As frustrating as yesterday was, there were a lot of positives and a ton to look forward to in 2021. Obviously personnel decisions will be made by and large after the season. We don't know who is coming back and who will be hitting the portal. A much more popular CU team we know will be more attractive though to high profile transfers than ever before so we may win the transfer war when it's all said and done.
Offense
- The offense started off strong with performances of 48 and 35. It then regressed into the low 20's from there on in.
- We started 5 different OL line ups in 6 games and only had a center for 3 of our 6 games.
- In our 48 and 35 games, we had a TE we could depend on. In the games since then, we have not.
- Teams went to a zone look when they realized our QB struggles with that coverage which limited the passing game.
- The offense was without a number of expected starters and even more contributors all season.
- Extended injuries to Fontenot, Smith, Johnson, Stillwell, Russell, Lynch, Poplawski, and others limited options.
For 2021, the big theme will be keeping the team healthy.
- We will likely return our QB. We may add a transfer for competition. We will have 3 young freshmen poised to push all veterans (Carter, Chandler, Lewis). All 3 offering mobility, athleticism, strength, and good arms. All will have a full off season to bridge the gap.
- Sam will have all off season to learn actual QB skills. Sam has the physical skills as we saw the past 2 weeks. What he lacks is the mental side of the game. Of course, we knew this coming into this season. This has always been what he lacked. He has never come in as the starter though. He will get a chance now to be tutored for months on the intricacies of the game. He'll learn how to look off defenders (this one is huge). Scan the defense quicker. Understand what the defense is doing presnap. Make the right audibles. The game will slow down and his mistakes will drop considerably (one hopes). There is nothing wrong with his arm, or accuracy, and we know he can run.
- We will likely return everyone on the OL. OL competition will be fierce this spring. A bunch of guys got reps. While some guys will still be out with injuries, most will be available to compete. OL talent is actually pretty good now so there is a chance to develop a solid OL. Much to look forward to here and we could/should have one of the better OL's in the league.
- We return everyone at RB. Fontenot, Smith, Clayton, Mangham, and Broussard of course. Probably not adding any recruits here so we'll just be competing amongst our guys, all healthy, and may the best one win. This should without a doubt be the best unit in the Pac 12. It better be!
- We lose 1 at WR in Nixon (assume he does not come back). Everyone else returns. We get to see MLC develop along with Carpenter this spring to go along with regulars Rice, Arias, Stanley, Shenault, and Bell. This group will improve next year and could improve a lot with improved QB play. We saw stretches of excellence along with stretches of head scratching. We've seen too many drops this year for our comfort and some oddly mistimed jump balls. We've also seen great catches, the ability to stretch the field, and the ability to turn a simple play into a scoring grab.
- TE. Everyone returns and we add a great recruit this spring in Olsen. Getting Russell back is huge. His loss was enormous. Losing Lynch a few plays later also proved to be devastating. We had already lost Stillwell for the season. We moved multiple guys to TE to fill in. Pell is now at TE. Magri is now at TE. This spring, we'll have 3 freshmen that will get their chance to develop. We need all 3 to show something and have a great off season. TE room could look totally different next year and be a team strength. This might be the biggest improvement position next year. Competition should be fierce.
Despite the drop in production the last 4 games, there is a lot to look forward to offensively. The big thing is blocking and getting all of our blockers healthy so we can develop a consistent offensive line. After that, we need multiple TEs to step up because this offense is predicated around the TE. Russell, Fauria, Olsen, Passarello, Stillwell, Lynch should all be ready to play and give us an entirely different depth chart at the TE position. Additionally, when we platoon RB, things are going to be a whole lot different. Broussard proved he can be a big game RB. This in the place of Fontenot who was expected to be our bell cow. Smith was having a tremendous off season and expected to challenge. Clayton has the ability to be a game breaker. We should never be worried if we go to RB 2, 3, or 4 if the starter heads to the bench. It should be a stud RB no matter what. Lots of personnel decisions to make there, but the talent is there to be awesome. No reason we shouldn't run the ball well every game next year. The passing game will still be a bit of a question mark. No one has stood out as much as someone should. The talent is there though in Shenault, Rice, Arias, Stanley, Bell. MLC will develop and has that deep ball ability. Carpenter, if he can get some size, gives us a speed merchant like Utah uses with Covey who can get open quickly. I do think we'll be better than OK here. We could be top half of the league even. Only lose Nixon and he's never proven to be a game breaking WR. Really, everything comes down to the development of the QB. The offense will be great or it will be good depending on the QB IMO. The great teams have great QBs. We need to find a great QB before next September to take CU to the next level because I believe this offense will be good enough to win the Pac 12 if we can.
