Spring Cleaning: What’s new and what’s old with the CU Buffs
New assistants, new recruits and new roles emerge during CU’s spring football practice.
CU football has some fresh faces under the Flatirons, gearing up for fall. First, it’s spring ball and a valuable time for Karl Dorrell and his new Buffs to get cozy grazing on their Folsom Field pasture.
This winter, Karl Dorrell hired six new assistant coaches, brought on 22 high school recruits, three junior college transfers and added five players from the NCAA transfer portal. Plus there’s a fresh 10 from the 2023 class and more on the way.
The Buffs state five goals in their Spring Prospectus:
- Establish an offensive identity
- Replace key departures on defense
- Rebuild the offensive line
- Identify a new lead running back
- Resume the QB battle
Throughout the past three weeks, each coach worked with their position groups to initiate the rebuilding process and establish who on the roster will bring the goals to fruition.
“They [the assistants] invested a lot of time with their position groups,” Dorrell said on the first day of practice. “They’ve got a really good comfort level with their position units. They’ve got great rapport…they have a lot of energy in their coaching style.”
Joining from Minnesota, new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mike Sanford looks to develop a variety of offensive schemes. In the first three practices, the receivers caught 29 balls, tight ends caught 25 and running backs picked up 20, according to Sanford.
“We’re built to spread the football around,” he said.
Sanford has been enjoying spring with getting to know the players, the coaching staff and applying his offensive vision.
“They’re [the players] excited about learning different ways of doing things, new ways of doing things,” He said. “For me as a coach I’m just having a blast because this coaching staff offers a variety of experiences, systematic approaches and we’ve had a lot of fun putting it together…it’s a really unified offensive group right now.”
Both Sanford and Dorrell are impressed with Brendon Lewis’s growth and his performance during practice
“He’s not anything from what you saw in 2021. I saw a completely different player.” Dorrell said.
Sanford, overseeing Lewis, said he’s, “taking charge of the offense. He’s making really good, fast decisions.”
According to Brain Howell for Buffzone, at the scrimmage on April 9, Lewis unofficially went 10-of-17 pass for 146 yards and a touchdown.
Sanford’s offense looks to place more emphasis on the quarterbacks, providing them with more ownership and control over plays.
Sophomore J.T. Shrout took on a coaching role last season, out due to a knee injury, Lewis adapted quickly to the Buffs starting role. Lewis looks back at the 2021 season as a learning experience and takes notes from the games. “I still watch those games to this day, just to look at what I did wrong, what I could do better,” Lewis said.
Shrout is throwing in practice, but not participating in Saturday scrimmages because he is still healing. He is incrementally integrating back into the offense and fans should be seeing him back in the fall no longer wearing No. 7, but No. 5.
On the receiving end, Shrout is, “excited about our receiving core,” he said.
In that group, Daniel Arias stood out with a 44-yard snag at the scrimmage, and he added a 16-yard touchdown too.
New receivers coach Phil McGeoghan says former Baylor Bear R.J. Sneed is a good leader by example. On McGeoghan’s spring agenda, he is striving to teach his unit to play lower, staying stronger on their bases to be more efficient with their routes.
Sophomore running back Jayle Stacks is catching the attention of both running backs coach Darian Hagan and Dorrell. The departure of Jarek Broussard and Ashaad Clayton opened a door for Stacks to take a more prominent role.
“He’s bought into being a fullback and being a tailback,” Hagan said. “He has a role and I told him, ‘if you buy into your role, you will be rewarded,’ and he’s doing that now.”
“Try to get one percent better every day and that contributes to where I’m at now,” Stacks said.
But Stacks will only go as far as his offensive line takes him. And that unit is very much under construction, now led by former Michigan coach, Kyle DeVan.
“I’m trying to get the most out of each individual kid, still have a baseline for the whole group, but then maximize each one’s individual skill,” he said.
For the defense, coordinator Chris Wilson wants to continue to add to the team. He feels good about the current depth of the defense, but said, “this is not the final team.”
New corners coach Rod Chance and defensive line coach Gerald Chatman are working with Wilson and the defensive staff this spring to identify their top 22 players. Amongst the defensive group, Wilson noted that there’s good speed and good young athletes at Monday’s podium.
Sophomore corner Kaylin Moore wants to make his presence known to earn a top 22 spot. Moore uses the competitive pressure as an advantage, “Pressure is a privilege,” He said. “The more pressure the more acknowledgement you’ll get if you do well.”
There’s a wide array of newness to be seen within each position group and leading them too. As the showcase approaches and spring ball comes to an end, the Buffs are working on developing each player.
“They’re [Shrout and Lewis] managing our system well,” Dorrell said. “They understand it very well and in a lot of ways the light bulb has come on for these guys and a lot of the guys that are on the team.”
