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Scrimmage Impressions

Buffnik

Real name isn't Nik
Club Member
Junta Member
Scrimmage started about an hour late, but was worth the wait.

First thing is that when the guys came out I was completely stunned at how yoked a lot of the dudes were and how many of them have legitimately transformed their bodies. I'll talk about returning guys here.

Ricky Gamboa and Eddy Lopez shed all the baby fat and look like totally different guys. It showed up in their play (more on that later).

Devin Ross is jacked, Shay Fields is a lot bigger and Donovan Lee -- you're going to have to see it to believe it. I literally did not realize who it was and it took me a while. He's filled out like a running back.

On the DL, guys like Clay Norgard and Jase Franke are huge now.

On the OL, the guys who were too small to play last year like Josh Kaiser and John Lisella now look the part. Kronshage, Huckins and Kaiser look beastly.

TEs are big. Keeney is impressive (tall, long arms, long stride) but hasn't filled out yet. Irwin looks good. Hayden Jones really passes the eyeball test.

With the QBs, Sefo looks like a man now. He has really filled out. Apsay actually looked at least as big as Gehrke to me.

At RB, Powell looks more like a tailback than a fullback now (in a good way). Lindsay and Adkins both looked good. Lindsay especially looked more stout. Frazier is huge. He can play TE just as much as FB.

With the LBs, Gilbert, KO and Addison all looked bigger as they needed to. Still not big for their spots, but getting there. McCartney looks the part, for sure. Walk-on Aaron Howard does not look like a walk-on (body or play). Shaver looks more like a LB and less like a DE.

For the DBs we had Moeller really standing out. Yoked.

Quickly on the appearance of the freshmen: Tuiloma is massive, Umu is a big dude who looks like he's in fantastic shape, Jan is a bigger, thicker body than we've seen at WR here (by far), Montez looks like Sefo did (not the skinny guy we saw in the HS film/photos), Oliver is all there for a CB and looks ready to play, Lynott didn't look like a true frosh OL, and both Dino and Carr are well put together.

I know it's a refrain that gets repeated every year. I know it's almost always complete bull****. But this year it is different. The Buffs are big in 2015. This team will not wear down. We'll see guys go down when our defenders hit them. We'll see our RBs getting that extra couple yards after contact on runs. We'll see our WRs able to break arm tackles and be effective blockers. I don't want to over-hype this, but it's hard not to after seeing them in person. Kind of like how you don't appreciate how massive the new facilities are from photos until you see them in person -- that's how I reacted to seeing these guys on the field in pads.

In terms of play that stood out:

- Gamboa is a player. Surprise of the day. He's in the 2-deep at ILB and has passed some of the upperclassmen. Made a pick-6 and looked really good out there. Legitimate depth at ILB along with Shaver who had a really nice pass break-up.

- Gilbert is a natural OLB for the new system. He is so long and athletic. He's now playing in space and it suits him. He made a ridiculous play on a quick in from the WR, getting his drop and then elevating to bat a pass down that would have been an automatic completion last year.

- Oliver is a player at CB. Made a great play jumping a route and on another play easily kept pace with Ross on a deep pass. Got burnt a couple times in learning moments. Soon after he'd made the great play jumping a short route, the offense hit him with a pump fake and double move for an easy long TD pass. Freshman play and he'll learn.

- Keeney is an absolute weapon. Impressive hands, can run, and is almost always going to be the tallest guy out in a pass play. He'll tower over defenders. He's the guy who burnt Oliver on that double move. Keeney is going to be a matchup nightmare for teams.

- Lopez was unblockable when he went against our OL 2s. Showed well against the 1s, but dominated against the 2nd group. Tons of potential with that guy. And the starting DL of Carrell-Solis-Samson looks like a group that can make things go this year.

- With the RBs, I think Powell is the starter and he'll soften up defenses. With the rest, I felt like there was a different energy when Lindsay or Carr ran the ball. All the guys have skills, but no one really jumped out as the guy that would change games. Looks like a committee. Buffs should be pretty good here and Carr has a chance to break out, I think.

- Falo and Watanabe are 2 more guys it may be hard to redshirt this year. They bring the lumber when they hit someone. Depth at LB is young, but with them along with Gamboa and Shaver it's a much better group behind Addison and KO than I thought it was.

