The
Buffs completed their ninth straight (of 29 total practices) yesterday; Monday was
be the second of two-a-day sessions with some focused split squad work,
Wednesday will be the third of such practices.
Embree has seemed overall generally pleased with the way things have
gone so far. He wishes for better
tackling, but always will no matter what.
He said that things are starting to shuffle themselves out. Saturday
will be the first scrimmage and we should get a depth chart update after that and
maybe know a little more at a few positions.
Here
are a few quotes and items from the last few days:
Offensive
Notes
§
QB battle:
*Stuart
from CUattheGame.com wrote a nice overview of what is known so far about the QB
race: http://www.cuatthegame.com/2012/reading-the-tea-leaves/
*Embree
said: "By Saturday I would hope things start
clearing themselves up," speaking of the QBs and the first scrimmage camp.
§
JD Brookhart is very pleased with his depth at
TE, his numbers up to seven now with the addition of the three freshmen and the
return of DaVaughn Thorton from the WR (too slow for WR, just not strong and
mean enough for TE). Even with four
“veterans” (Nick Kasa, Scott Fernandez, Kyle Slavin are the others), all three
of the frosh could still end up playing this year. Kasa and Fernandez (great blocker) are the
only two that are for sure going to play.
Slavin and Thorton (especially with his recent trouble and suspension
for the first two games) both need to step it up or be forever buried
beneath the frosh on the depth chart.
§
While “Ideally, You’d redshirt every freshman,”
all three of Colorado’s have their strengths and saw a great opportunity to
play in Boulder under a former TE as head coach:
-Vincent
Hobbs is flat out fast and can catch the ball, he is confident and a very hard
worker with a chip on his shoulder from being passed over by Texas.
-Austin
Ray was originally slated for the SEC and Mississippi but was persuaded to come
west instead. He is an all-around gut and will also be hard to keep off the field.
-Sean
Irwin is a great blocker but needs to work on his pass-catching. He has been
thought the most likely of the frosh to redshirt (along with his brother OT
Jeromy) but he feels that he “was holding my own” so far in camp. He and Fernandez both could play the role
that (now LG) Alex Lewis filled last year of the third TE in “Jumbo” short
yardage formation.
§
Jeromy Irwin is currently running second at LG
behind Alex Lewis (and therefore ahead of Kawai Crabb among others).
§
C Gus Handler is back from pink eye, but his
absence allowed Daniel Munyer and Brad Cotner to get some reps at center, which
is good from the standpoint that Embree always wants three centers he can trust.
It also allowed a few others to get extra reps at the RG spot.
§
Alex Lewis and David Bahktiari are developing
good chemistry on the left side of the line.
§
WR McCulloch, much like he did last August has
been turning heads and keeping QBs focused on him with some great catches in
traffic, the former basketball player is using his height, long arms, leaping
ability and great hands to grab balls even when covered. Hopefully his route running can be better in
games this year and he can showcase some of this talent for everyone to see.
§
One of the biggest questions of camp is who will
backup Tony Jones at tailback? Returnees
Josh Ford, Malcolm Creer, (also holder and former QB) Justin Gorman and
one-time DB DD Goodson battle the three frosh Donta Abron, Terrence Crowder and
Davien Payne (who sounds like he is the most likely to redshirt). You figure the Bienemy will have three to
four guys who get action. I think that this
is the year that we see Josh Ford on the field.
If Malcolm Creer is indeed recovered, he looked too good in his limited
time last year not to get more time this season. Do Gorman or Goodson have what it takes to
contribute past special teams? I think
one of the other freshmen plays while the last redshirts with Payne. So far Abron has gotten the most press and
praise. The scrimmage will be very
important for this group.
§
Recent scholarshipped Alex Wood may very well
hold onto the FB job, which would mean that one of the freshmen, Clay Norgard
or Christian Powell would likely redshirt also.
§
T-Fr. Gerald Thomas has a minor leg injury; So.
WR Tyler McCulloch had a hip pointer but doesn’t expect to sit out more than a
day.
Defensive
Notes
§
Embree said one goal is to have better
tackling. Even things are going well so
far, Embree conceded that every coach always wants better tackling.
§
T-Fr. DT Josh Topou is pushing 330, but Bracken
says it’s not baby fat like some others, “he is pretty good where he is.”
§
Sr. DT Will Pericak continues to receive praise
for his hard work, leadership, continued progress and the fact that he needs to
set the tone up front for the young defense.
