Spring Break Notes

We are wrapping up spring break and it was pretty quiet on the Buff front.  We were hoping to see a “pencil” depth chart, but unless the coaches release one today, we won’t know where anyone stands until the players take the field Tuesday.  I can’t be there so we’ll have to hope that someone else leaks some information.  Anyway, there were a few important items that crossed the sports pages and internet forums while some were on vacation and others were sitting at home.

Part II of CU Video Dept’s “Proving Grounds” is out: http://vimeo.com/62310984 It gives some nice insight into the coaches, their main mantras being “hard work” “toughness” “fundamentals” “doing the right thing” and “having fun”.

Athlon named OC Brian Lindgren as one of the top assistant coach hires of 2013. “At 32 years old, Lindgren is a name to watch in future head coaching searches…Expect Colorado to show marked improvement on offense this year, which only figures to raise Lindgren’s profile even more going into the offseason.” This makes it all the more surprising that bohnhead is negotiating one of CU’s precious long-term contracts with DC Kent Baer, whom I don’t see a threat to leave at all as he has never been named a head coach candidate anywhere, even with his extensive experience as a coordinator.

Troy Walters tweeted that his WRs Nelson Spruce and Justin Gorman (also current holder and former QB/DB/RB) made the Pac-12 All-Academic team and that Tyler McCulloch was an honorable mention. I didn’t see anything else about this in general though.

Dave Plati did some deep stat work tracking returning starters (CU is 9^th nationally with 345 total returning “starts” under belts) and ESPN gave him kudos for it: http://espn.go.com/photo/preview/130401/espn_returning_starter_counts2.pdf

Since nothing has been made public yet, here’s a little check in at the main position groups:

QB Battle: It appears that MacIntyre and Lindgren may not be satisfied with what they have seen so far in the first 8 spring practices.  Even though they have already been ridiculed for having five scholarship QBs, and a sixth on the way (plus a walk-on), CU may be adding yet another signal caller in the form of Nelson Fishback.  The 6’1” 185-pound “pro-style” QB was unrated and not offered a scholarship by any big schools in the 2011 recruiting cycle, although he was looked at by San Jose St.  Fishback spent last year at Butte College (of the California Community College Athletic Association) and completed 108 of 201 passes for 1, 482 yards with 12 TDs and 7 Ints.  Although an inside source says MacIntyre has had his eye on Fishback for a long time (I guess the kid had to get some things together), the fact that no one did anywhere else does not give me a lot of confidence moving forward.

Consensus on the internet is that Dillon, Hirschman and Webb (gets a nod due to his injury, although most are scared to death of the notion of any more Webb) will continue splitting reps after break, while Stevie Joe Dorman and John Schrock hold clipboards and water bottles.  However, Connor Wood is the biggest wild card, with some speculating he is gone, and others that he is the leader of the group.

Running Backs: NetBuffs poster “Black and Gold All Over” said his “sources” told him that both Davien Payne (suspended anyway) and Tony Jones will both seek to transfer after spring ball.  Payne and his problems are no surprise, but Jones is a little bit, although maybe he sees that his services are not as valuable with this group and offense.

At wide receiver, Paul Richardson has sat out the scrimmages and will be not be overused.  They know he is going to be their main guy, want to make sure he stays healthy and they can see what else they have with the rest of the group. DD Goodson has made a very nice impression on his move to wideout.  This appears to suddenly be a deep position group, especially with three talented incoming freshmen who could play immediately, after being a liability last year.

Who is Wesley Christensen?  Nobody is really sure but the WR has been turning heads at practice and catching a lot of balls.  He is listed as a walk-on JC transfer from Butte College, the same school QB Nelson Fishback attended last year.

Also, P-Rich tweeted “no days off”, and that he was “spending my spring break working on springing up and down the field and getting in and out of my breaks!”

The offensive line had a bit of a setback when Jr. interior lineman Daniel Munyer broke a bone in his lower leg.  However, this has allowed/forced coaches to move guys around even more than they had planned to, in order see what they have got.  Munyer and Alex Lewis, who has been out all of the spring, are widely expected to win two of the five starting spots.  Jack Harris spent most of last season on the right side at tackle and guard, but has gotten a lot of reps at left tackle this spring; if he doesn’t win a starting job, then he will be the utility guy to spell everyone and fill in for any injury, much like Ryan Dannewitz was last season.  I had been hoping to hear more about Jeromy Irwin developing and making a push for one of the guard slots.