- Apsay looked so much better. I don't have a lot of confidence behind Sefo, but I may trust Apsay a little more than Gehrke now. Hard to get a read on how close Montez is to being ready to play since he was working behind the bottom of the OL depth chart and trying to throw to walk-on WRs and TEs. He had no time and no one able to get open. Showed off some impressive scrambling and broke off a big run. Sefo needs to stay healthy.

Some other notes:

- Most of the top guys barely played. That's why you didn't see too many notes on them from me above. As MacIntyre mentioned in his post-scrimmage interview, it was like an NFL preseason game where you hold some guys out who don't need to show the coaches anything (Spruce), give other established guys very limited reps, keep the schemes and calls very vanilla so you don't give anything away, and see what you have with the rest of your team.

- Decent crowd for an 8:30 am practice. Started an hour late, though. I bet it would have been a lot better attended if people would have known it would be at 9:30.

- Leavitt is so much fun. He was working the crowd to get us yelling and making noise for the kickoffs. Lot of fun.

- Schedule posters are sick this year. Nelson, Nembot, KC and Sefo versions of vertical posters. Each one has a reverse side with all 4 of them in a horizontal layout. Schedule on both sides. These suckers are almost 3 feet long.

- NE corner looks so impressive from inside the stadium. Simply huge and beautiful.

- Samson was the only injury I noticed. He was able to get up and walk off after a scary moment. Waiting to see the report on him. We need him. Leo Jackson did not look close to ready to me (especially at NT). We can't afford injuries on the interior DL.
 
I know there has been speculation at to who the top two running backs are after macs comments the other day but I just don't see how you keep Lindsay off the field and I think Adkins might be the odd man out behind Powell and PL. Lindsay put on some added weight and he always keeps him feet moving which was most impressive.
 
I'm not sure if anyone other than nik could get away with posting that much "sunshine" in one post... :D

Good stuff, though! Thanks for the update and that is all great to hear. Can't remember looking forward to a Buff's season opener more than this year.
 
#BOWLGAME
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I'm not sure if anyone other than nik could get away with posting that much "sunshine" in one post... :D

Good stuff, though! Thanks for the update and that is all great to hear. Can't remember looking forward to a Buff's season opener more than this year.

I was feeling mostly sunshine. On the negative side, I touched a bit on depth issues at DL and QB along with it being young depth at ILB and CB. Some of my post is definitely "read between the lines" in terms of not having much to say about well-known guys like Yuri and Rippy. Kicking & punting didn't need more posted on it. It was bad outside of 1 punt by Kinney and a 55+ yard fg by Diego (that looked easily within his range). The defense was very much ahead of the offense when the 1st teams weren't in. And that was a 1st team O that didn't play Spruce or Bobo. Makes me think the defense is coming, but is going to struggle in the Pac-12 against offenses that are just as good as the CU offense.
 
Great write up! I'm glad someone else is seeing what I'm seeing. Gilbert was always to small for DL IMO, but perfect for OLB. Gamboa looks like a bad ass, Ross really impressed, Aspay to me should be the #2 guy IMO. We really are bigger and stronger...saw that at the night practice I went to, agree about the RBs...Pow to start and I don't see one guy who will dominate, Frazier is awesome. The OL seemed dominated on the inside...seemed the only yardage came outside the tackles.

The scrimmage was largely a look at kids fighting to be included on the 2 deep, mostly backup positions. I am concerned now about ST as they did not perform well IMO.

It's hard to not get excited at the fact that we were so close in so many games and were really hit with a ton of injuries (esp on D) and this year we are bigger, stronger and faster than last year and have healed from all the injuries. Everything on paper says this year will be different. I said it's difficult to not excited, but I will try my best, because getting up for what seems the inevitable let down has been the life of Buff fans for about a decade now.
 
Thanks for the report, Nik. I am excited to see what we can potentially have with Carr. Hopefully he starts getting more opportunities with the #1 O. He could be the difference maker we need this year.
 
Thanks for the report, Nik. I am excited to see what we can potentially have with Carr. Hopefully he starts getting more opportunities with the #1 O. He could be the difference maker we need this year.
He had a great run for TD where it looked like it was set up to go over the left guard, but he bumped it outside and took it in.
 
