COACHES CORNER: DC Billy Crocker's Weekly Media Session | The Boneyard

COACHES CORNER: DC Billy Crocker's Weekly Media Session

noeynox said:
This man is in an impossible situation. 13 true freshmen in the two deep, when our recruiting classes are ranked in the triple digits is something Bill Parcells wouldn't be able to overcome.
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Watching that interview makes me really want to see what that defense looks like in 2-3 years. Unfortunately, I'm probably going to feel completely different after Saturday.
 
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The evolving defensive system is what it is! It’s young....I’m not shocked! I don’t expect much from a bunch of 18 year olds! 2 years from now I’ll reevaluate that. They’re trying to make changes to make them more successful, only time will tell. But you’re not going to see much this year, slight improvement week to week is the best you can hope for! Does anyone like seeing 2000 yards put up on them in 3 games?? No! We’re not in a P5 conference....we’re not bringing in 5 star athletes! Patience....patience! He gets fired and we’re back to square 1 again....give the man time!
 
noeynox said:
This man is in an impossible situation. 13 true freshmen in the two deep, when our recruiting classes are ranked in the triple digits is something Bill Parcells wouldn't be able to overcome.
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I have no reason to no trust you, but 13 true freshmen? Holy mackerel.

Did somebody voluntarily subject the program to the SMU death penalty for 2 years or something? Rhetorical.
 
So, as I understand it, the kids are so poorly skilled they can’t learn skills...and they have no football instincts developed.... hmmm...sounds like total bull hockey

Leadership means taking responsibility whatever the circumstance.
 
Leadership? From whom? JHC.

There are only 22 spots on the game day depth chart on defense. more than half of them were playing high school football a year ago, and didn't have a spring camp.

How in the hell does something like this happen? This is Edsall's second season back. I haven't been following close enough to know, and I'm glad I didn't, because it would just make me mad.

Better hope Edsall hasn't lost any of his game in recruiting or we in trouble for a while.
 
Carl Spackler said:
I have no reason to no trust you, but 13 true freshmen? Holy mackerel.

Did somebody voluntarily subject the program to the SMU death penalty for 2 years or something? Rhetorical.
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Pretty much RKGs.
 
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Where I get a little pissed about the situation on D is to think that Edsall surely with all his experience saw this youth brigade nightmare coming ((hey we all did) and so why didn't he make a bigger effort last winter to get a few more older kids by way of grad transfers and JUCOs. Two or three of those kids could have made an enormous difference. I know they probably tried, but as Coach Edsall would tell anyone, trying is not good enough, it had to get done and it didn't.
 
BlueDogs said:
So, as I understand it, the kids are so poorly skilled they can’t learn skills...and they have no football instincts developed.... hmmm...sounds like total bull hockey

Leadership means taking responsibility whatever the circumstance.
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Yes, this is what kills me. He's playing a bunch of freshmen that HE recruited, yet he talks about them as though their skill level was maybe Pee Wee or Pop Warner worthy before they arrived in Storrs. If they're this clueless, why did he recruit any of them in the first place?
 
UConnNick said:
Yes, this is what kills me. He's playing a bunch of freshmen that HE recruited, yet he talks about them as though their skill level was maybe Pee Wee or Pop Warner worthy before they arrived in Storrs. If they're this clueless, why did he recruit any of them in the first place?
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Who did you want us to get? 4* and 5* recruits?
 
Well, that explains why I read the other day that a starter at SS needed to learn how to wrap up and lock to make a tackle so he could practice it.


Hey - at least the head coach isn't calling this September pre-season.


#littlewins
 
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UConnNick said:
Yes, this is what kills me. He's playing a bunch of freshmen that HE recruited, yet he talks about them as though their skill level was maybe Pee Wee or Pop Warner worthy before they arrived in Storrs. If they're this clueless, why did he recruit any of them in the first place?
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Edsall used to pluck kids up that had plenty of talent, speed, and potential - but didn't fill into their bodies, and their roles, and their abilities in general for a couple years. Take a guy like Kendall Reyes for example. At age 18 - nobody except people looking at ankles and calves and track times had that guy as a NFL defensive tackle.

