What's new
AllBuffs | Unofficial fan site for the University of Colorado at Boulder Athletics programs

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

  • Prime Time. Prime Time. Its a new era for Colorado football. Consider signing up for a club membership! For $20/year, you can get access to all the special features at Allbuffs, including club member only forums, dark mode, avatars and best of all no ads ! But seriously, please sign up so that we can pay the bills. No one earns money here, and we can use your $20 to keep this hellhole running. You can sign up for a club membership by navigating to your account in the upper right and clicking on "Account Upgrades". Make it happen!

Back from the scrimmage

jjbuffs13

Well-Known Member
I left a little early so anyone who was there at the end can help me out.

First of all, the defense:

No one will be able to run between the tackles against us. Our backs didnt quite dazzle as I expected, but that was because our defense played really well in the trenches today. The corners played decent, gave up some passes they shouldnt have, but also didnt allow any big plays. Jimmy Smith will probably challenge for a starting job in the next 2 weeks but did not play today due to back problems. Gardner McKay and Anthony Wright held their own on the field and will most likely go into CSU as the 2 main corners with Chapelle and Jimmy getting rotations as well.

The LB's were hard to get a sense for because Beaty and B. Jones did not play today (Not sure why Jones didnt), but Smart, Sip, Burton and Mohler will get some reps but we dont have the solid playmaker that we lost when Dizon left and one of them will have to fill his role. (On a side note, Rippy had to get some medical attention today, not totally sure why but he limped back to the field and he seemed fine.)

The DL was very solid getting pressure on the QB, Hypo & Nicolas plug up the middle while a solid rotation of Obi, Herrod and Lucas come from the ends. I think we are looking at quite a few sacks this season, and if they dont get the sack, the pressure will at least be on the QB.


Offense:

Cody is definatly a new QB this year, he throws much better, reads much better and is just an overall leader on the field and thats what we need. However, if he goes down Ballenger will most likely take his place and he runs to much. Similar to the way BJax was in 06, if the reciever isnt open in the first second or so, he takes off.

The RB's all got fair playing time and no one was really that wow-ey today. Scott deffinatly has the power to run people over while Speedy will just make a move and run around them, a nice combo of the 2 will give defenses fits. Polk runs similar to the way Purify used to, he just kind of waits for the holes to open but once he takes off, it takes a lot to stop him. Sumler played quite a bit today and had a few 5 and 6 yard runs. No fumbles from the backs today so that is also a good sign.

The Oline was in tip-top shape today. With Miller and Solder on the outside and Blake Behrens and Bahr on the inside with Daniels snapping is a great pass protector. I dont quite know how well they will be able to open holes for the running game, but I can see them being nasty up front this year. (Daniels also only had 1 bad shotgun snap that Cody picked up and almost turned into a TD to McKnight)

WR is no longer a concern. Smith, McKnight, Williams and Celestine along with the backs in the flat will give Cody plenty of options. Scotty was far and above the best reciever on the field today and will not have many drops today. The tight ends were also very good at catching, Geer and Ryan Wallace had a few nice catches today. (I also heard that Hawk wants to use Solder as a reciever on tackle eligible plays, similar to the way the Pats use Vrable)

Special Teams:
Goodman will be the kicker come game day, I dont really know if he will split time on kick offs with Jameson Davis as both had very deep kicks. I would expect J-Fly to return punts as he took one to the crib today totally untouched. Kickoff returns will be a mystery, today Scott, Smith, Speedy and Sumler all returned and they all did a great job.

Starting Lineups:
Offense:
QB: Cody
RB: Scott, Stewert, Sumler, Polk (Rotations)
FB: Cantrell
WR: Smith, McKnight, Celestine, Williams (Rotations)
LT: Solder
LG: Behrens
C: Sanders
RG: Bahr
RT: Miller
TE: Geer, Devenny, Wallace

Defense:
DE: Herrod, Lucas
DT: Rabid Goldfish, Nicolas
LB: Jones, Burton, Smart
CB: McKay, Wright
SS: Dykes
FS: Walters
 
Disagree on your guards. Would be shocked if Head doesn't start and go the whole season. You could toss up Bahr and Behrens- but if MTM continues on the same curve- he is going to push his way onto the field.
 
Disagree on your guards. Would be shocked if Head doesn't start and go the whole season. You could toss up Bahr and Behrens- but if MTM continues on the same curve- he is going to push his way onto the field.

I only put down who started the first series, and Head didnt play as well as he had practiced. MTM was getting smoked on the Oline today, I would expect him to only be an if-need guard.
 
Defense:
DE: Herrod, Lucas
DT: Rabid Goldfish, Nicolas
LB: Jones, Burton, Smart
CB: McKay, Wright
SS: Dykes
FS: Walters



I only put down who started the first series, and Head didnt play as well as he had practiced. MTM was getting smoked on the Oline today, I would expect him to only be an if-need guard.

