With
Signing Day behind us, Spring practices are less than a week away. Here are some noteworthy items with a more
complete positional preview coming soon.
Spring schedule: The first of 15 practices
(half before spring break and half after) is March 7; the Spring game is at
noon on Saturday, April 12 and will be televised on Pac12 networks; the last practice
will be a post-spring game session on Monday, April 14, just as they did last
year to go over what they should be working on during the unsupervised “offseason”. A full schedule has not been released yet,
but most practices will be run in the morning and open to the public.
Injuries: Although the list appears quite long at first,
there are only two players who are definitely out-CB Jeffrey Hall, who had hip
surgery to mend a chronic issue (and based on his recent arrest and tweets, he
may not be long for Boulder anyway-the team technically has three more players
than scholarships when everyone gets here in the fall), and OL Jeromy Irwin is still recovering from a broken bone,
well actually a second fracture in his foot from an offseason mishap last year.
There are
also a couple of “questionable” players who could miss sometime at the
beginning: DE Jimmie Gilbert had surgery for chronic shoulder and little used DE
Andre Nichols had a herniated disk repaired.
Both TB
Michael Adkins and ILB Addison Gillam had post season arthroscopic surgery to
mend chronic knee issues are “probable”, along with OLB Woodson Greer who
missed last four games with a neck stinger, CB John Walker (leg contusion), FB
Clay Jones (neck), DB Josh Moten who missed last season after Achilles surgery,
OT Marc Mustoe (broken fibula in October), and S Terrel Smith who underwent
surgery for his chronic shoulder in September and redshirted.
The only ones
to be concerned about are Irwin and Gilbert, who are both being counted on to
contribute.
New faces: A few
new players will join the fold this spring.
LB Deysean Rippy (cousin of
Doug) is the biggest name who is expected to make an impact. JC transfer Wyatt Smith will likely come right in and be the team’s long
snapper the next two seasons. The other
JC transfer, cornerback Athello
Witherspoon, will certainly compete in a crowded (though I am hesitant to
use the term “deep”) defensive secondary, bringing some size and
experience. The last JC transfer, Sully Wiefels
who wisely switched commitments from csu, is also listed on some sites as on
campus, could also be competing for immediate playing time; WR Lee Walker is an early enrollee
although, since he didn’t qualify for Arizona last year he just sat out and
worked on test scores, he is basically a greyshirt, like OL John Lisella, who has been training with
Matt McChesney.
Former CU
team equipment manager and high school QB Trent
Sessions will officially join the team as a walk-on and will essentially be
another arm to toss reps in practice-I doubt he will ever be used in a game as true
frosh Cade Apsay will join the team in the fall, as well as former Air Force QB
Jaweel Awini.
The team
will also welcome the partially “new” faces of some guys that redshirted last
year, either for freshmanness, including some linemen, RB Philip Lindsay, and
raw TE Connor Center, or others for injury, such as DBs Terrel Smith (shoulder)
and Josh Moten (Achilles), and possibly RB Josh Ford, if he is granted a 6th
year.
Position moves: I am not aware of any planned position
moves for players, but there will certainly be a few experiments in the
spring. There are still a few defensive
linemen that are tweeners and we will have to see where Coach Jeffcoat ends up
slotting everyone.
Other Buff Notes: P-Rich had a great
combine, posting a 4.4 in the 40, a top ten standing vertical, and maybe most
importantly since his weight and durability have been questioned, has already
put on 14 pounds. He also has been
working on his kick and punt returns and is definitely willing to do either in
the NFL, having only been kept from it by CU coaches to prevent injury. Overall, he did well for his draft stock,
probably solidifying a third round selection and maybe even second, but this is
the deepest draft in years for receivers.
*Nice recognition of Wil Oliver and his 15 point
day vs. little brother as the ESPN Pac12 blog reviewed some of the bests of the
season: http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/69366/top-2013-performances-will-oliver?ex_cid=espnapi_public
*DD
Goodson gets some hype as a player that could step up next year:
*Sefo has
high expectations: http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/69631/liufau-expects-himself-buffs-to-improve-in-2014?ex_cid=espnapi_public
*OT Ryan
Miller signed a contract with the Broncos.
Go Buffs!
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