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.

Shirreffs is nearly two months removed from his football life, which ended with snapshots of his emotional and physical investment.

Dazed and flattened after a brutal (and illegal) hit by South Florida's Vincent Jackson Nov. 4 at Rentschler Field, Shirreffs put both hands to the turf in an effort to gain balance. Then, seemingly exasperated, he put both arms out to his side. He rose, gingerly, and began to walk toward the sideline, knowing he couldn't continue where he probably often would have tried to.

Shirreffs started to jog, then slowed down. He took off his helmet, put it back on, took it off again and was treated on the sideline – another concussion sustained, an exit from public view.

"Sometimes you just wake up and you know it's time," said Shirreffs, who decided shortly afterward not to attempt to return for any of UConn's final three games. He wasn't cleared through concussion protocol, anyway, until the week of the season finale Nov. 25 at Cincinnati.

"While I could have probably pushed, let's be realistic," he said. "We weren't going to a bowl game. There were a couple games David (Pindell) could get under his belt. I wouldn't feel that it was respectful to the game if I was out there playing uneasy. I'm not, obviously, going to the NFL or playing football again in my life. I have no regrets about coming back for my last year, but at the same time I need my brain for a professional future unrelated to sports."

Shirreffs would not discuss in detail his concussion history, declining to say whether he sustained any others during the 2017 season or how many there were during his career.

There were several. Who knows at what point comes one too many?

"He's very intelligent," Bonnes said. "I would hate to see all of his hard work in the classroom (sacrificed by) whatever could possibly, potentially, happen later in life."

Shirreffs was nearly resigned to an end following the 2016 season, which was a disaster on most fronts.

His relationship with coach Bob Diaco soured, particularly after he was benched following a 41-3 loss to East Carolina. Shirreffs had played through several significant injuries, including one to his ribs that made it difficult to breathe, and Diaco replaced him with Donovan Williams for the final three games without much public show of appreciation for Shirreffs and with bizarre stories about how the change came to be.

By then, Shirreffs' preparations for parenthood were in full swing and Diaco had anointed Williams the Huskies' quarterback of the future. It was clear that Shirreffs was absent from Diaco's plans, and Diaco suggested to Shirreffs that it would be virtually impossible for him to simultaneously thrive as a new father and a quarterback.

"He was coming from a good place," Shirreffs said. "But his ideology was structured in that you can only master one thing and be very good at it. I appreciate my experiences with Diaco. At the end, we weren't on great terms. But I understand him, and I think he understands me, too. He tried to help me out in my life, too. It may not have been handled the best way, but I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. ... Actually, I've been trying to think about people who have helped me along the way, and I definitely would include him on that list."

Diaco was fired on Dec. 26, 2016.

"While it was happening, I didn't recognize it, but I was learning a lot about myself," Shirreffs said of the 2016 season. "I made good decisions and I made bad decisions on how to attack adversity. ... I think (Diaco) learned a lot about himself during that time, too. I can truly say one thing: He put everything he had into coaching. So at the beginning it was easy for everyone to believe in him, because he put everything into it and slept less than any person I know – which is probably a bad thing."

A new staff led by Randy Edsall meant a fresh look at the quarterback position. Shirreffs still had something to prove to Edsall, largely what Diaco had challenged him on, that he could balance an increasingly complicated personal life and football.

Spring practice took place in the month after Brayden was born and Shirreffs wasn't himself. He threw numerous interceptions in practice and Pindell, who didn't arrive at UConn until the summer, was clearly the more consistent quarterback in the August preseason camp.

At one point, starting to sense that he wouldn't be the starter, Shirreffs walked into offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee's office and broke down, trying to grasp what more he could do. He was overwhelmed, driving from Manchester to Storrs for early-morning workouts, then to Hartford for his internship until 5:30 p.m., then home to Alexa and Brayden.

His meeting with Lashlee was a turning point, though. Lashlee, 34, a father of four, became and remains a close friend and sounding board, one of many mentors Shirreffs leaned on and opened up to – Dan Orlovsky, also a father of four, among them.

"I (previously) felt like I had to separate my personal life from the football building, and then it was a completely different culture when Coach Edsall came," Shirreffs said. "It was more of a family environment."

Toward the end of camp Shirreffs assured Edsall he would be 100 percent invested in any role, which, as it turned out, was as a backup. Pindell won the job and started the opener Aug. 31 against Holy Cross – and struggled. Shirreffs entered late in the third quarter and led UConn to three touchdown drives and a comeback victory.

Remaining the starter through the South Florida game, Shirreffs put together a nice body of work, embracing Lashlee's no-huddle offense and finishing with 2,287 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. The Huskies finished 3-9, just like the 2016 team, but Shirreffs was the adult the offense needed and his play was an important building block for a program essentially starting over.

An impressive run in the Georgia high school playoffs as a senior pushed Shirreffs further onto the radar of major college programs in 2012-13 and he wound up at N.C. State, where he played sparingly as a freshman before deciding to transfer. Yale was a likely landing spot before Diaco reached out.

"I told everyone in my life that there is zero percent chance that I'm going to UConn but I'm just going take this visit to clear my head because I was really stressed," Shirreffs said. "And it all manifested itself out."

The eastern part of Connecticut was more rural than he anticipated, with farmland that reminded him of Georgia. Shirreffs still had the southern accent he has long since lost when he entered a computer lab in the Burton Family Football Complex in October 2014. He noticed Bonnes, then a stranger, and asked if he could sit next to her.

"No one was there, and I easily could have sat anywhere but I just acted impulsively," Shirreffs said. "It was so lame, but I knew what I was doing. We wouldn't be sitting here if I wasn't very inquisitive to doors that are opening. Like, I randomly came up here on the visit, and ended up here. I randomly wanted to talk to her. And now thinking about all the different things we've been through, it's amazing."

About a month later, Shirreffs, who was sitting out the season due to NCAA transfer rules, noticed the women's lacrosse team attending a football game at Rentschler Field. He approached after the final play.

"I was like, 'There's that kid again,' " said Bonnes, a sophomore sociology major at the time. "And from then on ..."

So it's been more than three years now, Shirreffs going through all he has with one of the first people he got to know at UConn by his side. Bonnes, who scored eight goals in 26 games at UConn with Shirreffs attending most games, is the list-maker, the hyper-organized box-checker, classic New York.

"I'm very fast-paced," she said. "When I first met Bryant, I mean ... Bryant ... just ... talked ... so ... slow."

Shirreffs still finds it funny that he's about to marry "a Yankee." She packs for trips a week in advance. He packs a half-hour in advance. He's the type to wander through a supermarket making conversation with strangers. He's fascinated by quirky facts, like the unique history of their apartment building, a converted soap and parachute factory.

Bonnes rolled her eyes during the Diaco discussion, voiced her pride in Shirreffs' success and made clear that his trying times weighed on her, too.

Shirreffs always played with abandon, and it was sometimes scary. In UConn's victory over Houston Nov. 21, 2015, for instance, he took a hit from Elandon Roberts (who, like Jackson, was ejected) that left him in a blackout and forced him to miss the regular season finale at Temple. He returned for the St. Petersburg Bowl against Marshall and sustained a broken wrist, an injury that called for months of rehabilitation coinciding with Bonnes' pregnancy.

"When I was knocked out, having a seizure on the field against Houston, people (said) I was saying I was fine and that I was going right back in the game," Shirreffs said. "But I have no recollection of that."

At one point in the conversation, Bonnes turned to Shirreffs and said, "I'm sad for you that football is over, but it's nice to be on the same page."