First half of Spring Practice in the books and on film

The first half of CU spring football practices are in the books as the Buffs completed the eighth of fifteen practices, including the second scrimmage on Friday.  There was a decent amount of press recently, even some national attention, although nothing surprising or of great interest.  Coach MacIntyre and his staff are still feeling out the team and the players and evaluating the film, so we really won’t have too much to talk about until the coaching staff releases its first “pencil” depth chart sometime this week.

ESPN.com  coverage: I can’t believe the Buffalo Football team had three mentions on ESPN.com on the same day, especially this time of year, but…

How bad is it here in Boulder?  Ivan Maisel called it a dirty job, definitely the toughest in college football, maybe one of the worst?  Do you agree? http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9065139/new-coaches-face-different-kinds-spring-challenges-college-football 

Maisel also had a blurb in his 3-point stance on the facilities: “Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre said that the Buffs’ facilities are fine, even as the university has begun a campaign to add to them. Adding and renovating are a necessity in the Pac-12, he said. “USC has built a $70 million complex, and Washington has built a $400 million complex and stadium, and Cal has built a $350 million complex and stadium,” MacIntyre said. “They just kind of raised the bar.”

Lastly, there was also this tidbit on the QBs in the “Insider Rumor Central”: http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/college-football/rumors/post?id=3189

Practice and player notes: MacIntyre was so generic with his post practice notes Tuesday it’s not worth typing or copying any of them. 

Thursday gave us a little more: “They’re starting to learn how to rush off the edge. Chidera (Uzo-Diribe) and Samson (Kafovalu) did a really good job. They sacked the quarterback four of five times. They hadn’t been getting near him. They were rushing too far inside, going too head up on the (offensive) tackle. They’re just starting to understand. Jim Jeffcoat does a great job of teaching them how to read a tackle, and how to rush. I think they’re starting to see that”. 

MacIntyre also reiterated what anyone has said about P-Rich: “Really quick and fast, and catching the ball well. He hasn’t had any issues with the knee. He’s done everything we’ve asked of him, and worked really hard at it.”

MacIntyre praised DD Goodson many times and could end up being the slot receiver that gets a lot of looks.  LB Derrick Webb said, “He’s pretty much a natural at wide receiver…haven’t seen him drop a ball yet…things he can do after the catch is pretty awesome.”

DB John Walker, who was in the mix for playing time last fall before a hand injury, is making a good impression again with the new coaches on defense and special teams.

Senior offensive lineman and possible captain Gus Handler is 100% healthy and working hard to impress his third set of coaches and make the most of his last season.  He said it has been harder adjusting the new strength and conditioning coaches and work, than the football coaching.  It would appear he is the frontrunner for the center position, especially in light of Munyer’s injury (see below).

Adam M. of Rivals on the Buff Stampede podcast had a few things to say, at least that he thought he could share publicly without drawing MacIntyre’s ire, about the practices and team so far.  He re-stated the fact that practice is being run at a very high tempo, running a lot of reps, and trying to get everyone equal reps here at the beginning.  He also noted there is much less yelling and swearing than in the past.

 -He said there is nothing to worry about that WR Paul Richardson didn’t play in the scrimmage and wore a yellow “no contact” jersey.  He is one guy they don’t really need to evaluate and they will be very cautious with him.  However, WR coach Troy Walters said if he didn’t know the history, watching Richardson, he wouldn’t know he was coming off a serious knee injury.

 -Other players that have stood out a little are converted RB, DD Goodson, who has turned some heads at WR, caught a long TD in the scrimmage and actually almost had another that Hirschman misthrew. Gerald Thomas also got a mention as looking very good so far. RB Josh Ford, never the biggest or fastest back just goes out and gains yards, has good vision and gets yards after contact.  Kaiwi Crabb has looked good on the offensive line and could work his way into the discussion of the interior. 

-Clay Norgard has transitioned back to his more natural defensive role, and has done well, but Adam doesn’t expect him to contribute much or challenge Brady Daigh, who he expects to be the starter at the “Mike” LB inside.

