The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Struggles on defense could put UConn in record books
STORRS — The clock was ticking down on the final Tuesday practice of the 2018 season for the UConn football team.
There haven’t been many chances to smile in the last few months, but if ever a group of players needed some moments of levity, it would be this group.
The fun times began when senior defensive lineman James Atkins stepped onto the field. Atkins, who joins starting center Ryan Crozier as the only players to be with the program for the last five years, had a mandatory quantitative methods in social research class that conflicted with UConn’s practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays. With school not in session, Atkins got
to take part in his first Tuesday practice since the fall semester began. Naturally, he heard the “better late than never” jokes from his teammates. UConn coach Randy Edsall jokingly asked Atkins whether he was going to be OK taking part in three straight practices.
Fast-forward a couple of hours and a field goal drill was set to bring an end to practice. After the defense blocked a couple of field goals, one final defensive stand led to sophomore safety Tyler Coyle racing down the field for a touchdown after another FG try to be swatted away at the line. Freshman Oneil Robinson chest-bumped Coyle in the end zone and a few other teammates followed suit.
Other than a game-ending sack in a win over Rhode Island, celebrations have been few and far between for the beleaguered UConn defense.
The NCAA record books tend to accentuate the positive, so there aren’t many entries for defensive futility. If there were, this UConn team would be on the verge of breaking most of those marks.
The NCAA posts team stats dating to 1989 at the Football Bowl Subdivision level, and dating back to that year, UConn is on pace to have allowed the most yards, points, rushing yards, yards per rushing attempt, yards per passing attempt, yards per offensive play allowed and the worst mark for pass efficiency defense heading into Saturday’s season finale against Temple (3:30 p.m., ESPNU).
“I can’t look at our numbers this year. They definitely are horrendous but we have to focus on the opponent,” said Coyle, who leads UConn with 102 tackles.
“I’m sick of losing. Growing up, I never really lost, going to Windsor (High School). It hurts, it definitely hurts, but we have to come back with a different mind-set. Everybody has to put in maximum effort this offseason and we have to do what we have to do.”
If there is a positive for the defense it is that most of the group could be back. The only seniors on defense are second-leading tackler Santana Sterling, Atkins and Carlton Steer. It is likely that many of the fourth-year juniors won’t be back. Still, eight of the 20 UConn players with at least 10 tackles this season are true freshmen, and 16 are freshmen or sophomores. UConn has more tackles from true freshmen and from the overall freshman class than any other Football Bowl Subdivision program this season.
“Those numbers are what they are, but if we didn’t do what we did with all those freshmen, the numbers would have been worse in my opinion, so we did what we had to do to be the best we can be this year and moving forward next year,” Edsall said.
With just nine scholarship seniors, there are some tough decisions to be made regarding the redshirt juniors so UConn can bring in some reinforcements and have a normalsized recruiting class .
Offensive tackle Matt Peart and tight end Tyler Davis have said they intend to return for the 2019 season. Edsall wasn’t ready to divulge the names of the juniors who will play for UConn for the final time on Saturday, but the list is expected to be announced in the next couple of days. Players who struggled to see the field this season are unlikely to return. Running back Donevin O’Reilly, who missed the entire season with a knee injury, linebacker and converted safety Marshe’ Terry, defensive lineman Kevin Murphy and kicker Michael Tarbutt would be among the other top candidates to return.
The UConn coaches have seen improvements from individual players even if it hasn’t translated into team success. James Hargrave held the UConn record for most tackles by a true freshman during the FBS era with 45 in 2002. Robinson, Kevon Jones and Travis Jones have all topped that mark. Terrance Smith set the true freshman tackles record with 60 in 2000 so Robinson needs five stops to set that mark as well.
“What’s surprising is that a lot of the young guys, I won’t tell them this but they’re growing a lot on me and have been growing a lot this whole year,” Atkins said. “I know they have a lot of challenges to get through; it’s their first year playing college football so everything is a lot faster. I’m really impressed with how they’ve grown this year. I can’t wait to see what they do next year.”
UConn has 14 true freshman defensive players with tackles this season. The next step in their development is to get bigger, faster and stronger in the offseason, but that is only part of the solution.
“We have to learn to go back and get better at the fundamentals,” UConn defensive coordinator Billy Crocker said. “We struggle tackling, you see it in practice. We’re not going live but it looks like it because sometimes that’s the only way we can get a guy down.
“It’s the youth, the strength level, and it’s the confidence. We try to preach to these guys that you can’t stop your feet when you go to tackle these guys and they’re so scared to miss they stop their feet and create more space between them and the ball carrier and we’re not going to win that matchup. We have to eliminate that space, be aggressive.”