Jeff Jacobs: Crocker’s message to UConn defense: ‘Challenge people, don’t be scared’

[huskymedic]

Jeff Jacobs: Crocker’s message to UConn defense: ‘Challenge people, don’t be scared’

>>“I should have been way more aggressive last year,” Crocker said. “When you have a new group, maybe a group that’s not overly confident, you can’t sit back and say you’re going base defense. You’ve got to say, ‘Screw it. We got to go after people.’ I should have done that a heck of a lot more last year in hindsight.”<<

>>“Challenge people, don’t be scared to get run by,” he said. “Challenge everything that’s thrown at them.

“Be confident. Don’t question yourself. Don’t doubt yourself. For me, fix what you have to fix, but have confidence that what you’re doing is the right thing. The players are going to feed off that confidence. We fully intend to go in and win the football game.”<<

 

[minidarren]

So no more 20 yard cushions?

 

[History Geek]

"Crocker found 220 missed tackles for 1,500 yards after contact last year. Yes, there were problems with the transition to a new defense and, yes, there were too many cushions afforded receivers. Yet, simply, they didn’t put people on the ground."

Wow.

 

[Chief00]

Maybe just a little of what Chief’s been preaching has sunk in. Besides technique, part of putting people on the ground is having the right physical match-ups. The other part is not having your players quit on you.

 

[RSTuthill]

Great article by Jacobs and the first actual public mea culpa from Crocker as well as evidence of the depth of his analysis. Well, we are gonna manage our expectations without curbing our enthusiasm. Every expectation is for UConn to be 0-2 going into the URI game, but we are looking for promise to be shown on defense and evidence that some learning happened in each game. Holding each team to under 45 points would also be nice.

 

[AreBee1969]

Great article by Jacobs and the first actual public mea culpa from Crocker...

It's the first actual public SIGHTING of Crocker. Some of what we saw last year is indefensible, no pun intended. Yeah you may have needed a cushion when you just don't have the talent, but how many 15 yard cushions did we see on 3rd and 5 go for a quick out for 7-10 yards? There's a reason they couldn't get off the field.

 

[Marbles90]

Great article by Jacobs and the first actual public mea culpa from Crocker as well as evidence of the depth of his analysis. Well, we are gonna manage our expectations without curbing our enthusiasm. Every expectation is for UConn to be 0-2 going into the URI game, but we are looking for promise to be shown on defense and evidence that some learning happened in each game. Holding each team to under 45 points would also be nice.

+1. Finally, Crocker takes some accountability for last year's debacle. I get it is a new scheme and new players, etc, but I wanted to see him coach last year. I want to see him make adjustments. I wanted to see some signs of improvement.

So, I'll wipe the slate clean for this season. I am not expecting shutouts. But show that the team has been coached. Show some fundamentals, show guys in the right place at the right time. I get the defense is young and will get burned at times. But show me some signs they can get better and I will be happier.

 

[Nostical]

So no more 20 yard cushions?

That's what I'm hearing. It's balls to the walls.

 

[JMick]

That's what I'm hearing. It's balls to the walls.

If you're going to lose you might as well go down hard. I hope we're more active. He was very aggressive at villanova

 

[Chief00]

I guess what Chief was seeing at various practices wasn’t preparing the offense for different looks as some implied.
Good to confirm the eye test still works - we are crowding receivers at the line and putting more guys in the box.
Quite frankly, Crocker did not entirely fall on the sword. The emphasis on the miss tackle narrative was a way to deflect blame from his crazy scheme. But, true his unit tackled poorly. Chief is willing to give him a pass now of past errors and let’s see what he can do this year.

 

[HuskiesFan1014]

If you're going to lose you might as well go down hard.

 

[Bubba1957]

I'm definitely giving Crocker a break here. Problems last year were not with the schema, but with execution. There is nothing inherently bad about running a 3-3-5 in a league full of gunslingers. Even last year, they threw more different looks at the offense (Bob had them set up like blocking dummies). When he was first hired, I was excited about how this schema could be used to really confuse the offense. Then the season started and they were so passive. I'm chalking that up to the inherited Diaco "bend don't break", "thank you for being our partner" culture that needed to be expunged. Can't wait for this year!

