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Lorenzen named starting quarterback

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Head coach Randy Edsall announced Tuesday afternoon through a press release that Tyler Lorenzen has been named the starting quarterback for the 2007 season.
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"We have decided to name Tyler as our starter for the 2007 season," Edsall said in the release. "We feel that it was a good competition between Tyler and Dennis [Brown] but that Tyler has clearly solidified himself as the number one quarterback at this point."
The decision, made after just one week of fall camp, was expected to take quite some time, but Edsall said previously that a starter would be named as soon as one player emerged.
"I feel like it is time to go forward from here with Tyler as the number one and have the whole offensive unit working together," Edsall said.
Lorenzen, a transfer out of Palomar Community College in San Marcos, Calif., will be a junior this season. He completed 69 percent of his passes for the Comets with 26 touchdowns and just three interceptions and was named the California Junior Colleges Offensive Player of the Year.
Brown, a sophomore coming off a redshirt season, appeared in two games for the Huskies as a true freshman and was considered the starter by default before the signing of Lorenzen in December. He will be the primary back-up at the position, with redshirt freshman walk-on Matt Vollono and true freshman Cody Endres filling out the depth chart. Zach Frazer, a transfer from Notre Dame, will not be eligible to compete this season.
"Dennis will be a more than capable backup," Edsall said in the release. "I am confident in his abilities. I know that he will be a solid number two and will give us a great performance if needs be."
Edsall said as recently as the team's media day at the Burton Complex Monday afternoon that there was no clear-cut leader in the search for a starter and that both players would continue to battle until one emerged. With the team scheduled for two practices today, Lorenzen would need to have locked up the position during this morning's session. Practices are only open to the media twice a week and to the public once in August.
"Whoever the quarterback will be, I'm going to be very comfortable with whoever is the quarterback, and we're going to see how it all plays out and see what happens," Edsall said Monday afternoon. "As soon as we feel comfortable with making a decision, then we'll make a decision."
Both Brown and Lorenzen showed what they had to offer on different occasions on Saturday's open practices. During the morning session, Lorenzen was able to lead his team down the field in a no-huddle situation, capping off the drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass to tight end Steve Brouse.
Brown took the spotlight in the second practice of the day, rallying the offense for a touchdown during the team's two-minute drill at the conclusion of practice by throwing a 20-yard pass to Terence Jeffers and sealing it with a touchdown of his own.
While Lorenzen seemed calm and poised in the pocket during the practices, Brown showed to be too aggressive, forcing passes to receivers that were not open and breaking down in the pocket, scrambling away to make a throw.
Lorenzen will continue to work with the first team through the remainder of fall practice, with the team's first game coming on the road at Duke Sept. 1 at 2 p.m. The Huskies' home opener will take place Saturday, Sept. 8 against Maine. Kickoff, officially unconfirmed, is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Zac Boyer covers UConn sports for Rivals.com. He can be reached at zacboyer@gmail.com.
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