Fall Camp in Full Swing

The Buffs are a full week in to Fall practices, have started going full pads and tackling on a limited amount of days and are even starting two-a-days!  There have been no major items yet and thankfully only minor injuries.  Practices are open to the media and public-we just aren’t allowed to share anything. I am heading up there this (Wednesday) morning, so I will have a generic post follow-up soon.  There will also probably be a scrimmage this Saturday, August 17, sometime during the 8:00-11:00 practice period and I plan on attending that as well.

  The players have been practicing across two fields in two main groups so they are all getting lots of reps.  Additionally, they are focused on practicing and playing up tempo so they are packing in a lot of plays in reps.  MacIntyre bragged they got 48 plays in during a 20 minute session.  They are hoping to be ready for all the hurry-up offenses they will face, playing more up tempo themselves (MacIntyre said they will probably only huddle about 10% of the time) and are hoping to take advantage of the altitude by being in the best physical shape, able to keep going late in games.  They will also play a lot of “position groups” to get lots of players in and keep everyone fresh.

  The team did some situational scrimmaging in Folsom on Tuesday, the first fully live play they have had, including some live special teams kicks, punts and returns.  There were seven officials watching over and calling practice from various conferences to help players understand how things will be called.

Roster Notes: DE Kory Rasmussen was the latest (and hopefully last) member of the squad to leave the team as it was decided he hadn’t met team expectations by the eve of camp.

  Even though MacIntyre still claims the QB spot is wide open, it appears that Connor Wood is pretty solid in keeping his starting position.  The bigger question is who will be the backup between newcomer Jordan Gehrke, who is the most accurate of the group, Stevie Joe Dorman-Detmer, who has the most time in the program and has surprised many with his progress, and wild card true frosh Sefu Liufau, who is the most athletic of the trio by far, has been impressing coaches and could end up playing some just because it will be hard to keep him off the field.  He needs to be good enough to get on the field or at least be the main backup with some separation from Gehrke and Dorman, otherwise it is a waste to not redshirt him (see Tyler Hansen, twice).

  Wide Receiver should continue to interesting because Troy Walters has a talented and experienced, but many have been dinged up at times so far.  P-Rich will be out there almost every play (I hope) and Spruce, McCulloch, Goodson, Canty, Thomas will rotate a lot, so everyone will gets reps and touches.  As there is no one who stands out at the TE spot, all five scholarship players-Fernandez, Slavin, Wood, S. Irwin and Ray-will get some playing time as well, but without Hobbs this position will not produce that much. One or more of the freshman between Bobo, Ross and Dunston will add some speed to the unit and special teams, as all three have gotten great reviews so far, especially Ross even though he has had to sit out some..

  The offensive line is close to set with Jack Harris and Stefane Nembot entrenched at the tackles, Gus Handler at center, with Daniel Munyer and Kawaii Crabb at the guards; Jeromy Irwin provides depth everywhere but has been injured and there has even been some talk that he could redshirt. Alex Kelly and Brad Cotner can play anywhere in the interior, and Marc Mustoe will backup at the tackles.   Munyer has yet to practice but is expected to be ready for csu.

  The RBs will probably rotate all three of Christian Powell, Tony Jones and Josh Ford, who all offer a little something different (similar to the TEs), and one of the younger guys-Abron, Creer, Crowder (who is finally healthy), and the frosh Adkins (who has started to turn some head) and Lindsay.

  Since they have lost a few guys, anyone left will be part of the Defensive line rotation, starting with Chidera Uzo-Diribe and Samson Kafovalu outside (backed up by Kirk Poston and Juda Parker), with the slimmed down Josh Tupou and Sr. Nate Bonsu on the inside (backed up by Justin Solis and Tyler Henington).  DeJon Wilson was a terror on the scout team and could factor in somewhere and frosh DEs Jimmie Gilbert and Derek McCartney have gotten a lot of praise in camp so far.

  Derrick Webb should be on the field most plays at inside LB with true frosh Addison Gilliam, who staked his claim during the spring, and Soph. Jr. Brady Daigh, who lost ground to Gilliam with an injury and has never regained it, helping out inside, while Sr. Paul Vigo will hold down the outside backed up by Woodson Greer.  All five of those guys will play a lot.  Clay Norgard will need some time to re-accustom body and mind to the position after a year plus trying to be a fullback, while Lowell Williams and KT Tu’umalo provide depth and special teams support.