Defense
- The defense was paper thin to begin with. Lack of recruiting in the defensive backfield and at LB made it so.
- The big dogs on defense were Mustafa Johnson, Chris Miller, and Nate Landman. Those 3 had to be huge for the defense to be good.
- We were up 35-14 on UCLA before Miller got hurt and their offense got going.
- Stanford also had luck in the passing game as CU's offense sputtered and the DBs without Miller were exposed.
- Considerable drop in defense when Landman was not on the field as evidenced in Arizona game. Landman not only is the defenses best player/tackler, but also calls the defense. With both he and Miller out against Utah, the Utes moved the ball easily.
The defense without doubt got better as the year went on. The depth defensively is not where the offense is so we will rely on our 2021 recruiting here more than on offense. For 2021:
- The DL loses Mustafa and that's a big loss. We have some recruits in waiting though. We have Alfano if he can get his health straight this spring. We got JUCO Jackson this past year. We'll see who shows up in January and recruiting is looking good here IMO. This is 1 area we can thank Tucker for leaving us. Not everyone is great here, but the number of serviceable players increased dramatically. They are also all still very young so development is happening and who knows who breaks out this spring. There is a lot to be hopeful for and Lang could be a superstar next year. Need Sami to stay healthy. This DL, even without Johnson, should improve overall.
- Inside LB is where things get pretty dicey. Landman's injury showed what kind of hole he leaves on the defense. Jones is also a 5th year senior and although he very well could come back (and he lead us in tackles against Utah), there's still a crater sized hole with Landman's expected departure. Could Nate return? Sure. If he feels the injury costs him majorly in draft position and wants to come back. I don't particularly see that coming. If he did, this could be a historically good defense next year. As such, CU needs to find a MLB. The 2 junior backups are limited athletically. That leaves 2 freshmen in Ham and Mister Williams needing to have huge springs. Both very talented guys, but are any a Landman? CU could also move someone from some other position here. Candidates are Jamar Montgomery who has good feet and is naturally an ILB (played ILB at his JUCO), Carson Wells, and Devin Grant. Wells is less likely IMO because he is so dominant at OLB. You would lose a lot there moving him. Montgomery probably moves and I assume Grant will as well. CU is recruiting the position like mad right now trying to find a top prep prospect to help out there. We could also get a transfer and this is 1 spot I think CU will be a very popular destination on the transfer portal for. Dudes who can run that hate their situations at Miami or Florida or FSU or Georgia or Clemson may be very intrigued at going to CU.
- Outside LB returns everyone and should be the defensive strength. Wells should be playing for money next year. He should be looking for double digit sacks and big NFL paychecks. Guy Thomas seems to be getting better there. I expect he'll have a great season too. Joshka Gustav is excellent on the pass rush and the freshmen Jason Harris and Alvin Williams show a ton of promise. Have some promising freshmen coming in next year at this spot as well. Again, I think Montgomery and Grant move. Makes the most sense to me.
- Star - This position didn't pop this year. Early injury to Miller kind of kept this spot from being something. Addition of Trustin Oliver could be a boon for this spot. Size and speed will be an instant upgrade in depth. Could be a great position for 2021 with he and a hopefully healthy Miller playing this spot.
- Safety - I do expect Rakestraw to return and with Lewis and Perry, this should be a solid position if everyone stays healthy. Pittman will likely be ready to contribute so depth will be better as well. Still not deep, but definitely better. Trevor Woods might be a guy who could play right away. He could help here and at the Star spot.
