Storrs — Changes are inevitable with any new coaching staff.

Four football practices into the spring season, it's abundantly clear that UConn's Randy Edsall will operate his football team nothing like departed coach Bob Diaco.

Edsall is installing a new defensive formation and an uptempo offense.

He even plans for the Huskies to return punts (gasp!), something they attempted only three times last season because of Diaco's conservative philosophy.

It's a new and welcomed world.

"Right now, I like everything we're doing," senior tight end Alec Bloom said.

There's a sharp learning curve for the Huskies this spring, dealing with new terminology, signals and techniques as well as adjusting to a new coaching staff on both sides of the ball.

"We're making progress in some areas and in some areas not making progress that I'd like to see as quickly as I'd like to see," Edsall after Tuesday morning's workout inside the Shenkman Training Center. "We'll just keep working and keeping coaching them up and have them do things over and over and over until they become engrained and become second-nature."

On offense, it's all about speeding up the pace.

No-huddle is a new look for these Huskies, who ran one of the nation's worst offenses last season.

"The no-huddle is crazy," offensive lineman Ryan Crozier said. "It's very fast. You've to make sure you get ready and run to the ball. So that's probably the biggest thing is just not getting in the huddle since we did that basically every game last year.

"I feel like because we're going fast that it's going to give us more opportunities to get the defense on its heels and be able to expose them and score more points."

On defense, the Huskies aren't just learning a new 3-3-5 formation. Some players are adjusting to different positions.

There's an aggressive mentality, too.

"It's more of an attacking defense," said senior Luke Carrezola, who's shifting from outside linebacker to defensive line. "It's safe to say that a lot of people thought we were a conservative defense last year. This year, it's definitely more of a downhill, try to live in the backfield, attacking defense. It's definitely exciting."

With the change, comes challenges.

This is the fourth new defense redshirt senior E.J. Levenberry, a Florida State transfer, has had to learn during his college career.

"The main thing for me and my teammates is learning new terminology and learning the system and where we need to be," he said. "Once we learn that, we'll be able to play faster and more aggressive."

There's one other thing the Huskies need to get used to – Carrezola's short haircut. His shoulder-length locks are gone.

"I was starting to look like Tarzan so I decided to cut it," Carrezola said. "I'm getting some compliments but I'm definitely going to miss it."

News and notes

• Crozier and Carrezola, both recovering from injuries, are non-contact participants this spring. "I'm just helping out the guys that are out there playing," Crozier said. "I always want to jump in, but I'm just taking mental reps." ... The Huskies worked on short yardage and goal line situations Tuesday. ... Edsall's message to his players at the end of practice: "We're going to hold them accountable. We're going to demand excellence in everything they do."

g.keefe@theday.com