watched his eyes and his head, it’s a teaching tape for young quarterbacks on how to read defenses.”
Linta was one of the first to approach Fagnano with such a scenario. “It was weird, because I’ve always believed in myself, something as a quarterback you have to have,” Fagnano said, “but it was pretty cool to hear somebody outside of my circle to say that they believed in me, that I’m as good as I think I am. It gave me that extra confidence to chase this dream if mine.”
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A Yale grad who became a licensed agent in 1990, Linta has had hundreds of players in the NFL, currently close to 40, and he represents at least that many college players in the NIL space. He is best known for negotiating the largest contract in NFL history at the time, six years and $120.6 million for Joe Flacco in 2013, but Linta has had a knack for representing players overlooked by others and envisions Fagnano going in the later rounds, as do an increasing number of draft analysts.
“There’s a lot of football yet to be played,” Linta said, “but right now he is certainly a draftable prospect. And no one has really interviewed him yet, (to see) his best attributes: His calmness, his intelligence, his leadership.”
With these possibilities, there was nothing more for Fagnano to show anyone by playing at Fenway Park, particularly if the experienced linemen and receivers who have surrounded him all season will not be there. That’s business, and Fagnano is very proud to say he has earned his MBA at UConn, three years after transferring from Maine.
“It was a really hard decision,” he said. “There are some things that happened that made me make a choice that was best for me. After talking with my teammates, my coaches, my family, we all agreed it was best for me. I’ve worked really hard in my long college career and I’m very fortunate to have a chance at a dream of mine, so it just felt like this is what was right. That’s kind of what college football is now.
“It stinks the way it ended, I would have loved to have played in a bowl game, but the way things are laid out now, some things just happen. I’m happy with where I am at, excited for what’s next and moving forward.”
The Fenway Bowl, for those who do play, will serve as a chance to be evaluated by the new coaches, or if they go into the transfer portal, to get something on film to show coaches elsewhere. It may leave an empty feeling for the game, which is UConn’s chance for a 10th win, but, yes, this is the reality of college football going into 2026.
Meantime, Fagnano will be all football all the time for the next several months, working out in Florida, and Texas for the all-star game, hoping for other showcase invitations. He will return to campus for UConn’s Pro Day sometime in March, then dive into the pre-draft workouts.
He can reflect on what he did at, and for UConn, where the game just seemed to slow down for him, and vice versa. Fagnano won 14 of 20 games as a starting quarterback; the program won only 10 of 61 games between 2016 and 2021.
“You know, from thinking I was done with football to getting to pursue of dream of mine, it’s super cool,” Fagnano said. “I owe (UConn’s coaches) a lot, not only for making me a better football player, but a better leader, a better person. The biggest thing was showing I could be a starter for a whole season. … What I can reflect on is the relationships I was able to build with so many people, long-lasting friendships, and the last two years with the success we’ve had, the footprint we’ve made at UConn is going to last for a time to come, hopefully just a small, little footstool for what UConn can be and where it’s going.
“Years from now, that will be the coolest part.”