I was feeling mostly sunshine. On the negative side, I touched a bit on depth issues at DL and QB along with it being young depth at ILB and CB. Some of my post is definitely "read between the lines" in terms of not having much to say about well-known guys like Yuri and Rippy. Kicking & punting didn't need more posted on it. It was bad outside of 1 punt by Kinney and a 55+ yard fg by Diego (that looked easily within his range). The defense was very much ahead of the offense when the 1st teams weren't in. And that was a 1st team O that didn't play Spruce or Bobo. Makes me think the defense is coming, but is going to struggle in the Pac-12 against offenses that are just as good as the CU offense.

No game planning and simple vanilla "O" for building depth....the "D" should be ahead.

Name one team, other than U$C in the Coliseum, who physically dominated the Buffs last season? Teams had to jump on the Buffs early (ASU, U$C) or rely on TOs or beating an often tired, uninspiringly-coached defense, late in a game, to win last year. All those guys who were lamented unworthy of scholies, appear to have worked their tails off and seem to be coached-up, particularly on "D", where the big strides needed to be taken and they have.

Gee, funny thing about the big switch at DC.
 
I was in the neighborhood, but had to run off for a meeting, so I poked my head in for just a minute. Saw two missed extra points. But I did see the great Apsay to Keeney TD, and agree the players look much bigger and more physical.
 
A lot of people didn't show up for their games against the Buffs last year. UCLA for instance jumped ahead and then didn't try until we were in it.

This is the year teams don't look forward to next week. And that's a rather big statement given that we've been a doormat for so long. We will still catch someone sleeping thinking it's an easy W.

Bust out the koolaid because we are going bowling...maybe. Damn schedule gods hate us.
 
A lot of people didn't show up for their games against the Buffs last year. UCLA for instance jumped ahead and then didn't try until we were in it.

This is the year teams don't look forward to next week. And that's a rather big statement given that we've been a doormat for so long. We will still catch someone sleeping thinking it's an easy W.

Bust out the koolaid because we are going bowling...maybe. Damn schedule gods hate us.
I'm sure UCLA, or ASU, or UA, or OSU, or Cal, or UW, or Utah all decided they didn't care about beating us. Was there less intensity than a big game? Sure, but top 25 teams like five of the 6 above don't get there by ****ing around every week except when they play USC or Oregon.

Thanks for the write up, Nik. Good to hear about Keeney, need him to grab some passes in the end zone this year.
 
No game planning and simple vanilla "O" for building depth....the "D" should be ahead.

Name one team, other than U$C in the Coliseum, who physically dominated the Buffs last season? Teams had to jump on the Buffs early (ASU, U$C) or rely on TOs or beating an often tired, uninspiringly-coached defense, late in a game, to win last year. All those guys who were lamented unworthy of scholies, appear to have worked their tails off and seem to be coached-up, particularly on "D", where the big strides needed to be taken and they have.

Gee, funny thing about the big switch at DC.

CSU
 
If we were back in the primitive days you would be getting rep, a like will have to do.

Nice to be able to read about and discuss what should be a real P5 college football team after all these years.
 
The kicking and punting worried me. We had a great kicker in Will Oliver last year and we still lost a game because he couldn't hit any one of three possible field goals. A lesser kicker would have missed the game tying attempt at the end of regulation against UCLA. We're going to be in several close games again this year that might come down to a field goal attempt.

Kinney had a couple really bad, high school level punts and one perfect spiral that at least made me reassured of his potential. Same thing for Diego Gonzalez. Knocked a PAT off the right upright and a lot of his kicks seemed low and highly blockable, but then he nailed a 57 yarder that would have been good from 62 near the end of the scrimmage. Both of these guys are going to be works in progress and I'm worried they might cost us this year, but they seem like they have the potential to be good in the future.
 
Special teams looked really bad, no bones about it. I will say I agree with pretty much everything nik said. It was a lot of "wow" moments when looking at individual improvements guys had made.