David G of Ralphie Report is as curious as anyone as to what this team will look like, especially the QBs, both lines and the DBs: http://www.ralphiereport.com/2013/3/19/4124712/2013-colorado-buffaloes-football-a-nother-new-era

A picture was tweeted out from CU of safeties coach Charles Clark jumping up with a group of players celebrating an interception.  It looks like he has enthusiasm and will be a “sidelines” guy.  Clark is one of four coaches younger than 33 years old - Brian Lindgren (OC), Klayton Adams (TE/RB), Andy LaRussa (CB).  The staff also includes WR coach Troy Walters who is very connected to the younger generation.

Second scrimmage A few changes to the schedule probably made for not the best scrimmaging situation ever. First, and it was a classy move by Coach MacIntyre, they moved the scrimmage back to 5:15 so the players could watch the men’s NCAA game in the Dal Ward Auditorium.  (I wonder how many of them were at Coors Saturday night for the women’s game in their backyard?).  Then, of course by that time it was snowing quite hard, so they went inside the practice bubble, which is not even a whole field length, has almost no sideline space, and punts can often hit ceiling. 

-They did get in 88 plays and “most” of the work they wanted to, minus live punting and kickoffs.  Much of the focus was situational -red zone, 2-minute drill, offense starting backed up deep-with over half of the 67 offensive plays in these specific areas, with the defense generally getting the best of the offense. 

Highlights and stats: WR Tyler McCulloch caught a 4^th-and-2 42-yard TD and Terrel Smith had a 103-yard pick six of a John Schrock pass. 

-The QBs only went a combined 18-40 for 196 yards, while the RBs only rushed 25 times for 70 yards, only 2.8 yards per carry.

Possible starting corners Kenneth Crawley and Greg Henderson also each had an INT. 

-LB Lowell Williams was again one of the leading tacklers with 5, along with DB John Walker and DT Justin Solis, who also had a sack.

-There were 21 total special teams plays with 4 PATs (Justin Castor and Wil Oliver were each 2-2) and 12 (mostly short) FGs; Oliver had the longest with a 47-yarder, but also the lone miss of a 37-yarder.

What were the other six ST plays if there was no punting or kickoffs?

-Here’s the complete stats page: http://www.cubuffs.com//pdf9/1743585.pdf

QB Battle: Although no one had great stats in the scrimmage, Shane Dillon told Adam M. of BuffStampede that he thought he had done enough to “make the cut” and be one of the three or four guys who continue getting decent reps.  He only got two drives, while the rest of the healthy QBs got four-does that mean he is a frontrunner and they wanted to see what the others had?  Overall, he got the least work in the two scrimmages, but I think coaches know he is one of their post-spring break guys, going 5-11-70-0-1 (comp-att-yards-TD-int).

-Terrel Smith said he thought he heard the most talk about Nick Hirschman, who does have the most experience besides Webb and has been in the program the longest.  However, Hirschman tweeted earlier in the week that he was excited there only three days until spring break-is that the attitude the team wants as its starting QB?  I wonder if we will see him as one of the top three or four after the break. Hirschman had similar stats to Dillon with a TD: 6-11-70-1-1.

-Jordan Webb re-injured his hand earlier in the week and did not participate in the scrimmage.  MacIntyre said to be fair, it was likely that Webb would be included in the next round. Webb was 5-11-98-1-0 in his only scrimmage.

-Connor Wood got a lot of work but was not consistent, going 7-20-124-1-0 and appears to be on the bubble.

-Although he ended up getting the most pass attempts, I haven’t heard or read much about Stevie Joe Dorman (17-28-137-0-1) anywhere so I would think it is safe to say he is out of the picture.  Likewise for John Schrock, whose only mentions have been interceptions (11-16-111-0-2, sacked three times).

Stuart from CUattheGame.com breaks down the QB competition and numbers:

http://www.cuatthegame.com/2013/colorado-daily-8/

Together the six QBs combined to throw for a 44% completion rate and a 3-to-1 INT to TD ratio in the scrimmages (and I don't attribute all to our outsnading defense).

