Srimmage Notes

The Buffs conducted their first scrimmage Saturday at Folsom Field to cap the first two weeks of camp with 96 plays, including some live special teams work.  Embree calls the team “about halfway there” but also way ahead of last year. “They want it,” was repeated throughout the Press Notes.  Most of the scrimmage was in “ones vs. ones and twos vs. twos”.  No statistics were released; there were a few mistakes but mostly by backups who were filling in.  At least LBs Jon Major and Doug Rippy as well as S Ray Polk were held out for precautionary reasons and no new injuries were reported.

Here are a few more quotes and items from around the scrimmage:

Offensive Notes

§  QB battle: Jordan Webb has started “asserting himself as a leader of the offense.”  There was nothing spectacular (although he did have at least one TD to Canty) reported about the scrimmage except that he worked exclusively with the first team, seems that he did relatively well, “moved the ball”, felt good leading the team, etc.  Webb thought the team would be ready to go next week if they had to play.

§  People need to stop analyzing Webb’s size so much-he isn’t big by any means, but don’t worry folks, neither is he Cody Hawkins!  He will be fine, similar likely to Tyler Hansen, maybe a little more productive overall as the team knows more of what’s expected and the schedule is not nearly as difficult.

§  Wood and Hirschman have settled into their duel for the backup position. Neither separated themselves in the scrimmage, although each had at least one TD.

§  There were two picks but one was blamed on freshmen route running and neither were attributed to a particular QB.

§  Embree seems pleased with the run game, “night and day” from last year.  Tony Jones appears ready to carry the rock for the Buffs and the offensive line is ready to grab back the program’s identity as a run-first, bruising attack, which can pass when it needs to do so.

§  The offensive line was “pretty much set” coming into the scrimmage, and they are working a lot on versatility so that if someone goes down, they shift and still keep best five on the field (i.e. Alex Lewis is getting reps at LT, Ryan Dannewitz of course is getting reps everywhere but center).

§  So. WR Keenan Canty made a few nice catches, including a TD in the back of the end zone from Webb, and is making his case for the rotation.  He says the competition of the young guys has really helped him.

§  Not much else was written about wide receivers…

§  Surprisingly, I could find nothing mentioned about the TE battle anywhere?!  I need my Vincent Hobbs update!

§  According to RalphieReport, CU lost 15 lettermen from the offensive side of the ball alone (not sure if that is even counting P-Rich).

Defensive Notes

§  Embree named numerous young defensive players for their play in the scrimmage (see more below).

§  On the D-Line many of the young players stood out including three of the true freshmen, “the usual suspects,” who have been continually praised and look to be staking their spots in the rotation: Josh Tupou, Justin Solis and Tyler Henington. 

§  So. Juda Parker, penciled in as the outside DE, has been relatively quiet in camp but is starting to do more, “making plays instead of just being comfortable doing his job.”

§  DE/Jack LB Chidera Uzo-Diribe is one of the players with the most hype and upside on the entire roster and was one of the highlights of the scrimmage again.  He has worked hard in the offseason to improve strength while maintain his incredible speed and quickness for a 250 pounder.  He routinely runs drills with the skill position players and has top times in some of the most difficult agility drills.  He also studied a lot of film and realizes his potential now.  Although he made some plays last year, he also disappeared for stretches. He is slated to start at the Jack LB/DE, will move around a lot and they need him to be a consistent menace for opposing linemen and QBs.  He has been held out of some drills because he disrupted too much.  Of course, that was also true of Conrab Obi and he went on to have a very mediocre season, but I don’t think that is the case for “CUD”.

§  Sr. DT Wil Pericak is a player that Embree said has come a long way since day 1 last year in his technique and now has a chance to be “an all-conference player.”  He deflected a ball that was picked off.

§  Soph. LBs Brady Daigh (deflected interception) and Kyle Washington were both praised for their work filling in on the first unit for Rippy and Major.

§  Jr. LB Paul Vigo, who recently switched over from the new found depth in the secondary, has been doing well and now will provide depth with the LBs, specifically behind Kyle Washington behind weakside starter Derrick Webb. I didn’t see anything from the scrimmage though.

