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2 - Seg 2 FB Show w Jason Candle 9/9 · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We're back with Jason Candle, the UConn football coach.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: First win under his belt and feeling good about that.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: But you've got Maryland ahead of you. We're going to
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: get to them. But I want to talk about a
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: couple other things, Coach.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Defensively, you had a good group of guys coming in.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: You knew that.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: We're going to talk to John Lister shortly. The linebacking
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: crew was pretty impressive to me in your first game.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: What did you see on tape when you took a
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: look at what they were able to do?
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: Well, that they played very fast. They played physical. Um,
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: you know, they're each, each guy was able to get
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: to the quarterback. I mean, you're, they were asking a
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: running back to block those guys on some of the
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: pressures that we were presenting and, you know, not a
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: fair proposition for the other team's running back. Um, but
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: I think those guys did what they were supposed to
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: do and they did what they were asked to do.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: They were, they, they, they showed great communication skills out
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: there and helping guys get lined up and get in
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: the front set. Um, You know, and then when they
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: had the opportunities to make the plays that they make,
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: you know, they were able to do that at a.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Really high level.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: So, you know, now that that takes another meaning this weekend. Right.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: I mean, you're playing a team that isn't going to
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: line up and, you know, just snap the ball. There's
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: going to be trades or shifts. There's motions. And, you know,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: that communication that we all are so happy and proud
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: of right now is really going to get stressed this weekend.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: And we've got to handle it and we've got to
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: do a great job with. making sure that not only
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: we deliver the message to the guy playing next to me,
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: but the guy next to me, he's going to do
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: a great job of receiving the message and getting it applied.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: You're going to face a quarterback this week, a sophomore,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Malik Washington. He set freshman records at Maryland for completions
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: and yardage. He was pretty good in the win over Hampton, 62-0.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: He's a little different. He's an athlete. This guy can
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: do some things. As a defensive player, what does that
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: mean in terms of what you've got to prepare for?
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, you got to keep the cage. I mean,
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: you got to keep him in there. You can't, you
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: can't get out of your rush lanes because he is
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: dangerous when he gets moving. You know, we got to
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: find a way to speed him up a little bit.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: We got to find a way to speed his process
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: up and, you know, try to create some disruptions where,
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: you know, him and his receivers are not on the
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: same page. And, you know, that's, again, easier said than done. So,
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: You know, we know that he's a tremendous player, tremendous athlete.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: We've got to have a great week of practice and
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: preparation to, you know, to, like I said, try to bother.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Him a little bit.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Maryland last year was not a good running team.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: They only averaged 104 yards. They were 17th in the
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Big Ten. But it looked like in their opener they
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: were determined to run the ball. DeJuan Williams had a
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: huge run, 94 yards early for them, had a couple touchdowns.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: Do you think that your opposite head coach, Mike Loxley,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: is maybe thinking that way, prepping, saying, we got to
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: run the ball. We got to control the ball. Let's
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: do a good job of that. It looked to me,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: at least against Hampton, that's what he was trying to do.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: Well, I think any good football team and any good
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: offense specifically is the product of a good running game.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: You have to have great balance.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: I don't care how good your quarterback is. You can't
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: sit there and ask him to drop back past 30 times,
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: 40 times a game. That's a recipe for disaster. So
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: you know, I don't know what's that old saying, two things,
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: three things that can happen when you pass the football
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: and two of them are bad. So you got to
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: be able to, you know, like I said, set the
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: table with a sound running game and then, you know,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: build everything from that. So, and the running game is
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: really a young quarterback is best friend. So, you know,
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: whether it's Malik Washington or Caleb Osborne, I think we're all,
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: we're all in the same boat when it comes to
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: how the challenges are to allow that guy to play
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: well and play efficiently. And, you know, I'm sure it's
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: been a point of emphasis in the offseason to emphasize
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: getting the ball to those backs, and both of those
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: guys are tremendous players. I mean, the starter is very good,
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: and next thing you know, like, here comes Williams in
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: a game, and he breaks free for a long run,
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: and nobody can get him on the ground.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Nobody can catch him.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: So, you know, we got to tackle well in space.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: We got to fit our gaps, and, you know, we
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: got to make them earn it.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, their offensive line was pretty impressive. Again, they were
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: playing Hampton, Rattrell, Perry, Isaiah Wright. Last year, they were
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: part of a team that allowed.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: The the fewest sacks.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: They did a good job of protecting the quarterback. Your
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: team in the secondary, let's go there for a second.
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: We see a lot of cornerbacks who've got to cover people,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: and they're out there on an island every game. What
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: did you think of your coverages in that game against Lafayette?
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: It looked to me like they were tight with most
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: of the receivers most of the day.
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: I thought they did a really good job of recognizing
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: what the other team was going to do and you know,
• 4:37
  Speaker 3: executing our plan to limit explosive plays. And that's really
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: what it's about to me. Can you not have communication breakdowns?
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: Can you limit the explosives, you know, and then do
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: your best to get off the field on third down?
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: You know, and I think that's, they were able to
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: have success in those three areas. And, you know, I think, again,
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: it goes back to the communication piece of it. But,
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: you know, you didn't see guys running free. You didn't see,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: you know, gift, you know, first downs off of explosive
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: plays and big chunk yardage gains in the passing game.
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: So we'll have to take a jump from week one
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: to week two and what that looks like. And like
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: I said, probably this team we're playing this weekend has
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: got a little bit more team speed than the one
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: we just played.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, a lot of folks, you know, up in the
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: press box were talking about your opponent's last weekend tackling ability,
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: not good. They weren't making good tackles. But I think
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: in a lot of situations, and you can disagree with
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: me on this, you're playing a team that's better athletically
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: quicker and more agile.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: It's harder to make tackles. Is it not? If you're
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: a defensive player?
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Well, those angles become a little bit sharper. The time
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: between the time and space shrinks pretty fast. Um, so yeah,
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: it's incredibly difficult when, you know, the, you have a
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: really fast guy that can change directions in a, in
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: one step running full speed at you versus a guy that,
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: you know, is already thinking in his mind when he
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: gets the ball, how he's going to run around you. So, um, Yeah,
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's the name of the game. I mean,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: it's blocking and tackling, and that story is as old
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: as time when it comes to winning and having good
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: success on the football field.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: Can't agree more. All right, Coach Candle, we'll be back
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: in just a moment. Quick timeout. This is the UConn
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Football Coaches Show on Learfield.