Cam Edwards, a former Norwalk High School star who became one of the best two-way football players in FCIAC history, is set to continue his solid college career as a key component toward helping the 2025 UConn Huskies try to fulfill their goal of a second straight successful season.
Edwards, a 5-foot-11, 210-pound redshirt junior running back who was UConn’s team leader in several offensive categories last year, helped coach Jim Mora’s Huskies finish the season with a 9-4 record after their 27-14 victory over North Carolina in the 2024 Wasabi Fenway Bowl at Fenway Park in Boston on Dec. 28.
Edwards scored on a 2-yard touchdown run with 54 seconds remaining in the first half of that season-ending Fenway Bowl win over UNC to help the Huskies extend their lead to 24-7.
He rushed for 74 yards on 17 carries in that game and finished the season with a team-high 830 yards on a team-high 146 carries for an average of 5.7 yards per carry.
The University of Connecticut football team opens its season Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock by hosting Central Connecticut State University at Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in East Hartford.
Edwards and Durrell Robinson, who rushed for 731 yards on 107 carries (6.8 yards per carry), tied for the team lead with eight rushing touchdowns last year. Edwards also caught 13 passes for 148 yards and had a pair of touchdown receptions, so he led the Huskies with 10 total touchdowns.
Edwards, Robinson and Mel Brown combined to form a deep and balanced stable of UConn running backs last year.
Brown, a 5-foot-9, 180-pound UConn senior this year, gained 97 rushing yards on 11 carries in the Fenway Bowl season finale to end up with 673 yards rushing on 118 carries last season.
Robinson transferred to Auburn to play in the SEC. He is now a 6-foot, 207-pound sophomore.
When Edwards was a Norwalk High senior four years ago, he scored 28 total touchdowns on offense and starred as a defensive back when he became the first Norwalk Bear to ever be selected as the state’s Player of the Year by the New Haven Register (GameTimeCT).
Edwards rushed for 1,666 yards and 23 TDs, he was a big-play man in the passing game in averaging 28.55 yards per reception with his 314 receiving yards on 11 pass receptions, and he had five TD receptions to help lead the 2021 Norwalk Bears to a 7-3 record.
For his three-year varsity career as a starter for Norwalk, Edwards had 44 total touchdowns, including 35 rushing touchdowns, and he averaged a robust 8.3 yards per carry when he racked up 2,349 rushing yards on 283 carries.
When Edwards began his UConn career, he was a defensive back, and he redshirted in that freshman season of 2022.
Subsequently, Mora moved the versatile Edwards to the offensive side of the ball for the 2023 season. As a redshirt freshman running back, he started the final five games of the nine total games he appeared in, scored four touchdowns and led UConn in rushing with 618 yards on 123 carries.
Edwards has averaged 5.5 yards per carry in rushing for 1,448 yards on 269 carries in the 2023 and ’24 seasons.
Earlier this month it was announced that Edwards is a preseason candidate for the 2025 Doak Walker Award which is awarded to the most outstanding college football running back in the nation.
Last year’s Heisman Trophy winner Ashton Jeanty of Boise State was also the recipient of the 2024 Doak Walker Award. The Las Vegas Raiders selected Jeanty with the sixth overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Mora, a former head coach for the Atlanta Falcons and at UCLA, is now in his fourth year as UConn’s head coach. Last year he guided the Huskies to a resurgent six-win improvement from their 3-9 record in 2023.
Saturday’s season opener is the first of six Saturday afternoon home games on UConn’s 12-game schedule.
The Huskies will also host Ball State on Sept. 20 (3:30 p.m.), Florida International University on Oct. 4 (3:30 p.m.), the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Nov. 1 (noon), Duke on Nov. 8 (3:30 p.m.), and Air Force on Nov. 15 (noon).
UConn’s second and third games of the season are on the road. The Huskies play at Syracuse on Sept. 6 (noon) and at the University of Delaware on Sept. 13 (3 p.m.).