MANCHESTER, Conn. _ Displayed rather inconspicuously, keepsakes from Bryant Shirreffs' UConn football career can be found throughout his two-floor, two-bedroom apartment.
His framed No. 4 jersey occupies floor space in the corner of the dining area, not far from the Christmas tree and behind a table and chairs. The game ball he received after the Huskies' victory over Temple in October is positioned at the opposite end of the living room, inside the bottom section of an entertainment center, in front of a row of books and below a sign that reads, "Home."
"Have as many candy canes as you want," Shirreffs says as he settles into a couch behind a coffee table filled with ribbons, sweets, candles and pine cones atop a snowflake runner. A stuffed Winnie the Pooh doll is a little out of place in the middle of the living room floor, near the playpen and toy bin, the typical organized chaos inside the home of parents to an infant.
Alexa Bonnes, Shirreffs' fiancee, sits on the couch to his left while feeding their son, Brayden Anthony Shirreffs _ "Bean," as they call him. Brayden was born in March, a healthy, happy and active baby who this evening is most easily settled down for a photo by having his attention drawn to a toy football that rattles as it is tossed.
"We enjoy being parents so much," Bonnes, who played lacrosse at UConn and graduated in 2016, says as Brayden crawls across her lap. "I don't think we give ourselves enough credit sometimes. I mean, we're 23 years old. ... But I don't think there's anything we'd rather be doing than this and cleaning poop."
"Just being with him and watching him learn is amazing," Shirreffs says.
This is the new normal for Shirreffs, whose soft-spoken and easy-going ways have always been, in some ways, contradictions to his approach to such a violent game.
Shirreffs, of Jefferson, Ga., is among the best quarterbacks in UConn's 16-year FBS history, despite his time in uniform coinciding with the program's greatest struggles. All that his three-year run as the primary starter (four in the program altogether) encompassed certainly makes him the most interesting. It was a protracted journey of success, failure, a coaching change, injuries _ but mostly of personal growth and discovery.
In 30 games over three seasons, Shirreffs passed for 6,375 yards (fourth all-time at UConn), 30 touchdowns and 19 interceptions. And his time with the Huskies and in Storrs, complicated as it often was, set the foundation for the rest of his life.
"It was a rough ride and I wish some of the outcomes were better, but I think the bad times helped us grow and have really taught him some lessons," says Bonnes, from Cortlandt Manor, N.Y. "And a lot of good characteristics that I didn't see much before have really shined."
Shirreffs, who graduated in May with a degree in finance, is halfway through a financial risk management master's program. He will soon begin a job at UBS Financial Services in Hartford.
Shirreffs interned at UBS this past summer and Bonnes, who hopes to pass a Series 7 securities exam next year, started working there a few months ago, on the 16th floor. Brayden goes to daycare on the fourth floor of the same building. The family plans to be in Connecticut for a long time.
"And now it's like we'll all get on the school bus in the morning," Bonnes says.
