Post-Spring Game Thoughts - Good, Bad, Ugly . . .
- By Buff Fan42
- Buff Nation
- 4 Replies
Nothing earth-shattering here, but after a few days to reflect, I wanted to share some thoughts and get others' thoughts. I'll also qualify that I have watched A LOT of the videos posted by Deion Jr so a lot of behind the scenes and practice vids that color my thoughts.
Overall, like many have posted, the Spring "Games" was really a giant marketing campaign for CU, and on that front, seemed incredibly successful. The fanfare, the support, the coverage . . . all awesome. Seeing all the excitement from former Buffs and having big media names like Fowler and RGIII who were having a blast made it even better . . . now . . .
THE GOOD
QB - Shedeur looks like a true P5 QB. Confident, in control, good ball placement, etc. Staub looked nice for a HS Senior as well. Still would like to see a more experienced QB added through the portal to bridge the gap between Shedeur and Staub. Wouldn't be surprised to see Drew Carter's name in the portal soon as he looks far down the depth. Overall, we have a QB for a bit . . . FINALLY.
WR - Hunter and Mathis looked strong . . . so did MLC which sucks because I love the kid, but we are fine with depth at WR. Jimmy Horn is a stud and may be the best WR on the team from what I have watched in practice vids, etc. More coming, others looked good here too. Feel like WR has been good over the years but we just have had no one to deliver the ball. Hopefully now we have the QB and system to get the ball to the WRs to make big plays.
RB - Hankerson looks to have taken the next step as we many have expected and Edwards is legit. Did Deon Smith get any play? Didn't see him and wouldn't be surprised if his name pops up in the portal . . . great kid that has gone through the ringer here, but with others being added and Venn and Offerdahl getting a lot of play in practice . . . seems like depth won't be a concern at RB.
Vibe - This is not a sleepy team . . . Prime's swag and fun has rubbed off. Just need to make sure they don't get ahead of themselves because it will be a challenging year.
THE BAD
OL - probably may be slightly better than last year, but if the QB could have been hit, he would have been hit a bit and the DL is part of the Ugly, below. This unit is just not close to a P5 unit but Lewis' quick strike/getting the ball out fast system could cover a lot of blemishes on the OL. The opened some nice holes for the RBs, but couldn't tell if it's because how bad/thin the DL is.
Shedeur/Hunter - Not bad, per se . . . and I know they are boys and worked together at JSU, but Shedeur just locks onto Hunter way too much. P5 DBs will bait and take advantage of his "Hunter-First" looks. Have plenty of talented WRs to go around . . . just hope he doesn't get locked in and telegraph as much.
DBs - WAS NOT IMPRESSED. Generally beat, not great coverage, looked small still, etc. Definitely will be needing those boys coming in the summer. Was actually surprised how they looked for a team with the best cover corner of all time at the top of the food-chart.
THE UGLY
Defense Overall - let's pray we get some big boys with talent up front. The trifecta of lack of size/talent/depth is not good. As Fowler and RGIII said a few times (on air and in social media), this is not a P5 DL. Pretty obvious. The D in general looks troublesome. Losing 2 DL last week hurts for depth. I know everyone keeps talking about landing guys in the portal, but this is the toughest position by-far to land plug-and-play talent because of the competition to land these guys. We know they will be coached hard/well by a legend in the biz, but it's hard to see the good in this unit overall. Was also not impressed by much of the coverage or the LBs and this will be over-exposed if we don't shore-up the DL to provide pressure and stops. All bad to pedestrian. This has shown up on tape on the practice vids so no surprise, but you just hope for more.
ST - MY GOODNESS. Letting Becker go for Mata and Feely looks like a huuuuuge mistake. Does the weather excuse not getting the ball to the 15 yard line on kick offs? Maybe, but at altitude would have expected better. If Feely was not his last name, he would not be playing. In practice vids he misses right a lot. Execution with 2 blocks was pathetic. We had the worst punting last year in the history of men kicking oblong balls so there is a ton of work we need. ST could easily be the reason we lose momentum or shots in close games. Coach Prime called it out right away so no sugar coating it.
MLC - love the kid. Think he has talent, heart, is playmaker and great team-citizen. Just needed a QB over the last 2 years. Having him shine in the game and then transferring sucks. I don't want to say we we'll miss him because this is probably the deepest unit, but just bummed because he will succeed and wanted it to be in the Black and Gold.
Overall Talent - We got some very obvious talent from the portal (mostly skill positions), but we also continue to have a dearth of overall talent, especially on the line. LONG way to go to be competitive.
OVERALL
I have very little question that the program is moving in the right direction. Amazingly so. So excited about the future. The Spring showcase just reminded me that we are far from putting a winning team on the field and it should not be surprising. Pretty hard to turn-over a roster quick enough to take a 1-10 team and make them good the following year. This is not basketball where adding 1 or 2 studs can change everything. After sitting back and digesting Saturday as well as all of the practice vids I watched, it just reinforced to me that this will be a process and not flipping a switch. Seeing the excitement around the program, the vibe amongst the players, the level of recruiting interest we are getting makes me very optimistic for the future. It will be very interesting to see how Coach Prime handles the struggles and losing more than he has in his life along the way . . . he says he plans on winning NOW, but I just don't see that and hope he will handle losing as he gets us right.