 

[JMick]

I guess what Chief was seeing at various practices wasn’t preparing the offense for different looks as some implied.

It wasn't implied. It was stated by Edsall himself

 

[Pudge]

I liked a lot about that column.

We SHOULD show well against UCF. We SHOULD tackle far better. And ... it is almost a good thing that Travis Jones doesn't have the image in his head of 50 point giveaways to passing schemes.

 

[Chin Diesel]

So, all last year's problems tackling were a function of lack of execution by players?

 

[huskymedic]

It wasn't implied. It was stated by Edsall himself

Shhhh.... #headfake

 

[RSTuthill]

All that said, I am wondering what the over/under should be on the number of times Milton hands the ball off with all of the underclassmen in the UConn secondary. What do you think? Six?

I am sure that he is licking his chops.

 

[Bonehead]

‘Challenge people, don’t be scared’

Who was it that did that with Serano?

 

[CL82]

I suspect given that amount of true and red shirt freshman playing we will still have missed tackles and YAC issues, but I'd rather see that after aggressive play than after already given up 20 yards before contact.

 

[Chief00]

It wasn't implied. It was stated by Edsall himself

LOL - I realize that and had those discussions with Randy - but my point was when I posted that - the response I got by a poster - was they were giving the offense different looks to practice against. I knew it was BS then and this confirms that further.

 

[huskymedic]

UConn's Young Defensive Backs Have Plenty Of Talent — And A Whole Lot Left To Learn

 

[BlueDogs]

+1. Finally, Crocker takes some accountability for last year's debacle. I get it is a new scheme and new players, etc, but I wanted to see him coach last year. I want to see him make adjustments. I wanted to see some signs of improvement.

So, I'll wipe the slate clean for this season. I am not expecting shutouts. But show that the team has been coached. Show some fundamentals, show guys in the right place at the right time. I get the defense is young and will get burned at times. But show me some signs they can get better and I will be happier.

I’d like to see fundamentals. Last year was zero improvement over the season. Hopefully Crocker got religion this year.

 

[CL82]

I’d like to see fundamentals. Last year was zero improvement over the season. Hopefully Crocker got religion this year.

That's been a big part of camp, which is a both a good thing and a scary thing.

 

[JMick]

LOL - I realize that and had those discussions with Randy - but my point was when I posted that - the response I got by a poster - was they were giving the offense different looks to practice against. I knew it was BS then and this confirms that further.

Those words came out of Randy's mouth. It's on video

 

[Husky68]

I see the absolutely terrible coaching schemes by the DC all year 2017 as one of the reasons he lost the senior defenders. This was their last year and it looked like the DC was coaching "Diaco type practice games" all year. HCRE2.0 should be held accountable for letting this occur and ignoring it as a major problem with team performance, HCRE2.0 lacked eye discipline in 2017, looking forward to the 2019 and 2020 seasons where he will be held accountable for team performance rather than being concerned about the 2017 team record.
Crocker did a terrible job in 2017 and HCRE2.0 gave him a complete pass. Just think if you were Summers, you put up with the clown Diaco for 3 years and then in your senior year this new DC comes up with scheme that does not fit players abilities, plays it vanilla so opponents offense can key on defense's vulnerable areas ON EVERY PLAY, develops no pass rush and to top that off the offense runs a 3 and out speed drill to give opponents more possessions.
The reason I'm optimistic about this year is that I think HCRE2.0 sees what went wrong in 2017. With the new OC (I'm expecting much better drive continuity and red zone performance, not a big fan of Lashlee), a revamped defensive scheme (no more stupid/vanilla) that includes aggression (gee, who would have thought that might be important in defensive football) and some improved strength/speed/skill in most positions should lead to a 5-7 win season. With some good luck could have won 5 games last year with all that terrible coaching, zero talent and poor execution, this year needs to match or exceed that win total.