- CB is a position to potentially get excited about. We got a very strong season from Mekhi Blackmon which was huge. He could be a star player next year with another good off season in the weight room. I expect Christian Gonzales to grow a ton next year at this spot. Passing against CU might be a lot more worrisome next year. Bethel needs a lot of time in the weight room but we see the potential. Luckett has been banged up so him coming back healthy will add to the pool of good CBs to choose from. We'll see how much we get from Striker. DJ Oats also a mystery right now.
The loss of Landman will be enormous assuming he doesn't come back. No small loss in Mustafa as well. It's not just about losses though. As always, it's about who develops and gets better at the 'other' spots. We'll find another LB to call the defense. I assume Jones will be that guy if he stays. That is part of the problem with losing Landman right now is the defensive play caller is gone. The other 10 spots though should get and need to get better. We need Miller to stay healthy. He has NFL ability. Can't lose someone like that every year! He needs to have a senior year to remember. Get the knee right, the shoulder right, get it all stitched up and come back ready to play every down. Could be a killer next year. Lewis has grown leaps and bounds as a safety. Perry is struggling with a new role but should be able to use his abilities next year when his knowledge catches up. CB will be a strength as should OLB. DL shouldn't regress at all and may actually be better a year under the system.
Specialist
Obviously we lose no specialists, but they are not that good right now. Watts had his best day punting thankfully so hopefully he can be of value there. Place kicking still scares me. We don't have a big legged kicker. No one is hitting a 57 yarder like the guy at Florida. I'm not sure we have someone that can get it over the posts at 50. Accuracy for short field goals is solid at least. Still, we needed a recruit here and we just lost the #1 kicker to top rated Notre Dame. Need to find someone else IMO because we can't count on what we have. Probably not enough time to get one for the December period and may just have to roll with what we have and improve them. We are Pac 12 bottom feeders here though.
Overall though, I see a team that will go bowling next year and could compete for a conference title with some key off season additions. The arrow is pointing upward despite ending the season in a likely rough manner due to all of our personnel losses. We will be a lot better in 2021 and could see the program start to really take off. I look forward to it!
Offense
- The offense started off strong with performances of 48 and 35. It then regressed into the low 20's from there on in.
- We started 5 different OL line ups in 6 games and only had a center for 3 of our 6 games.
- In our 48 and 35 games, we had a TE we could depend on. In the games since then, we have not.
- Teams went to a zone look when they realized our QB struggles with that coverage which limited the passing game.
- The offense was without a number of expected starters and even more contributors all season.
- Extended injuries to Fontenot, Smith, Johnson, Stillwell, Russell, Lynch, Poplawski, and others limited options.
For 2021, the big theme will be keeping the team healthy.
- We will likely return our QB. We may add a transfer for competition. We will have 3 young freshmen poised to push all veterans (Carter, Chandler, Lewis). All 3 offering mobility, athleticism, strength, and good arms. All will have a full off season to bridge the gap.
- Sam will have all off season to learn actual QB skills. Sam has the physical skills as we saw the past 2 weeks. What he lacks is the mental side of the game. Of course, we knew this coming into this season. This has always been what he lacked. He has never come in as the starter though. He will get a chance now to be tutored for months on the intricacies of the game. He'll learn how to look off defenders (this one is huge). Scan the defense quicker. Understand what the defense is doing presnap. Make the right audibles. The game will slow down and his mistakes will drop considerably (one hopes). There is nothing wrong with his arm, or accuracy, and we know he can run.
- We will likely return everyone on the OL. OL competition will be fierce this spring. A bunch of guys got reps. While some guys will still be out with injuries, most will be available to compete. OL talent is actually pretty good now so there is a chance to develop a solid OL. Much to look forward to here and we could/should have one of the better OL's in the league.
- We return everyone at RB. Fontenot, Smith, Clayton, Mangham, and Broussard of course. Probably not adding any recruits here so we'll just be competing amongst our guys, all healthy, and may the best one win. This should without a doubt be the best unit in the Pac 12. It better be!
