Wolthausen on Julian Campenni, Mikal Myers, Sacks & the 3-4

@MattSchonvisky

Defensive line was perhaps the most consistent position for the UConn football team in 2014, a position that coach Kevin Wolthausen, knows well. Much of the success can be attributed to the play of Julian Campenni and Mikal Myers, who will be entering their senior and junior years, respectively, as we hit the 2015 season.

So what does their position coach like about their games?

“Our system, they are prototypical for the position,” Wolthausen said last week during media availability. “The inside nose tackle, when you look at the NFL, those 3-4 teams that can play in a 4-3 system too, [we have that]. You just offset them and then you go.”

What makes them so successful?

“They’re compact,” he said. “I look back and I can’t remember them being blocked, throughout all of last year. They might have jumped out of their gap or done something they shouldn’t have done, but from the standpoint of somebody in our league, no matter who we played, from BYU to Boise, whoever, I can’t remember them being blocked.”

Campenni, who had set career-high in sacks and TFL’s, earned all-league honors last season, while Myers had a breakout year of his own.

“I think you look at those two guys, number one, they stop the run and possess kind of a pressure rush,” Wolthausen said, which made the job easier for the rest of the line. “We didn’t really have strictly pass rushers [last season], that’s what we’re developing.”

In addition to Campenni and Myers, Wolthausen is excited about the younger members of the group, as well as an elder-statesman.

“You look at the end position and we finished the year with guys like Folorunso Fatukasi,” he expressed. “He was 300 pounds, a sophomore, who is just starting to figure it out. We are extremely excited about his upside. Cole Ormsby, who we moved back to the line during the season, was really able to play in every game, in every situation. He was a bit undersized last year, but now he’s heavier and coming along. He can really be a real dominant player. Then you have Kenton Adeyemi, who’s been around for awhile and it’s his turn to step up and assume a role and be a leader by example.”

Wolthausen also expressed excitement about redshirt freshmen Sheriden Lawley and James Atkins, as well as Sean Marrinan, who saw quite a bit of time on special teams in 2014.

“It’s not a very deep group, but the way we do it, we don’t need a lot of numbers, we just need the right guys,” he added.

The Huskies lacked a consistent pass rush a year ago, an area that was noted by many during the struggles of a 2-10 season.

“Whether there is or there isn’t, it’s not that we’re not [trying to],” Wolthausen said. “We ended up last year, due to some of the schemes that we played, you know it might be a three-man rush at times. We had extra players to defend the quarterback runs and some of the other things, the scrambles and all that. So some of it was by design and some of it was just inexperience as pass rushers.”

“We had some guys that hadn’t played a lot,” he continued. “So whether you say systematically or just experience wise, the scheme based on who we play, all that stuff factors in. You want to line up and blitz every down and do what some other teams do? We might have given up bigger plays. However, we do need to get better in that area.”

The Huskies will once again bounce between a 3-4 and 4-3, based on situations and the type of offense they are up against.

“We’re in and out of 3-down, 4-down and whatever else we want to do,” Wolthausen noted. “There is a system that we play and that stays consistent throughout the entire defense. The techniques might change a little bit based on the alignment, but to say we’re this type of defense or we’re only going to do that? We’re pretty multiple.”

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