Fall Camp is almost upon us!

My World Cup fever has subsided and real football, American-style that is, fever is kicking into high gear.  The summer is flying by (less than three weeks until I go back to school/work) but CU Fall Camp officially opens this week!   Players report Friday, and hit the fields Saturday with the first two weeks of practice open to the public.  Most days will have a full practice in the morning (either 7:40-10:30 or 8:50-11:30) with a walk-through in the afternoon.  The team will go through two-a-days, with a second practice from 4:00-6:00, on odd dates from the 9^th to the 15^th as well as the 18th.  The first day of pads will be the 7th, with CU sports media day on the 9^th; with off days on Sundays (10, 17, 24).  Saturday the 16^th will be a scrimmage, as well as being the last practice open to the public before the squad begins preparing for csu.  I am excited to see this second version of Mike MacIntyre’s team and will definitely be headed up to a few practices.

Amidst all of the comings and goings of players this offseason I had been wondering if the Buffs were still be one or two bodies over the 85 scholarship limit once everyone reported, but  it looks like this problem has been solved as it always seems to work out one way or another.  The probable available scholarships include: DB/WR Jeff Hall was arrested, again, this time for failing to take his court-mandated drug test and missing a check-in; after missing spring practices, I doubt he is long for the team at this point; two incoming frosh have decided to greyshirt, delaying enrollment until January and likely counting against the 2015 class- LB Grant Watanabe and OL Isaac Miller;  RB Donta Abron, who had been declared academically ineligible anyway, has decided to transfer to a junior college. Also, defensive lineman Samson Kafovalu is still listed on the latest roster but Coach MacIntyre said he still had academic work to do, so it is unclear if he available to play this fall although Justin Solis is good to go. Watanabe had foot surgery and although he might have factored in on special teams this season, with a lot of experience depth at linebacker, Watanabe probably wasn’t going to see the field much on defense and this time to develop will be helpful when he is ready to contribute in the future.  Isaac Miller also is recovering from an injury and will look to put on some weight in the months ahead. 

The Buffs will have a full field of players with at least 32 walk-ons joining the team  in camp, including two QBs, providing depth and drill numbers. Outside of the gresyhirts, all of the Buff frosh recruits will be ready to go as everyone was fine academically and enrolled in a summer course to get started with player-run summer workouts and meet with coaches (which is now allowed), and will be ready to go.  That is not the case with other Pac-12 schools as Arizona St. already has lost one of their “Top 25 recruiting class” who is not going to qualify, with four more players waiting for clearance still.

On the injury front the Buffs appear to be in generally good shape heading into camp.  DB Josh Moten was the only name from the two-deep depth chart to come out of the spring with a bad, season-ending injury (and he opted to graduate in May and retire from football).  The biggest question will be if OT Jeromy Irwin is healthy enough to compete for the all-important left tackle job with default current “starter” Marc Mustoe and transfer Sully Wiefels (and then, will Stefane Nembot hold everyone off on the right side?).  Others who are recovering from injury and hopefully will be healthy participants include DE Tim Coleman (Achilles), S Terrel Smith, FB George Frazier, CB Yuri Wright.

Other Buff notes:

After being snubbed by all but one previous national award watch list (Wil Oliver was named to Lou Groza list), the Buffs finally have another named, even though he will probably not be the main guy at his position.  Christian Powell was named to the Doak Walker Award watch list, even though he will often line up as a fullback and share carries with (at least) Michael Adkins, who is expected to get the heaviest share of the load; and they still have SR. Tony Jones and frosh Philip Lindsay fighting to get on the field.  Of course, this is a nice recognition for the team and Powell, who had decent freshman and sophomore campaigns, but it’s a little curious. The only other Buff to receive any preseason recognition was senior defensive lineman Juda Parker, who is a nominee for the 2014 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, for student/athletes whose charitable involvement and community service contributions go above beyond.

Rick George has been on the job for just about a year now and so far has received generally raving reviews and grades from all the articles recently written and I must agree.  His open, friendly attitude and genuine demeanor have been refreshing after the previous smugness and arrogance of the bohnhead.  George has basically kept the same core group of people that were in place to move Colorado’s athletic department forward, with a big picture vision and long-term strategic plan to go along with record-breaking fundraising.  Many of the sports programs have had some on the field success (both basketball, new lacrosse, cross country/track), even if it’s not the football team, yet.  The facilities upgrade plan is moving right along with the northeast corner of Folsom Field is still torn up as they work on the main foundation of the project. This area, with a few new sections of seats, should be completed by the time the season starts, while the rest of the project will take the next year or so to complete.  Also, Dave Plati cryptically and vaguely hinted at some upcoming announcement about something to do with BuffVision this fall but cannot say anything more yet.  I hope it is a new sound system.  Here is a link to Live Construction Cam which has a current photo, plus you can check the play button in the upper right hand corner for a time lapse video of the project so far: http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=209458799

I will be putting together an updated look at the position battles soon.  See you on the practice fields. 

 Go Buffs!