2024 Football Signing Day Capsules
DB Axavier Bridges-Brooks
Bridges-Brooks, from Keyser, West Virginia, but attends school in Upper Marlboro, MD, has a slew of P4 offers, including BC, Cincinnati, Duke, Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, UNC, Oregon, Penn State, Syracuse, Tennessee, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. He is a solid 3 star recruit according to both 247Sports and Rivals, and is the 37th best prospect in Maryland according to Rivals, and 35th by 247Sports. At UConn, he plans on a double major in cybersecurity and sports management because he wants to become a coach when his playing days are over. On why he chose UConn, “The consistent love they showed me since offering in February. The coaches are very family-oriented. They bring our families to the facilities and let them run around. Players get to hang out with the kids, and it’s a good vibe.”
DB Osiris Gilbert
Like Bridges-Brooks, Gilbert had several high-profile offers. Gilbert chose UConn over Florida State, Georgia, Indiana, Duke, USF, and Liberty. The Bulldogs and Seminoles offered last spring, but seemed to have cooled off a bit, opening an avenue for UConn. Cincinnati and Syracuse also offered late in the early cycle. Gilbert began his HS career at powerhouse Buford (GA), but transferred to Peachtree Ridge this past season. Buford has put many guys into the upper echelon of FBS, including 3 of the top 5 prospects in Georgia last season. Those players went to Nebraska, Georgia, and Ohio State, so Gilbert has the luxury of practicing daily against some of the best.
DB Saxton Suchanic
Hailing from York, PA, Suchanic had offers from Akron, Delaware, Iowa State, Kent State, and Navy, as well as a slew of FCS offers. He visited Iowa State after visiting UConn, but ultimately chose the Huskies over the Big 12 member. The staff is high on him, giving quite a flattering comp to Washington Commanders DB Emmanuel Forbes, who DC Brock coached at Mississippi State. On why he chose UConn over Iowa State, “I just felt like UConn was a better fit for me as far as even on the football field. Schematically, the things they do, they did a better job of laying out the plan and. laying down the groundwork for how they see me fitting in.” According too MaxPreps, he had 450 receiving yards this year, to go along with 32 tackles.
LB Charles Johnson
Johnson, from King George, VA, chose UConn over offers from Delaware, ECU, FAU, JMU, Liberty, Maryland, ODU, Pitt, Wake Forest, and West Virginia. He had an extremely productive career, totaling 110 tackles, 60 of those occuring his junior season, to go along with four sacks. As a RB, he rushed for 501 yards as a junior, plus six touchdowns. With a crowded RB room (for now), it seems he’ll play LB at UConn.
LB Lewensky Ydore
Ydore, from Miami, FL, chose UConn over offers from FIU, Liberty, Marshall, Maryland, Tennessee State, and West Georgia. In 9 games this season, he totaled 46 tackles, four for loss, plus five sacks. His 46 tackles was good for 14th in Florida’s 5A District 16.
OL HIll Greenlee
Greenlee is interesting, as he attended high school in Dallas, but spent this past season playing for the Hun School in New Jersey. At 6’9” 295, he has tremendous size already, similar to Chase Lundt. He chose UConn over offers from Akron, Monmouth, San Diego, and San Diego State. He helped Hun go 9-1, losing only to national powerhouse St Frances (MD).
OL Joe McGann
Greenlee’s teammate at Hun, McGann is also large, at 6’5” 280. He chose UConn over offers from Akron, Brown, Buffalo, Colgate, Lehigh, Maine, Marist, Monmouth, New Hampshire, Penn, Sacred Heart, Wagner, and Yale. He reclassified to attend Hun after attending Arlington HS in LaGrangeville, NY. He played well on the DL, totaling 47 tackles his season year. Both Hun OL have FBS size, and will learn from an excellent OL coach in OC/OL Gordon Sammis.
WR Makih Johnson
Johnson is a 6’2, 185 lbs wideout from Tarpon Springs, Florida. He’s a deep-threat receiver who could make an early impact for the Huskies.
The three-star recruit finished with 51 receptions, 1,072 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior. He chose UConn over offers from Bryant, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, Florida Atlantic, Indiana, Iowa State, Kent State, UMass, New Hampshire, Toledo, UCF, USF, and Western Kentucky.
