BREAKING NEWS: Connor Freeborn, OLB, Becomes 6th Commit for 2015

@MattSchonvisky

Connor Freeborn, a rising senior from the Salesianum School in Wilmington, Delaware, has become the 6th UCONN football commit for 2015.

“UCONN is a great school and has a rich tradition for academics,” he exclaimed over the phone this afternoon. “The new coaching staff is unbelievable in terms of how they’ve gotten together an elite staff. What also helped was getting the national championships in basketball. They are a very strong sports school, are very good academically, are a perfect size for me with 16,000 students and the campus is unbelievable.”

Freeborn, another tall, long and intelligent athlete, stands at 6 ’5.5” 225 lbs and was on campus yesterday, which came two weeks after the staff originally offered him. He accepted that offer this morning.

Before choosing UCONN, Connor was committed to the Naval Academy for lacrosse, but also received a lot of interest from Pitt, Maryland, Bucknell, Colgate and Fordham.

The Huskies coaching staff definitely played a large role.

“The experience they all have was a factor,” Freeborn said. “[Linebackers] coach [Vincent] Brown played many years in the NFL with the Patriots and made a number of Pro Bowl’s. They run a defense that is very similar to what we do in high school. And Coach Diaco, coming from Notre Dame, is an experience you really want in a head coach.”

Special teams’ coordinator and wide receivers coach Wayne Lineburg, who covers the Mid-Atlantic region, was the main recruiter.

Originally committing to Navy reveals that Freeborn, who is the youngest of four, is a good kid with high character.

“My parents raised me with a lot of discipline,” he said. “Our high school is a prep school, so you need to keep a certain GPA in order to be eligible to practice and play. My parents were firm on the fact that if I didn’t keep certain grades, they would keep me out of sports.

“You can only go so far in football, unless the NFL presents itself, which is a very good path, but as of now I only have four years of that left. That means I also have four years to get an education to set myself up in order to succeed in the world. Academics are very important to me.”

Freeborn, who runs an official 4.9 40, sees himself as a complete linebacker.

“Being a lacrosse player, I’m really good in open space and in coverage,” he noted. “I played defensive end before being moved to linebacker this year, so I can also pass rush very well. I do want to get my weight up a bit and improve on my speed.”

Freeborn won a state championship last season at Salesianum, in a year in which they only lost one game.

“I’m definitely going to wait until the summer to head up to UCONN,” he added. “I love my school and want to graduate with everyone else.”

Sounds just like someone who will fit right in with the rest of the class of 2015.

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinmailby feather