UCONN's THREE DOWN GOON
CMU RB transfer Trey Cornist has become a very interesting name this offseason.
Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.
- Mark Twain, writer
There are several key elements at the foundation of every ‘three-down RB’. Many believe it is just a matter of running ability. This couldn’t be any farther from the truth. Understanding one’s assignment, running routes, and—perhaps most importantly—pass blocking prowess round out the list of job requirements for any runner hoping to secure bellcow status.
This is part of what makes identifying potential CFF producers at RB ahead of time so tricky. Many players have the raw ability to do a lot of damage with the ball in their hands, but they simply won’t receive the requisite workload from their coaching staff to make a mark in the game of CFF.
That may or may not be the case at UConn this year under new head coach Jason Candle. What we do know for a fact ahead of time is that his track record at Toledo suggests he would like to have one runner handle the majority of snaps at that position.
Whether it be names earlier in his tenure like Kareem Hunt and Terry Swanson, or my man Bryant Koback in 2021, or even this past season with erstwhile OSU/ASU/UK runner Chip Trayanum, Candle’s Rockets routinely lean on one weapon of choice out of the backfield per season.
Looking closer at each season (Table 1. below), and including receiving volume now too, we can see that on average the RB1 under Candle handles approximately 210 touches, and outputs around 1300 total yards. Furthermore, the RB1 dating back to 2012 averages double digit rushing TDs per season. That’ll work.
But who might Candle’s preferred runner be this season in a transition year with a new program? I wasn’t expecting to get a lot of information out of camp (indeed, I don’t remember getting a lot out of Toledo when Candle was there, and UConn is similarly not a program with a ton of coverage); but, to my pleasant surprise, we did receive a very positive update on one player from UConn’s spring game. Here is a beat writer who covers the program:
Get used to the name: Trey Cornist
There wasn’t any tackling on Saturday, but one look at running back Trey Cornist would suggest he’d be hard to bring down anyway. The 6-foot, 215-pound transfer from Central Michigan will be used in a number of different ways from short-yardage situations to runs outside the tackles; he even caught a handful of screen passes.
“Trey’s a big-bodied back that does a great job in pass protection, catches it pretty well out of the backfield for his size,” Candle said. “Look, I’m not here to coach guys on what to do after they get the ball in their hands when they go run with it, so he’s good at that too. He could be a three-down back.”
The quotes from the coach are much more important than anything from the beat writers. A specific mention of a ‘three-down back’ possibility for Trey Cornist is a big event in my mind.
Even more so when considering that Candle only brought one player from Toledo with him and it was Kenji Christian, who did not do much last season. Furthermore, Candle would have had familiarity with Cornist from his time in the MAC given that Trey played with CMU last season. Sure, he only took three carries for 8 yards when he played Candle’s Rockets, but it’s better than nothing.
Cornist was someone I was mildly interested in last year following his move from Tulane (2023-2024) to CMU, given that the Chippewas were replacing their top two runners from 2024, but the vision didn’t materialize.
At 6’0, 215 pounds, Cornist certainly has the size profile to be an every down runner at the collegiate level. The question is more-so about his skillset, especially given that he doesn’t have a huge sample of snaps to evaluate.
He was a three-star-rated prospect in the class of 2023 who committed to Willie Fritz’ Tulane program. He stuck around with Jon Sumrall in 2024, before transferring closer to home in the MAC.
He failed to appear in any games as a freshman, but did play in six games as a sophomore with the Green Wave. In those appearances he accumulated 149 rushing yards and one score on 22 rush attempts. He also caught two passes on two targets for 21 yards.
Last year with the Chippewas was by far his most productive campaign to date. Cornist received 105 carries, of which he took for 470 yards and one score (~4 PPG in CFF). He was targeted on one pass, but did not catch it.
CLOSING THOUGHTS + OTHER PLAYERS TO CONSIDER
First of all, I want to give a shoutout to the esteemed John Laub (aka the Gridiron Scholar). I’ve been writing for three years now and this is the first time I’ve had the chance to feature a player from his favourite program. I also hope it will help persuade him in finally joining the Golden Pig Invitational—and I do think that it will. I believe this is finally the year that I will bag the elephant 🤞.
Back to the topic at hand—the head coach specifically mentioning Cornist’s name along with some positive language like ‘three-down back’ is very encouraging. However, there are other players in the room who are also notable.
Dashun Reeder (6’0, 190) had some moments last season with Northwestern, including an 11 carry, 79 yard performance vs. ULM. He’s a transfer down as far as competition level, so he’s definitely a guy to worry about in my opinion.
There is also the aforementioned Kenji Christian, who Candle brought with him from Toledo. Christian was an FCS transfer in 2025, who accumulated almost 1000 yards total as a freshman in 2023 at that level.
WVU transfer Cyncir Bowers is of the Reeder mold in that he is a transfer down who starred at times for his former club last season. I expect he will make some noise at some point this offseason.
In fact, admittedly, of all the names brought in this offseason, Cornist was really not near the top of my list of who I assumed might take over as the bellcow. Nonetheless, as always, I default to the quotes from the horse’s mouth. If the head coach says he likes Cornist, then I like Cornist too.
Clearly, based on the system track record, every CFF drafter should be dialled in on what the word is out of this camp because there is likely to be a valuable runner coming from this program in 2026. Hopefully we continue to get updates out of this camp in late spring and summer. ◾
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