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Teacher by day, Buff fanatic by night, and, actually throughout the school day also. I was raised in Boulder during the dark Chuck Fairbanks years by two University of Michigan alums. I knew "Go Blue!" long before "Go Buffs!", but when a relatively unknown defensive coordinator was hired to lead the Buffs, my interest was slightly piqued. By the time I reached high school Bill McCartney was building a solid foundation with homegrown talent like Jon Embree and I remember the day in 1986 when Boulder celebrated the win over Nebraska. In college I sold beer, watched Coach Mac win a championship, Rashaan Salaam win a Heisman and I was hooked forever. When Jon Embree was hired, I renewed my season tickets and hit the practice rail. I wrote up a few things for some relatives, forwarded them to a few friends, and then made it a blog. Now I find writing about my Buffies is fun, more informative and therapy! I'll post a few times a week during the season, less in the offseason, with news, musings and links. Go Buffs!

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

First Practice Notes


The Buffs ha their first official practice (of 29 total, not counting walk-throughs) on Monday afternoon.  They will continue all week with the same schedule of early walk-throughs (6:30 AM) which will prepare them to be efficient in the PM, before most players will go to the last week of summer class, with a (of course closed to the public) practice at 4:45.  The first day of pads will be Friday.  Embree thought the first day went well, ran smoothly, players were much sharper than the first day last year, and they were able to focus on the football.  Here are a few tidbits from camp:
§  The 3-way QB battle is under way. QB Nick Hirschman feels “fantastic”, finally healthy after 3 foot surgeries, and said that he, Webb and Wood basically received equal reps the first day.  Wood said, “Competition brings out the best in everybody.”  Webb is glad they will “give me a chance.  That’s all I can ask for.”  Shane Dillon took it easy and is surely slated to redshirt.
§  S Ray Polk is also healthy and excited to help lead the defense and head up the secondary.  He has taken Anthony Perkins’ number 7 and has taken the younger players under his wing, especially new frosh Marques Moseley, who Embree thinks has a good chance to play immediately.
§  TE Nick Kasa feels much more comfortable playing tight end now and thought he had a good first day.
§  Jr. DaVaughn Thorton had moved back to TE from WR to compete with the freshmen there but I don’t anticipate him contributing much this year or next.
§  Bowl game or bust will be the mantra for this team this season as they ended the practice (as they likely will each day) with a “1-2-3…Bowl game!”
§  Frosh WR Jeffrey Thomas got “dinged” but no other injuries reported.
§  P-Rich did some light running.
§  LB Doug Rippy did not participate in “team stuff” but no one seems worried about that.
§  Bulletin Board material? CSU head coach Jim McElwain said of the Buffs and preparing for the first game: “It’s just eleven guys over there.”
§  Buffs in the NFL: S Anthony Perkins, who supposedly gave up a graduate assistant slot at Stanford for his shot at the pros, is working out in Dove Valley, trying to make an impression on Peyton Manning and the other Broncos coaches. 
§  DE Conrad Obi signed and is in camp with the Atlanta Falcons.
§  “Behind the Steel Curtain” doesn’t think Tony Clemons, who has some drops in camp, will make the Steelers 53-man roster; he also needs to show some usefulness in special teams to make that roster.
§  Roster Moves: Juniors and Colorado natives RB Josh Ford (Mullen), TE Scott Fernandez (Broomfield) and FB Alex Wood Steamboat Springs were all awarded scholarships by Embree in front of the team.
§  It was confirmed that WR Peyton Williams and DE Kisima Jagne will join DE Derek McCartney and OL Gerald Kough in greyshirting and delaying their enrollment until January.  Two will count toward 2012’s full 25 man class (Clay Norgard came early and will count back to 2011) and two will count toward next year’s smaller class, which also already has 13 commits, even though there are only 8 seniors and 1 or 2 scholarships under the 85 limit available.  This also means that Jagne “stays in the fold” (whereas he might never make it back here if he went the JC route), as long as he takes care of whatever classwork or test scores he needs to before January.
§  AllBuffs and Buffnik’s Uncensored Buffs Offense Preview (warning: chock full of cheesy nicknames): http://www.allbuffs.com/content.php/1458-A-really-******-preview-of-the-2012-CU-Buffs-football-season-Part-I-Offense
§  If you haven’t seen it, here is the Season Opening inspirational video: http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=205566012

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