I was
just about to post a “Where are the Buffs at?” when the depth chart came out http://www.cubuffs.com/fls/600/gameday/2012/depth_chart.pdf
. So, after about three weeks of
practice and a scrimmage, a week to go until the opener, we know who will be
lining up first and who will likely be getting on the field. Embree may not like depth charts, but Plati
finally pressured him enough to get us one.
It is heavy on true frosh across the two-deep, with three earning at
least co-starter’s listings. Here’s a snapshot of each position, who is slated
to start, who is second and likely to play, as well as a look at which freshman
redshirt and which get on the field.
Offense
§
QB battle:
We know that Jordan Webb and the experience he brings will be starting and
appears to have won the battle quite easily. The big question that remains is who will
come in if Webb gets injured, or struggles?
Neither Connor Wood, who had all spring to work with the first team and
make his move, nor Nick Hirschman, who has the most time in the program, has
been able to separate themselves from the other. They begin the season listed as “co-backups”
and my guess is they stay that way with the coaches staging a week-to-week
practice battle for who is #2. The
reasoning is mainly twofold: neither QB is that great and they want to keep
them both around, just in case, although I would venture to predict that next
year Shane Dillon passes both and is #2 (assuming Webb earns the right to keep
the starting job all year and into next).
John Schrock is officially fourth.
§
As expected RB Tony Jones is the starter with
big numbers to chase (“1600” yards mentioned by EB). Bienemy has four or five guys behind him who
all have different strengths and who could see action in an offense ready to
run more. So. DD Goodson is listed
second, although EB said "I'm not sure who our
No. 2 guy is…” and that the order is still “fluid”; Malcolm Creer is
indeed recovered, looked very good in his limited time last year, and is ready
to show what he can do; it looks like
two of the freshmen will play, Donta Abron is third while Terrence Crowder is
fourth with Josh Ford, who many thought would be the #2. Chances are all five get some time, and EB’s
mantra is: “I coach the starter to be the starter,
but I coach the next guy to take his job.” Crowder the only one who might still
redshirt as they have a lot of capable bodies. As anticipated, Davien Payne will redshirt.
§
T-Fr. Christian Powell is one of the three frosh
to move to the top of the depth chart, listed as a co-starter at FB with Alex
Wood. Interestingly, the other true
frosh, Clay Norgard is not listed, even as a #3, so does that mean, even with
an extra spring under his belt, that he will redshirt?
§
Webb has
said that T-Fr. TE Vincent Hobbs is quickly becoming one of his favorite targets,
although he is actually listed fourth behind the starter Sr. Nick Kasa, who has
received praise, but more has been said about what he still need to develop. Jr. Kyle Slavin is second which I hope to mean
that hi is really catching on. Jr. Scott Fernandez who will be mostly a blocker
is third followed by Hobbs, then the underachieving DaVaughn Thorton. T-Fr. Austin Ray was expected to find his way
onto the field as well but is not listed and could be slated to redshirt with
Sean Irwin (who could even move onto the main offensive line).
§
WR has been the most talked about offensive
group after QB and should be manned by a committee of five guys (frosh Jeffery Thomas will greyshirt to get his shit
together). R-Fr. Nelson Spruce and So.
Tyler McCulloch are indeed with Dustin Ebner and T-Fr. Gerald Thomas listed #2,
So. Keenan Canty and the versatile Justin Gorman (moved from RB now) providing
a little depth. The departure of Jeff
Thomas re-opened the door for underachieving Jr. Jarrod Darden but it appears
that he did not take advantage (if he is able, I would think coaches push him
for a heavy class load in the spring and summer so he can graduate early). Paul Richardson is “officially” out the first
two games (I guess he will be re-evaluated the week of Sept. 15 for the Fresno
St. game), but likely longer and still might not return at all (I just don’t
want to count on him at all). This is
also a young group but will be boosted and pushed by new recruits next year,
including greyshirts Peyton Williams and Jeffrey Thomas, not to mention a
healthy P-Rich.