Brad Jones wasn't suited up. That was Josh Hartigan out there.

I really don't think there is any 1st and 2nd teamers in this scrimmage. Hawk and staff are still mixing and matching.
 
Brad Jones wasn't suited up. That was Josh Hartigan out there.

I really don't think there is any 1st and 2nd teamers in this scrimmage. Hawk and staff are still mixing and matching.

How did Hartigan look? He's been kinda overlooked with all the new LB firepower.
 
Thanks Valdez, Hartigan looked really good. All of the LB's played really well, and made great tackles
 
I completely disagree with your assessment on Cody. He still floats the deep ball and it almost seems like he is waiting for McKnight to get open. I was not impressed with him today and I think he looks no different then he did a year ago.

Ballenger looked great. He went through his reads and only ran when no one was open. And he is nothing like Bernard. He has great zip on his throws and has great size. As for stats, Ballenger rushed 5 times for 26 yards so he was productive.

In my opinion, Cody is a game manager and he'll be as good as the guys around him.
 
I completely disagree with your assessment on Cody. He still floats the deep ball and it almost seems like he is waiting for McKnight to get open. I was not impressed with him today and I think he looks no different then he did a year ago.

Cody did well. He shows great touch on the deep ball. He is greatly improved from last year. But this wasn't a strong scrimmage for Cody at all.

Cody might not be a great QB. He's only a sophmore right now anyway. But he's a good QB. Certainly better than we've had in a long time.
 
Last edited:
I have only attended today, so it could've just been an off day by Cody. I know he ended with pretty good numbers, but I didn't see a new QB today. Same old Cody in my opinion.

I'm not seeing the great touch on the deep ball either valdez, but then again it was tough to see everything that was going on and this was the only practice I've been to.
 
Last edited:
I know that, but he was far from perfect (as most redshirt freshman QBs are). I saw a couple big areas for improvement last year and today I didn't see much of a change.
 
I know that, but he was far from perfect (as most redshirt freshman QBs are). I saw a couple big areas for improvement last year and today I didn't see much of a change.

The biggest area of improvement was his interceptions. Last year, he did much better with that at the end than the beginning, and, as far as I've heard, he's keeping the INTs under wraps in the scrimmages so far.
 
I have only attended today, so it could've just been an off day by Cody. I know he ended with pretty good numbers, but I didn't see a new QB today. Same old Cody in my opinion.

I'm not seeing the great touch on the deep ball either valdez, but then again it was tough to see everything that was going on and this was the only practice I've been to.

hmm. My thoughts:
Cody did not have near the time he did in the last scrimmage. While I was there the pressure up the middle was incredible. He had quite a few nice passes against zone coverage where he showed the patience to pick it apart. He also had some passes where his WR's miss read the defense and ran the wrong route (JFLY!!). He showed some good wheels when the plays broke down as well.

Ballenger would look at 1 (maybe 2 on a rare occasion) receiver and then be running or trying to create something. The guy is ok, he had some damn good plays today, but to say that he was really going through his reads is pretty off imho. Ballenger is a backup and nothign more at this point. I watched his TD throws, he never looked anywhere else but where his throw was going. That is good (way to recognize the coverage) and bad (focusing in on one and only 1 receiver is BAD).

None of the RB's looked overly impressive today. Speedy had some good runs and sumler ran hard, but nobody really stood out like they did in the first scrimmage I saw

Jfly looked like the real deal except for a bad read or two. He had a great kickoff return in addition to his punt return. NIGHT and DAY compared to his return efforts in the week 1 scrimmage.

Sumler will start vs. CSU. He will not get more than 15 carries.

Williams had sticky hands. May they continue to be sticky.

Our DE's stepped up today. Finally, some pressure!

Our Oline is suspect in th emiddle. Cody especially had to run way to mcuh cause his guards were getting pushed way back.

Lots of work left to do....
 
Last edited:
sorry man but whatever you are smoking must be pretty good. Ballenger would look at 1 (maybe 2 on a rare occasion) receiver and then be running or trying to create something. The guy is ok, he had some damn good plays today, but to say that he was really going through his reads is pretty off imho.
Like I said, it was tough to see everything that was going on today. Regardless, I still think comparing Bernard Jackson to Ballenger is way off.
 
Thanks for the first hand reports .....:thumbsup:

Scrimmages are too difficult to read - is our offensive line struggling to make holes, or do we have an awesome rush defense? (likely the latter). Are the corners still learning the job, or has our receiver play improved? (likely the former).

I'm just glad to see - from here, the CU website, and the DC story - a number of different names having good camps. As Coach Hawk said, it's now time for the one's to start getting ready for CSU, but it's great to see the Buffs have so much quality depth.

GO BUFFS!:smile2:
 
Did they run a lot of hurry-up? Are the signals coming in smoothly?
 
Back
Top