Spring Practices start
today (Thursday, March 7th) and will be open to the public, as long
as fans are not posting too much on the internet. I won’t be able to make the first two practices,
but will try to attend at least one session in each of the other weeks, and I
will try not to give too many secrets away here.
Here is the tentative spring schedule (15 total days of
spring practices, generally starting 3:30 or 3:45 and going until as late as
6:15PM):
Thursday,
March 7 First practice
Friday, March 8 Practice
Saturday, March 9 Junior Day
Saturday, March 9 Junior Day
Tuesday, March 12 Practice
Wednesday, March 13 Pro timing day
Wednesday, March 13 Pro timing day
Thursday, March
14 Practice
Friday, March 15 Scrimmage
Tuesday, March 19 Practice
Thursday, March 21 Practice
Friday, March 22 Scrimmage
Spring Break
Friday, March 15 Scrimmage
Tuesday, March 19 Practice
Thursday, March 21 Practice
Friday, March 22 Scrimmage
Spring Break
Tuesday, April
2 Practice
Thursday, April 4 Practice
Friday, April 5 Scrimmage
Thursday, April 4 Practice
Friday, April 5 Scrimmage
Tuesday, April
9 Practice
Thursday, April 11 Practice
Thursday, April 11 Practice
Saturday,
April13 Spring Game, 10:30AM, televised on Pac-12 Network, radio
KOA 850 AM
Monday,
April 15 Final practice
There is no
official depth chart going into the spring (it’s actually just alphabetical) and
there are not even any specific positions on the offensive and defensive lines,
or with the linebackers or defensive backs.
MacIntyre said seniority would play a role in getting reps at the
beginning. The general plan is to keep
it simple at the start, slowly implementing just the basic concepts of the
offense and defense, and very few of the “wrinkles”. The first two days will be light though, with
MacIntyre saying they will practice in their “pajamas”. They will try to evaluate everyone during the
first eight practices and figure out exactly what they are working with to
create a depth chart. Those on the
two-deep will earn the reps in the latter half of practices and the
scrimmage.
The team
will work 25 minutes a day on Special Teams, under the supervision of a special
teams coordinator. If this unit is not vastly improved this year then we really
do have a talent issue.
Buffnik on
AllBuffs posted this great chart of the entire roster for each position, each
year and total number of scholarships (they will indeed be six over the limit
when all frosh show up so expect some type of attrition after spring ball): http://www.allbuffs.com/showthread.php/84499-2013-Colorado-Football-Roster-(with-14-commits)
Roster break-down from Stuart of CUattheGame: 97
players/71 scholarship, 17 seniors, 29 juniors, 28 sophomores, 23 freshmen (18
red-shirt/5 true), with 63 returning lettermen (29 on offense, 30 on defense, and
four specialists), including 18 starters (9 offense; 9
defense-although these may not mean much after all the spring dominoes are done).
Here is the list of new walk-ons for spring practices: Wesley Christiansen, WR, Jr.; James Carr, OL, Soph.; Tim McLaughlin, LB, Fr.; Blake Allen, SN, Fr; John Finch, SN, Fr.; and Kevin Murphy, SN, Fr.
Position changes: Coaches have made no
secret of the fact that they will try guys at a variety of positions and there
will definitely be movement within units as MacIntyre said there are no
positions at four of the groupings (O-line, D-line, LBs, DBs).
DD Goodson
(WR from RB/DB) and Clay Norgard (LB from FB) have already made position
switches, and many others will be tried out at more than one position as
coaches see what they really have the first two weeks.
Could one of
the SIX quarterbacks change positions?
It doesn’t appear that any have much experience playing elsewhere, but
with five scholarships (and a 6th in Sefo in the fall) and six over
the limit as a team, this is an area to thin out. Could Nick Hirschman play TE? He is also graduating in May and could
transfer to another program with two years of eligibility, like Jordan Webb
did. I could see Connor Wood
transferring again to an FCS school where he wouod not have to sit out a year
and where he might better fit. What
about Stevie Joe Dorman-does he have any talent anywhere on the field? Someone has to go from this group.
Injuries: Defensive lineman Juda Parker
will be out with a shoulder injury.
Offensive
lineman Alex Lewis, who should compete for the LG and/or the LT spot, is out of
action.
RB Terrence
Crowder will also still be out recovering from his second ACL tear.
WR Colin
Jonhnson (walk-on?) is also listed out with a knee.
We still
don’t know who the two (?) Buffs MacIntyre referenced earlier that may not play
at all in 2013 due to concussions. Speculation is that RB Christian Powell is
one of them, and LB Kyle Washington may be the other. Both suffered multiple concussions last year,
among numerous injuries, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see one or both
on the sidelines for spring ball.
Other Buff Notes:
CU received a $1.6M donation from Jeannie and Jack Thompson,
who also organized some matching donations to bring in over two million
dollars! That means only 48 million to
go for the new facilities…oh wait, that money is actually for the Jazz studies
program, not for athletics or the new upgrades at all, so I guess it is still
50 million to go to get the shovels moving.
