Much of the UConn football program’s turnaround over the last two years can be traced back to the way Jim Mora and his staff identified and brought in defensive players from the transfer portal.
After the former NFL head coach and defensive coordinator spent the 2023 season pleading for more investment, he was able to land players like Jayden McDonald, the leading tackler in 2024, and Bryun Parham, the leading tackler in 2025. One major question in bringing in Jason Candle from Toledo was whether or not he and his staff would be able to keep that up, especially having to replace almost the entire unit.
The early returns, with even more investment for a seven-week recruiting blitz, seem to be that they have.
Candle’s background is on the offensive side of the ball. He was a receiver at Division III powerhouse Mount Union before moving up the coaching ranks focused on tight ends and receivers, eventually becoming an offensive coordinator before he was promoted to head coach at Toledo. But he has a track record of putting defensive players in the NFL Draft (seven since 2017, including first round pick Quinyon Mitchell) and his new defensive staff is filled with coaches who’ve played the game at a high level and who players seem to enjoy playing for.
Here is a look at how the formula is paying off and what the Huskies’ defense might look like in 2026:
Defensive line
As was the case on the offensive side of the ball, Candle heard commitments from several of his former Toledo players and recruits on defense first, and then the power conference commits started rolling in.
He flipped two three-star defensive line commits, Makijah Latiker and Mateo Kipke, before landing Esean Carter, who will join the Huskies as a grad transfer after starting in 13 games and being named an All-MAC third teamer last year at Toledo, and Avery Dunn, another experienced player who came to the Rockets after three seasons at Michigan State.
But then came big Melvin Hills III from Texas and Desmond Aladuge from Duke, Anas Luqman from Ohio and Andrew Laurich from Colorado State.
Ears already perked up, then came the untapped potential of former four-star, top-100 recruit Joshua Mickens, who was the top-rated recruit coming out of high school in Indiana. He redshirted his first year at Ohio State but couldn’t break onto the field for many consistent snaps, playing in 12 games on the Buckeyes’ championship-potential rosters over the last two years and recording 12 tackles, one for a loss and one sack.
UConn’s incoming class also includes players like Tahjae Mullix from Oregon State, Jamel Howard from Wisconsin, Odera Orizu from NC State and Shamar Riser-Pressley from Buffalo, who didn’t have the chance to prove themselves on the field at their previous stops.
The Huskies announced this week that Matt Hoffman, who had 22 tackles in 2025, withdrew his name from the portal. Eddie Dresch III also seems to be staying.
Linebackers
New defensive coordinator Ryan Manalac is a linebacker guy. He played at Cincinnati and signed a contract with the Buffalo Bills before getting into coaching. He spent the last five years as the linebackers coach at Pittsburgh and has sent a handful of players to the NFL.
But UConn’s linebacking corps was gutted with Parham, Tyquan King, Donovan Branch and Aaron Key all graduating, and Oumar Diomande following Mora to Colorado State.
The Huskies added K’Von Sherman, Toledo’s leading tackler in 2025 (93 tackles, 52 solo, 4.5 sacks), and Rickey Williams, who had 14 tackles in limited opportunities as a freshman. They added Zakaiah Saez, who had 37 tackles over two seasons at Oregon State, John Lista from Penn, Luke Murphy from Coastal Carolina and Terris Dudley from NC State.
UConn is also set to bring in four high school linebackers in Jayden Jones, James Tilus, and former Toledo commits Tyrique Harris and Rodarion Tellez – all three-star recruits by 247Sports.com. It appears that Ethan Hogg will return for his second year, as well as Charlie O’Connor, Lewinski Ydore and Charles Johnson.
Defensive backs
Kylish Hicks, who was a receiver when he came to UConn in 2022, moved over to defense and special teams in 2024 and withdrew from the portal in the first week of January. It seems there might be some others who stay, like Axavier Bridges Brooks, Saxton Suchanic and Kobi Albert, but a few names are unclear as far as eligibility goes, like starting safety Malachi McLean.
The new crop includes rising sophomore Jayden Price and junior Braedyn Moore from Toledo, as well as Jayden Davis, who had 83 tackles and two interceptions over the last two years at Fresno State and Moussa Kane, who had 17 tackles last year at Duke (four in the loss to UConn). Tracy Revels, who had 40 tackles at Bowling Green before sitting out last year at Michigan State, comes over along with CJ Bell, who had several power four offers coming out of St. Thomas More before redshirting last season at Iowa.
The Huskies also added Renick Dorilas and Steve Miller, who didn’t see the field much in their time at Rutgers and USC, respectively, and a pair of three-star high school recruits in Elijah Whitaker and Shmar Akande.
Special teams
UConn signed a new kicker in Mike Baker, who made all four of his extra point attempts over two seasons at Ole Miss and was 31-for-37 on field goal attempts in high school with a long of 57 yards. The Huskies also added Jack O’Connor, who is listed as a kicker/punter from York Community High in Illinois.
David LaGanga, who spent last year at Kentucky and the previous two at Lehigh, figures to be the new long snapper in Storrs.