S Parker Orms said he usually doesn’t even notice who the QB is on any given play, focusing on his assignments and what is happening with the offense as a whole.  LB Derrick Webb said he has seen all the QBs play well, as well as make mistakes.

MacIntyre said nothing has been decided yet before evaluating all the film, but I think it will be the main three guys-Webb, Hirschman, Dillon-continuing to get equal reps after Spring Break, with Schrock, Dorman and probably Wood on the outside looking in, unless coaches see something on film.

The running backs have had similar equal opportunity distribution and no one has stuck out yet.  It will be interesting to see how they narrow down this competition after break and if anyone moves elsewhere on the roster.

Position changes: Surprisingly, from what coaches said going into the spring, we haven’t heard much yet about other players working out at more than one position.  I would expect more after spring break, as guys fall on the depth chart at their current position, and coaches are concerned about depth at another.  Can Dorman or Wood play anywhere else?

Injuries: CB Yuri Wright (“working his way back with individual work”) and WR Jeff Thomas (not sure if he is still out but did not scrimmage last week) have been held out of practices because of nagging leg injuries and may not practice until after spring break.  Besides Webb, Parker Orms also sat out the scrimmage with some swelling in his knee.  Offensive linemen Daniel Munyer, thought to probably be one of the starting guards broke his leg Thursday, and although it is not considered serious, will have surgery and miss the rest of the spring.

Because of so many injuries (mainly Alex Lewis and Munyer), the offensive line will definitely still be up in the air through fall practices.

I am most curious to see the defensive depth chart as all three groups have a lot of guys and a lot of questions.

WR Austin Vincent can practice with the team, but since he practiced while enrolled full-time at both small schools (Sam Houston St. and Cisco College) he attended over the last year or so, he will not be able to play in games this fall.

At the end of the first half of practices MacIntyre said he thought the defense had caught up a little to the offense.  He praised DD Goodson again, Stephane Nembot’s development at offensive tackle, consistent punting and kicking, and the secondary as a whole for starting to make plays on the ball.  Coaches will now spend a couple of days re-watching all the film of all the practices so far and sketch out their “pencil” depth chart, which will still be very open and flexible.  They will then plan out the next five practices before the Spring Game on April 13.  Troy Walters tweeted Saturday that they were already “grinding, evaluating roster, recruiting, summer camps, #ChasingGreatness”

Here’s the remaining Spring practice schedule, most sessions 3:45-6:15PM on the lower Boulder Creek fields.

 Spring Break

Tuesday, April 2                   Practice (no tackling)
Thursday, April 4                 Practice
Friday, April 5                       Practice (scrimmage)
Tuesday, April 9                   Practice (no tackling)
Thursday, April 11                Practice

Saturday, April13                                 Spring Game, 10:30AM, televised on Pac-12 Network

Tuesday, April 16                 Final practice (shorts/helmets only)

Other Buff Notes: Congratulations to both 2012-13 Buff basketball squads, who each had their own great season, but bowed out of their respective tournaments in the first round.

The Pac-12 is the only conference that will have every one of its teams’ spring game televised, most on its own network.

One time Buff, Lynn Katoa, a four-star LB with tons of potential and tons of problems, pleaded guilty to third-degree assault and felony menacing from a 2011 incident that landed him on Boulder police’s “most wanted” list.  Since Katoa was on probation at the time, he faces the aggravated sentencing range and faces a mandatory three to six years in prison, with sentencing on May 10. Katoa never even made it on the field, like a few of his fellow recruits in hawkins’ highly ranked class of 2008, from which seemingly more players left or never even joined the program (most because of negative circumstances) than actually found success on the field.  Eight guys either never finished, or even started their CU football career-Katoa, Darrell Scott, Bryce Givens, Steven Hicks, Chance Blackmon, Ryan Wallace, Max Tuioti-Mariner, Vince Ewing, with the last two by injury.

RIP Lyndie McCartney.