Each week I'm going to peruse the other team's roster and pick out the five best names. You be the judge. At the end of the season we'll pit the winners against each other to come up with a Name of the Year.
UConn: 22 LB Yawin Smallwood
Honorable Mention
39 DB Kenyarda Bates
03 DB Willie Williams
44 DB Lorenzo Coney
67 PK Owen Dubiel
34 PK Kody Fulkerson
63 OL Doniel Gambrell
27 DB Kelip Goodwin
41 LB Desdan Hester
13 QB Austin Karcher
Nominees after the jump.
76 OL Bridger Buche - Buche is pronounced "BO-key." He missed all of 2009 with a hip injury and is now the starting left tackle.
6 DB Martavius Cardwell - Interestingly, there is no pronunciation guide for Martavius. Thankfully, I've been addicted to phonics for almost 30 years. His last name does beg the question: do his parents drive "rincoln town cars?" Or are they "Cadarac" folks? I suppose we could boil this down to a GM-Ford debate. THIS IS EASTERN MICHIGAN FOLKS. I'M BEING TOPICAL.
95 DE Kalonji Kashama - That's "kuh-LON-gee kuh-SHA-muh." Predictably, he's Canadian. I'm not even joking.
11 LB Nate Paopao - Career goals: "I wanna make bank bro; I wanna get ass; I wanna drive a range rover."
04 QB Devontae Payne - The real shame here is that they wasted "duh-VON-tay pain" on a QB. That's obviously a linebackers name. Shameful, and wasteful. He's a redshirt freshman that's played in 3 games and completed 15-of-33 passes for 156 yards.