§
Embree really likes his linebacker corps with
three experienced, upperclassmen starters, but also like his depth and plans on
getting at least the three top Soph. backups some playing time-Brady Daigh
(seemingly mentioned daily by someone), Woodson Greer III (tough day Saturday
but rebounded well Sunday), Kyle Washington (switched from safety to upgrade
speed at the position)-partially to prepare for the future, but also because
they are too good to keep off the field.
Their development will allow the starting trio of Srs. Doug Rippy and
Jon Major (finally healthy after a variety of nagging injuries throughout last
season) and Jr. Derrick Webb to get some breathers and be fresh at the end of
games.
§
R-Fr. CB Sherrard Harrington is back and
practicing (at ~80% from ankle sprain), but this time at safety, instead of
cornerback. It appears he is a little rusty
and the lost time may have hurt him, especially with the influx of freshmen,
specifically his former teammate HD Woodson HS, Kenneth Crawley.
§
So. Jered Bell is also practicing but he is
struggling with transitions in coverage.
§
Coaches continue to rave about the 4-stars
Crawley and Yuri Wright who are battling it out for the second starting CB
slot, with the loser most certainly to be the almost starter at nickel
back. The real battle will be who
surfaces as the 6th and 7th DBs who will play often in the
pass-happy Pac-12.
§
It sounds like So. Kirk Poston is falling behind
all the frosh on the depth chart. I can’t
see him ever contributing much and his scholarship could be used elsewhere. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him transfer
to a smaller school quietly after the season.
§
So. LB Brady Daigh had a minor concussion; T-Fr.
S Marques Moseley has a slight hamstring pull.
§
In sad news, S Wil Harlos, who has suffered from
multiple concussions (at least 4) and hid at least one and his symptoms from
coaches the first few weeks last year.
Embree said it was difficult for everyone involved but that a person’s
safety is first; he has said he would do this and there are a few others on the
roster who have had multiple concussions in their career. Harlos now has the option of medically
retiring and keeping his scholarship running track and likely somehow staying
on scholarship, or trying to find a program that will clear him to play with
his history of concussions.
Special Teams Notes
§
The Buffs do return all key members of the
kicking teams with P Darragh O’Neill, K Will Oliver (PAT/FG), Justin Castor
(kickoff), Ryan Iverson (Long snapper) and Justin Gorman (holder). That alone should make them better on at
least those aspects of special teams.
Hopefully, speedy and shifty freshman receiver Gerald Thomas can
energize the return units.
§
O’Neill has been focusing on increasing his hang
time with strength and flexibility work, as well as his directional punting. He
admitted that he felt fatigued in the latter part of last season and hopes to
have worked up enough to avoid that this November.
§
Oliver said he has been working on getting his
kicks up higher quicker. He said he
doesn’t feel pressure anymore and earlier had stated that he is confident from
as far out as 57 yards this year.
§
Jr. S Terrell Smith and So. RB DD Goodson have
also been mentioned with So. WR Keenan Canty and T-Fr. CB Kenneth Crawley (has
been mentioned the most) and RB Donta Abron as punt and kick returner
candidates getting some chances.
§
Brookhart and Embree are still keeping quiet
about how they will address the new kickoff rules, going for touchbacks or
trying to pin teams deep with high kicks inside the five, and settling for the
25-yard line or trying to run it out from just inside the endzone. [Not that I
have read or heard anything about how anyone else is addressing it.]
Other
Team Notes:
§
CSU notes:
The Lambs have a solid starting RB in Chris Nwoke, but that is the extent of
talent on offense. The backup RBs are a senior who has hardly played (on
numerous bad teams) and three redshirt freshmen with no experience. Hopefully are young defensive linemen get
some great tackling practice as they crush Nwoke or QB Grayson Garrett, who
will likely be scrambling a lot.
§
Speedy lamb Sr. Dominique Vincent moved from the
secondary, one of the few places csu had some depth, to WR where he is adapting
well and could be Grayson’s main target, especially since there is not much
talent in their receiving corps.
§
Other
opponents: ASU is also leaving open the possibility of playing two quarterbacks. They also have three guys in the running:
Sophs Taylor Kelly and Mike Bercovici as well as R-Fr. Michael Eubank.
§
Buff
bashing? The Seattle Times published a fairly objective article on the
Buffs as it looks at each of Washington’s opponents: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/huskyfootball/2018911997_pac14.html?syndication=rss
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