SF Husky
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Quote:Huskies adjust their defense while Louisville looks to the ground game
By Adam Rittenberg
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: April 30, 2008, 6:24 PM ET
Need for Speed
Connecticut coach Randy Edsall doesn't consider last season's 66-21 loss to West Virginia a wake-up call.
Scott Lutrus
Charles LeClaire/Getty Images
UConn's Scott Lutrus will move to middle linebacker this season.
Edsall had been trying to upgrade the Huskies' defensive speed long before Pat White, Steve Slaton, Noel Devine and Co. racked up 624 yards (517 rushing) against them. If anything, the game reinforced what was painfully obvious: The Big East had become a literal footrace, and Connecticut needed to catch up.
"That's what D1 is coming down to," Huskies linebacker Scott Lutrus said. "It's not about strength and size any more. It's pretty much coming down to speed and the quick offenses we face, such as West Virginia."
Lutrus was at the center of Edsall's speed plan during the offseason. After earning freshman All-America honors at outside linebacker last fall, Lutrus was moved to middle linebacker, a spot vacated by Danny Lansanah, a first-team All-Big East selection.
With 4.5 speed and a 38-inch vertical leap, Lutrus fit the desired mold on defense. Edsall also plucked Dahna Deleston from a crowded group of safeties and moved him into Lutrus' old position. Connecticut often lines up its safeties in the box, so Deleston's transition went smoothly.
"Dahna loved the move," Edsall said. "Scott was a little hesitant at first, but I tried to explain to him the advantages of it. You don't find too many 4.5 40 guys at middle linebacker who have the explosion that he has."
Lutrus had settled in at strongside linebacker and was initially concerned about handling the mental demands of middle linebacker as well as filling Lansanah's shoes. But in spring ball he got used to making multiple pre-snap reads and serving as the leader on defense.
The bad memories from the West Virginia game also helped convince Lutrus that the move was necessary.
"It's probably the fastest team that we might ever face, definitely in our conference," said Lutrus, who recorded 107 tackles and four interceptions last season. "Everyone's got great speed. You run at an angle and they're already by you. Especially after that game, we realized you need to contain people and need to contain speed, and the only way you can do that is with speed."
The Huskies stressed speed development more this offseason than they had in the past, and players worked to build their endurance. Edsall and his staff were less concerned about sprint times and focused more on how players ran in pads.
Much of the progress in spring practice came on the defensive line, which returns starting ends Julius Williams and Cody Brown and starting tackle Rob Lunn. Reserve ends Lindsey Witten and Mike Cox also return.
"I don't know any place I've ever been where we've had that kind of speed and athleticism with the defensive ends," Edsall said. "In our top seven [linemen], we'll be a faster team than we were a year ago."
Taking Flight
A weeklong suspension and a depth-chart demotion left Cincinnati senior defensive tackle Terrill Byrd feeling like a freshman again this spring.
Fortunately for the Bearcats, he didn't perform like one.
Byrd sat out the first week of spring drills after receiving a citation March 5 for smoking marijuana. When the All-American returned to practice, he was placed with the second-team defense.
Terrill Byrd
Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Cincinnati expects a lot from DT Terrill Byrd this season.
By the end of spring ball, Byrd was back where he belonged.
"As I continue to whip him with one hand, I also have to say, 'Hey, look, this young man is making a lot of progress,'" Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly said. "I have to be fair with him, too. Although he did start on the second team, he's earned his way back to a starting position."
Byrd, who will miss the season opener against Eastern Kentucky, didn't need much time to showcase the form that produced a team-high 17 tackles for loss last season. Though he wasn't worried about his playing status after the off-field transgression, he described the spring as "another breath, a second chance to do it all over again."
"I've made mistakes, everybody makes mistakes," Byrd said. "I'm just being positive about it. Coach did what he had to do. I respect what he did as far as moving me to second team.
"It's a challenge, and I like challenges."
One of his biggest challenges involved weight loss. Byrd was 300 pounds when he arrived at Cincinnati and, according to Kelly, couldn't make it through 72 plays in a game before the 2007 season.
But he slimmed down to 275 and has worked heavily with strength and conditioning coach Paul Longo.
"[Longo] was able to build up my work volume and build up my stamina," Byrd said, "to be able to go longer, play more plays on the field."
The Bearcats need as much as they can get from Byrd this fall after losing standout defensive ends Anthony Hoke (team-high 13 sacks, 16.5 TFLs) and Angelo Craig (11 quarterback hurries, 8 TFLs).
"The bar is raised so high on Terrill Byrd," Kelly said. "His work on the field has been outstanding. He's a special talent, an All-Big East player for a reason."
Off and Running
If the spring game is any indication, Louisville's pass-happy days are coming to an end.
Aiming to achieve greater offensive balance, the Cardinals had nine more rushes than passes and nearly achieved perfect symmetry in yards (201 rushing, 200 passing) in the Red-White game. Though Hunter Cantwell continued to affirm himself as the starting quarterback, completing 11 of 18 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown, three running backs eclipsed 60 rushing yards.
Brock Bolen led the way with 76 yards on 13 carries, and Bilal Powell averaged 8.6 yards per rush. Vic Anderson added 62 yards on nine carries, and none of the running backs were stopped behind the line of scrimmage.
The Cardinals had 73 pass attempts and only 36 rushes in last year's spring game.
"Our backs ran the ball hard," coach Steve Kragthorpe said. "[Anderson, Powell and Bolen] are pretty hard guys to tackle."
Adam Rittenberg covers college football for ESPN.com. He can be reached at espnritt@gmail.com
UCONN is getting faster. UL is going to the ground game.
(This post was last modified: 04-30-2008 07:27 PM by SF Husky.)
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Everytime you play them with something on the line WVU comes out on the short end.