- We lose 1 at WR in Nixon (assume he does not come back). Everyone else returns. We get to see MLC develop along with Carpenter this spring to go along with regulars Rice, Arias, Stanley, Shenault, and Bell. This group will improve next year and could improve a lot with improved QB play. We saw stretches of excellence along with stretches of head scratching. We've seen too many drops this year for our comfort and some oddly mistimed jump balls. We've also seen great catches, the ability to stretch the field, and the ability to turn a simple play into a scoring grab.
- TE. Everyone returns and we add a great recruit this spring in Olsen. Getting Russell back is huge. His loss was enormous. Losing Lynch a few plays later also proved to be devastating. We had already lost Stillwell for the season. We moved multiple guys to TE to fill in. Pell is now at TE. Magri is now at TE. This spring, we'll have 3 freshmen that will get their chance to develop. We need all 3 to show something and have a great off season. TE room could look totally different next year and be a team strength. This might be the biggest improvement position next year. Competition should be fierce.
Despite the drop in production the last 4 games, there is a lot to look forward to offensively. The big thing is blocking and getting all of our blockers healthy so we can develop a consistent offensive line. After that, we need multiple TEs to step up because this offense is predicated around the TE. Russell, Fauria, Olsen, Passarello, Stillwell, Lynch should all be ready to play and give us an entirely different depth chart at the TE position. Additionally, when we platoon RB, things are going to be a whole lot different. Broussard proved he can be a big game RB. This in the place of Fontenot who was expected to be our bell cow. Smith was having a tremendous off season and expected to challenge. Clayton has the ability to be a game breaker. We should never be worried if we go to RB 2, 3, or 4 if the starter heads to the bench. It should be a stud RB no matter what. Lots of personnel decisions to make there, but the talent is there to be awesome. No reason we shouldn't run the ball well every game next year. The passing game will still be a bit of a question mark. No one has stood out as much as someone should. The talent is there though in Shenault, Rice, Arias, Stanley, Bell. MLC will develop and has that deep ball ability. Carpenter, if he can get some size, gives us a speed merchant like Utah uses with Covey who can get open quickly. I do think we'll be better than OK here. We could be top half of the league even. Only lose Nixon and he's never proven to be a game breaking WR. Really, everything comes down to the development of the QB. The offense will be great or it will be good depending on the QB IMO. The great teams have great QBs. We need to find a great QB before next September to take CU to the next level because I believe this offense will be good enough to win the Pac 12 if we can.
Defense
- The defense was paper thin to begin with. Lack of recruiting in the defensive backfield and at LB made it so.
- The big dogs on defense were Mustafa Johnson, Chris Miller, and Nate Landman. Those 3 had to be huge for the defense to be good.
- We were up 35-14 on UCLA before Miller got hurt and their offense got going.
- Stanford also had luck in the passing game as CU's offense sputtered and the DBs without Miller were exposed.
- Considerable drop in defense when Landman was not on the field as evidenced in Arizona game. Landman not only is the defenses best player/tackler, but also calls the defense. With both he and Miller out against Utah, the Utes moved the ball easily.
The defense without doubt got better as the year went on. The depth defensively is not where the offense is so we will rely on our 2021 recruiting here more than on offense. For 2021:
- The DL loses Mustafa and that's a big loss. We have some recruits in waiting though. We have Alfano if he can get his health straight this spring. We got JUCO Jackson this past year. We'll see who shows up in January and recruiting is looking good here IMO. This is 1 area we can thank Tucker for leaving us. Not everyone is great here, but the number of serviceable players increased dramatically. They are also all still very young so development is happening and who knows who breaks out this spring. There is a lot to be hopeful for and Lang could be a superstar next year. Need Sami to stay healthy. This DL, even without Johnson, should improve overall.