§
The offensive line starters have been set for a
while and most players can play more than one spot. They are also versatile and deep behind the
big six as well. Jr. LT David
Bahktiari is backed up by Sr. Ryan
Dannewitz AND R-Fr. Marc Mustoe; So. LG Alex Lewis is followed by true frosh
Jeromy Irwin (looks like they will not redshirt him) who jumped over So. Kawai
Crabb; R-Fr. Brad Cotner is actually listed #2 after Jr. Gus Handler at center
then So. Daniel Munyer, who is #1 RG, backed up by Sr. Eric Richter (yea he
made the two-deep finally!) and T-Fr. Alex Kelley; Jr. Jack Harris is the RT with Dannewitz AND
R-Fr. beast Stephane Nembot. No matter
what the chart says, if one goes down, Dannewitz comes in and they will shift
to give them best combo of the four remaining starters and “Danno”. They group is primed and ready to lead what
should be a surprising run game to the Pac-12.
It also bodes very well for the future as they will only lose one senior
next year, (Dannewitz), and so should bring back five starters and a very
experienced second line behind them full of young talent. They also already have five commits for 2013
o-linemen.
Defense
§
From all reports it sounds like the interior of
the line should be fairly solid with the emergence of freshmen DT Josh Topou,
now listed as co-starter with the finally healthy Jr. Nate Bonsu and next to
returning captain Will Pericak with T-Fr. Justin Solis and Tyler Henington making
a very nice rotation, keeping Pericak and whoever else stands out the best
fresh for late in the game. This
position looks to be fairly solid heading to the future with these three to
lead the way for four years, although they could use some depth and will get
more help next year. Some of the outside
guys below could end up putting on weight and boosting this position down the
road.
§
Outside at DE and the hybrid “Jack LB” the
situation is not as stable, although the starters, So. Juda Parker (coming
around and recently getting some hype) and Chidera Uzo-Diribe (most talked
about player outside of QB) respectively, are all but definite, the play of
freshmen has not been as consistent. T-Fr. John Stuart (second behind Parker at
DE) and Samson Kofavalu (third after Chidera at Jack) made the depth chart,
along with So. Kirk Poston, who held on to the backup slot behind CUD. This five-man rotation is adequate, but not
quite as strong as the five at DT. However, all of the youth here who are
gaining experience this year, even if they do redshirt, will leave the position
solid next year as well. T-Fr. DeJon
Wilson and Kyle Rasmussen will probably redshirt and they will also be joined
in the spring by the greyshirting Derek McCartney and Kisima Jagne.
§
What was thought of as one of the deepest
positions, LB may now be considered definitely
the deepest after the stellar scrimmage play of Sophs. Brady Daigh and Kyle
Washington subbing for Srs. Doug Rippy and Jon Major, alongside Jr. Derrick
Webb. Fellow So. Woodson Greer III has
not been as consistent but is second behind Webb and they have high hopes for
him to continue developing. They also
have numerous others to provide depth including So. KT Tu’umalo, former DB Paul
Vigo (recently described by Kyle Ringo as “hard-hitting”), as well as So.
Lowell Williams and R-Fr. (walk-on?) Clay Jones. They are also are hoping to
bring in two recruits here.
§
The secondary has been juggled and painted with
true freshmen. Jr. Terrell Smith has
earned the official starter’s slot at SS opposite FS Ray Polk. Parker Orms
(hesitant to even mention that he has stayed healthy) is #2 and the #1 nickel
back, while T-Fr. Marques Moseley is listed as the backup to both Polk and Orms
at the nickel. All four will play a lot
this year and will help keep the group fresh for late in games. Jered Bell has moved over to safety from CB
and will provide depth.
§
The true freshmen have taken over the CB list as
well. Kenneth Crawley has come out on top with the right to start opposite CB
Greg Henderson, with fellow frosh Jeffrey Hall listed as his backup. The other stud frosh, Yuri Wright is #2
behind Henderson, with So. Josh Moten third.
