Every time Soren Rief opens his locker and catches sight of the old family photo tucked inside, he gets the same reminder: why he keeps showing up, why he keeps grinding, why UConn still means so much.
The picture shows Rief as a little kid, maybe five or six, in a UConn football jersey alongside his brother, Aanders. Their father, Steve, and mother, Mary, are there too, all of them dressed in Huskies gear and smiling. For Rief, now a walk-on running back entering his sophomore season, it’s more than a keepsake.
"It reminds me every day of what I'm here for," Rief said after Saturday's practice in East Hartford. "It gives me a lot of motivation."
That motivation carries extra weight after Mary died in November 2024 following a 2½-year fight with stage IV metastatic breast cancer. Rief has kept the photo close ever since, and it’s easy to see why. He plays with a kind of edge on the field, but the thing in his locker is handled carefully, almost reverently.
His path to UConn has been anything but direct. At Killingly, Rief became one of the most productive backs in the state, earning three all-state selections and helping the program win a state title. Across three seasons with the Trailblazers, he piled up 5,570 yards and 82 touchdowns, including a state-best 2,488 yards and 38 scores as a senior in 2023.
Still, the college interest he wanted - especially from UConn - didn’t materialize the way he hoped after that season. So he took a post-grad year at the Canterbury School in 2024, where he added 691 rushing yards and landed on the all-NEPSAC and all-Evergreen teams.
"It added another year of a little bit of everything," Rief said of his time at Canterbury. "I missed my freshman year because of COVID-19, which was tough. Getting that back as a post-grad really helped me get that back as a student and an athlete."
After Canterbury, he had an offer from Central Connecticut and growing interest from UMass. He was ready to take the Blue Devils’ offer, then everything fell apart, leaving him with the dream of playing college football and nowhere to do it.
So he went straight to UConn.
"I reached out to Doug Shearer, our old special teams coordinator, and told him that I'm still available and looking for a home," Rief said. "He responded saying, 'We were just talking about you the other day, let's set up a phone call and see what happens.' It all came together from there, and now I'm here."
That phone call led him to Storrs, where he spent most of his first season waiting for a chance that seemed likely never to come. Then came the Crucial Catch game against Florida International on October 4, a cancer-awareness game played in the NFL format.
With UConn up 41 points in the fourth quarter, head coach Jim Mora sent Rief in and told him he’d get a pair of carries. His father and brother were there to watch.
On the first one, he was stopped at the line. On the second, he burst for nine yards off the right tackle and brought a jolt to the sideline.
"It meant so much to me," Rief said. "I didn't know I was going to get in the game.
They came up to me at the last second and told me get ready because they're giving me a couple carries. Coach Mora came up to me and said, 'Hey dude, this one's for your mom.'
I was ready to go after that."
That ended up being his only game action of the season.
Even with the roster turning over this offseason and Jason Candle bringing in a wave of transfer portal additions, Rief never considered leaving. The thought simply never entered the picture.
"It's always been UConn," Rief said with a hearty laugh. "Not once did it cross my mind to transfer out of here. I'm very thankful for coach Mora and everything he did for me, but this is where I wanted to be."
He also made sure to credit Candle and the new faces in the backfield for the way they’ve been received.
"I'm really thankful for the staff that came in," Rief said. "They were willing to keep guys that were on the team last year moving forward.
I'm very appreciative of that, and those new backs, those are my brothers. We really created a bond quick and they're already some of my closest friends."
Rief is the lone running back on the Huskies’ roster from last season, and with six players ahead of him - most of them scholarship backs, including several who followed Candle from Toledo - snaps figure to be hard to come by.
None of that has shaken him.
"I'm doing great now," Rief said. "I couldn't be happier.
This is the school that I grew up watching. It's home here.
This was my dream school, and I couldn't be happier to be here."
And when he talks about the force behind all of it, he doesn’t hesitate.
"She's my 'why,'" Rief said of his mother. "She gives me motivation every day to come out here and do this."
In Other News...
Dan Hurley Added A Veteran UConn Fans Will Appreciate Fast
Dan Hurley has added another experienced piece to the UConn roster in Isaiah Shaw, a veteran addition that fits the kind of culture the Huskies have built under their coach. Shaw has been around multiple college programs and comes from a notable basketball family, giving him a background that should help him settle quickly into a program that values toughness, adaptability and doing the little things the right way.
For UConn, the appeal goes beyond simply adding another body. Hurley sees Shaw as a player whose work ethic and versatility can help in practice and in the locker room, while his perimeter shooting gives him a clear way to contribute when he gets on the floor. Just as important, Shaw understands that part of his job is to help push younger players along, which is the kind of veteran presence UConn fans tend to appreciate right away. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona Is Chasing A 5-Star Guard With A Complicated Fit
NaVorro Bowman Jr., one of the top 2027 guard prospects, is beginning to sort through a recruiting picture that already has five major programs involved, and UConn is in that mix. For a staff that has continued to target high-end perimeter talent, that alone makes Bowman worth watching, especially as the Huskies think ahead to how their backcourt could look in the seasons to come.
The fit question is where things get tricky. UConns appeal would likely hinge on how the roster settles over the next year, with the staff having to project what happens around Braylon Mullins and Silas Demary Jr., plus the possibility that at least one of Colben Landrew or Junior County eventually moves on. In other words, this is the kind of recruitment that could make a lot more sense later than it does right now, which is why the visits matter even before the picture is fully clear. [Read more 🡒]
UConn Fans Got An Early NFL Reminder To Feel Proud
Before the NFLs preseason even really gets rolling, a few former UConn players were already getting their chances to show they belong. Joe Fagnano turned in the busiest day of the group, working for the Baltimore Ravens and finishing 22 of 28 passing with a touchdown and an interception, while also connecting on a 16-yard scoring throw to JaKobi Lane. Elsewhere, Chris Freeman handled an extra point for the Houston Texans, a small moment but one that still counts when roster spots and special teams jobs are in play.
The Texans connection to Storrs only grew from there, too. After a minicamp workout, Houston signed former UConn tight end Louis Hansen, keeping another Huskies name in the mix as teams continue sorting through the edges of their offseason rosters. For UConn fans, it was an early reminder that the programs footprint is still showing up on NFL fields, even before the games start to matter. [Read more 🡒]