Storrs — They all belong to the southeastern Connecticut football family tree.

After graduating from their respective high schools, Billy Crocker (Waterford), Kyle Weiss (East Lyme) and Ben Chapman (Stonington) branched out to pursue coaching careers. But their roots remained firmly planted in the area.

Now they're back close to home and serving together on UConn head coach Randy Edsall's staff, working to help rebuild the program. The Huskies will hold their first official summer camp practice of the 2018 season on Wednesday.

Weiss and Chapman are in their first seasons while Crocker is in his second year as defensive coordinator.

Weiss, a defensive quality control coach, works directly under Crocker, while Chapman, an offensive graduate assistant, helps out offensive line coach Frank Giufre.

Their competitive backgrounds lead to them trading some friendly barbs.

"It's awesome," Weiss said during UConn football media day Tuesday. "It's a great rivalry between the southeastern Connecticut guys, especially between Billy and I. I work for Billy. There's always the Waterford-East Lyme chatter and Yankees-Red Sox chatter. It's amazing. It's been a lot of fun.

"... There's a lot of connections. It made the transition here very easy."

The former Eastern Connecticut Conference trio shares plenty.

Weiss and Chapman are similar in age, both graduating from high school in 2008. They played against each other in football and basketball. Crocker, as he points out, is "obviously a little bit older than those two guys."

(Psst ... he's a 1997 Waterford graduate).

Some of Crocker's cousins attended East Lyme with Weiss.

Crocker's parents live in Niantic, not too far from where Weiss's folks reside. He also had a chance to meet Weiss's grandfather, Bob, during a UConn football fan event at Rentschler Field in the spring.

"I've heard a lot about his grandfather from guys," Crocker said. "It's cool."

Kyle, a high school quarterback and wide receiver at Wesleyan University during his playing days, is proud to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. Bob, a former high school head coach at New London and Fitch, served as an assistant at UConn from 1969-72.

A reminder of Bob's place in UConn history hangs on the wall of Burton Family Football Complex.

"It's very special and means a lot," Kyle said of the family ties to UConn. "His picture is on the wall over there with the team that he coached for. It's very cool. He's always spoken very highly about the place. I know some of his friends that he's still close with that were on the staff with him here.

"I'm blessed to be back in the state with a great job on a great staff. Growing up, I knew of Randy Edsall and what they did here at UConn. I was at the opening game at Rentschler Field, watching it. I'm very excited."

Weiss spent the last six years out West, working the last three seasons as a graduate defensive assistant and then linebackers coach on Jim Mora's staff at UCLA. He was officially hired at UConn in late February, about week after Chapman returned to Storrs, where the Stonington graduate played for the Huskies from 2008-11.

Chapman learned that his high school coach, A.J. Massengale, played high school football against Crocker, but knew little else until becoming co-workers.

"I knew of him but didn't know much about him until I got into the profession," Chapman said.

While Crocker, Weiss and Chapman are all rowing the boat in the same direction as fellow staff members, they'll occasionally splash water on each other in defense of their high school athletic programs.

Every once in awhile, Chapman tries to get involved in the verbal exchanges.

"We don't deal with the guys across the other side of the river," Crocker cracked.

The ECC connection doesn't stop with the coaching staff. Redshirt junior Brian Cespedes, who'll compete for a starting position on the offensive line, is a New London graduate.

As a former Whaler, Cespedes holds the ultimate trump card in any southeastern Connecticut football conversation.

"They can't trash talk us," Cespedes said. "Our program, our record speaks for itself. They can't handle us. Not much they can say."

g.keefe@theday.com