CB Aaron Garland is #10 for 2015

@MattSchonvisky

As The Boneyard Blog was first to report on twitter, Aaron Garland has verbally committed to Coach Diaco and the rest of the UCONN football staff.

Garland, a highly sought after player who was receiving heavy interest from Northwestern and Iowa, is from just outside of Chicago in the heart of B1G country and plays at Fenwick High School (Oak Park, IL).

The 6′ corner, who runs a 4.6 40, was on campus on Wednesday, June 18th after he received an offer from UCONN in February.

“As soon as I stepped on campus it just felt right,” Garland said over the phone this afternoon. “I knew it was the right place.”

Another versatile player, Garland also plays safety, wide receiver and sees time as a kick and punt returner on special teams.

“I prefer corner and consider myself a lock-down cover guy,” he said. “I can definitely play bump-and-run, that’s one of my strengths. We run mostly press coverage at my school, but I’m also a phsycial guy that can make big plays and also deliver big hits.”

Co-special teams coordinator and cornerbacks coach Josh Reardon was his main recruiter and they immediately hit it off. 

“As soon as Coach Reardon came to my school, we began to build a good relationship.”

In addition to Northwestern and Iowa, Garland was seeing a lot of interest and had offers from Western Michigan, Nevada, Northern Illinois, Central Michigan, Toledo and Buffalo.

“Northwestern was definitely there the most,” Garland added.

Coach Diaco played a key role in drawing Garland to UCONN based on his time at Notre Dame.

“With the new staff there, UCONN became a target of mine,” Garland said. “Before, I really didn’t see too much of UCONN football. I knew they played in a good conference and they played solid football, but that was about it. I knew Coach Diaco from ND and when he became the head coach up there it immediately interested me. They are ready to win and he has changed a lot there already. I’m definitely looking forward to the future.”

Vontae Diggs and Kevin Murphy were both in Garland’s ear to get him to Storrs.

“Vontae was on my 7-on-7 team and we played together when I was a sophomore and he was a junior in the Chicago area. Him and Kevin both showing that they wanted me to go there made my decision even easier.”

Before he was done, Garland had two final words.

“GO HUSKIES!”

Go Huskies indeed as this is a huge get for a coaching staff that is rapidly filling out the 2015 recruiting class.

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