CU football concludes spring ball with the Showcase
After over 3 weeks of spring ball, the Buffs went live at Folsom to showcase their progress.
Following behind Ralphie’s first 2022 run, came the newly renovated Colorado Buffaloes.
After a total 65 plays, the defense created minimal access for the offense, occasionally providing openings for Lewis to connect with his receivers down field. Running backs Jayle Stacks (sophomore) and freshman Noah Wagner rushed into defensive pressure, but the offensive line assisted freshman RB Charlie Offerdahl and junior RB Deion Smith in finding openings and the end zone.
“Believe me, if I would have marked off those penalties, the offense may not have had much production at all,” head coach Karl Dorrell said. “So that tells you a little bit about our defense [right now].”
Offerdahl, coming out of Littleton, Colorado, was able to barrel through the defense producing two of the four touchdowns, one rushing for four yards and one receiving for six yards. He did have one fumble which was recovered by freshman corner Liam McGannon.
Offerdahl wanted to stay close to home when looking at colleges and the self-proclaimed, “Colorado boy” is now applying Buffalo mantras. “As we say as a running back group, ‘slow to, fast through’ so that just means taking your time getting through the hole,” he said. He had the most yards on the day with 55 rushing and 6 receiving.
Sophomore wide receiver Montana Lemonious-Craig went one-for-one on passing yesterday, bombing one to freshman wide receiver Jack Hestera. “Here’s a guy [Hestera] who had a great spring,” Dorrell said. “He’s coming down with a bunch of plays and his confidence level is tremendous. It’s good to see a guy like him..he’s going to be a factor for us this fall.” Coming from Texas to Colorado, Hestera had the most yards in the receiving group yesterday with 50 and averaging 16.7.
“Originally R.J. was going to throw that, but something was wrong with him so they wanted me to throw it,” Lemonious-Craig said on his pass. “I’m just happy with the completion, we got it downfield and got it there.”
Transfer portal pickup R.J. Sneed had four completions yesterday with two first downs.
Brendon Lewis commanded the quarterback group going 12-for-18 for 81 yards. He also dove into the end zone for a touchdown.
For protection, there were only eight healthy offensive linemen. Other players on the offense also did not participate due to injuries as well.
Freshman QB Maddox Kopp went 4-for-7 with one interception, the only interception of the day. On the other end of that pass was safety Jordan Woolverton.
Safety Trevor Woods thought the defense took big steps this spring, “We’ve [the defense] been communicating, that’s one of the main focuses. We’ve been doing a lot of walk-throughs and stuff just to make sure we’re all on the same page all the time.”
The returning defense is acclimated to defensive coordinator Chris Wilson’s defensive schemes Woods later added.
Within the safety group freshman Ben Finneseth had six tackles and senior Anthony Lyle had four. Senior outside linebacker Jamar Montgomery also finished with four tackles.
CU’s defense experienced some impactful departures, but Montgomery said, “We want to prove that we’re better than people think. That’s definitely the edge we have on our shoulders coming into the fall.”
