We don't know the full story on this kid and probably never will. Hopefully he will be a successful FCS football player at RI.
Recruiting is the lifeblood of any major college sports program, and it is the element that most coaches dislike the most. 17-18 year-old kids are often too immature to deal with the process. Parents and other parties often pervert the process, and it's not uncommon for kids to mislead or lie to recruiters.
If you are Alabama, OSU, Clemson, you are virtually assured of securing a top-10 recruiting class year-in & year-out. But if you are a lower-tier FBS school the process is enormously challenging. Colleges are trying to get verbal, non-binding commitments earlier and earlier, even though national signing day for football doesn't happen until the 1st Wednesday of February during a recruit's senior year. Between a recruit's verbal commitment and signing day, there is enormous potential for both sides to change their minds. More often then not it's the player, but sometimes it's the university based on the kid getting in trouble, getting injured, academic concerns or as it appears in this instance, a reevaluation of the player's ability to play at the FBS level by a new coaching staff.
So a school like UConn tries to tie up their recruits earlier in the process. They are not getting 5 star athletes. They are looking for kids they can coach up, and sometimes the kids they bring in don't work out. I am reminded of Temple University, one of the most unethical recruiters back in the 80's. Temple used to offer more kids scholarships than they actually had to give. The scholarships went to the kids who accepted 1st and the rest had to fend for themselves. Temple was not alone in that practice.