Kenji Christian didn’t just follow Jason Candle and Nate Cole to UConn. He followed the people who believed in him first.
That matters to Christian, who spent Saturday talking about the move after the Huskies held an open practice on the grass at Rentschler Field. The speedy running back said the decision to stick with Candle and Cole came down to trust and loyalty, especially after they gave him another chance following his transfer from North Carolina A&T.
“It was really about loyalty with me,” Christian said Saturday, after the team hosted an open practice on Rentschler Field’s perfectly-manicured grass. “They stood with me, they gave me a chance to come play for them when I left NCAT and I just feel like I developed more when I was with Coach Cole and Coach Candle… Last year was like me really being healthy for a whole season, so (I plan on) putting it all together this year.”
Christian’s path has already shown plenty of production. The Birmingham, Alabama native looked ready to take off at North Carolina A&T in 2024 before a season-ending injury cut him down after three games.
In that short stretch, he piled up 256 yards on 29 carries, an 8.8-yard average. Add in the 718 rushing yards he posted as a freshman, and Candle’s staff had seen enough to bring him to Toledo.
He made that move count. Playing behind 1,000-yard rusher Chip Trayanum, now with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent, Christian still carved out a real role. He ran for 528 yards and four touchdowns on 105 carries, while also catching 17 passes for 193 yards and another score.
Now the same coaches who brought him to Toledo are with him at UConn, after Candle and Cole took the Huskies job. Christian is expected to be the top back in the room, and Candle believes the Huskies have a player who can break a game open.
“He’s got the ability to hit a home run,” Candle said. “He’s one of the guys on the team that can score an 80-yard touchdown.
The more of those guys we have on our team, the better. So he can do it in a multitude of different ways, he catches the ball really well in the backfield.
I’m not gonna sit here and claim like we taught him how to run the ball, that’s all natural ability, but I think he’s really improved in the pass protection part of things and Coach Cole’s done a great job helping him with that.”
Christian isn’t the only one in UConn’s backfield with that kind of burst. Veteran linebacker K’Von Sherman, another Toledo transfer and a defensive leader, pointed to Christian and West Virginia import Cyncir Bowers as two of the hardest teammates to bring down in practice.
The running back room is crowded with talent, too. Trey Cornist came over from Central Michigan, Jaden Hart arrived from Syracuse, and the group also includes Dashun Reeder from Northwestern, Shawn Simeon from Toledo and returner Soren Rief, the Killingly native.
“We all could play,” Christian said. “We all bring something different to the table, whether it’s power, speed, our cuts, catching, anything like that, we all bring something different. We all got different types of speed.”
For any of it to work, though, UConn’s offensive line has to hold up its end. The Huskies have some experienced pieces there, including returner Ty Chan and former Toledo center Terrence Moore, but Candle said the group is still trying to settle in together. Injuries over the last week forced the staff to shuffle combinations along the line.
“You’ve got a lot of different guys and a lot of different bodies, they’re individual good players, but, much like your fist, those fingers have got to come together and they’ve got to be five as one,” Candle said. “Sometimes that rhythm is hard to capture when guys are in and out of the lineup, so we’ve got to get some guys healthy there and we’ve got to make sure we continue to work on our timing.”
Even with the line still sorting itself out, UConn’s offense looked sharper than it had in earlier viewing periods. The running backs found more room, Sherman and the defense had chances to make plays, and the session turned physical in a hurry. There were also penalties sprinkled through the work.
Quarterbacks Jake Merklinger and Kalieb Osborne both delivered notable plays as their battle continues, and Candle said the day brought plenty of real-game situations.
“Today (was) a lot of different scenarios in practice, a lot of contact, a lot of real football,” Candle said. “We’re a long way from the finished product, but some of that’s to be expected.
Some are disappointed in the way things went, others are really extremely pleased. That’s preseason camp.
So we’ve got to go back and watch the tape and make sure that we do a good job telling ourselves the truth on that part of it and really start to buy into that process. Because some days it’s not going to go your way on game day, and ultimately you’ve got to fix it.
So that’s where we’re at right now.”