UConn football coach Jim Mora doesn’t expect running back Durell Robinson to suit up for the Huskies’ Fenway Bowl appearance later this month.

While the rest of his players who have entered the portal have remained active on the practice field in Storrs and expressed a desire to finish the season with the team, Robinson has received offers too good to pass up. But Mora hasn’t given up on the opportunity to retain a player as impactful as him – over 800 total yards in a deep room of backs, the type of talent that attracts SEC programs like Auburn and Arkansas, where he has already visited .

“If a guy comes into the portal and he’s someone we think is valuable, I’m not going to stop recruiting him,” said Mora, who noted he still communicates with Robinson daily. “It’s like NFL free agency: When a guy becomes an NFL free agent (and) hits the market, you don’t just let him go if he’s valuable to your team, you fight for him. We fight for these guys.”

The transfer portal window opened Monday and will remain open through Dec. 28, the day of UConn’s bowl game against North Carolina. It will next be open for 10 days in the spring, April 16-25.

So far, UConn has had 10 players announce their intention to explore their options.

“Everyone enters the portal for a different reason. Just because you enter the portal these days doesn’t mean you want to leave. Maybe you want to test your market value or see what else is out there. And you might leave, you might feel like there’s a place that’s better for you,” Mora said. “There are a lot of reasons, but the guys that went in told me they wanted to play (in the bowl game). They want to finish this thing. And they’ve all indicated that they don’t necessarily want to go.”

The importance of the bowl game, a chance at only the third nine-win season in UConn football history, is not lost on the team.

“I told these guys today: ‘You can do something really special.’ It won’t be the first time it’s been done this way, but it hasn’t been done in a long time (since 2007) and it hasn’t been done often, and you can look back with great pride that you did it. “I hope we have changed the course of this program for a long time,” Mora said.

The Huskies’ third-year head coach was excited about the bowl prospect – both the venue and the opponent. “I’ve been smiling since it was announced,” he said.

It’s UConn’s fifth chance to beat a power conference team this season. The Huskies lost three one-score games against ACC opponents Duke, Wake Forest and Syracuse and expect to be competitive against North Carolina. The Tar Heels finished the season 6-6 and fired head coach Mack Brown before the end of the year. They announced six-time Super Bowl champion Bill Belichick as their next head coach this week, but interim HC Freddie Kitchens is expected to remain in his position for the bowl game.

Mora and his staff have not yet begun the actual preparation for UNC. That’s the plan for next week.

This week is about dealing with the fears and uncertainties that come with the transfer portal, working on player retention, but also welcoming some potential new players. There have already been several portal recruits on campus, seven to nine so far, and four visited on Thursday with “a few more” coming on Friday.

“It’s very confusing in college football. I find it really strange to have free agency, the portal, before the last game. I think it caused a lot of fear and uncertainty among the players,” Mora said. “The way it works these days, if you have a kid and they’ve been really successful here and there’s a big program that can make them a lot of money and maybe give them another opportunity, then they have to listen. This is the free market, but they also have to understand that there are risks associated with it.”

Once a player enters the portal, it’s up to Mora and the staff to work hard to replace them.

“I think any time a guy enters the portal, you have to assume he’s not going to be here,” Mora said. “There’s a part of it that’s very difficult for these guys and they don’t always understand that, so we try to explain that to them very clearly. And then there are people who enter the portal to whom I say, “Hey, listen.” I tell you that we will try to replace you, but you have the right of first refusal. … We’ll give you a chance to come back before we fill your spot.”

“So I think we’re approaching this whole thing the right way, I think it’s really difficult. I know with certainty that we are approaching this with the best interest of our players in mind, as well as the responsibility we have to this university, this fan base, and our donors and supporters in this program. It’s pretty interesting. I actually enjoy it, but I don’t enjoy it.”

UConn has not sent employees on recruiting trips as it has done in the past. All of their attention is focused on the portal to bring players to campus for visits and retain as many of the current roster as possible.

With the successful season, a second bowl appearance in three years under Mora, the entire process was a little easier than in recent years.

“It was easier to get attention, to get people to pick up the phone, to get people to respond when you DM them on Twitter or Instagram or call them or text them,” said Mora. “It’s the same approach, but fortunately people out there have responded – they’re responding to us a little quicker, which is a credit to the things that are going on here.”

Injury updates: Star defenseman Dal’Mont Gourdine will not be available for the Huskies in the bowl game. Gourdine broke his foot in practice Wednesday before the regular-season finale at UMass and required surgery. Linebacker Tui Faumuina-Brown (lower body) is expected to be available.

“My hope for Dal is that he is 100% ready for his pro day,” Mora said. “But Tui is doing really well. Any injury is an injury, but it wasn’t a serious, debilitating injury, but something he’s struggling with right now. Other than that, I think we’re in pretty good shape.”

In the portal: Robinson is the biggest name so far, but nine teammates have also announced their decision to enter the transfer portal on social media. The others include DB Malcolm Bell, WR Brock Montgomery, P Nathaniel Wallace-Dilling, RB Malik Thomas Jr., DB Jarvarius Sims, RB Daniel Shaban, DB Reggie Akles, RB Frank Daniley and WR/KR Bryan Domino.