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UConn FB Special Teams Coach Doug Shearer - August 16 · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So how's the grand of camp going with a new
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: group of special teamers. It's been fun. Where I was
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: fifteen practice is in so we've got a bunch of
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: reps for these guys. Coach Moore does an awesome job
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: during practice of creating game like reps, which I think
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: is probably most important. You know, you have a punt period,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: you have a field goal period, but that's not realistic
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  Speaker 1: to a game. You know, these guys that got to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: come off the sideline and do their job and they
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: got one shot to do it. So I think we've
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  Speaker 1: had a really good opportunity, whether we've been in the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: stadium or here, you know, on campus, of putting them
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: in those spots and so it's been fun. You know,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: they're gelling. You know, it's awesome because we've had Chris
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and Connor since January, so we were able to see
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: him through springball, which was great. So you know, I
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: think they're really confident, they're mature, they're intentional on how
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: they work, and really excited to see them kind of
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: keep putting their fun in the gas the last two
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: weeks and get ready to play some football. You want
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: to see the most improvement as far as ours. Yeah,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: I want to see us to be a little bit
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: more explosive, you know, I want to see us change
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: the game more in field position. You know, we've won
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the hitting yardage battle here ten times in the last
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: two years, and we're nine to one of those games.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, that's a that's a crazy percentage, that's a
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: ninety percentage. When we want the hitting yards battle, we've
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: got to do it more. And that's not always going
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: to be maybe a touchdown or maybe a blocked kick
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: or a punt, even though that's what we're looking for
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: and every and every time we're out there, but it
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: may just be tackling him inside the twenty five every
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: time on kickoff coverage. It might be getting a touch
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  Speaker 1: back more. And Chris is going to provide us that
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  Speaker 1: because of what he's done before at other places, and
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: you know, maybe downy Pooch punts more consistently. We had
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: too many touchbacks last year, you know, you know, we're
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: always that, always one guy away, and you can't have that.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: On those plays we don't get another chance. So I'm
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: looking forward to us to be more explosive and we'll
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: see where that takes us. And I really feel like,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: we have the pieces to get that done. We'll just
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: chip away at it. In the pump return game, we
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: didn't see I there was a lot of return punts
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  Speaker 1: last year. Sure, a lot of fair catches. Yeah, so
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I see Jackson out there. That's a feilding something to
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: the expectation to return more punts. Yeah, you know, we
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: we've definitely worked out returning more punts and and doing
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: a better job in the return game. You know, we've
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: been probably a little bit more of a block team,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: you know, in the past. So sometimes when you're going
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: for the blocked punt and you don't get it, there's
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: not as many people walking for the returners, so there's
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: more guys in this face early. But also I just
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: feel like that's kind of how it goes in college football.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: You know, there's not a lot of opportunities on that unit.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: So we always tell the guys on pump return you
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: got to expect the unexpected. The one time they OutKick
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: their coverage, the one time it's a line drive and
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: it's short in the middle of the field, we've got
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: to take advantage of it. And we have put more
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: emphasis on that. But you know, we're going to be
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: able to do whatever the game situation provides us. Is
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: there anyone else like I know last year, you know,
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  Speaker 1: like Chris Hudson really kind of sure, sure freshman, sure unit.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Is there anybody else you see who that can be
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: a young guy or someone who hasn't played a whole
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: lot recently. Yeah, you think he's going to shine this year. Yeah,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: it's a great question. You know, I think we have
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: a bunch of really good linebackers that are going to
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: help us. You know, Julian Simon is a transfer. You know,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: he's done a great job on a lot of our units.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Umar who was a freshman last year, he's a retro
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: freshman this year. He's a developmental player. Jackson Harper stepping up,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: like you mentioned, catching some punch for us. You're going
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: to see you know, Jada mel Brown out there as well,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: whether it be as a returner or a gunner. You know,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Hudson obviously again is just going to continue to increase
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: his role to change the game. You know, caln Ville
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: in the way. But one of our backup linebackers has
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: done a really good job for us. You know, John
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: Bechtel was a big time special teams player for US.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: In twenty twenty two. Unfortunately towards acl last year. He's
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  Speaker 1: a guy that we trust on a lot of these units.
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  Speaker 1: So you're gonna see a bunch of those guys out there.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: So there are a lot of young guys that are
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: stepping up, and there's a few that I'm not ready
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: to name, but I think they're gonna help us. So yeah,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: so this year three for you, how's it different? Yeah?
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Every year I think is different. You know, no matter
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: what you did the year before, good or bad, no
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: matter what you did the game before, good or bad,
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: you got to do it again, and you got to
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: prepare again. And what's been fun is you know, you
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: know what Coach Moore is gonna expect, you know what
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: the schedule is going to look like. So it was
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: really this year. I'm not gonna say easier, but it
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: was better for us to look ahead and know exactly
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: how to plan this thing out. We've had camp plan
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: for months and we've stuck to that plan. And sometimes
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: you got to plan this thing ahead of time when
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: you're calm and there's not a lot going on and
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: there's not a lot of changes just yet we've planned
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: it ahead of time. We've adjusted as we've gone, but
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  Speaker 1: so it's been nice to plan ahead and prepare that way,
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: you know. And I feel like we have some guys,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: some returner pieces and some of these specialists that are
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: a little bit older. I know they're new, but they're
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: older guys, and I think that's going to help us
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: take a step. Have you noticed a difference in Jim
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: now that he is just strictly the head coach. Yeah,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: it's a little bit more like year one, you know.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: And it's awesome for me as a special teams coordinator
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: because now he's not as much worried about the next period.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: He's able to focus on that period and help me
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: and help the guys understand the importance of those units.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: And he's helping me coach drills, and you know, he's
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: standing there next to the kicker or the punter, or
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: the shields or the guys on pump returner. He's helping
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: with coaching points, and he sits in all my meetings.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: He's always done that, which is huge. When the head
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: coaches in your meetings. It just shows how important it
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: is for these guys in the football team. And you know,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: it's been awesome to get him to help during practice
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: because he is just the head coach and this is
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: what he wants to do. And I think he's in
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: a really good spot when he does that, and it
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: helps our team.