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Redshirt freshman Michael Box will get his first career start at quarterback for Connecticut for Saturday's game at Louisville, head coach Randy Edsall said Thursday.

Box replaces Cody Endres, who was suspended for the rest of the year Wednesday for violating school policy. Edsall said Endres' time at UConn is officially over.

Box has appeared in two games this season, completing two of his five passes for 30 yards. He'll be backed up by senior Zach Frazer, who started the Huskies' first four games.

The 6-foot-3, 209-pound Box is from Suwanee, Ga., and has been praised by the coaching staff for his work in practice.

Edsall said he had "complete confidence" in Box despite the quarterback's lack of game experience. Edsall also said he had a team meeting Wednesday in which he discussed the departures of both Endres and starting guard Erik Kuraczea this week.

"A lot of times, you get addition by subtraction," he said.

This was supposed to be a breakthrough season for Connecticut. Instead, it's shaping up as one to forget.

The Huskies have suffered disappointing losses at Michigan, Temple and Rutgers, and now -- just a few days before an important conference game at Louisville -- they announced that starting quarterback Cody Endres has been suspended for the season.

No reason other than "university policies" was given for Endres' suspension. But he was suspended in the preseason and missed three games, so you'd think a guy in his shoes would be on his very best behavior the rest of the year. I don't want to speculate as to what Endres did to run afoul of team rules, but whatever it was could not have been smart on his part.

Curiously enough, offensive lineman Erik Kuraczea was suspended at the same time as Endres this preseason, and the school announced on Tuesday that Kuraczea was leaving the team. As of now, UConn isn't saying whether the two moves are related.

So now what does UConn do? Go back to Zach Frazer, who was inconsistent and inaccurate in his first four starts? The senior has been bumped down to third on the depth chart, and it sure seemed like Randy Edsall was talking about him Tuesday when he mentioned an unnamed player had not handled a demotion well. It appeared the team had lost some confidence in Frazer (and the fan base sure had).

Redshirt freshman Michael Box is currently the No. 2 quarterback, but he's never played any significant minutes and would be making his first career start on the road. The coaching staff likes him a lot, but that's a tough way to break in a young guy at that spot.

It's just another headache for Edsall, who thought he had a veteran team that would be ready to take the next step this year after a strong finish to 2009. Instead, he's been talking about how his team has felt a "sense of entitlement" and trying to find ways to fix various gaps and issues that have sprung up all year.

At 3-3 and sitting in a 0-1 Big East hole, this is the last bit of bad news UConn needed right now.

UConn guard Erik Kuraczea has withdrawn from school for "personal reasons," head coach Randy Edsall told the media Tuesday. Edsall said Kuraczea plans to transfer in January.

The 6-foot-2, 319-pounder was suspended along with quarterback Cody Endres to begin the season but started the Huskies' past two games at left guard. He started five games last season as a redshirt freshman.

Mathieu Olivier will resume starting duties at left guard, where he played during Kuraczea's suspension.

Adam Masters is back as the starting right tackle after an injury. Cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson, who underwent hand surgery during the bye week, is listed as the starter for this week's game at Louisville.

Wednesday was an interesting day to be a backup quarterback.

West Virginia true freshman Jeremy Johnson, who caused near statewide consternation when he missed practice on Monday and Tuesday, returned to the team for Wednesday's drills. Head coach Bill Stewart said Johnson, a Texas native, was just dealing with homesickness, but there had been speculation that Johnson was looking to transfer.

"He was just a freshman who was homesick," Stewart said. "[This] tells us we have a great family here and we don't let outsiders break the family."

It remains to be seen whether Johnson will contribute to this year's team, but his return adds depth to the quarterback position, which right now includes just him, fellow freshman Barry Brunetti and sophomore starter Geno Smith, with slot receiver Coley White able to move under center if necessary.

Hopefully this week's events will just be a blip on the radar in a long and fruitful West Virginia career for Johnson.