Overall positives:
LB group - we have depth of some sort, woohoo! (and Gillam didn't shatter into a million pieces when he made a tackle); The OLBs made some plays. 3-4 definitely fits all these tweeners we have a lot better.
DL - We have some pac 12 players here
WR group - it's a bit unbalanced (lots of small fast guys, only one larger threat right now, Bobo), but these guys can make plays.
RB Group - much better now. Carr and Dino both flashed, but Carr looks like he's going to be impossible to keep off the field. He could be the game breaker we have missed.
TE - we have a TE that's a threat in the passing game! Keeney basically played as a split wide TE (like Gucci last year). No one else in the group can do that though. Thin.
OL - they all look like real OL now instead of a lot of big guys... THICK.
Safeties: we have lots of them.

QB - Montez has potential.

Negatives:
Special teams. Disaster until otherwise proven.
QB depth - we don't have a decent backup to Sefo right now. Apsay could develop into a solid backup, but Gehrke is so inconsistent you never know what's going to happen.
TE Depth that can catch a ball.

Weird that this is so short.
 
One guy I don't think I mentioned was Awini. Looks like he's able to come in and play sort of a NB as an OLB without the team having to go to a nickel package. He can pass rush and he's got coverage skills (made a nice play on a pass in the scrimmage). Officially, I guess that's the Buffs' 4-3 defense and he might actually be the starter there. He looks fast and he sure as **** doesn't look like a converted QB. Another yoked dude. Hard to believe he's on the roster as a walk-on.
 
One guy I don't think I mentioned was Awini. Looks like he's able to come in and play sort of a NB as an OLB without the team having to go to a nickel package. He can pass rush and he's got coverage skills (made a nice play on a pass in the scrimmage). Officially, I guess that's the Buffs' 4-3 defense and he might actually be the starter there. He looks fast and he sure as **** doesn't look like a converted QB. Another yoked dude. Hard to believe he's on the roster as a walk-on.

I've referenced this article from last summer a few times in other threads, but the more we learn about the defense and the personnel being fit into various positions, the more this piece becomes relevant. The below is a description of how TCU goes about recruiting their "Strong Safety" position, which is 1 of 3 different Safeties and has a unique role on the defense:

"The way they find players for their strong safety position is perhaps their most clever tactic. Their current star player in this role is Sam Carter, a three-star, dual-threat quarterback in high school who now plays a position akin to the nickel in a 4-3 defense. This spot is what makes the defense particularly flexible, as this player is ideally one who can play the edge against big formations, play in space against spread concepts, and match up with all manner of inside receivers without giving up an advantage."

This sounds almost to the "T" like the position that MM and JL are creating for Awini, and I am very excited for the future of this defense if they remain on this track. The rest of the article discusses what the TCU staff looks for in the rest of their defensive positions when recruiting, so if people are interested in the potential direction CU could be going, I highly recommend taking the time to read. It also discusses how the "4-3 Under" and "4-2-5" defenses work to stop up-tempo, spread offenses.

http://www.sbnation.com/college-foo...ense-strategy-formations-xs-os-gary-patterson
 
The O-line looked BIG, legit Pac 12 bodies. Gamboa looks like a well muscled bowling ball, he made a great play on that pick six. Lopez also looks the part. Apsay looked good and could challenge Gehrke for back-up QB. I liked how Patrick Carr ran the ball. Guys were making plays. Steven Montez has a gun and can move around. I hope we redshirt him but he looks like a kid who can make plays if Sefo gets hurt and Gehrke/Apsay falter.

Kinney bonked a few punts before getting one to turn over and go 60 yds. Diego seems to kick with a low trajectory. he Karlis-ed one off an upright and gave his center a Rawlings enema. His 57 harder was a line drive shot that was still rising when it went through the uprights. Special teams will be an adventure early. Hopefully having more depth will improve the coverage teams and keep returns under control.
 
Really good to hear about Gamboa in particular. Seems that everyone was giving him an F at this time last year.
 
Outside of punts and field goals did the team run kickoffs and punt/kick returns? If so how did it look, does the team have a shot at making plays on the return side and limiting the game changing returns?
 
At RB, Powell looks more like a tailback than a fullback now (in a good way). Lindsay and Adkins both looked good. Lindsay especially looked more stout. Frazier is huge. He can play TE just as much as FB.

Same observation I had from seeing some photos of him during camp. Interview on Pac-12 Net confirmed it. He may weigh the same as he did as a freshman, but his body is completely different now. He has a shot to really extend his career with a good season. Low Mileage bruisers are a rare commodity in the league.
 
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