Huskies look to dial up pressure again
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — When the trio of Luke Carrezola, Foley Fatukasi and Cole Ormsby slipped off their UConn football uniforms for the final time nearly 10 months ago and took 41 career sacks out the door with them, more than a few questions were raised about who would generate the pass rush for the 2018 Huskies.
It’s safe to say that neither Eli Thomas — who began the season as a linebacker who was limited to four games in the last four seasons due to three different knee surgeries — nor reserve lineman James Atkins were the names rolling off people’s tongues.
Yet, as the Huskies head to Syracuse for Saturday’s 4 p.m. nonconference tilt, the late-game pressure provided by Thomas and Atkins gave a beleaguered defensive unit something to hang their hats on.
UConn had allowed 11 touchdown passes before registering its first sack of the season in last week’s win over Rhode Island. With the Huskies clinging to a seven-point lead, defensive coordinator Bill Crocker sent out the most improbable of defensive lines with the hope of coming up with a game-deciding stop. Thomas and Darrian Beavers, who began the season as starting linebackers, lined up as defensive ends while ends James Atkins and Jonathan Pace played on the interior. Atkins beat Thomas by the narrowest of margins for one sack, and after just missing one of his own, Thomas left no doubt when he slung Jajuan Lawson to the ground, marking the first time during UConn’s time at the Football Bowl Subdivision level the Huskies clinched a win with a sack on the final play of the game.
“Anything to help the team,” Thomas said. “I’ve never had my hand in the dirt so I was excited to get down there and make some plays. I have a lot to work on; after watching the film there are many things to improve on.”
The degree of difficulty will also go up as UConn goes from playing at home against an FCS program to going on the road to meet a red-hot Syracuse team that ranks in the top 10 among FBS programs in terms of career starts among its offensive linemen.
“You have to get your best players in the best positions,” Crocker said. “When we get into a situation like that, we get those guys on the field at the same time, if they’re our best two rushers or two of the four best rushers than we have to get those (players) into position to be successful.”
With sophomore cornerback Tahj Herring-Wilson iffy to play after suffering an ankle injury, UConn could go into the game with its top four cornerbacks being true freshmen. After taking nearly 80 pass plays before generating the team’s first sack of the season, it will be imperative that the Huskies get into the backfield on passing downs whether senior Eric Dungey or freshman Tommy DeVito is Syracuse’s quarterback.
“It’s given us a lot of confidence,” said Beavers, whose three sacks as a freshman are the most of any returning UConn player. “We know what we can do and it’s really good for us.”
It’s not all good news, as the Orange headed into this week’s slate of games as one of six FBS offenses averaging at least 85 snaps per game, so it will be no easy task for UConn to get the preferred personnel on the field to contend with Syracuse’s potent and balanced offense, which is more reliant on running the ball than in the teams’ most recent meeting in 2016.
Few teams look to snap the ball as quickly as Syracuse, and if the Orange don’t substitute, UConn will be forced to proceed with whoever is on the field. That could mean the Huskies’ top pass rushers could be on the sidelines in obviously passing situations, or perhaps the undersized front that generated all the pressure late in the URI game might be asked to hold up against the Orange’s physical veteran offensive line.
Then again, players like Atkins, Beavers and Thomas have defied the odds before.
Beavers is a former high school safety who moved to linebacker and now defensive end. Atkins is playing the best football of his college career despite missing every Tuesday and Thursday practice because of a class conflict.
“I tried my hardest to get it (his quantitative method class) changed but it didn’t work so well,” Atkins said. “I supplement it with other workouts in place of practice, study up on my plays to make sure I don’t fall behind.
“It’s hard because I want to be playing with my teammates, I want to be at practice and be at meetings. It takes a toll but I make sure I pick it up for my teammates and everybody needs to stick together.”
What Atkins is dealing with pales in comparison to the road Thomas has taken. He played four games in the previous four seasons due to three serious knee injuries. Thomas’ persistence drew praise from UConn coach Randy Edsall who wondered how many players would have dealt with three significant knee surgeries to return to the field. Now Thomas — who grew up in Elmira, N.Y., only about 90 miles from the Carrier Dome — gets a bit of a homecoming game.
“It gives people hope and reminds people just to follow their dream regardless of what happens,” Thomas said. “I’m from a small town (where) not that many people play Division I football.”