I can say for fact, without a doubt, that stripping the ball, and ball security was something that Randy Edsall included regularly in practices, and made it a major focus. We developed defenders at UCONN in the 2000's that were vicious in stripping the ball, and we generated turnovers that way regularly on defense. We developed running backs, that held on to the ball. This is not hard to do. It takes players with a bit of an attitude, and strong hands and leverage, and most importantly - time - PRACTICE TIME.
Diaco, I think, has taken a calculated approach with practice time, and what they will be working on, and I just don't think that ball security, leverage, stripping and security, is something we can possibly have spent a lot of time on with our offense and defense. I am not knocking the approach Diaco's is taking, with this program, because realistically - being 1-2 right now is expected. Improvement week to week is expected, and we are seeing it. There has been improvement from week 1 through week 3. The team is very strong in certain aspects of the game, and very weak in others. It's simply a reflection of what you practice, if you are practicing well. That's better than being very weak in everything.
The thing about having plans, and an approach though, is that you got to be flexible to what is happening, and our ball carriers, are not demonstrating good habits with pad level, leverage, and ball security. Look no further than Marriner's body contact that got him knocked out of the game vs. Stony Brook. Way too high, way too upright, and he got cleaned. DeLorenzo in week 1. LB' got in under him and drove through his body. Newsome? Secure the ball when you see a NG coming at you. Whitmer was a full 2 yards away on the replay after the exchange when the DT made contact.
To be fair, they are all young players, and they are all, IMO, getting decent coaching for the first time in a long while. They will get better. Got to practice though, how you play.