- Inside LB is where things get pretty dicey. Landman's injury showed what kind of hole he leaves on the defense. Jones is also a 5th year senior and although he very well could come back (and he lead us in tackles against Utah), there's still a crater sized hole with Landman's expected departure. Could Nate return? Sure. If he feels the injury costs him majorly in draft position and wants to come back. I don't particularly see that coming. If he did, this could be a historically good defense next year. As such, CU needs to find a MLB. The 2 junior backups are limited athletically. That leaves 2 freshmen in Ham and Mister Williams needing to have huge springs. Both very talented guys, but are any a Landman? CU could also move someone from some other position here. Candidates are Jamar Montgomery who has good feet and is naturally an ILB (played ILB at his JUCO), Carson Wells, and Devin Grant. Wells is less likely IMO because he is so dominant at OLB. You would lose a lot there moving him. Montgomery probably moves and I assume Grant will as well. CU is recruiting the position like mad right now trying to find a top prep prospect to help out there. We could also get a transfer and this is 1 spot I think CU will be a very popular destination on the transfer portal for. Dudes who can run that hate their situations at Miami or Florida or FSU or Georgia or Clemson may be very intrigued at going to CU.
- Outside LB returns everyone and should be the defensive strength. Wells should be playing for money next year. He should be looking for double digit sacks and big NFL paychecks. Guy Thomas seems to be getting better there. I expect he'll have a great season too. Joshka Gustav is excellent on the pass rush and the freshmen Jason Harris and Alvin Williams show a ton of promise. Have some promising freshmen coming in next year at this spot as well. Again, I think Montgomery and Grant move. Makes the most sense to me.
- Star - This position didn't pop this year. Early injury to Miller kind of kept this spot from being something. Addition of Trustin Oliver could be a boon for this spot. Size and speed will be an instant upgrade in depth. Could be a great position for 2021 with he and a hopefully healthy Miller playing this spot.
- Safety - I do expect Rakestraw to return and with Lewis and Perry, this should be a solid position if everyone stays healthy. Pittman will likely be ready to contribute so depth will be better as well. Still not deep, but definitely better. Trevor Woods might be a guy who could play right away. He could help here and at the Star spot.
- CB is a position to potentially get excited about. We got a very strong season from Mekhi Blackmon which was huge. He could be a star player next year with another good off season in the weight room. I expect Christian Gonzales to grow a ton next year at this spot. Passing against CU might be a lot more worrisome next year. Bethel needs a lot of time in the weight room but we see the potential. Luckett has been banged up so him coming back healthy will add to the pool of good CBs to choose from. We'll see how much we get from Striker. DJ Oats also a mystery right now.
The loss of Landman will be enormous assuming he doesn't come back. No small loss in Mustafa as well. It's not just about losses though. As always, it's about who develops and gets better at the 'other' spots. We'll find another LB to call the defense. I assume Jones will be that guy if he stays. That is part of the problem with losing Landman right now is the defensive play caller is gone. The other 10 spots though should get and need to get better. We need Miller to stay healthy. He has NFL ability. Can't lose someone like that every year! He needs to have a senior year to remember. Get the knee right, the shoulder right, get it all stitched up and come back ready to play every down. Could be a killer next year. Lewis has grown leaps and bounds as a safety. Perry is struggling with a new role but should be able to use his abilities next year when his knowledge catches up. CB will be a strength as should OLB. DL shouldn't regress at all and may actually be better a year under the system.
Specialist
Obviously we lose no specialists, but they are not that good right now. Watts had his best day punting thankfully so hopefully he can be of value there. Place kicking still scares me. We don't have a big legged kicker. No one is hitting a 57 yarder like the guy at Florida. I'm not sure we have someone that can get it over the posts at 50. Accuracy for short field goals is solid at least. Still, we needed a recruit here and we just lost the #1 kicker to top rated Notre Dame. Need to find someone else IMO because we can't count on what we have. Probably not enough time to get one for the December period and may just have to roll with what we have and improve them. We are Pac 12 bottom feeders here though.
Overall though, I see a team that will go bowling next year and could compete for a conference title with some key off season additions. The arrow is pointing upward despite ending the season in a likely rough manner due to all of our personnel losses. We will be a lot better in 2021 and could see the program start to really take off. I look forward to it!
