With just five wins combined over the past two seasons, the UConn Huskies are in need of a new direction for the program as a last place finish in the AAC concluded Bob Diaco’s first season as head coach.
An assortment of recruits are on the way that include quarterbacks Tyler Davis and NC State transfer Bryant Shirreffs, as well as help on both the offensive and defensive line. Steps toward a winning season begin in the offseason, and the Huskies have their work cut out for them.
1. Establish Starting QB/Leader
Tim Boyle, Tyler Davis or Bryant Shirreffs. One of these three will be your starting quarterback for the 2015 season. All three have a different story of how they got here.
Boyle, the dubbed, “quarterback of the future,” by Diaco midway through last season got his opportunities in a majority of the final games of the year. There were glimpses of sharp passes and good velocity on his throws, but poor footwork and throwing three interceptions compared to his lone touchdown pass has put him back in the mix for the quarterback position battle for the upcoming season.
Davis has promising size and arm strength, but will still be a true freshman on the roster. He’s enrolled at UConn for this spring semester and hopefully some early chemistry can come out of it.
Shirreffs sat out the 2014 campaign due to NCAA transfer rules but will have three more years of eligibility. As a true freshman for NC State, Shirreffs saw limited time in eight games and was mostly used in the wildcat formation. He should be on the outside looking in for the quarterback depth chart, but you can’t rule out the impossible with the Huskies as we learned last year.
2. Build Up Offensive Line
There were times last year where there was no such thing as quarterback protection. As each game went by, improvements were made and the run game was finally opened up by better blocking schemes and more experience.
If that floats your boat as good news, then even better news is that the O-line will return a majority of their starters. Left tackle Richard Levy came into the 2014 campaign with only one start under his belt, but now he is one of three Huskies to start all 12 games on the offensive line for UConn. On the other side of the line, Andreas Knappe shuffled to the right tackle position and showed progress in his first action since appearing in just one game in 2013.
The experimental season is over. It’s time to solidify the front five and win in the trenches come game day.
3. Attendance
Sure, there’s no practice time for bringing in more fans, but the numbers don’t lie, and they were bad last year. University data shows that only 192,000 tickets were distributed for home games last season — an all-time low for UConn during the Rentschler Field era.
The recipe is usually win first, and then the fans show up, but football still holds a steady second place (or third depending on who you ask) to the basketball program in Connecticut. Getting players excited for a new season shouldn’t be a hard thing to do, but for Diaco, an effort made to the student body and ticket holders would and should be in order for next season. Playing at home should mean something again for UConn.
4. Buy What Diaco is Selling
For the entire 2014 campaign, Diaco preached improvement, a full teardown and a rebuild for this football program. It’s going to be hard to hear more preaching and less on-field improvement if we see a repeat of last year. For the players, buying into Diaco’s game plan should be a top priority if they want to get back to winning ways.
A first year coach will always get a pass working with players he inherited and not actually recruited himself. As Diaco’s products work their way into more playing time, the defense should transition into a more turnover-producing unit rather than a game-managing defense that just tries to limit the opposing offense. If anything, the defense isn’t what fans are worrying about going into next season. The team as a whole needs to buy into what Diaco is trying to build and become a more disciplined and focused program.
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