Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

UConn tight end Sean McQuillan hoping to convince an NFL team

Connecticut v East Carolina

Getty Images

Connecticut tight end Sean McQuillan has already earned his degree, and might have been a team captain if he had returned for his final year of eligibility.

But an arrest this spring following a fight with his roommate cost him his entrance into school, leaving him no choice but this week’s supplemental draft, which he’s confident he’ll be chosen in.

“Well, first of all, I’m going to make it, and second of all, there isn’t a backup plan,” McQuillan said, via Desmond Conner of the Hartford Courant. “I’m confident I’m going to be able to do this thing. I’m prepared for this. I’m going to show them I’m athletic, I’m versatile, I can do a bunch of different things. I’m confident and I’m ready for this next step, so I haven’t thought about anything else.”

Of course, he has other things on his plate, namely a July 17 appearance in court for his second degree assault and disorderly conduct. But he’s hoping that his workout Wednesday will convince some team to take a chance on him.

“I want people to know I’m strong and I’m going to get through this,” McQuillan said. “Perseverance is the word. Bad things are going to happen sometimes. When you get knocked down it’s about how you respond and I’m going to respond, recreate my brand, get that respect back from everybody which is very important to me because I love Connecticut and I love the people here.

“I want to be someone people for years and years are looking up to, not based on a couple things that happened in college. I want them to look at me and say he’s a great person. He persevered through some tough times to get where he wanted to be. At the end of all this, it’s how I want to be seen and I know I can get there. I’m not going to get outworked. If things don’t go my way I’m just going to keep chugging along until I get it right.”

McQuillan has some basketball background as well, though not much in the way of stats in football. He caught 16 passes for 158 yards and a touchdown last season, though he did score the only touchdown in UConn’s spring game this year.

That might not be enough to make a team draft him, but without a backup plan, it’s what he has to work with at the moment.