Spring (football) is in the air

Now it feels like spring. It finally stopped raining, the weather is phenomenal and the UConn campus is buzzing with activity. The baseball team was playing Boston College, spring football practice opened, and from the bowels of Gampel Pavilion, you can hear dozens of fans getting psyched up for tonight's NIT game with Northeastern.Here's a few observations from the official start of a new football season:Almost everyone who was supposed to practice today did. Martin Hyppolite is out for a little while with mono, and Michael Lang tweaked a hamstring. He should be ready by Saturday. I won't get too much into who looked good and who didn't today. There were no pads and guys playing in shorts, and as Randy Edsall said today, "everybody's an All-American in shorts". However, Mike Box flashed a strong arm, Marcus Campbell looked very, very fast and new tailback Jonathan-Jean Louis looked like, well, someone new to the tailback position. Edsall says he'l...