What Geoff Collins is saying heading into Temple’s regular-season finale vs. UConn

Temple travels to Hartford to take on 1-10 Connecticut this weekend.

Here's what head coach Geoff Collins had to say about all of it:

On UConn senior quarterback David Pindell, who is fifth in the American Athletic Conference in rushing (1,110 yards, 100.9 per game) and has thrown for 1,873 yards and 18 TDs and 10 interceptions.:

"He is a dynamic quarterback, he is as athletic as a quarterback as anybody has in the country. Competitive, tough, runs hard, makes good decisions with the ball, is very accurate and has an experienced offense surrounding him."

On Temple linebacker Chapelle Russell, who recovered a fumble in the end zone for a touchdown in last week's 27-17 win over South Florida:

"Chapelle Russell had his fourth fumble recovery of the season, which is No. 1 in the country. I told the team yesterday, the reason I am so proud of that statistic, is that is an effort-based stat. If you are not around the ball making the primary tackle, a lot of times, human nature, you kind of relax a little bit. He has zero relax to him and he springs to the ball every play and it is why he is always around the ball. So when somebody makes a tackle and the ball pops out, Chapelle Russell plays so hard, he is around the ball and able to make those kind of plays. And I imagine he has to be in the conversation for Comeback Player of the Year, the way he has recovered from his knee injury from last year and has made himself into an elite player."

On redshirt sophomore Vincent Picozzi, who has started the last two games at center for injured Matt Hennessy after starting the previous nine games at right guard:

"He is doing a really good job. His calmness, his poise, the way the he gets everybody aligned, gets the points, sees the coverage really well to know where the pressure is coming from. I think he has been a calming presence for everybody. He gets everybody lined up and has great communication."

On taking more players on this road trip since it is a bus ride and how that will benefit the true freshmen:

"All the guys who are redshirt freshmen right now, the Todd Centeios, [the] Christian Braswells, [the] Ty Masons and on and on, that are playing for us at a high level, those guys that have been redshirted this year, a year from now we are going to be expecting them to be in the same role and they have to go through the process like our other guys are."