  MacIntyre said the secondary is “freakin’ light years” ahead of where they were in the spring.  Remember where they were coming from last year and they still have a long journey ahead of them with the Pac12 offenses they will face.

  Cornerback may actually be one of the stronger position groups with returning starters and experienced backups, led by steady Greg Henderson and the much improved Kenneth Crawley, backed up by Yuri Wright, John Walker and Jeff Hall. True frosh CB Chidobe Awuzie is pushing for playing time with his speed and playmaking, plus he is well known to the staff from the San Jose area.

  At safety the Buffs a have some experience, but are a little s l o w.  Parker Orms is the main playmaker but is injury prone and is also main nickelback (and will be susceptible to new hitting/ejection rules) while Terrel Smith and Jered Bell are capable but mediocre; athletic Soph.

  Marques Mosley is one of the most athletic and fastest DBs (see his 100-yard kickoff return last season) and has been practicing at both safety spots and nickel, but has supposedly struggling a little under new expectations in the new scheme.  Eventually, he will be a regular part of the secondary rotation.

  Preseason Consensus All-Pac12 Punter Darragh O’Neill will lead the special teams unit and Wil Oliver will be the kicker.  Newcomer Mexicano Diego Gonzalez provides a huge leg but will have to sit out this year due to international transfer rules-look for him to at least kickoff in 2014.

  We are still unsure as to who will be returning kicks and punts and there are a lot of candidates.  The scrimmages might provide some insight to that.

  Freshmen: It is likely that other freshmen-besides Sefo, Gilbert, Gilliam, Awuzie and a wideout or two-will be called upon, although not as many as the last couple of seasons. Coach MacIntyre has said he will play true freshmen IF they are physically and mentally prepared, and they are going to get enough plays to contribute and develop. Ideally they would play more than just special teams, but sometimes a few frosh will earn their letter on that alone.

  Other frosh will very well could meet these criteria and make it on the field are: Ath Ryan Severson, who can play safety, LB or RB, and will likely be an every unit special teams player; LB Markeis Reid has turned a lot of head s and could make it into the LB rotation especially if he can contribute to Toby Neinas’ units; S Tedric Thompson might be the infusion of add speed needed at safety and could also be a multi-unit special teamer.  The other running backs, Lindsay and Adkins could factor in on some special teams, but are more likely to redshirt, especially with the three frosh receivers in the mix.

Some of the frosh definitely will redshirt though, including all the offensive lineman, late signee TE Connor Center who just needs to learn football (unless he just surprises and forces the issue), and DE Timothy Coleman, who has been injured and has not practiced yet.  We haven’t heard a lot about LBs George Frazier (came in looking the part but…) or Kenneth Olugbode (who definitely needs some time to put on weight) either.

 2014 Recruiting: The Buffs are up to 10 verbal commitments for this cycle after consensus three-star Jase Franke, a defensive lineman from St. Bonaventure in Ventura, CA, committed while on campus and set off the string of #CUin14 tweets Monday. He had offers from Arizona and interest from a lot of schools in the Pac12 and Penn St. One post said he could play either tackle or end, but another said he looked really small and would need to put on weight.

  Franke is the second DL commit in the last week after El Paso, TX  product Eddy Lopez also gave the staff his verbal.

  Numerous other prospects have taken unofficial visits and taken in some practice time, including Houston DT Elijah Rodriguez.  Since I have been gone and am too cheap to subscribe to any sites I don’t know all the names but AllBuffs.com probably has a nice roundup.

  Other Buff Notes: CU was ranked as the 86^th best team in the nation by CSBSports, last of the teams from the Big 5 conferences, although ahead of 93 csu, but behind Cal (60), WSU (62) and Utah (66).

  New Athletic Director Rick George is now officially on the job.   He and his daughter drove up from Texas and made CU football practice his first public stop on Sunday, then also caught the end of practice to wrap up his first official day on Monday. He said all the right things and is ready to get to work.

  Linda Lappe and the women’s basketball team are in Italy playing a four-game mini-tour against various levels of competition, similar to what the men’s team did in France last summer.  Teams are allowed to participate in this kind of trip once every four years.

  Pac12 is going after DirecTV hard asking subscribers to switch to anything else.  There are ads for each team showing what you see on Pac12 Networks (the football teams) or on DirecTV (pictures of the animals-buffalo, bison, bears-that are the mascots as if from wildlife programming).