Overall, like many have posted, the Spring "Games" was really a giant marketing campaign for CU, and on that front, seemed incredibly successful. The fanfare, the support, the coverage . . . all awesome. Seeing all the excitement from former Buffs and having big media names like Fowler and RGIII who were having a blast made it even better . . . now . . .
THE GOOD
QB - Shedeur looks like a true P5 QB. Confident, in control, good ball placement, etc. Staub looked nice for a HS Senior as well. Still would like to see a more experienced QB added through the portal to bridge the gap between Shedeur and Staub. Wouldn't be surprised to see Drew Carter's name in the portal soon as he looks far down the depth. Overall, we have a QB for a bit . . . FINALLY.
WR - Hunter and Mathis looked strong . . . so did MLC which sucks because I love the kid, but we are fine with depth at WR. Jimmy Horn is a stud and may be the best WR on the team from what I have watched in practice vids, etc. More coming, others looked good here too. Feel like WR has been good over the years but we just have had no one to deliver the ball. Hopefully now we have the QB and system to get the ball to the WRs to make big plays.
RB - Hankerson looks to have taken the next step as we many have expected and Edwards is legit. Did Deon Smith get any play? Didn't see him and wouldn't be surprised if his name pops up in the portal . . . great kid that has gone through the ringer here, but with others being added and Venn and Offerdahl getting a lot of play in practice . . . seems like depth won't be a concern at RB.
Vibe - This is not a sleepy team . . . Prime's swag and fun has rubbed off. Just need to make sure they don't get ahead of themselves because it will be a challenging year.
THE BAD
OL - probably may be slightly better than last year, but if the QB could have been hit, he would have been hit a bit and the DL is part of the Ugly, below. This unit is just not close to a P5 unit but Lewis' quick strike/getting the ball out fast system could cover a lot of blemishes on the OL. The opened some nice holes for the RBs, but couldn't tell if it's because how bad/thin the DL is.
Shedeur/Hunter - Not bad, per se . . . and I know they are boys and worked together at JSU, but Shedeur just locks onto Hunter way too much. P5 DBs will bait and take advantage of his "Hunter-First" looks. Have plenty of talented WRs to go around . . . just hope he doesn't get locked in and telegraph as much.
DBs - WAS NOT IMPRESSED. Generally beat, not great coverage, looked small still, etc. Definitely will be needing those boys coming in the summer. Was actually surprised how they looked for a team with the best cover corner of all time at the top of the food-chart.
THE UGLY
Defense Overall - let's pray we get some big boys with talent up front. The trifecta of lack of size/talent/depth is not good. As Fowler and RGIII said a few times (on air and in social media), this is not a P5 DL. Pretty obvious. The D in general looks troublesome. Losing 2 DL last week hurts for depth. I know everyone keeps talking about landing guys in the portal, but this is the toughest position by-far to land plug-and-play talent because of the competition to land these guys. We know they will be coached hard/well by a legend in the biz, but it's hard to see the good in this unit overall. Was also not impressed by much of the coverage or the LBs and this will be over-exposed if we don't shore-up the DL to provide pressure and stops. All bad to pedestrian. This has shown up on tape on the practice vids so no surprise, but you just hope for more.
ST - MY GOODNESS. Letting Becker go for Mata and Feely looks like a huuuuuge mistake. Does the weather excuse not getting the ball to the 15 yard line on kick offs? Maybe, but at altitude would have expected better. If Feely was not his last name, he would not be playing. In practice vids he misses right a lot. Execution with 2 blocks was pathetic. We had the worst punting last year in the history of men kicking oblong balls so there is a ton of work we need. ST could easily be the reason we lose momentum or shots in close games. Coach Prime called it out right away so no sugar coating it.
MLC - love the kid. Think he has talent, heart, is playmaker and great team-citizen. Just needed a QB over the last 2 years. Having him shine in the game and then transferring sucks. I don't want to say we we'll miss him because this is probably the deepest unit, but just bummed because he will succeed and wanted it to be in the Black and Gold.
Overall Talent - We got some very obvious talent from the portal (mostly skill positions), but we also continue to have a dearth of overall talent, especially on the line. LONG way to go to be competitive.
OVERALL
I have very little question that the program is moving in the right direction. Amazingly so. So excited about the future. The Spring showcase just reminded me that we are far from putting a winning team on the field and it should not be surprising. Pretty hard to turn-over a roster quick enough to take a 1-10 team and make them good the following year. This is not basketball where adding 1 or 2 studs can change everything. After sitting back and digesting Saturday as well as all of the practice vids I watched, it just reinforced to me that this will be a process and not flipping a switch. Seeing the excitement around the program, the vibe amongst the players, the level of recruiting interest we are getting makes me very optimistic for the future. It will be very interesting to see how Coach Prime handles the struggles and losing more than he has in his life along the way . . . he says he plans on winning NOW, but I just don't see that and hope he will handle losing as he gets us right.