§  CB Greg Henderson is a super sophomore who continues to improve and receive kudos.  He will likely be matched up against the #1 receiver each week (again) and has some big names to make his name against.

§  T-Fr. S Marques Moseley was doubled out for both his defensive (both spots but mostly free safety for Polk) and special teams play (see below) in the scrimmage.  Another lock to play as a true frosh.

Special Teams Notes

§   T-Fr. S Marques Moseley returned a kickoff 100 yards for a TD.  Even with Embree “holding his breath because of his tweaked hammy…he didn’t have to hit fourth gear, he was able to score in third gear.”  Obviously this bodes well for the return game, but what about the kickoff coverage unit?

§  Embree said there were four guys returning kickoffs, but did not mention who the other three were (Keenan Canty? Gerald Thomas?  Donta Abron or Terrence Crowder maybe?)

§  I wonder if this tells us that Embree and Brookhart have decided to try and land kickoff near the goal line, or even just short to tempt or even force  teams to run it out, instead of a taking a touchback where they get the ball at the 25-yard line this year.  It could also be in anticipation of what they think csu will do.

§  Punting was only planned to be fair catch and cover practice and would been so no matter what as the hang time was supposedly so good there would not have been any returns.

Other Team Notes:

§  Both Bill and Derek McCartney (recruit and grandson) watched the scrimmage.

§  I actually emailed Dave Plati, the Sports Information Director inquiring about an official depth chart.  He said the coaches hadn’t really done and “official” one yet, that they had just given a basic one with attrition and a few moves at the beginning of camp.  A couple days later Embree came out in the paper and said he wasn’t a big fan of depth charts, and that he usually waited until Plati hounds him for one.  The wheels should be in motion after this scrimmage.  Some guys are going to move down and receive fewer reps, regardless of how it is reported.

§  Monday and Wednesday this week will be the last of the two-a-day sessions.  Next Saturday the team will stage a “mock game”, which I believe is a situational scrimmage that will model how the team should expect to act and what to do in common and important gameday situations.

§  Yahoo Sports! ranked Folsom Field as the seventh hardest place to play, calling it “one of the most underrated venues in college sports. The fans here always cheer hard and loud, and they are quite respectful and friendly to visiting fans.”

§  Frosh DE Kisima Jagne has straightened out his records and is set to go…for January.  He will officially greyshirt as he has missed so much camp and there are no spots with Jordan Webb and 24 new freshmen out there already.

§  One CU fan took offense to EB’s comparing T-Fr. Cristian Powell to Buff great Lawrence Vickers: http://rumblinbuff.blogspot.com/2012/08/quick-post-christian-powell-is-no.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRumblingsOfADerangedBuffalo+%28The+Rumblings+of+a+Deranged+Buffalo%29

§  The Pac-12 Network aired the CU preview Saturday night and will be re-airing all 12 previews throughout the rest of the month.

§  CSU notes: The lambs played their second and final scrimmage Saturday, hoping not to lose any more players to injury.  Coach mcelwain was pleased with his team’s performance.

§  Other opponents: USC starts the season atop the AP poll (among others) with Oregon #5, Stanford #21, and Washington and Utah both receiving a decent amount of votes.

§  Arizona is excited for the Rich-Rod era and a wide open spread offense.  I actually like all the new wide open offenses and I think the Buffs will surprise some people against them, Arizona’s bigger problem was the defense who ranked almost as poorly as the Buffs and worse in some areas.  Their games will be very high-scoring and anyone who can slow QB Matt Scott down a little will have a good chance at beating the Mildcats.

§  ASU is in a very similar situation as their rivals (as is Washington St. for that matter), excited about new coach, spread offense, probably overlooking defense.  Another winnable game for the Buffs, especially at home on a Thursday night blackout.

§  Buff bashing? USA Today’s outspoken oddsmaker/columnist Danny Sheridan ranked CU as the “worst BCS team in College Football” on his top 10 list.  I guess he wrote numerous disparaging things but I didn’t bother to read them all.  I wonder if Embree might post some of them…

§  Of course, the Fresno Bee thinks Fresno St. can beat the Jordan Webb-led Buffs.