Victor Rosa grew up just under an hour from UConn and attended games at Rentschler Stadium with his dad, Glenn. When the Bristol Central rising senior announced his commitment to the Huskies on Wednesday, he attached a video that read, “Hometown Hero.”
“My dad always talks about how he’d been to many games when they were winning bowl games and stuff,” Rosa said. “A reason I committed is to stay home, and I definitely want to turn this program around and leave an impact.”
Rosa had known for weeks that he’d be playing college football at UConn. He officially committed on June 24, but wanted to wait until July 14 to go public with it.
Why? Thank his mom, Deanna, for that.
“I wanted it to be special, so I chose [Wednesday] because it’s my mother’s birthday,” Rosa said. “I’ve been keeping it a secret. It’s been hard.”
A three-star recruit according to 247, Rosa chose UConn over Boston College, Army, Air Force and Columbia, among others. He’s considered the second-best class of 2022 Connecticut recruit behind Loomis Chaffee offensive lineman Alessandro Lorenzetti, a Michigan commit.
The 5-foot-11 rising senior started at quarterback for the Rams in 2019 but was recruited as a slot wide receiver. His best attribute is speed. He won the 200 meter dash and finished second in the 100 at the Class L outdoor track and field state championship with times of 22.63 seconds and 11.23 seconds, respectively.
“UConn was my first offer,” Rosa said. “They’ve been with me since day one. [Assistant coach] Corey Edsall has been hitting me up since day one, and we’ve built a good relationship. I definitely wanted to stay home, stay local. Where I went, I wanted to play off the bat and make an impact, the biggest impact possible. UConn felt like the right fit for that.”
In addition to the on-field and geographical boons of choosing UConn, Rosa cited the recently passed NIL law — which allows college athletes to profit off of their name, image and likeness — as another reason to stay in state.
“That could definitely be a big thing,” Rosa said. “With me as a local kid going to UConn, doing what I do.”
He plays for the Bristol Central boys basketball team, too, and is close friends with four-star center Donovan Clingan, who committed to play for UConn’s men’s basketball program earlier this month.
“We are best friends, and we’ve been friends since we were little babies,” Rosa said. “We’ve been talking about that in the back of our heads. Both of us know we’ve got long term goals, and the decision of going to the same college together was not a factor. It is amazing to go to the same place, though. But we weren’t basing each other’s decisions off of each other.”
Rosa is UConn’s 14th commit in the class of 2022, joining three-star tight end Sean Sallis (Carrollton, Texas), three-star receiver Kareem Burke (Jacksonville, Florida), three-star edge rusher Donovan Branch (Winter Garden, Florida) and three-star quarterback Christopher Calhoun II (Jacksonville, Florida).
“I’ve got speed,” Rosa said. “A lot of people have speed as well, but I play fast, I’m not just that fast guy that can’t play fast. I’m definitely smart, and I’m a leader on the field. I’ve been playing football my whole life — I know exactly what’s going on at all times. I’m a dog. I’ve been dreaming about going D1 all the time.”
Shawn McFarland can be reached at smcfarland@courant.com.