Johnson is an explosive player who has the ability to create chunk plays through the air or by racking up yards after the catch. According to our scouting report “His tape shows his deep threat ability...Johnson is a player that once he gets the ball in his hands good things generally happen.”
WR/TE Xavier Watson
Watson played wide receiver for Waverly High School the past season but is listed as a tight end with a big 6’4, 210 lbs frame.
As a junior, he caught 62 passes for 917 yards and 17 total touchdowns and was named All-State after helping the Wolverines win their first-ever New York State Class C Championship. He chose UConn over offers from Air Force, Army, Bethune-Cookman, Colgate, Columbia, Cornell, Maine, New Hampshire, USF, and Temple.
Watson is a strong possession receiver who uses size and sure hands to make impact plays, according to our scouting report.
QB Ksaan Farrar
Farrar hails from Green Run High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The 6’3, 215-pound quarterback received interest from Marshall, Liberty, East Carolina, Charlotte, and Buffalo before committing to UConn.
During Farrar’s junior season, he led Green Run to a 12-1 record and a Virginia Class 5 Region A final appearance. Farrar earned All-Beach Region honors while totaling 3,086 passing yards and 36 touchdowns through the air. He also demonstrated his dual-threat ability by rushing for 577 yards and seven touchdowns.
This season, Farrar has led the Green Run Stallions to a 13-0 record and an appearance in the VHSL State Semifinals as they prepare to face Quadrant 3 representative No. 1 Maury on Saturday for a chance to go to the VHSL State Finals.
Farrar demonstrates great pocket awareness and an ability to escape pressure while still looking down the field for his weapons. Despite having the ability to run, Farrar is a pocket-passer and uses his legs to create more time for his targets to get open. He joins a QB room that may be quite young once he gets to campus.
DL Aubrey Melvin
A Maryland native, Melvin initially announced his decision to join the Huskies last summer after leading Gwynn Park High School to a 7-4 record and a second-round playoff appearance. He’s the highest-rated prospect among UConn’s 12 verbally committed high school recruits.
Melvin compiled 64 total tackles, 30 solo tackles, 19 quarterback hurries, four sacks, two fumble recoveries, and one forced fumble during his junior season. The 6’4, 300 lb lineman chose UConn over offers from Akron, Boston College, Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, James Madison, Kent State, Pittsburgh, Temple, Towson, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia.
It is believed the Maryland product will move into the interior at the next level, specifically in UConn’s 3-3-5 scheme. Melvin expressed UConn’s defensive change as one of the main factors that attracted him to Storrs along with the relationship he built and developed with the coaching staff.
The 3-3-5 formation has been a defensive scheme that has allowed defensive linemen to make more plays and impact the game at a higher level. UConn is losing a lot of senior talent up front, so Melvin could be in the rotation early.
DL Nykobi Brown
Brown is from traditional power Valdosta HS (GA), and has offers from Arkansas State, FAU, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, JMU, Kent State, Marshall, Troy, Western Kentucky, and Western Michigan, plus some FCS offers. He had 31 tackles, including 15 as a Junior, and had 10 TFLs. Brown was 1st Team All-7A Region team, along with nine of his teammates. This season, he totaled 63 tackles, 20 for loss, and led the team with nine sacks. Brown played on a star-studded DL that had 3 stars Omar White and Eric Brantley Jr (Colorado commit), a 3 star OL Jalen Burgess (Georgia Southern commit), and 3 star LB Jalen Bentley (also a Georgia Southern commit) one year ago. This year, Valdosta has 4 star ATH Todd Robinson (Georgia commit), and 3 star DB Shamar Arnoux (Florida State commit).
Valdosta went 9-3, falling in the state tournament to Carrollton, a team that has 5 star Colorado QB commit Julian Lewis, and Texas commit Zelus Hicks. Brown moved into the county after playing for Lanier County, a GA 1A team, the lowest level of GA HS football. Looks like Brown handled the bump up in competition just fine. Brown will be joining fellow GA players on the roster Mel Brown, Jarvarius Sims, Isiah Davis, and fellow commit Osiris Gibert.