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UNH seeking better ball control

By Allen Lessels

For all the things that went well for the University of New Hampshire football team during the 2022 season – the 9-4 record, the return to the FCS playoffs, the bumping of its scoring to its best total in nearly a decade – there were a few areas that were not all rosy.

Turnover margin was one.

The Wildcats ranked 10th of the Coastal Athletic Association’s then-13 teams in the league at minus-3.

They recovered five opponent fumbles and made 10 interceptions, but turned the ball over 10 times on fumbles and eight on interceptions.

“That’s one thing we really harped on in camp between turnover circuits and takeaway circuits and all that,” said UNH head coach Rick Santos. “I think it’s going to be a huge stat for us to see how successful we are this year: the turnover margin. We were just OK last year. We found a way to overcome in some games last year where we turned it over too much and we didn’t create nearly enough.”

The defense is full of veteran playmakers who should be able to lead the way. Cornerback Randall Harris and safety Joe Eichman shared the team lead with three interceptions each last year. Sack-happy defensive ends Josiah Silver and Dylan Ruiz each forced a couple of fumbles and will be looking to stop the run first to get teams off kilter, per orders of defensive coordinator Garret Gillick.

“That’s huge,” said linebacker Bryce Shaw, one of the team’s five captains. “When you can have teams starting to try and air it out on you, that’s a bigger opportunity to make plays, interceptions, turnovers and also makes them one-dimensional, right? . . . Turnovers are game-changers and we definitely didn’t have enough of those last year. That’s why we were in so many close games.”

Santos wants to see his offensive playmakers value the ball and his defensive guys get aggressive with coming up with turnovers right out of the gate, starting in Saturday’s season opener at Stonehill.

“If we can have a handful of takeaways early in the season and kind of get that confidence back and steal some extra possessions, that’s exactly where we need it to be,” he said.

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