When the Huskies take the field Saturday against Stony Brook they'll do so without starting quarterback. Casey Cochran, who suffered what's being described as an "upper body injury" in the season-opening loss to BYU.
“Casey Cochran will not participate in Saturday’s game,” coach Bob Diaco told WTIC-1080AM on his weekly coach’s show, via SNY.com's John Silver. “He will not be cleared for participation on Saturday afternoon. He sustained an upper body injury during the BYU game that was brought forward midweek.”
Cochran, who came off the bench late last season to lead UConn to three straight wins (turns out, those were the team's only wins), also got the nod in the 2014 opener, a 35-10 loss to BYU last Friday. According to The New London Day, the "upper body injury" Diaco describes is a concussion Cochran suffered on the last play of the BYU game. Silver writes that UConn will not confirm the report.
Redshirt senior Chandler Whitmer will start for Cochran. Whitmer won the starting job two years ago, leading the Huskies to a 5-7 record under former coach Paul Pasqualoni. Whitmer was also the starter early last season, but was benched after the team's 0-4 start and Pasqualoni's dismissal. He was replaced by Tim Boyle and later Cochran.
Whitmer as Diaco promised in the days leading up to the opener, played against BYU. He finished 8 completions on 17 attempts for 113 yards. He was sacked three times.
