Imagine being the new guy on a team and getting assigned a locker with Tom Brady on one side and Peyton Manning on the other, with Dan Marino and John Elway having their lockers not far away.

That’s a whole lot of quarterback knowledge in one room. And even if you’re a veteran QB, you’ll want to talk situational moves and such with the greats to tap into what they have learned through the years..

It’s exactly the situation Huskies football coach Jason Candle finds himself in as the new guy at UConn. He’s surrounded by a whole lot of coaching knowledge,

If he has a question, he can knock on the office door of Dan Hurley, a two-time winner of the men’s basketball NCAA championship.

Or on the door of Jim Penders, who has more than 800 wins as UConn’s baseball coach.

Or, of course, on the door of Geno Auriemma, the winningest coach in college basketball history with a dozen women’s basketball national titles.

Candle knows how fortunate he is to be surrounded by such experience, he told ESPN’s Pete Thamel in a question-and-answer article published Friday.

“When I sit in head coaches meetings and I'm around and meeting the other staffs within the department, I think it's really impressive,” he said of the A-list coaching company he is keeping. “I mean, there's a lot of really highly educated and passionate people that are really proud to be at UConn and really lead their programs in a positive direction.”

Candle was born in November 1979 – making him kindergarten-age when UConn hired 31-year-old Geno Auriemma to lead the women’s basketball team in March 1985. Auriemma has created a dynasty beyond anyone’s expectations.

And the Basketball Hall of Fame coach has become a friend to and invaluable resource for Candle.

“He's been a great asset. He's been a great person to look to for advice and, really, he's been a great listener when I have questions or issues that may come up,” Candle said.

“So I think that anytime you have him, you have a Dan Hurley, you have some of the other successful (coaches such as ) Jim Penders, you have some of Mike Cavanaugh (hockey), you have some of these other coaches in the department that are ultra successful at what they do. I mean, I think you're a fool if you don't lean into that and you don't try to seek information on things that maybe aren't clear cut and right in your face at the moment.”

Candle and his staff have spent the week preparing for their home clash against Maryland (3:30 p.m. Saturday, CBS Sports Network). It’s the first of three games the Huskies will play this season against Power Four opponents – all of them coming to Rentschler Field.

Syracuse will be in East Hartford on Oct. 3, with North Carolina visiting for a Nov. 7 game. Earlier, UConn Roundtable’s Brady Farkas wondered whether Bill Belichick would still be the head coach in Chapel Hill at the time the Tar Heels visit the Huskies.

Against the Terrapins, a large turnout is expected after the opening game against Lafayette drew 31,831 fans. The highest football attendance at home last season came Nov. 8 when 38,106 people filled The Rent to see a win over Duke.

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