Over the last week or so, Colorado coaches and players on both sides of the ball have been asked regularly just exactly how the team has been preparing for the UNC Bears ahead of Friday night's season opener at Folsom Field.
Northern Colorado, from its coaches to its players, might best be described as a big question mark.
As has been well-documented, head coach Ed McCaffrey enters his first coaching gig with the Bears, while his son and offensive coordinator, Max McCaffrey, also has no prior coaching experience.
Calling the shots defensively is Scott Darnell, who most recently coached with the elder McCaffrey at Valor Christian High School, winning a CHSAA state title in 2018. His prior coaching experience includes 23 years at the preps level within the state of Colorado at such institutions such as Chaparral (2014-2017), Lutheran (2010-2013) and Regis Jesuit (2002-2009).
McCaffrey also brought with him from the Valor Christian coaching ranks JJ Raterink, who will oversee UNC's quarterbacks, while defensive line coach Tavares Bowens and o-line coach Shawn Byrnes are also in their first year with the Bears.
The freshness of UNC's coaching corps is coupled with the fact that the Bears have not played a game since the 2019 season; the Bears wound up opting out of the Big Sky Conference's condensed spring make up season, put into place in light of the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted the normal 2020 campaign.
For Karl Dorrell, studying old Valor Christian film (with a grain of salt) has been a method of trying to prepare for the Bears on both offense and defense but at the end of the day, there simply is not much out there in terms of film to study.
“The big thing I’m preaching with our team is that we’re probably going to play a game that’s going to seem like it’s unscouted in a way," Dorrell said. "We’re going to have to settle in, see what (UNC) is doing, adjust and still do some very effective things from the start."
"That’s going to be a tremendous challenge but I think it’s a great challenge for our team to see how they can problem-solve, get things corrected and get themselves ready to get a chance to perform at a high level. It’s a good test for us early on.”
Rather than considering the alarm bells raised, Colorado's players appear to be taking a more pragmatic approach to things.
The way junior safety Isaiah Lewis put it, even though UNC doesn't have much of anything solid to study film-wise, the Buffs have been preparing for them as they would anybody else, by focusing on themselves first.
“First things first, we’re making sure that we’re set, got our plays down and have our adjustments ready to go, so that’s been a priority," he said. "We’re worried about ourselves more than our opponent, making sure we’re ready to play — and that’s for anybody, not just Northern Colorado.”
As far as digging up old Valor Christian schemes, that has its limits.
"While I’m prepared from the looks and things that (UNC) might do from old film, I'm mostly worrying about myself because they can throw whatever look they want at me, but if I have the correct footwork and right hand placement then I can control what I need to control and they won’t have any effect on me with whatever they do," junior tight end Brady Russell said.
Schematically speaking, uncertainty surrounds what kind of looks the Bears will give Colorado, both offensively and defensively.
Dorrell mentioned the need to make in-game corrections; at the end of the day, that'll ring true in every game the Buffs play this year.
The Buffs will look to prove they are capable of doing so beginning tomorrow.
“We understand the importance of adjustments and we know that we’re going to have to make adjustments," Lewis said. "But we’re going to make sure we’ve got ourselves set offensively and defensively. No matter what they put in front of us, as long as we make our adjustments, we’ll be totally fine.”
....
No other way to go about prepping for this game than in the manner that Dorrell, Russell and Lewis articulated. If the Buffs handle their own business, keep things clean and display the ability to make adjustments on the fly, they should be A OK.
Northern Colorado, from its coaches to its players, might best be described as a big question mark.
As has been well-documented, head coach Ed McCaffrey enters his first coaching gig with the Bears, while his son and offensive coordinator, Max McCaffrey, also has no prior coaching experience.
Calling the shots defensively is Scott Darnell, who most recently coached with the elder McCaffrey at Valor Christian High School, winning a CHSAA state title in 2018. His prior coaching experience includes 23 years at the preps level within the state of Colorado at such institutions such as Chaparral (2014-2017), Lutheran (2010-2013) and Regis Jesuit (2002-2009).
McCaffrey also brought with him from the Valor Christian coaching ranks JJ Raterink, who will oversee UNC's quarterbacks, while defensive line coach Tavares Bowens and o-line coach Shawn Byrnes are also in their first year with the Bears.
The freshness of UNC's coaching corps is coupled with the fact that the Bears have not played a game since the 2019 season; the Bears wound up opting out of the Big Sky Conference's condensed spring make up season, put into place in light of the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted the normal 2020 campaign.
For Karl Dorrell, studying old Valor Christian film (with a grain of salt) has been a method of trying to prepare for the Bears on both offense and defense but at the end of the day, there simply is not much out there in terms of film to study.
“The big thing I’m preaching with our team is that we’re probably going to play a game that’s going to seem like it’s unscouted in a way," Dorrell said. "We’re going to have to settle in, see what (UNC) is doing, adjust and still do some very effective things from the start."
"That’s going to be a tremendous challenge but I think it’s a great challenge for our team to see how they can problem-solve, get things corrected and get themselves ready to get a chance to perform at a high level. It’s a good test for us early on.”
Rather than considering the alarm bells raised, Colorado's players appear to be taking a more pragmatic approach to things.
The way junior safety Isaiah Lewis put it, even though UNC doesn't have much of anything solid to study film-wise, the Buffs have been preparing for them as they would anybody else, by focusing on themselves first.
“First things first, we’re making sure that we’re set, got our plays down and have our adjustments ready to go, so that’s been a priority," he said. "We’re worried about ourselves more than our opponent, making sure we’re ready to play — and that’s for anybody, not just Northern Colorado.”
As far as digging up old Valor Christian schemes, that has its limits.
"While I’m prepared from the looks and things that (UNC) might do from old film, I'm mostly worrying about myself because they can throw whatever look they want at me, but if I have the correct footwork and right hand placement then I can control what I need to control and they won’t have any effect on me with whatever they do," junior tight end Brady Russell said.
Schematically speaking, uncertainty surrounds what kind of looks the Bears will give Colorado, both offensively and defensively.
Dorrell mentioned the need to make in-game corrections; at the end of the day, that'll ring true in every game the Buffs play this year.
The Buffs will look to prove they are capable of doing so beginning tomorrow.
“We understand the importance of adjustments and we know that we’re going to have to make adjustments," Lewis said. "But we’re going to make sure we’ve got ourselves set offensively and defensively. No matter what they put in front of us, as long as we make our adjustments, we’ll be totally fine.”
....
No other way to go about prepping for this game than in the manner that Dorrell, Russell and Lewis articulated. If the Buffs handle their own business, keep things clean and display the ability to make adjustments on the fly, they should be A OK.
