When quarterback Matt DeGennaro arrived from Union, NJ High School, the team he ran was mainly a running team that went 11-0 and finished #5 Nationally according to USA Today....That all changed when he started right from the beginning of his freshman year.....he never looked back as he rewrote the record books for QB's at UConn...
There were some growing pains in a very productive freshman year for Matt....a big lead lost in a heartbreaking 30-27 loss at Yale where DeGennaro was sacked going for the win on the games final play rather than kick a game tying field goal...Matt threw three TD passes in a come from behind win over UMass...earned Yankee Conference and Yankee Conference Offensive Player of the Week for his 151y - 2TD passing day and 50y-1TD running day in a win over Villanova. He engineered the game winning 82 yard drive where he went 8 for 10 as the Huskies beat Delaware...288y passing and 2 TD...The game winner to Glenn Antrum...Setting UConn QB records with 193 completions and 2206 yards...in addition to 18 TD passes and 21 overall, DeGennaro was named the Yankee Conference Rookie of the Year in a 7-4 year for the Huskies in 1987.
DeGennaro would spearhead Antrum's All American Year in 1988 where the Huskies started 3-1, routed Yale 41-0 and rallied to beat Northeastern 25-24 with 2 late TD's and a two point conversion..The Huskies would get as high as 9th in the I-AA Rankings after a 21-20 win at Delaware, the Huskies first since 1957 on a day UConn scored early and withstood a late charge in a rainstorm. But the Top 10 ranking was short lived after a 20-15 loss at BU where DeGennaro was sacked five times.....In another 7-4 year, DeGennaro smashed his own records from 1987...238/387 for 2,633 yards..17 TD and 13 int..It earned Matt the Yankee Conference Offensive Player of the Year as a Sophomore...And while his WR Teammate Antrum led I-AA in receiving and getting a First Team I-AA All American Honors, DeGennaro was named a Honorable Mention All American.
With Antrum moving on, Mark Didio was taking over as DeGennaro's top threat in 1989...Matt threw for 339 yards in a tough 31-30 loss at SMU, the Mustangs first after the NCAA Death Penalty. And got help from his running game that rushed for over 200 yards despite 4 interceptions in a win over Yale...He threw four TD in a 6 OT loss to Villanova, but fell into a slump while again the run game excelled in a OT win over UMass....But Matt regained his mojo in a season ending 4 game win streak. 261y passing against Richmond...and 278 more in a win over BU...The 1989 season saw DeGennaro's numbers fall a bit...212/356 for 2472 yards, 17 TD and 15 int....as the Huskies went 8-3 in sharing the Yankee Conference Title...
The 1990 season didn't start well for DeGennaro and the Huskies. In game two at North Carolina, Matt separated a shoulder early in a 48-21 loss at North Carolina. It kept him on the sidelines for 4 games..coming back late in a loss to UMass, but made his first start a week later against Maine where DeGennaro threw for 295y and three TD's as the Huskies went 4-1 in their last five....in the rain against BU, 19/30 for 264y to surpass 9,000 career yards...he capped his record setting UConn Career by going 22/30 for 283y and 4 TD's as the Huskies closed the season with a 51-21 rout of Rhode Island where Didio would also finish the year over 1,000y receiving...160/257 for 1977 yards...21 TD's and only 8 interceptions as the Huskies finished 6-5...
In Matt DeGennaro's career at UConn, he left setting 15 records...Among them Total Offense, plays, pass attempts, completions, Net Yards, TD passes, Pass Efficiency and yards per game among them..And he's still second behind Dan Orlovsky in 8 different categories...after graduation, Matt spent time as a High School Assistant both at Bloomfield High (1994) and Bergen Catholic in New jersey (1995) before playing QB for the Indoor CT Coyotes in the AFL in 1996. Today he's based in Matawan, New Jersey...As President MPD Tek Group 1 - Brand Ambassador at Blue Equinox per his Linked In Account...
Matt DeGennaro, a record setting QB in the late 80's for the Football Huskies and a UConn Legend....