At UConn, No. 2 quarterback Cody Endres, along with backup guard Erik Kuraczea, were suspended indefinitely for a "violation of university and athletic department policies," according to the school. No further details were given.

The Hartford Courant's Desmond Conner reports that similarly worded suspensions in the past have lasted about a month.

Endres started six games last year but is the clear backup to Zach Frazer going into 2010. Without him, the Huskies will turn to Michael Box as the second-string quarterback. They also have Johnny McEntee and intriguing freshman Leon Kinnard available.

Kuraczea started five games last year but was running behind Mathieu Olivier at left guard. His absence will hurt the depth there, but Connecticut always seems to find guys on the offensive line. Redshirt freshman Steve Greene is listed as the third-string left guard.

Want to know how Connecticut has become a team to be reckoned with? Start up front.

"It's not mirrors and tricks," said South Florida coach Skip Holtz, who used to work in Storrs. "It's the way they play in the trenches and the hardnosed brand of football they play."

Year after year, the Huskies line up with one of the biggest and most physical offensive lines in the Big East. This season is no different.

"We believe games are decided on the offensive line," senior guard Zach Hurd said. "If the offensive line can move the defensive line around, then we've got a good chance."

UConn's line paved the way for two 1,000-yard rushers last year in Andre Dixon and Jordan Todman. The season before that, Donald Brown ran for more than 2,000 yards.

The Huskies usually have the heaviest O-line in the league. Last year, it often lined up with four 300-pounders, plus 290-pound center Moe Petrus. The line could be a bit slimmed down on the left side this year if the current starters hold onto their jobs. Adam Masters, who's listed at 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds, is listed No. 1 right now at left tackle, with Mathieu Olivier (6-6, 276) at right left guard. Pushing them are Jimmy Bennett (6-8, 301) and Erik Kuraczea (6-2, 315).

The field may tilt a little to the right side when UConn's offense takes the field. That's where Hurd (6-7, 323) and right tackle Mike Ryan (6-5, 332) roam.

Hurd, a senior, was the only guard to make my Big East Top 25 players list. He was a first-team All-Big East selection last season and is one of the biggest interior offensive linemen around.

"When I got here, I wasn't the best tackle," he said. "We had Will Beatty and Mike Hicks, so I moved to guard. I love it there. I feel like I'm able to show off my athletic ability and get to the second level to take on a linebacker. It's been a real good fit for me."

It's not always a lot of fun for opposing defensive tackles when they see Hurd line up. Cincinnati's backup nose tackle, for instance, was giving up nearly 60 pounds in last year's game.

"But sometimes it's hard for me as well, being 6-7 against a guy who's 6-foot and trying to get him out of there," Hurd said. "That's where getting low comes into play."

Connecticut's linemen aren't just big. They're extremely well-coached and have fantastic footwork, a huge emphasis by offensive line coach Mike Foley. They've also got to be in tremendous shape to run the no-huddle offense installed last season by offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead.

They're also the key to why UConn is a team on the rise.

"I think we're one of the biggest lines in the nation, so we should be moving some people around," Hurd said. "If we don't, it's on us."

STORRS, Conn. -- I spent a couple of days watching Connecticut practice this weekend, and here are some thoughts and observations:

• This team, as expected, has a lot of depth and maybe more overall talent than it's ever had under Randy Edsall. On Saturday, the Huskies scrimmaged nearly the entire two hours, used three teams on each side and hardly had much dropoff from starters to subs. One obvious example of the depth is at quarterback. Zach Frazer is clearly the starter, but UConn has four guys behind him -- Cody Endres, Michael Box, Johnny McEntee and Leon Kinnard -- who can all play and who are all getting reps. No other Big East team can match the Huskies' depth at QB.

