Lutrus Ready to Lead Huskies into Big House

Former Brookfield High School football standout and current University of Connecticut star Scott Lutrus was recently named to the watch list for the 2010 Butkus Award.  He is among the 51 candidates who will vie for the honor given to the nation's top college linebacker.

Following his stellar high school career that was capped off by him earning All-Area, All-Conference and All-State honors while leading the Bobcats to the South-West Conference Championship and a spot in the Class SS final, Lutrus redshirted his freshman year at the University of Connecticut. He then burst onto the NCAA Football scene with a breakout year in 2007 that led to him being named first-team Freshman All-American. In his first game against Duke he made eight tackles and intercepted a pass.

"Scott Lutrus always understood, and has continued to apply it to his college career, that you either get better or worse," his former Brookfield High School head football coach Rich Angarano said. "If you remain the same, in reality you got worse, because your competition got better."

The undersized, hard-nosed Lutrus started all 13 games for UConn at the strongside "Husky" linebacker position and ranked third on the team with 107 tackles in his freshman year. He added four interceptions, returning a school-record two for touchdowns. During his coming out party, in a season that saw UConn earn its first ever AP Top 25 ranking, he was named the BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week in consecutive weeks, becoming the first player to do so since the Miami Hurricanes Nate Webster did it in 1999.

"I think the thing with Scott is he does have athletic ability, he's smart, he understands the game and he has good anticipation skills," UConn head football coach Randy Edsall said of Lutrus. "The bottom line is he works at it.  He's not a guy that just shows up and goes out and plays solid.  He puts the time and effort into it from a mental standpoint, through his film study and in the weight room.  He does understand concepts and his role and responsibility."

The two highlight reel games that earned Lutrus the Player of the Week honors in his freshman season were against South Florida and Louisville.  Against USF he had eight tackles and an interception returned for a touchdown.  In the Louisville game he recorded an astonishing 18 tackles.

In his second season Lutrus continued to impress, leading the Huskies in tackles with 106.  His performance as a sophomore led him to be named to the Second Team All-BIG EAST Conference and he was also named to the BIG EAST All-Academic team for 2008.

Lutrus and the UConn Husky football team endured an emotional roller coaster of a season in 2009.  He suffered a stinger injury in the opening game of the year that forced him to miss much of the early season action.

"Being on the sidelines is frustrating, knowing that I couldn't be out there with the guys having fun," Lutrus said of being out with an injury.

While he was recovering the team suffered the heart-breaking loss of teammate Jasper "Jazz" Howard, who was stabbed to death outside a social event on the UConn Campus after the team's big homecoming win over Louisville. 

Lutrus returned during the teams' difficult three-game losing streak that saw them lose in the final minutes each week following the loss of their teammate.  He and the team endured however and earned the biggest win in the schools history to break the streak by going to the Golden Dome and defeating Notre Dame 33-30 in double-overtime.  In the emotional win, Lutrus had 14 tackles.

"We stayed focused throughout the game and concentrated on football," Lutrus said of the signature victory for the program.  "We didn't get caught up with all the fans and the surroundings."

The Huskies finished the season strong by winning their final four games including an impressive 20-7 win over South Carolina in the Papajohns.com Bowl.  In the defense-dominated game, Lutrus had a team-high nine tackles and a fumble recovery, an effort that earned him the Defensive Game Ball.

"It was great to come back at the end of the year and finish up strong," he said.

Now Lutrus and the Huskies look to continue to build on the momentum gained from their strong finish last season. They travel to Michigan to play the Wolverines in the Big House on Saturday at 3:30 to kick off the season. Another win in another storied location would help give the UConn football program a bigger reputation as an up and coming team. They will have to overcome playing in front of a record setting crowd, as Michigan unveils it's newly renovated stadium where as many as 115,000 people may be in attendance.

"I think it does help going to a huge stadium like Notre Dame last year and how well we did there," he said of the teams' mindset heading into the big game.  "It's a huge crowd, but we've been there before in this situation. We are preparing like any other game and are going in there to win a football game." 

UConn is ranked 23^rd in the SI.com college football pre-season poll and they have been listed as a potential BCS Rankings crasher by multiple news sources in the country in anticipation of the 2010 season.

"I think there is a little bit more on the table for all the seniors, it's our last [year] and we want it to be the best one," Lutrus said.  "We take the same preparations every game and every season trying to be the best player and the best team we can be."

Lutrus' rise to stardom, coinciding with his home state UConn football program making it's way into the national spotlight, led Andy Baylock, the director of UConn Football Alum Program and Community Affairs, to say, "I tell Jodi Rell all the time she's not the most famous person from Brookfield, Scott Lutrus is."

As a Brookfield High School senior Lutrus was a two-way player racking up stats on both sides of the ball.  He rushed for 2,017 yards, which was the second highest total in the state.  He also had 15 catches for 249 yards, four touchdowns and returned a kickoff for a touchdown. On defense he racked up 63 tackles and had four interceptions, two returned for touchdowns.  All told, he scored 204 points, which topped the state.

Most importantly for Lutrus the Bobcats went 12-1 in his senior year while he racked up the gaudy stats.  Lutrus will certainly be trying to duplicate that record as a senior for the Huskies.

"Scott has and always had a tremendous work ethic and has worked to get better in every aspect of his game," Angarano said of Lutrus' dedication to excel.  "He is a true student of the game of football and has led by example both on and off the field.  We all are very proud of him and we expect really good things from him and the UConn football team this season."

"I just have to cherish the moment, it's my last season and my last opportunity to be here and spend time with this team," Lutrus said.  "It has been great so far and we need to go out with a bang."