UConn’s Crocker pushing young defense

STORRS — The UConn defense was bad last year, at times epically bad. And there was plenty of hurt inside Billy Crocker.

“This is not a job where you clock out at 5 or 6 o’clock and you leave everything there, everything’s fine and you go home,” the secondyear defensive coordinator said Monday. “We live and die with this stuff, and unfortunately so do our families. Yeah, it was hard.”

When Randy Edsall returned to UConn 20 months ago, he turned to a Waterford guy with a bundle of energy and FCS success at Villanova and more than a little expertise on transitioning to a 3-3-5 defense. What happened next wasn’t supposed to happen, not with so much experience on the defensive line

and at linebacker. Yet it did happen and when the blood finally stopped spurting, the Huskies had allowed a national-worst 333.9 passing yards per game, 30 yards more than anybody else. Only three teams allowed more than their average of 519 total yards.

And guess what? They got younger in 2018. Really young. Eleven of 24 listed on thew two-deep defense are freshmen or redshirt freshmen. Crocker may start as many six Thursday night in the opener against No. 21 Central Florida.

The defense wears national flag blue, yet make no mistake. They are the Green Team. And considering last year’s debacle raw may not be a bad thing.

Crocker found 220 missed tackles for 1,500 yards after contact last year. Yes, there were problems with the transition to a new defense and, yes, there were too many cushions afforded receivers. Yet, simply, they didn’t put people on the ground.

“I should have been way more aggressive last year,” Crocker said. “When you have a new group, maybe a group that’s not overly confident, you can’t sit back and say you’re going base defense. You’ve got to say, ‘Screw it. We got to go after people.’ I should have done that a heck of a lot more last year in hindsight.”

Yes, there were holdover guys playing in positions that didn’t really fit Crocker’s scheme. Marshe Terry, for example, played high safety and he’s more of a

hybrid linebacker. And, yes, in the transition there was some uncertainty that didn’t allow them to play as fast as Crocker would have liked against AAC teams that love to play in space.

Yet as Jonathan Pace, Travis Jones, Caleb Thomas, Lawal Uguak, Kevon Jones, Ian Swenson and Keyshawn Paul — freshmen all — stare down the barrel of UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton, Crocker has a message for his 2018 unit.

“Challenge people, don’t be scared to get run by,” he said. “Challenge everything that’s thrown at them.

“Be confident. Don’t question yourself. Don’t doubt yourself. For me, fix what you have to fix, but have confidence that what you’re doing is the right thing. The players are going to feed off that confidence. We fully intend to go in and win the football game.”

For the record, UConn is listed by as a 23-point underdog. New UCF coach Josh Huepel was offensive coordinator at Missouri last year. The Tigers hung 52 points on UConn. UCF scored 49.

“If I was them and watch the film from last year, I’d say that’s pretty good and do the same things,” Crocker said.

The Huskies had six true freshmen start last year, sixth most in the nation. The young secondary suffered mightily.

“Up front, those guys did OK,” Crocker said. “The linebackers were a little hot and cold, but on the back end is where we were exposed the most because of how young we were.

“Omar Fortt and Tyler Coyle are back (as sophomore

safeties) and those two guys feel a whole heck of lot more comfortable than a year ago. So in those spots you’re ahead of where you were ago. We addressed a need for more speed (at corner).”

Crocker has two mantras. Keep your eyes from wandering into the offensive backfield. He hammers away at young players in this area. You could get away with it in high school. Not here. The results, Crocker said, can be “catastrophic.” His other clarion call is for DBs to shake off bad plays. He needs no rattled, dispirited guys on the back end. The proof? Watch the 2017 film against Memphis, Missouri, etc.

“Young kids, you correct them hold them accountable,” Crocker said. “We also don’t want to wreck their confidence and say that’s awful you’re out. Sometimes you’ve got to let kids battle through things so they can gain their confidence back.”

In the meantime, he pushes for better tackling technique.

“We try to do as much as we can in the live period, but we’re not going live anymore,” Crocker said. “We tackled people last Monday and the next time is Thursday night. The guys just can’t be scared to make a mistake.

“We chart good misses and bad misses. That may sound like an oxymoron, but if you’re aggressive, pull your trigger, take your shot, but do it with proper leverage, you’re going to be OK. Guys too much last year were scared to make tackles, stopped their feet and got cut back on.”

Crocker looks at his 2018 Green Team and especially likes his line. There is more versatility and depth. They are big and athletic and will only get bigger. Travis Jones, the 350-pound freshman nose tackle out of New Haven, could have a beast of a UConn career. Crocker also cautions they are one step out of high school and, boom, here comes UCF and Boise State.

“People have to temper their expectations,” he said. “The biggest thing with these young guys is they have to learn to train as much mentally as they do physically on every play. That’s one thing with Travis.

“The more guys we are able to play the better we are going to be, because we have a group of young guys who aren’t going to be able to play 60-70 snaps a game.”

While a Villanova, Crocker loved played FBS teams in openers. Villanova nearly beat Syracuse in 2014 and UConn in 2015. He said the FCS kids were fired up for the challenge. He believes his young defense is equally fired up.

At one point, Crocker encapsulated his mission as “getting them to learn football.” So practices are harder than games, the mental and physical strain greater, so come Thursday night it’s a little easier.

“For the freshmen, this isn’t practice anymore,” Crocker said. “The lights are on. We’re playing a nationally-ranked opponent. But, hey, we’re not there for show. We’re there to win a football game.”