Agreed. He came up and tackled well and broke up some passes. Felt as the year wore on the poor tackling became contagious and when he was in there it afflicted him. I also like Latu's aggression and physical play from the safety spot but coaches stuck with McClean and Mollette.
Considering the P4 experience of both Mills and Latu, when we signed them I really expected both to start and be key pieces on our defense. I was pretty surprised when neither saw the field much this year as well.
All I could think of was the other guys knew the defenses and secondary calls better cause those 2 guys were certainly more physical.
P-4 players who haven't broken through yet at that level don't always come in and start when they get to UConn's level. We've seen that all the time. When I don't see them play material snaps, I just assume that despite who recruited them originally they're just not good enough. What made Mills' case unusual was that we got to see him play, and he played really really well. While the defense as a whole struggled much of the year.
or 7 game schedule. So 5 OOC games for each program
Good call out. I had actually forgotten about him.
But that's just the thing, both had broken through at the P4 level. Latu had 56 tackles, a couple sacks and interceptions, and a forced fumble for Wisconsin all the way back in 2022. Just based on his numbers, he seemed to see the field more for both Utah in 2021 and Wisconsin in 2022 and 23 than he did for us this past season. I'm thinking maybe he was injured in 2023 and just wasn't the same player upon returning?
I remember a Mora press conference I believe after the Delaware loss where he said that we needed to get McClean back there to help our secondary. So, I'm not sure if he blew some coverages at the end of that disaster which put him in the doghouse or not.
Our SOS has been at just about the bottom of FBS the last two years. What we’ve accomplished here is not too different from what Toledo’s been doing the past decade.
This is nitpicky, but this is what we do here at the Boneyard. Comparing Mora to RE1 is apples to oranges. RE1 was recruiting in a power conference, in a time before NIL, when teams were almost entirely built from high school recruits.
LOL. IF (and it hasn’t happened yet) a bunch of our DL guys end up getting P-4 spots AFTER other staffs have seen their film, in a sane world it would make Boneyarders ask if the defenses’s struggles were really attributable to the DL as the Boneyard determined. But this is the Boneyard, so that type of self recognition is really doubtful.
Everyone needs a niche.
There were some good players on the defense, but the DL was not good and certainly not as good as the previous year. To get pressure on the QB, Brock had to rush 5 or 6 guys which is a high risk/reward strategy, but it left the DBs at risk. And, the DBs were undersized last year which lead to poor tackling. The starting CBs last year averaged 184 lbs and the starting Ss averaged 187 lbs. In comparison, Toledo's starting CBs averaged 198 lbs and starting Ss averaged 207 lbs.
No idea what scheme departing DLs played in before UConn but it is plausible they could contend they're more effective run defenders in 4 man front instead of 3-3-5 and might have video to prove it.
