Different Mentality Around Diaco’s Second Spring

@MattSchonvisky

Believe it or not, spring football is just two days away. As the players, staff and head coach Bob Diaco prepare, this spring will be completely different than the previous. Why? Diaco has been around this group for a year and vice versa. They know what makes each other tick, an advantage that wasn’t present a year ago.

“We know the players, we know what pushes them, what works, what doesn’t work as you’re trying to energize young men and mobilize them,” Diaco said via teleconference to open spring yesterday afternoon. “You understand their limitations fully; physical, mental and emotional, so you can tailor make the work to suit the things that they can do.”

Understanding the level that the group is at is something that wasn’t fully understood, even as the season began in 2014. Throughout the year, Diaco talked about having to lower the level his staff was working at, so all members of the various position groups could better understand, particularly the offensive line. This year, they know what to expect and how to drive each player towards success.

“We know from a limitations standpoint how far they can be pushed and when it becomes counterproductive as opposed to productive,” he said. “We have identified and continue to identify people that are casually involved rather than making a great investment and are fully engaged. And now we can anticipate and they can anticipate, it’s great for them too.”

“Before, everyday was a new day, a new experience, on all sides,” Diaco added. “Now, all sides can anticipate. We’ve got some idea of what it’s going to look like on an individual basis and a collective basis and so do they and that’s an awesome thing. I think you can move at a higher rate and focus on really getting better when there’s some level of anticipation.”

The Huskies spent the offseason continuing to build off of the work that was done throughout the 2014 season, in all aspects of their life. Not only getting in better football shape by adding weight and reducing body fat to get to the always talked about mantra of ‘bigger, faster, stronger,’ but also off the field and in the classroom.

The work done in that regard was on full display in Gampel on February 9th, as UConn held 3.0 GPA Night across all athletics, during the women’s basketball game against South Carolina. Thirty-six members of the football program, who recorded a GPA of 3.0 or higher, were honored. Four of those turned in a perfect 4.0.

“It’s all correlated,” Diaco noted. “Most of the teams that are great teams and the best players on those teams, most of them are good students and some are great students. There are very few leaders, great teammates and productive players that are poor students.”

“There is a direct correlation between aptitude in achievement in the classroom and performance on the field,” he added. “That’s as critical a component to evaluation and measuring winning and future performance, as any. If you’re a player that can’t get it done in class, that shows a general disrespect for your academic achievements, you’re going to be the same guy that leaves us standing, holding the bag on gameday, on third down or in the red zone.”

So what exactly makes the Huskies head coach believe this program is in a much better situation now, than when he took over a year ago?

“They are getting so much better in every area, there is nothing that is the same. Every single aspect in every single person has improved, every person,” Diaco reinforced. “Their skill, their physical traits, their frame of mind, how they see themselves, how they treat each other, how they treat other people, the respect they have for their university and their mission here. So now we’re just excited to make sure we can check the scoreboard box too.”

Husky Nation is certainly hoping that is the case, as the program has not had a winning season since the run to the Fiesta Bowl in 2010. I’ll be inside the Burton Family Football Complex on Saturday morning, to give an inside look at spring practice number one.

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