UConn OL Christian Haynes bypassed draft this year. Why move to center will enhance his NFL resume

[huskymedic]

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->Christian is an NFL guard and an NFL center," UConn coach Jim Mora said. "He is a really outstanding player. When you see him snap the ball and the quickness off the ball, it is really impressive."

While parts of the UConn offense are full of questions marks — such as with the quarterback competition and recent losses of wide receivers to the transfer portal — the offensive line has been a silver lining.

The group found success last year, and only lost one piece in center Jake Guidone, who had transferred to UConn from Dartmouth.

"Playing on the offensive line, so much of it is about being cohesive," Mora said. "They were pretty darn good last year and they are just better now. Because the more reps you get, the more meeting time you have together watching the film, the deeper understanding of what you have do to, the better you are going to be."

Haynes (6-foot-3, 310 pounds) started at guard last year and will be rejoined by Noel Ofori-Nyadu (6-2, 301), Valentin Senn (6-7, 303), and Chase Lundt (6-7, 306) as the returning regular starters.

But beyond the returning starters, Mora is comfortable with the positional depth. "It is not just the starting five, I think we have really good depth there," Mora said. "And there are times where a guy might get dinged in practice and miss a play or two, and someone else goes in there and you just don't notice a difference."

Behind the returning starters are Christopher Fortin (6-4, 303), who appeared in 11 games last year, New Canaan's Jack Stewart (6-4, 314), who appeared in eight games, Dayne Shor (6-5, 310) who played in two games, and Ben Murawski (6-6, 328), who only appeared once last season due to injury. <-

 

[mikedog10]

The O line is a strength again, and I couldn’t be happier about it!

 

[Waquoit]

The first center was picked late in the 2nd round this year.

 

[Scoe]

The first center was picked late in the 2nd round this year.

And he’s 24 so if Haynes can repeat last years performance so age shouldn’t be a factor from being drafted in the first 3-4 rds.

 

[ShakyTheMohel]

The first center was picked late in the 2nd round this year.

Well...mid second round. Jets picked him 12th.

 

[uconnbill]

Christian playing all three positions from both guard spots plus center is a big selling point at the next level

 

[Steve UConn72]

Boy, looking at the weights of the starters and backup linemen (all over 300 pounds), I can only shake my head when I think back to my days at UConn ('68-72). I think our biggest player was around 240, most of the linemen were around 220 (or less) and our two starting defensive ends (Al Akowitz and Bob Roth) were both under 200 as I recall.