Linebacker was a position that MacIntyre was somewhat concerned about depth-wise when he arrived and he brought in a few new guys, including two, Markeis Reed and Addison Gilliam, which could start practicing right away this spring.  Conventional wisdom has Sr. Derrick Webb (probable captain) and Jr. Brady Daigh as starters, but a few others are still competing for playing time there. One of the biggest surprises of the spring appears to be Jr. Lowell Williams, who has played a lot of special teams (following in the footsteps of Webb who starred on Special teams before breaking through on the defense), but never really contributed as a linebacker.  So far this spring, he is leading the team in tackles (13) after two scrimmages and said he feels very comfortable with the defense.

There are actually a lot of guys competing for continued reps all across the defensive line and the depth chart will reveal a lot about who has impressed coaches.  DEs Chidera Uzo-Diribe and Samson “Kool Aid” Kafovalu have gotten the most press on the outside, with Justin Solis the most love inside.  I have heard very little about Sr. Nate Bonsu, who could be a leader of this defense or not play at all.  Underachieving DE Juda Parker, who was a huge four-star coup for Embree’s first class, has been injured.

The defensive secondary is similar in that there are a lot of bodies there, although it is a little clearer who will play, with S Parker Orms and corners Kenneth Crawley and Greg Henderson continuing to make plays.  I have not seen mention of Marques Mosley.

Injuries: CB Yuri Wright and WR Jeff Thomas were among those that missed time in the first half but are hoping to be full-go for the last 7 practices.

-OL Marc Mustoe was recovering from injuries from a bike accident and was also hopeful to participate in the second half as well.

-DE Juda Parker is dealing with a shoulder injury. and RB Terrence Crowder is still recovering from his ACL.
-LB Brady Daigh is cleared to start practice Tuesday (knee).

-S Parker Orms sat out the last scrimmage with some knee swelling, but that is mostly cautionary as he is expected to play and this gave them an opportunity to see others as well.

-QB Jordan Webb re-injured his hand and missed the second scrimmage, but should be back after break.

-Offensive linemen Daniel Munyer, thought to probably be one of the starting guards broke his leg and will miss the rest of the spring.

-OL Alex Lewis has been out all of the spring.

Here’s the remaining Spring practice schedule, most sessions 3:45-6:15PM on the lower Boulder Creek fields.

Tuesday, April 2                                                                                                        Practice (no tackling)
Thursday, April 4                                                                                                      Practice
Friday, April 5                                                                                                            Practice (scrimmage)
Tuesday, April 9                                                                                                         Practice (no tackling)
Thursday, April 11                                                                                                    Practice

Saturday, April13                                                                                                      Spring Game, 10:30AM,  Pac-12 Network

Tuesday, April 16                                                                                                        Final practice (shorts/helmets only)

Other Buff Notes:

Most folks are calling the Buffaloes 2013 schedule one of the more difficult ones in the country with Athlon writing: “The Buffaloes could have a hard time finding victories in 2013.,,there are few guaranteed wins…they are likely to be a double-digit underdog in most of their Pac-12 games.”   The NCAA has CU with the second hardest schedule in the Pac-12 and 14^th hardest in the nation, which seems surprising given their out-of-conference schedule of csu/Central Arkansas/Fresno St.; however, that is based solely on opponents’ previous season combined records.

Former Buff commit WR Peyton Williams is competing for a starting job at Texas Tech.  Williams tore his ACL in his high school playoffs and then grayshirted, paying his own way to attend CU the fall semester, before finally deciding he wanted to be closer to home.  It sounds like he would have gone back to Texas even without a coaching change.

An Oklahoma Blogger did a piece on former Big 12 teams and completely forgot to include CU but he also wrote that “nobody seemed to mind” or comment on the omission.  He didn’t have a whole lot of nice things or positive predictions anyway when he updated, calling the team’s outlook “dismal”.  He did say that they are “culturally” more aligned with the Pac-12 and “probably better off out west.”