STORRS -- As players from the men's soccer team milled around near the entrance gate to Memorial Stadium, members of the women's track team made their way across the grass field and climbed into the stands. There was a cold wind blowing down across the old place, but that wasn't about to deter those women from making a touching statement.

Sitting down on the old metal bleachers, they formed themselves into the shape of a number. The number 6. Jasper Howard's number.

They sat there, fighting off the cold for a good half-hour before members of the UConn football started to make their way from the Burton Family Football Complex and across the street to where three buses waited to transport the Huskies to the airport for a flight to Morgantown, W.Va., and a game today against the Mountaineers.

As the football players passed by, the members of the women's track team made a sign with their index and pinky fingers, the symbol of Little Haiti, Howard's old neighborhood in Miami, while the other athletic teams that had gathered to say goodbye, applauded in support.

UConn athletics came together as one Friday afternoon, standing in a long line of support for the football team who heads for a Big East match-up at West Virginia without its starting junior cornerback and without one of its best friends.

Howard, 20, was killed early Sunday morning, stabbed to death in front of the Student Union after leaving a dance. The suspect is still at large.

It has been an emotional and exhausting week. First, coach Randy Edsall told the story that Howard was going to be a father, followed by Jasper's family coming to Storrs and telling the team to play the rest of the season for their fallen son. At a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening, the team presented Edsall with a signed letterman's jacket as thanks for being so strong during this trying time.

There have been tears. Lots and lots of tears.

But Friday, there was support. There was strength. Men's soccer, women's track, men's golf, women's lacrosse, men's and women's basketball, baseball, athletes from all the Husky athletic teams stood in the cold outside Memorial Stadium to let the football team know that they were with them. In body and spirit.

"It shows how strong the family is. I said it last Sunday, the family is strong and the family is close. But in tough times, it gets stronger and closer," UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway said. "That's why they wanted to do this. All our staff is out here, all our coaches are here. Everyone just stopped their day to be here with the football program and let them know that we're one. We're here as one."

A few of the football players came out before the main group.

One, junior linebacker Greg Lloyd, stopped to receive a hug from women's basketball player Kaili McLaren. Others accepted high-fives and handshakes from athletes as they passed by.

"The mood has obviously been down because losing any student is just a tragedy. Us being out here as a team and showing our support, we just want them to know that were behind them 100 percent," said senior Kwame Watson-Siriboe, captain of the men's soccer team. "It's good to see all the people out here showing their support."

It nearly brought tears to the eyes of one long-time Husky administrator.

"I've been involved in athletics for 54 years and I've never see anything like this. In the toughest of times, people can reach out for one another and can rally for each other. When you think it's the worst, people dig in and reach out for one another."

UConn special adviser Dee Rowe said. "Randy's been an absolute giant. To see the way the team and the students have responded is a very special privilege."

Baseball coach Jim Penders felt the same way.

"I couldn't be prouder to be a former UConn Husky than this week," said Penders, who played baseball for the Huskies between 1990-94. "When you think about the way that (punter) Desi Cullen "� I was just in awe of Desi Cullen speaking like that, less than a day after his friend was killed. No notes, straight from the heart. That says it all. It shows how strong the bond between the team is. I've always said that best compliment you can possibly get in life is that you're a great teammate."

After the buses had left and the athletes started to leave, the women's track team stayed in place for just a few minutes longer, continuing to form the number 6.

UConn athletics came together on Friday. In body and spirit to remember Jasper Howard.

Contact Chris Elsberry at