UConn’s Bob Diaco Talks QB, RB Depth and Turnover Battle

In his weekly press conference, Bob Diaco said the bye week was very productive and the extra time to prepare for the next game is always good. UConn (1-4, 0-2 AAC) will play Tulane (1-4, 0-1) in a conference game Saturday, and Diaco made some points that will affect his team going forward.

When asked about the crowded backfield of running backs, Diaco shed some light on what to expect from a pair of freshmen.

“They’re all doing good,” Diaco said about his running backs in Tuesday’s press conference. “They’re all trying hard. All four have great attitudes. You are going to see Arkeel [Newsome] and Ron Johnson a lot more. I wasn’t interested in just pinning the team down to a release like that. The other two are more than functional and they’re doing a great job and have great attitudes. Arkeel and Ron still don’t know in great detail all the protections and different things that come at them, on any given down. There is still some growing that needs to happen there with those guys. We can help manage that a bit for them and they’ll continue to improve.”

The running game has been led by junior Max DeLorenzo so far, who has 57 carries for 195 yards (3.4 ypc). Following him are a trio of freshmen, all with at least 20 carries on the season. The most elusive and speedy of the group, Arkeel Newsome, has impressed Diaco enough to earn more playing time. His 74-yard receiving touchdown against Temple is perhaps the most exciting offensive play the Huskies have on the season.

Both Newsome and Ron Johnson had eight carries in the team’s last game, and both had a run go for more than 10 yards, but it was Johnson who ended the game with five more yards rushing. Despite the small sample size, Newsome and Johnson are averaging the most yards per carry, respectively.

Diaco also spoke about limiting turnovers and how the team’s playing style plays into the margin of takeaways.

“The turnover margin is the number to look at,” Diaco said. “If you’re taking it away and you’re giving it away, then it’s irrelevant. What we need to do first, knowing how our defense plays, what we need to do first is to protect the football. So that’s a critical point. I’d like to think that we’d be one of the top takeaway teams in the country, but the fact of the matter is more often than not, we’re going to be good. It’s not going to be a great number for us, because we’re not a vertically attacking team. We believe in keeping the points down, which is an elimination of explosive plays that includes the run and pass, which means that you’re not aggressively hanging yourself out there attacking the offense… We’re a good defense. We will be a great defense. There is no question about that… I know it is a critically important statistic, but it’s not as important as turnover margin.”

Through five games, UConn has turned the ball over 11 times, compared to the five turnovers forced. At a -6 turnover ratio, it has been an almost even distribution of fumbles lost (6) and interceptions thrown (5). The turnovers have come early and often for the Huskies, with a first drive turnover occurring on four of their five games. With the defense being the highlight of the team so far, it hasn’t shown up in interceptions, where UConn only has one on the year.

By eliminating big plays, like Diaco said, the defense is often in damage control mode. However, by holding opponents to an impressive 32.4 percent third down conversion rate, the defense is doing there job when it counts. In the AAC, only Temple is holding opponents to a lower conversion rate, where UConn is tied with Memphis for second place in the category.

The aerial attack hasn’t helped the turnover ratio, with the number of touchdown passes equal to the number of interceptions at five.

“Tim [Boyle] has some ailments that are not considered injuries that would eliminate, at this point, any participation from our sports performance team, but that doesn’t mean he feels great,” Diaco specified. “So through the workload there’s a balance of getting Tim prepared to play and then also making sure he shows up to the game feeling as good as he can possibly feel. So that’s an interesting balance right now for him. We’d like him to participate in every single game during meaningful downs. Tim, along with the opportunity for a few others, Tim is the quarterback of the future. Tim is going to be the quarterback of the team unless he gets beat out, but Tim is going to be the quarterback of the team for 2015 and 2016.”

This news doesn’t come at any surprise with Chandler Whitmer in his final year of eligibility. The nature of Boyle’s injury is reported to be a leg injury, but don’t be surprised if Deshon Foxx takes the Huskies into a wildcat formation to mix things up in the offense. It’s interesting to note that a UConn quarterback commit, Tyler Davis, is a dual-threat back with seven touchdown passes, and nine rushing touchdowns.

The statement was clear that Boyle is the quarterback of the future, but Diaco could be testing his offensive line for a different type of offense that takes pressure off of the front five. It’s never too early.