Pulling the Sled: Lyle McCombs, Sr. (1/2)
Lyle McCombs, Sr., expresses his thoughts based on questions for The Boneyard. A very gracious man.
Who recruited your son?
Scott Lakatos recruited Lyle.
What was your initial reaction to your son being recruited by UConn?
I knew he would get recruited to play football, it was just a matter of which DIV and/or school.
Who else recruited your son and how would you compare campus visits?
His HS senior year Vanderbilt was sending a lot of literature amongst a lot of D1AA schools.
We went to Syracuse for a visit as well as UCONN, the UCONN campus was much more pleasing to the eye.
The Burton complex sold us/him.
Why do you think UConn was the only FBS school that offered Lyle?
That’s a good question, because he was co-winner of the top player in NYC with Dommenique Easley, who went to Florida.
Lyle lead the city in rushing, yet two other backs from other boroughs got D1 looks.
I’m going to say it was because he didn’t go on the recruit camp circuit, he did participate in a Lehigh camp hosted by Randy Edsall.
Also, the perception that NYC doesn’t produce football players, just basketball players
Why did your son choose UConn?
Beside Syracuse wanting him to switch to defense because of his size, the chance to play D1 in the “Big East” and against Syracuse and Rutgers.
The UCONN offer would be his only D1 offer, and he had a chip on his shoulder that Rutgers and Syracuse didn’t give a look.
Does Lyle have a nickname with fellow players?
His team mates call Lyle or Lil’man, that I have heard.
But at home we call him Nike.
How does he perceive the history and culture of UConn football?
During recruiting we didn’t know much about UCONN football, mostly basketball.
I showed him the wall in the football complex with all the team pictures going back in the programs history.
We saw that there were players of color in some of the early 1900 years, that impressed me.
We saw that UCONN had been to and won a few bowl games, and also that Donald Brown had just finished his 2000yd season.
So we saw it as an up and coming program, and he felt that he could help the program continue to grow.
Also the program was dealing with the passing of Jazz the season before he arrived, that also said a lot about HCRE and the School.
What is his major? Does he plan to pursue a career in his major?
His Major is Sociology, he is completing his second major in Urban Studies.
He plans to play football in the NFL first, then see where to go from there.
What are his post-playing dreams or goals? Why did he choose his major/concentration?
Originally he wanted to try Kinesiology, he wanted to be team trainer or therapist as a way of staying around the game after his playing days.
But he felt that that curriculum was too heavy a load along with football, then looked into Communications, but decided on a broader field of Sociology.
by 
