Defense Vows Changes After Last Season’s Mistakes

I Wish I Was A Little Bit Wiser…

The Story: The Huskies’ youth was one of the biggest factors in the defense setting all kinds of NCAA records for futility last season, and now, those players, a year older, are hoping to right the wrongs of 2018.

HUSKIES IN HEADLIGHTS: UConn started the game against Syracuse last season with eight freshmen starting on defense, six of whom were true freshman and just three months removed from receiving their high school diplomas. The Hartford Courant tracked those eight players, predicting six of them will play big roles this season: defensive ends Lwal Uguak, Jonathan Pace and Kevon Jones; defensive tackle Travis Jones and cornerbacks Keyshawn Paul and Jeremy Lucien.

OLD GUYS BEHIND: Depth at linebacker was one of Randy Edsall‘s main concerns after last season, so he went out to try to fix that through position changes and recruiting. The starters presume to be a trio of juniors: Notre Dame transfer D.J. Morgan, Ryan Gilmartin and Omar Fortt. Gilmartin played in seven games last year and Fortt is the most experienced of the three, having started 15 games in his first two seasons (and 11 in 2018). “Whoever we put out there at linebacker, I’m going to be confident in,” Edsall said.

HAPPINESS = WINS? Edsall said he’s pleased with the way the roster has come together and said the atmosphere and approach feels as loose as it did when the Huskies were routinely winning games a decade ago.

“It’s really enjoyable being around these guys,” he said Monday. “That’s the thing to me. You come to work and you like coming to work because you like what these guys bring. They’ve got some personality to them. You can joke with them and they’ll joke back with you. Little things like that. Those are the kinds of guys that I want to be around. Guys who you can bust their stones and they’ll bust you back. That reminds me of some of the guys we had here before. They get it and they understand it. Maybe it’s taken guys a while to understand that, but this freshman class, I’ve been really, really impressed with them. But I think everybody is on board.”

RECRUITING RESULTS: The decision to go independent has also started to pay off on the recruiting trail, Edsall said yesterday, which is not surprising given the Huskies can pitch players on facing schools such as Boston College, Syracuse, Penn State and other Power 5 programs each year instead of making road trips to Tulsa and East Carolina.

“Everything that we’ve seen so far from a recruiting standpoint has all been positive. You know, we have a game plan as to what we’re going to do in recruiting and how we’re going to go about doing it and how we’re going to communicate it to our prospective student-athletes who we feel will fit into what we want to get done here. So, all in all, I have to say that everything has been positive with everything that you hear on the outside.”

ONE SMALL PROBLEM: The Huskies received bad news over the weekend when Jonathan Senecal, a quarterback from Quebec City who committed to UConn in June, tore a ligament in his left knee during a game. Coach Tony Iadeluca said he did not know which ligament was torn but Senecal will miss significant time.

Oh, Randy, Look What You’ve Started

The Story: As it turns out, Randy Edsall isn’t the only coach unwilling to release a depth chart this week as Oklahoma, Houston and Georgia Tech said they’ll skip the formality heading into the season openers.

EDSALL THE TRENDSETTER: Oklahoma’s first news release included a blank page with the eyeball emoji where the depth chart should have been, and when asked, coach Lincoln Riley, after all of spring practice and fall camp, said his decision was because “it gives us, as coaches, a better chance to evaluate it and hopefully give you guys something a little more accurate midweek.”

But with Oklahoma set to play Houston to start the season, Cougars coach Dana Holgorsen fired back. “I’ve always released a depth chart, and I’ll release one,” Holgorsen said yesterday. “Why they don’t put one out, it’s kind of silly to me. So if they’re not putting one out, I ain’t putting one out. I guess I’ll put one out with those funny eyes and stuff like that.”

NO DEVELOPMENT SQUAD, THOUGH: At Georgia Tech, coach Geoff Collins apparently “coaches his student-athletes to be above the line,” whatever that means, so he released a list of 66 players who meet that threshold and will be able to play in games. Edsall has one advantage where Collins doesn’t, though: Collins listed his players numerically, not alphabetically as Edsall did, so Georgia Tech’s opponents will know exactly who they’re supposed to stop on game day.

Morning Reads

BRONCOS CUT WILLIAMS: The Denver Broncos cut former UConn wide receiver Nick Williams, who they added earlier in training camp as they sought competent return specialists. (Ryan O’Halloran on Twitter)

COLLIER HONORED: The WNBA has named Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier the Western Conference Player of the Week after she averaged 18.7 points, six rebounds and 3.3 steals over three games. (WNBA.com)