It is what it is - better hope Edsall hasn't lost any of his game in recruiting, and that he had a pretty good at bat average in 2017 and 2018 in his evaluations or we in trouble for a while.
 
BlueDogs said:
So, as I understand it, the kids are so poorly skilled they can’t learn skills...and they have no football instincts developed.... hmmm...sounds like total bull hockey

Leadership means taking responsibility whatever the circumstance.
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Mmm, more that they are incredibly raw, which they are. Still would have preferred his being more circumspect about it.
Exit 4 said:
Where I get a little pissed about the situation on D is to think that Edsall surely with all his experience saw this youth brigade nightmare coming ((hey we all did) and so why didn't he make a bigger effort last winter to get a few more older kids by way of grad transfers and JUCOs. Two or three of those kids could have made an enormous difference. I know they probably tried, but as Coach Edsall would tell anyone, trying is not good enough, it had to get done and it didn't.
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My guess is that a few grad transfers of JUCOs don't really change the W's and Ls much and just kick the experience can down the road. Randy chose to "rip the band-aid" and take the pain all at once.
Carl Spackler said:
Well, that explains why I read the other day that a starter at SS needed to learn how to wrap up and lock to make a tackle so he could practice it.
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We've had kids failing to wrap up for years. At least it is now being addressed.
 
CL82 said:
My guess is that a few grad transfers of JUCOs don't really change the W's and Ls much and just kick the experience can down the road. Randy chose to "rip the band-aid" and take the pain all at once.
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It wouldn't impact the W-L, but it would reduce the chance we have some kids taking their lumps this year that aren't better for it in the long run. Some of these kids getting early PT may not be better for it. Watching Coyle and Fortt kind of tells me that early playing time doesn't always translate into improvement year over year (so far they are the same kids as last year). By playing now, these kids are not able to spend fall focused solely on speed and strength development.

If early playing time was a lock to building winning programs we'd see a helleva lot more of it.
 
UConnNick said:
Yes, this is what kills me. He's playing a bunch of freshmen that HE recruited, yet he talks about them as though their skill level was maybe Pee Wee or Pop Warner worthy before they arrived in Storrs. If they're this clueless, why did he recruit any of them in the first place?
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Exactly
 
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Wait, I've figured out Crocker's entire long term coaching strategy. Due to the new NCAA redshirt rules, he's going to play the freshmen one more time, they get pounded at Syrexcuse, and then he's gonna redshirt the lot of them and play upperclassmen for the rest of this season. He knew three of these first four games were a lost cause anyway, so why destroy the confidence of the players who play the last eight games? Plus the freshmen got some real time game experience. Brilliant! ;)
 
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Put yourself in his place. Sure he's wound up and probably feeling a lot of pressure from himself as well as all the others that want to blame him for everything gone wrong.

He was very successful at Villanova for many years with a great track record. He's not like a certain one hit wonder who was a "safe" hire for Manuel, in spite of how bad NDU looked against Alabama, because of that award for Coordinator of the Year.

Crocker's hiring looked like a home run and unless he's suddenly gotten stupid he might well look good next year and like a genius in two years. I'm glad I'm retired and don't have to make hiring decisions anymore as that was always the toughest part of management.
 
In my opinion, when coaches speak in public they should alway be speaking to their players. So, it bothers me to hear how they are freshman who have few skills and no ability to learn more complex stuff. I'm not sure how I would feel if I was a player. It wasn't a real slam but I would prefer a more positive message that still make the point about their inexperience. Maybe more emphasis about progress being made, great attitudes, etc...
 
Look. We are bad. Edsall basically skipped over Diaco’s recruits and decided to use frosh. Which means either Edsall just wanted his own guys, but he didn’t do this on offense, or that these guys were just not good. O think it was the latter. Having said that, I think there is no excuse for being this bad
 
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