Here’s the latest from the CU video department (everyone is
raving about it): http://vimeo.com/60876285
We can probably pencil in Daniel Munyer somewhere on the
offensive line as he appeared with MacIntyre at his pre-spring press conference. Munyer said all the right things about the
new regime without trashing the old one, too much anyway. He said, “I liked Embree but I believe Mac can get it done.” He also said that the new “mentality is going
to weed out all the bad attitude we’ve had here and undisciplined behavior… We
went 1-11. Something was going wrong.”
TE Vincent Hobbs, whose father is dealing with a few issues
back in Texas, remains the most likely to transfer after the spring, more based
on his dad than anything else. Most of
the other murmurings seem to have subsided, but we will see in April.
Former Buff LB Doug Rippy is preparing for the NFL draft
hoping to catch some team’s eye and be drafted in the 7th round or
signed as a free agent.
There seems to have been no official statement from
MacIntyre or CU about the first incident of
the MikeMac era after defensive lineman Samson Kafovalu was arrested for trying
to force his way into a frat party. Kafovalu
has now agreed to a plea deal will perform 24 hours of community service and
take some classes. If he stays out of
trouble, the charges will all be dropped in a year. Will the new coach give any
comment and/or punishment now that the case is settled? Will there at least be a one-game suspension,
something harsher, or just some extra running?
Eric Bienemy and Bill McCartney have both been nominated for
the College Football Hall of Fame (Beinemy obviously based on his playing not
coaching) again. Nate Kreckman wondered
if anyone else was rooting for them “just for the awkward ceremony with Bohn at
Folsom Field.”
Go Panthers! Boulder
High Football has decided to get serious in hiring Bob Simmons, former Oklahoma
St. head coach, to head up their high school program. Simmons was a former CU assistant under Bill McCartney,
and was many people’s choice, including Coach Mac’s, to replace him in 1994,
but administration went instead with the hot, young name (dare I say white?
yes, I think I will) Rick Neuheisel. The
crosstown rivalry has just gotten a little more interesting and has a very
distinct flavor with Coach Mac’s son (Fairview coached by Tom McCartney) vs.
his former assistant.
Yo David,
ReplyDeleteNice post. I am looking forward to watching these guys come together as a team. Also, I took your advice... you once wrote that I should start my own CU blog... so I did. Unfortunately I haven't had as much time to post as I want, but I do occasionally get the inspiration and have the time also.
My stuff can be found at: buffwatch.blogspot.com
What I wrote today was as follows:
It's a new dawn in the land of the Golden Buffaloes. After the longest and darkest night in the history of the Colorado football program, a light has begun to show on the horizon. The view outside is beautiful and so is the weather. The flatirons loom above campus and snow in the hills and high country complete the wondrous sight. Yet another of the more than 300 days of sunshine we enjoy every year, without the high heat of the desert or the crushing humidity of the south.
As an old coach here once said, the University of Colorado and Boulder have EVERYTHING that money can't buy. It is stunningly gorgeous. The town itself is the fittest in America, and Boulder is also the most highly educated city in the US. World class skiing and snowboarding, cycling and mountain biking, hiking and mountain climbing, hunting and fishing, tubing and camping are all right here. And CU itself is a world class school.
What has been missing for much of the last decade is a decent football team. Those of us who were fortunate enough (or, as some would say, old enough) to watch Bill McCartney take a program in shambles and build it into a national powerhouse have longed for the school to regain the glory. The new man in town, the new Big Man on Campus, appears to be the man the Colorado faithful have been waiting for. He's sincere, he's knowledgeable about the game as the son of a college coach, he's trained at the side coaching great Bill Parcells, and most importantly, he and the staff he has assembled have done the job before. And since he has been able to do it before, he has a plan to do it again.
To be more specific, Mike MacIntyre and his staff know how to turn around a program. They took a very down program at San Jose State and turned it from a team with one win in a season into a team that won 11 games last year and came up just short of downing Pac-12 champion Stanford. And this turnaround happened in only 3 years. More importantly for those involved, the new Coach Mac has done it the right way. He stresses academics and accountability. It is the discipline that young men need to succeed in life. He stresses stength and knowledge both on and off the field. And he and his staff of assistants excel at teaching their young men how to do things right.
The Universty of Colorado is my family university, and I am proud that no one in Boulder is willing to sacrifice our community and our reputation by being willing to lower our standards and expectations. Coach MacIntyre goes after young men who are not only good athletes but also good students and citizens. I am glad that he won't be willing to dismiss a prospective recruit's multiple arrests or horrible grades just because he runs a 4.3 forty yard dash. Being fast can only help you in life if you know where you are going.
As a fan for 30 years, since I arrived in Boulder to marry my sweetheart and attend CU, I look forward to watching these young men represent themselves and my university with honor and integrity. And I look forward to them learning that you can win at the highest levels without sacrificing those values. Go Buffs!
Hoping to get over to see some practices before I head south to Arizona. At the very least I will be there after spring break and there to watch the Spring Game. Keep up the good work. Maybe we'll run into each other.
ReplyDeleteGreat stuff as always-I'll hopefully be at practice next Friday the 15th but I will be out of town for the spring game.
ReplyDelete