Candle’s First Recruiting Weekend at UConn Delivers Immediate Portal Commitments
New HC Jason Candle started off his first recruiting cycle in Storrs with a bang, bringing in 27 visitors to Storrs. While taking in the men’s basketball contest against Marquette on campus, the first commitments began to trickle in, and we detail those below.
DT Esean Carter (Toledo)
Like many visitors, Carter played for Candle at Toledo, earning 3rd team All-MAC honors in 2025. After playing sparingly in his first two years, Carter played in every game in since 2023, including a breakout 2025 campaign, where he totaled 36 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, and three sacks. Carter had a career-high seven tackles against Ball State. Carter is a three star transfer per 247Sports, the 32nd best DL in the portal. Per PFF, Carter was above-average in pass rush and run defense, and had his highest rated season in 2025, and had his best games in back-to-back weeks against Washington State and Northern Illinois. He brings experience to a position that lost most everyone from a year ago.
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S Jayden Price (Toledo)
The Husky secondary was ravaged in the 2024 offseason by elgibility exhaustion and the portal, and again in 2025. At least this past season, DBs D’Mon Brinson, Cam Chadwick, and Lee Molette returned. This season, they’re all gone. Enter Price, who should slot into a starting safety spot immediately. The sophomore has a big frame at 6’3” but at 185, needs some more filling out. He played in two games this past year, totaling one tackle, but was a three star recruit coming out of Seneca Valley HS (PA) as the 36th best player in the state, per 247Sports.
OL Isiah Switzer (Toledo)
Like the secondary, the offensive line has been decimated, with the entire starting line from 2025 departing. The Cleveland native played for Ted Ginn Sr in HS, on his way to earning a three star rating, choosing the Rockets over offers from Syracuse, Akron, Duquense, and Eastern Kentucky. He did not see game action for Toledo, but clearly HC Jason Candle believes in this young man, and should compete for immediate playing time.
WR JD Willoughby (Toledo)
Willoughby also did not see the field in 2025, after getting action in 2024, mainly on special teams. In 2024, he had four tackles on special teams, while catching a pass for 10 yards against Duquense. Willoughby will be a junior, and with the departures at WR, including Skyler Bell, John Neider, Reymello Murphy, and Shamar Porter, Willoughby should be in position to compete for playing time.
OL Raphael Greene-Nyarko (Toledo)
Greene-Nyarko was a pretty good get in the class of 2025, choosing Toledo over Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Pittsburgh, Purdue, Vanderbilt, West Virginia, Marshall, Ball State, Miami (OH), Ohio, UMass, and Western Kentucky. He played in four games this year as a true freshman to preserve his redshirt. He will be coming to Storrs with four years of eligibility, and he certainly has the size of someone ready to play at 6’6” 340.
RB Kenji Christian (Toledo)
The RB room might be the unit that suffered the most severe losses this offseason, losing Cam Edwards, Mel Brown, Victor Rosa, MJ Flowers, and Oliver Lunbdberg-Coleman. Christian came to Toledo from Virginia Tech and North Carolina A&T, after leading NCA&T in rushing in 2023 with 718 yards. He played in just three games in 2024 before being lost to injury, but not before rushing for 256 yards. For the Rockets, Christian ran for 528 yards on 105 carries with four TDs. He also caught 17 passes for 193 yards. He did all this as the backup to Chip Trayanum, who ran for 950 yards. With no scholarship RBs returning, Christian has to be in competition for the starting spot.
OL Fred Johnson (Louisville)
The third offensive lineman who committed, Johnson is the lone player on the list who was not at Toledo, instead coming from Louisville. Another Cleveland native, he was a high three-star recruit coming out of HS, choosing Louisville over Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, Marshall, Liberty, Miami (OH) and UMass. He played in one game as a true freshman against Austin Peay, and one more game in 2025 against Eastern Kentucky. He’s a young guy, similar to Greene-Nyarko and Switzer, so one would have to assume Candle is hoping to build off these three guys into the future.
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QB Kalieb Osborne (Toledo)
Joe Fagnano departs, as does Nick Evers, Tucker McDonald, and K’Saan Farrar. That’s all to say UConn needs a QB. They’ve signed one, a true freshman, Bo Polston, and now they add Osborne, a good recruit out of HS that was next in line at Toledo. With great size at 6’3” 204, Osborne chose Toledo over offers from Syracuse and Central Michigan. He earned a high three star rating from 247Sports.
He saw time in seven games this year, starting one, the Boca Raton Bowl against Louisville. After a bit of a slow start, he came on in the second half, throwing for 167 yards on 17-28 passing. He was the highest rated rusher in that game, running for 77 yards, 110 without sack yardage. He had 102 yards after contact, and forced nine missed tackles. A true dual-threat, Osborne looks to be the starter entering the summer, but two QBs is not nearly enough depth, so we will have to see who else joins.
WR Zy’Marion Lang (Toledo)
Another WR, Lang came to Toledo as a highly-touted recruit out of power Cardinal Mooney in Sarasota (FL), choosing the Rockets over West Virginia, Pittsburgh, South Carolina, Boston College, Cincinnati, Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Louisville, Miami, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas A&M, UCF, Wisconsin, and a slew of G5 offers, including UConn. As a true freshman in 2024, he caught four passes for 60 yards in ten games, including his first career TD catch against Duquense. He unfortunately suffered a serious knee injury in the offseason, and missed 2025. The question for Lang will be if he’s recovered to 100% and ready to pick up where he left off.
Stay tuned to our official transfer portal tracker thread for the latest updates!
