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Colorado has a potentially game changing new weapon in the slot
After an eventful month, Colorado’s spring football session has come to a close with conclusion of the Black and Gold spring game. Despite the dreary and miserable weather in Boulder on Saturday, the fans who endured the rain were treated to their first glimpse of what the 2024 Buffaloes may look like. Here are our biggest takeaways from the abbreviated spring game:
LaJohntay Wester is an absolutely beast in the slot
This doesn’t really come as a surprise to anyone who watched Wester’s FAU tape, but Colorado’s new slot receiver put on a show on Saturday. Wester played for only the first few drives of the game, but his performance stole the show. His blazing speed cooked Colorado’s second team cornerbacks and Shedeur Sanders was dealing to his newest weapon. Wester finished the game with 66 yards on only three receptions, scoring a 23 yard touchdown in the process.
Wester’s presence in the slot was absolutely commanding. He pretty much took over the offense during the very limited first-team snaps, showing CU fans a glimpse of things to come. Paired up with Travis Hunter, Will Sheppard and Jimmy Horn Jr., Colorado’s wide receiver corps is poised to be perhaps the best in the country.
The offensive line looks much better.
Colorado’s offensive line was absolutely atrocious last season. After completely overhauling their entire line, the new unit got to show CU faithful what they’re made of on Saturday. Needless to say, this new group looks like a major upgrade.
The first team starters for Colorado were Jordan Seaton (LT), Tyler Brown (LG), Hank Zilinskas (C), Justin Mayers (RG), and Kahlil Benson (RT). That’s more or less what Colorado fans were expecting, especially after offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur had high praise for Zilinskas last Thursday.
The first team unit hardly allowed any pressures on the quarterback and gave up just one sack. Granted, they played against their own defense, but they really did a good job protecting Shedeur. At the bare minimum, Colorado’s offensive line will be better than last season. With a quarterback as savvy in the pocket as Shedeur, that alone is going to make a gigantic difference.
We learned that Colorado will likely be stacking their best two lineman on the left side (Seaton and Brown) and it worked wonders during the spring game. They completely locked down the left side of the backfield and gave Shedeur a ton of time to work. When the season starts, keep an eye on if they stack Seaton and Brown on the left, or move Brown to right guard to try and balance things out. It’s a bit of an interesting dilemma facing Pat Shurmur.
Second-team center and UConn transfer Yakiri Walker also had an impressive showing on Saturday. Along with being by far the best player on the line when he was on the field, he also pancaked someone on a trick play to Kaleb Mathis which resulted in a touchdown. It’s looking like the Buffs will have some impressive depth at center, which is fantastic news.
We still have no clue what Colorado’s running back situation looks like
Going into today’s game, many fans (including myself) were looking forward to seeing what Colorado new running backs corps would look like. After the departures of Dylan Edwards, Alton McCaskill and Sy’veon Washington, fans wanted to see what true-freshman Micah Welch and Dorrell-era holdover Charlie Offerdahl could bring to the team.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. Both Welch and Offerdahl were unable to play due to injuries, while Colorado’s other RB additions (Dallan Hayden and Rashad Amos) haven’t made it to campus yet.
Due to the lack of running backs available today, Coach Prime had little choice but to start Isaiah Hardge in the offensive backfield. Hardge came to Boulder as a wide receiver and made the move to defensive back this spring, but Colorado’s coaching staff had Hardge fill in as emergency running back for today’s scrimmage.
Hardge had a great game, breaking off an impressive 40 yard touchdown run on the second drive of the game, but he won’t be seeing touches in regular season play. We’re unfortunately no closer to knowing what Colorado’s offensive backfield will look like than we were since the day started.
Overall, I’d say Colorado’s spring game was a success (other than the weather). We got to see the Buffs’ new offensive line perform and they looked genuinely impressive, while LaJohntay Wester emerged as a serious offensive game-changer. The Buffs looked poised to have their best season since 2016 and that was cemented during today’s scrimmage. We have a ton to look forward to until the season starts in August and that home-opener against North Dakota State can’t come soon enough.
by RylandScholes
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