New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Vowing to be better
Defense looks to improve for home opener against Holy Cross
For UConn’s much-maligned defense, it was the same old story.
Overwhelmed by a cascade of big plays, the Huskies came undone in their opener last Saturday against Fresno State. The Bulldogs gashed them for 538 yards, including two touchdowns of more than 60 yards.
The good news — if there is any — is that the Huskies say they have identified what went wrong. Now, it’s on them to make sure it doesn’t happen again when Holy Cross visits Rentschler Field Saturday
(noon, CBS Sports Network).
“Everything was just coming so fast,” senior safety Diamond Harrell said. “We just have to go out there and slow it down. We’ve been here before. Everyone’s played football since they were, what, about 6 years old? We’ve been at that stage. We’ve just got to slow it down and take each play one at a time.”
Fresno State scored on six of its first 11 possessions, including back-toback passing plays of 61 and 86 yards that went for touchdowns during a 24point second quarter. Senior Jake Haener threw for 331 yards in just over a half, before leaving the 45-0 rout early because of leg cramps.
“Honestly,” Harrell said of the team’s defensive unit, “we just have to communicate better.”
The susceptibility to breakdowns has been a troubling trend no matter who’s been on defense for UConn in past seasons. The Huskies set FBS singleseason records for points allowed (605) and yards allowed (7,409) in 2018 and weren’t much better in
2019. The team didn’t compete in 2020 due to CO
VID-19 concerns.
Harrell, the elder statesmen of the secondary, insists he isn’t discouraged by the unit’s ongoing struggles, seeing them as fixable.
“It’s not stressful or anything like that,” he said. “We can get it done. We’ve just got to go out there and do it. That’s it.”
“It’s more of reading your keys and having good fundamentals and technique, having your eyes in the right place,” Harrell added. “If you do all of that stuff right there, you can prevent the big plays from coming. Also, you’ve got to have confidence. If you don’t have confidence, you’re not going to go out there and produce.”
The Huskies’ defense figures to be closer to whole this week, which should help. Junior defensive end Kevon Jones is expected to return from a one-game suspension (violation of team rules). The East Hartford native, who is listed as a starter, had 40 tackles
(41⁄2 for a loss) and 3 sacks in 10 games in 2019.
“I just hope that moving forward he can limit those decisions that he makes that aren’t in his best interest,” head coach Randy Edsall said, without divulging any further details. “That’s the thing with him. It is going to be good to have him back. He has a chance to be a force for us out there. I just hate any time any young man makes a poor decision and ends up taking an opportunity away from himself.”
Like Harrell, Edsall stressed the importance of staying confident heading into Saturday. The Huskies are currently listed as 21⁄2-point favorites over defending Patriot League champion Holy Cross, one of two FCS teams on this year’s schedule.
“These kids are going to be alright,” Edsall said. “These kids will be fine. It’s a long season. We’re not going to judge a season on one game, two games or whatever. We’re going to judge the season on 12 games. We’re in the second of the 12, and we’re going to do everything we can to prepare and go get a win.
“When that game is over, we’re going to move to the next game.”
Harrell was asked during Tuesday’s media availability what he would tell the fans who may be discouraged after another all-toofamiliar loss.
“The sky’s the limit, honestly,” he said. “It’s the first game. We haven’t played since 2019, so we were going to be rusty. … We’re coming.”