Maybe the biggest question coming into camp, CB is suddenly a relatively
deep, if still inexperienced group. I
don’t think we’ll need DD Goodson to switch over this year at least. R-Fr. Sherrard Harrington was the biggest
surprise being left off the three-deep listing.
All five of those CBs should play on defense at some point this year as
well as contribute on special teams. (The
fourth true frosh CB John Walker will redshirt with finger injury.)
§
It is more probable than not that all eleven of
the DBs listed above will play at some point and hopefully they don’t need more
than that, but there are even a few more bodies that could fill in before they
raid the offense. This group also sets
up well for the future.
Special
Teams Units
§
The Buffs remain solid in the kicking game,
returning experience at all positions, except returner. That alone should make
them better on at least those aspects of special teams. K Will Oliver (PAT/FG), Justin Castor
(kickoff), Ryan Iverson (Long snapper) and Justin Gorman (holder) all appear to
have held firmly to their starting jobs.
P Darragh O’Neill, long ago presumed by most to retain the starter’s title
barely held off Zack Gossnickle. Both have focused on their hangtime.
§
Of the eight slots listed at the return spots
(four-deep at each punt and kickoff return), six are filled by four of the true
freshmen, including the two listed number ones.
CB Kenneth Crawley won the opening punt return slot (4th for
kickoffs), followed by Sophs. RB DD Goodson and WR Keenan Canty, and T-Fr. WR
Gerald Thomas (also 3rd for kickoffs). The kickoff return job was won by S Marques
Moseley (had a 100-yard kickoff return in the scrimmage) backed up by fellow
T-Fr. RB Donta Abron. Not sure if they will line up with just Moseley deep or
with Abron.
§
Other frosh like CBs Yuri Wright and Jeff Hall, FBs
Christian Powell and Clay Norgard (if he doesn’t redshirt now), along with
above returners, will improve speed of coverage teams.
§
I am still curious as to how they will approach
kickoffs with the new rules. They
haven’t truly decided anything and are still experimenting with how Castor and
other kickers can control their kicks.
It may very well depend on the opponent and conditions (home altitude,
weather). They had at least one right to the goal line in the scrimmage (Moseley’s
return) but not sure if that was kick practice or more return focus.
Other
Team Notes:
§
True
Freshmen who will play for sure (I count 14): The three DTs (Tupou, Solis,
Henington), 2 DEs (Stuart and Kofavalu), 1 S (Moseley), 3 CBs (Wright, Crawley
and Hall), 1 FB (Powell), 1 RB (Abron) 1 WR (G. Thomas), 1 TE (Hobbs), 1 OL (J.
Irwin is expected to get some game reps).
§
True frosh
that are looking to redshirt (I see six definite redshirts with some maybes):
QB Shane Dillon (shoulder), DB John Walker (finger), RB Davien Payne, TE (Sean
Irwin), 2 DE (Rasmussen and Wilson)
§
Not sure?
These three guys could still go either way: RB Terrence Crowder (I am not
convinced that he will actually play listed as “co-fourth”) and FB Norgard
(surprisingly not listed as third FB), TE Austin Ray (was supposedly all-around
ready but not even fifth on depth chart).
If anyone else were to play from this group it would be one of the TEs
or DEs.
§
Greyshirts
we’ll see in January (five; I think three will count toward 2012 and two to
2013 classes): DE Derek McCartney, OL Gerald Kough, DE Kisima Jagne, WRs
Peyton Williams and Jeffrey Thomas. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of these
guys never makes it back here.
§
CSU notes:
The lambs feel so good after their second scrimmage that they are holding open
tryouts, specifically looking for bigger bodies to help on either side of the
ball. McElwain has also said that the
placekicking starter(s) will be decided on gameday at…whatever that stupid
field/stadium is called now in Denver. A
preview to come later in the week
§
Other
opponents: Arizona suspended DT Justin Washington, who was expected to play
quite a bit, for the cliché unspecified “violation of team rules”
Buff
bashing? No
way! Buffnik’s got the season’s best
prognostication yet: http://www.allbuffs.com/content.php/1480-A-really-******-preview-of-the-2012-CU-Buffs-football-season
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