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Seg 2 - FB Show 10-21 w Jason Candle · Coaches Corner

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to UConn Football Coaches Show with Jason Candle.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: A little bit later on, we'll talk to Shamar Porter
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: and Tajay Mullix. And just to wrap up what we
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: were talking about, Coach, in the previous segment, Tajay Mullix,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the dude's 6'1. He's 285, and he's in the middle
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: of all that mayhem on a defensive line situation. I mean,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: I think that's what you're talking about. Isn't it guys
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: that are fearless, that love the game, and maybe he
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: doesn't have the size, the height to deal with what
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: he's dealing with, but he's right in the middle of it,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and he's not giving up the fight. That's my impression.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Leverage, right? I mean, he's able to split double teams.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: He's able to go through down blocks. You better get
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: on his hip because if not, he's going to wiggle
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: his way through there. He's got a good get-off. He's
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: got a good enough initial punch to jar a guard
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: back and create the knockback that's necessary to create stalemates
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: in those interior gaps. He's not the biggest guy, so
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: he's slippery enough to get off of those blocks and
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: really affect the quarterback at times, too. He's been a
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: good player for us through six weeks. We're going to
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: need him and everybody else in that defensive front to
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: They got to be at their best in the next
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: month and a half here if we're going to be
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: able to have some success because we got some really
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: good offensive fronts coming at us and some really good
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: O-lines that we're going to have to play in the
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: next few weeks here. So, yeah, a big part of
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: what we've been able to do, the success we've been
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: able to have so far, and we're going to be
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: relying on them here down the stretch.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: The second half of the season begins Friday night against UMass.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: We'll get to them in just a moment. And Shamar
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: Porter we're going to talk to as well, Coach, on
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: the show. He was a four-star receiver in Tennessee in
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: high school, all-state guy. Had 10 touchdowns in 10 games
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: as a senior there. He just seems to be a
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: guy that comes up with stuff. And I said this
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: last year about him. Downfield, when the ball's up in
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: the air, it feels like he's going to come up
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: with it. It's not 50-50 with him. And he's going
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: to mention that actually. So your take on him, cause
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: he stayed, he didn't go anywhere. I mean, Jim Mora left,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: you came in, Shamar Porter, part of the UConn team.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I think there's a handful of guys here that really,
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: you know, made a commitment that, you know, this was
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: their home and that they knew more about UConn football
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: in this building than anybody that was coming in, you know,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: including myself. And, you know, they, they, they put their
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: cleats on the ground and made a stand that this
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: is what they wanted to do and wanted to be here.
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: And he's worked really hard and he's done a really
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: good job of trying to become a complete receiver. He's obviously,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: he has, you know, natural ability. He's got good size.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: He's got strong hands. He's a very willing blocker. He
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: does the things on the field that are, you know,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: that are required to play extra receiver at a really
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: high level. So, And I think he's really found some
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: real trust from his quarterback when, you know, things are,
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: he's had some plays where he's been under some serious
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: duress this year and he's looked down and he's thrown
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: it down there and fives come up with the ball
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: and made a play for him. So that confidence is
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: growing that way. I think Shamar's confidence in himself is growing.
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: And I think our confidence in Shamar has been growing
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: since the day we got here. So, yeah, I mean,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: he's a, he's a good player, but I think there's
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: a lot more in the tank for him too, to,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: to go, to go deep down and pull out of there. And, and,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: you know, he's a, He's got his best football days
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: are ahead of him for sure.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: Jason Candle with us, head coach of the Huskies. Someone
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: much smarter than me once said necessity is the mother
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: of invention. You have a good running back room. We've
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: talked about that. But Kenji Christian's a little banged up.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: You know, he's got some bumps and bruises. He had
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: a nice run. He scored a touchdown against Temple, but
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: then couldn't play the rest of the game. He gets
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: the week off. Is that something that can enable him
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: to get back into mix again before we start talking
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: about The other running backs are having such a nice season.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that, you know, Kenzie's situation is much
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: like a handful of other guys. You know, game on Saturday,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: game next Saturday, fall into that routine. It's hard to
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: get back to full strength, and you just have to
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: play and deal with some pain, and, you know, he's
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: tried to do that. An off weekend gives you some
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: time where, you know, the protocol for some guys are
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: you don't do anything. The protocol for others is you
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: try to activate them every day and you push them
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: to that threshold and you try to, you know, get
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: them close to game ready as you can in a
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: week where there's not a game. You know, you have
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: to be smart with them. You have to, you know,
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  Speaker 2: handle it the right way, but you ultimately can't go
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: in there and play that position if you don't practice
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: real football. So it's a, in his case, and just
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: like Meg said, many others, it's a, It's a week-to-week
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: thing to try to do what's right by the player
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: to make sure that he goes out there and he
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: feels really confident in what he's doing so our team
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: can benefit from having him out there.
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: Yeah, 39-yard touchdown gave the Huskies a 14-7 lead against Temple.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: That first half we talked about earlier, 41 points. The
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: second half, only 13 points total. Trey Cornist, big day.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: First career 100-yard day. You talk about picking up the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: slack when Kenji had to go out. Cornist came up
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: with some big stuff. He came up with the goods
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: for you. Inside handoff to Cornist and breaks through to
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: the second level. And Cornist is on the run. He's
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: at the 30, the 20, and brought down inside the
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: five-yard line with a touchdown-saving tackle. With Osborne the quarterback
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and a hand to Cornist. Straight ahead in the open
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: field to the 30, the 40, and.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Now the 50 into Owl's territory and out of bounds
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: at the 35-yard line. Wow, the UConn offensive line is
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: doing damage right now, and Trey Cornist is taking advantage.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: A huge run.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Stepped up in a major way. Guy that just brings
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: a great competitive spirit to the practice field every day.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: Shuts up and does his job. And you talk about
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: a guy that's got a little toughness to him. You know,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: he's one of those.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: And, you know.
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: a guy that's a locker room favorite because he just,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: how he works and how he, you know, goes about
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: his business and how it goes about his routine. So,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: you know, myself included, there's a lot of people in
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: our locker room and, you know, a lot of people
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: around our program that were really happy for that kid
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: to have the success he had in that game Saturday.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah. The defense against the rush. That was a big,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: you know, topic before the game because, you know, Temple
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: had run for over 175 in their first five games.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: You held them under 150 in 34 carries yesterday. how
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: did you accomplish that when you look back on it? And, uh,
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you reviewed everything that happened. Uh, they didn't
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: have what you'd say is a crazy good day on
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: the ground. I thought that was one.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Of the keys. Well, they're, they're rushing numbers are supplemented
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: and if not aided by, you know, the quarterback's ability
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: to pick up off scripted plays. Um, and we didn't
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: do a good job with containing him, honestly, in the first,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: in the first half, um, But we got settled in
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: there and we were able to limit that, force him
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: in the pocket to throw the football. And, you know,
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: that's not, you know, his strong suit. So, you know,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: we were able to affect him and take away, you know,
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: his best asset, I thought. And then, you know, from there,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: once that was, we were able to do that, it
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: kind of really disrupted their rhythm offensively. You know, then
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: the score, you know, being able to, continue to put
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: some heat on them on offense, like we were able
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: to do, it forced them to throw, you know, probably
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: more than what they would like. And, you know, so
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: naturally see the rushing numbers down when it's not supplemented
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: by the quarterback. And then, you know, ultimately too, when
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: it became kind of a, they had to throw it
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: to get back in it.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: Three and three at the midpoint by week, we're talking
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: to Jason Candle, the UConn football coach, and we'll talk
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: about UMass when we come back in just a moment
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: on Learfield.