• Kinnard, by the way, is fun to watch. He may be no taller than 5-foot-9, but he's got a good arm and can really fly when he scrambles. Edsall might have to find ways to incorporate him into the offense because he's such a playmaker. If nothing else, Kinnard will be a great asset on the scout team when UConn needs to get ready for players like B.J. Daniels.

• Interestingly, Edsall has made his quarterbacks live during spring practice. Part of that is the depth, and part of it is he felt like the team wasn't getting the right intensity when the QBs couldn't get hit. He has the luxury of being able to turn to another guy if Frazer gets hurt. But an even bigger luxury is that tremendous offensive line. Frazer didn't get sacked and barely got hit the entire scrimmage behind the No. 1 line, and that's against a pretty good defensive front seven. Adam Masters and Kevin Friend are making a big move at tackle.

• There's so much depth and good competition that Edsall can use it to motivate and/or punish his guys. Endres was down to third string on Saturday because of a transgression. Guard Erik Kuraczea overslept and was late, so Edsall told him to go back home and go to sleep. Star tailback Jordan Todman didn't practice Tuesday or Thursday because of an academic issue. Twyon Martin, who started most of the last two years at defensive tackle, has been knocked down to third string. When asked what Martin needed to do to get back in good graces, Edsall said, "Stop being so lazy."

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This could be a big year for Connecticut.

The Huskies were playing as well as anybody in the Big East down the stretch and finished the 2009 season with a victory over South Carolina in the Papajohns.com Bowl. They bring back a wealth of starters and plenty of depth. I caught up with UConn coach Randy Edsall last week to talk about the beginning of spring practice, which starts March 16. This is part I of my interview. Check back later for part II.

First of all, you have to be feeling pretty good about where the program is given all the players you bring back from last year, right?

Randy Edsall: We do. We have a lot of guys back and we only have 12 seniors on the roster, so that bodes well for us. We're going to have more depth than we've ever had. The thing about this spring that's going to be a little different is, we're going to have a lot of guys who won't be doing things because of injuries. So we'll be able to get a lot of work in, but some of the kids won't be out there with us because of injury. But the thing I'm excited about is that we're going to give some of these young guys a lot of work to even develop more depth in the program.

Do the injuries cause a little less of a concern this spring just because you have so much experience coming back?

RE: Yeah, it really does. Just looking at our depth chart and our board ... even though Jesse Joseph is not going to go through the spring, Greg Lloyd is not going to go through the spring, Blidi Wreh-Wilson is not going to go through the spring on defense, with those guys out we still have so many guys and we know what those guys can do because they played for us. And now get some other kids more repetitions and kids we know are going to be available to play next year. For me, it's a plus for us. And we had six kids who came in at midyear, so it's another plus that those kids are going to get a lot of reps.

We're not going to be the finished product coming out of spring, because like with Jimmy Bennett and Mike Ryan on offense, they're not going to be practicing due to the injuries that they had in the fall and Robbie Frey will be limited and won't be full go. That's where in terms of the offensive line, it's going to give us a chance to work with some of our young guys and really get them a lot of reps to develop them so if they've got to get into a game, they're going to have some experience there.

Let's talk about the quarterbacks. Zach Frazer played well for you at the end of the year, but Cody Endres also played well before his injury. Is Frazer the No. 1 guy right now or is it more of a competition?

RE: As we came out of the season, we won four straight there with Zach and I thought he did some good things. Cody did, too, I think, so we're in a good situation. But as we go into the spring, Zach's the No. 1 guy and it would be his job to lose. He knows there's always competition, but he's the No. 1 guy as we start practice on the 16th.

What did you like about the way Frazer played at the end of the year?

RE: I thought he really just played within himself. I thought he was relaxed, he was poised and I thought he made a lot of good decisions He wasn't forcing the ball; he was taking what the defense was giving and throwing the ball where it should have been thrown. And when it wasn't there, he threw the ball away as opposed to trying to make a great play, squeeze a ball into somewhere you shouldn't. I really thought he did a good job of what we asked him to do in the game plans we had for those games.

