Cornerback Blidi Wreh-Wilson spoke about it earlier this week and linebacker Sio Moore added some context a few days later, but the takeaway remains the same: new defensive coordinator Don Brown is all about using defensive pressure to create offensive confusion.
Wreh-Wilson called it "more aggressive" than what they're used to. Moore was a tad more descriptive.
"Play football in a chaotic, organized manner," linebacker Sio Moore says matter-of-factly, according to GreenwichTime.com's Neill Ostrout.
Moore continued: "With coach Brown, there's no breaks. It's just light your hair on fire and go," Moore said Tuesday after the team's first practice in pads. "It's a `solve your problems with aggression' type defense. You run to the ball and you hit people in the mouth."
There's something to be said for taking one of the conference's best defenses and making them more aggressive. The unit clearly has the personnel and speed to create havoc and confuse the offense so they might as well use it to their advantage. And Moore, for the first time in his college career, is one of the leaders on defense.
"It does feel kind of different because I've always kind of been the younger guy," Moore, a junior, said. "But it feels good to be able to help other guys out. We've got a lot of talented guys over there with a lot of speed and a lot of guys that are ready to work and learn."
We've made the point often in recent weeks and months that the defense will have to do the heavy lifting early in the season while the offense (which is searching for a starting quarterback and depth at running back and wide receiver) finds it's footing. Head coach Paul Pasqualoni, as you might expect, disagrees that the current situation puts additional pressure on his defense and Moore agrees. "I think we're going to have to be balanced," Moore said. "I don't think it can be relying on any one part of the game."
That's called being a good teammate, and who knows, maybe the Huskies' offense will magically fix itself in time for the start of the season. More likely, however, is that the unit struggles (which is wholly expected given the roster turnover and new coaching staff) and the defense and special teams keep UConn in the early games.
It's not ideal, but it's better than the alternative: a football team searching for its identity in all three phases instead of just one.