People may forget that you put in a new offense last year, and there must have been some adjustments along the way.

RE: You could see the improvement as the season went on with what we did offensively, and I think one of the keys this spring is now the kids are going to be more comfortable in the offense. There are going to be some things that we're able to do to add or to tweak where we think it will make us better. But I was pleased with the development of the offense as the season went along. Our point production and passing yardage was up from a year ago, and we maintained what we wanted to do in the running game.

It took two guys to replace Donald Brown, but that's fine. And we want to keep building on the positives we had last year and keep moving forward, and the good thing is we only lost Andre [Dixon], and we still have Jordan Todman coming back. We lost Brad [Kanuch] and Marcus Easley, but we feel we have receivers to step in and do the job. And up front the only guy we lost was Mike Hicks. We really feel good about the guys we have coming back and what we can do to improve upon the production and the output we had a year ago.

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One of the more positive developments for the Big East was the emergence of so many talented young players who will be making their mark on the league for a long time.

With that in mind, I wanted to single out the top freshmen -- of the true or redshirt variety -- and compile an all-freshman team for both sides of the ball and special teams. Here, then are my picks (and if the Big East coaches can put 14 players on its first-team defense, then I can go higher than 11 on my teams, too):

Offense

QB: B.J. Daniels, South Florida

QB: Tom Savage, Rutgers

RB: Dion Lewis, Pitt

RB: Darius Ashley, Louisville

FB: Ryan Clarke, West Virginia

WR: Mohamed Sanu, Rutgers

WR: Alec Lemon, Syracuse

TE: Ryan Griffin, Connecticut

OL: Mario Benavides, Louisville

OL: Mark Popek, South Florida

OL: Erik Kuraczea, Connecticut

OL: Joe Madsen, West Virginia

Defense

DL: Scott Vallone, Rutgers

DL: Jesse Joseph, Connecticut

DL: Trevardo Williams, Connecticut

DL: Brandon Mills, Cincinnati

LB: Walter Stewart, Cincinnati

LB: Steve Beauharnais, Rutgers

LB: E.J. Carter, Syracuse

LB: Sam Barrington, South Florida

CB: Blidi Wreh-Wilson, Connecticut

CB: Phillip Thomas, Syracuse

S: Jarred Holley, Pittsburgh

S: Kayvon Webster, South Florida

S: Drew Frey, Cincinnati

S: Shamarko Thomas, Syracuse

Specialists

K: Tyler Bitancurt, West Virginia

KR: Tavon Austin, West Virginia

KR: Cam Saddler, Pittsburgh

Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett

Zach Frazer won the Connecticut starting quarterback job after a competition in the spring and fall camp with Cody Endres. But Frazer hurt his knee against North Carolina in Week 2, opening the door for Endres to take over.

Frazer is healthy enough now to play. But Huskies coach Randy Edsall said at his weekly press conference Tuesday that it's still Endres' job, and that he told both the quarterbacks that on Monday.

"It's unfortunate Zach was No. 1 coming out of the spring and then in the fall and gets injured," Edsall said, as quoted by the Hartford Courant's Desmond Conner. "Cody has played well, just look at the numbers, he has performed very, very well and better than Zach has. I told Zach his job is to be ready mentally and physically to go. He's a play away. I still think he's a bit rusty after watching him on Sunday."

It's hard to argue against the numbers. Endres has completed 66.3 percent of his passes and has three touchdowns and no interceptions. Frazer has completed 51.2 percent with two touchdowns and four picks.

Edsall also said linebacker Scott Lutrus, who returned last week after a three-game absence only to suffer another stinger injury, is doubtful for this week's game against Louisville. Jory Johnson would start in his place. Freshman Erik Kuraczea will start at left guard over junior Mathieu Olivier, and sophomore Mike Ryan is the No. 1 left tackle ahead of senior Dan Ryan.