Menu
What's new
By:
Filters
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!

Nelson Spruce stats after 5 games (friggin' ridiculous)

Two Biletnikoff seasons came on a losing team:

2002 Charles Rogers (Michigan State 4-8) 68-1351-13
2005 Mike Hass (Oregon State 5-6) 90-1532-6

I would put Nelson Spruce up against any other team's top receiver. I am thrilled we have him. And if Sefo continues passing like he did yesterday Spruce is going to put up stupid numbers by the end of the year. I do think it's a reach to believe he'll finish with the numbers he's currently on pace for since our competition is going to get much better than what we've faced.
 
Yeah, the only comparison with Scotty is that he is white. I'm not really sure who to compare him to. Maybe Jerry Rice? Rice never had elite speed either, but was a technician, much the way Spruce is. Spruce uses his hands better than any receiver I can recall at the college level.

Before I get killed for the Rice comparison by the moron contingent, I'm comparing skill sets, not careers.
 
azbuff said:
Yeah, the only comparison with Scotty is that he is white. I'm not really sure who to compare him to. Maybe Jerry Rice? Rice never had elite speed either, but was a technician, much the way Spruce is. Spruce uses his hands better than any receiver I can recall at the college level.

Before I get killed for the Rice comparison by the moron contingent, I'm comparing skill sets, not careers.
Click to expand...
His hands and concentration are amazing. Has he ever dropped a pass?
 
azbuff said:
Yeah, the only comparison with Scotty is that he is white.
Click to expand...

I think we can make the comparison for hands as well. Scotty didn't flash like Spruce for the number of touchdowns we've seen this year but he was a vacuum cleaner for anything thrown to him within reach. The problem was that Floater was his QB for most of his college career so often the ball would dribble toward his feet or make a hanging sail out of bounds.
 
Current stats have him with the most TD's by 3 and most receptions by 12, but to be fair, the guys behind him have only played 4 games instead of 5. I have watched some great CU receivers since following the team closely for roughly 27 years. There have been faster guys, there have been more explosive guys, but I have NEVER seen hands like that or someone who runs routes like he does. He is an NFL receiver playing college football and will be a late first round or second round pick after this season (because he doesn't have the game changing explosiveness).

If he keeps up anything resembling this pace for the rest of this season, he will go down as the best complete WR to come through CU, period.
 
The worry of him leaving is legitimate. If he keeps up those kinds of numbers it will be tough to keep the NFL scouts away.
 
azbuff said:
Yeah, the only comparison with Scotty is that he is white. I'm not really sure who to compare him to. Maybe Jerry Rice? Rice never had elite speed either, but was a technician, much the way Spruce is. Spruce uses his hands better than any receiver I can recall at the college level.

Before I get killed for the Rice comparison by the moron contingent, I'm comparing skill sets, not careers.
Click to expand...
Someone said it in a different thread, but the comparison is Rod Smith. He never really got credited with being an elite receiver, not fast enough, not talented enough, etc (even after his career, he'll probably end up being the 2nd worst HOF snub in Broncos' history), but, like Spruce, all he did was go out and catch the ball.
 
Spruce is a freakn STUD. I truly believe he is a way better reciever then PRich (sorry). Dude has strong hands, fight for and takes the ball, runs crisp and clean routes. PRich has him on speed but Spruce is a smart and athletic receiver. we have him one more year !
 
BuffUp said:
Spruce is a freakn STUD. I truly believe he is a way better reciever then PRich (sorry). Dude has strong hands, fight for and takes the ball, runs crisp and clean routes. PRich has him on speed but Spruce is a smart and athletic receiver. we have him one more year !
Click to expand...

Spruce will never have the speed PRich has and that is what makes him a true home run threat on every play. Spruce runs amazing routes and has the strength that PRich doesn't. Completely different types of receivers, and the combination of the two this year could have been absolutely lethal.
 
Spruce is very good, but this talk about him being the best at CU is a bit over the top. Remember we had guys here like Michael Westbrook, Mike Pritchard, Cliff Branch and Dave Logan. All of those guys went on to very solid NFL careers. Although personna non grata now - Rae Carruth was still a spectacular wide receiver. Spruce may end up somewhere in between #5 and #10 on the CU list.

That's still pretty damn good.
 
sackman said:
Spruce is very good, but this talk about him being the best at CU is a bit over the top. Remember we had guys here like Michael Westbrook, Mike Pritchard, Cliff Branch and Dave Logan. All of those guys went on to very solid NFL careers. Although personna non grata now - Rae Carruth was still a spectacular wide receiver. Spruce may end up somewhere in between #5 and #10 on the CU list.

That's still pretty damn good.
Click to expand...

There were some fantastic wide receivers on those mid 90s teams. Not enough balls to go around especially when the team was able to run the ball the way it was.
 
Sacky's list sounds right. I also think Amari Cooper is a better WR this year, but Spruce is squarely in the conversation for AA honors, which is allsome.
 
tante said:
why are we using NFL careers to pick a top 10 CU receiver list?
Click to expand...

Technically, it's a top 5 list. And Carruth had a crappy NFL career. Westbrook was no great shakes, either, for some reason. I'd still put both of those guys ahead of Spruce. Pritchard was a special talent that got buried in a run-first offense at CU, but he was fantastic. Logan and Branch made names for themselves in the NFL, but were still very highly regarded while at CU.

Spruce is good. Very good. Maybe even great. But he's also benefitting from a pass-heavy offense that pads his stats. He's not the best WR ever to play at CU. But like I said, he's probably top 10, and that includes guys like PRich and Charles Johnson.
 
tante said:
why are we using NFL careers to pick a top 10 CU receiver list?
Click to expand...

Ya not sure why either. Cliff Branch as a top WR in CU history? Granted the offenses were completely different back then but he had less than 30 career receptions and 3 total receiving TD's at CU
 
If all you look at is stats while at CU, Cody Hawkins was the greatest quarterback ever at CU.

That's one reason why you take NFL careers into consideration.
 
sackman said:
If all you look at is stats while at CU, Cody Hawkins was the greatest quarterback ever at CU.

That's one reason why you take NFL careers into consideration.
Click to expand...

Not really. Most career INT's and terrible win %. Dave Logan 4 career TD's at CU>>> Nelson Spruce? Sacky... who is the better LB in CU history Jordon Dizon or Brad Jones?
 
I think he stays.
PRich isn't doing much in the NFl yet, and he had much more speed and raw ability than Spruce.

That being said, Spruce reminds me of a Wes Welker guy in the NFL....a solid slot receiver who can get open in the middle and convert.
He'll be an asset.

I keep imagining what the offense would look like i fPRich had stayed and we had Spruce on the other half of the field. Man that would have been tough to defend!
 
Shldr2Shldr said:
Spruce will never have the speed PRich has and that is what makes him a true home run threat on every play. Spruce runs amazing routes and has the strength that PRich doesn't. Completely different types of receivers, and the combination of the two this year could have been absolutely lethal.
Click to expand...
Exactly. Reminds me of the bball team...what if we had Roberson and Dinwiddie. Just like that example, we're going to lose Spruce this year me thinks.
 
darth-horax said:
I think he stays.
PRich isn't doing much in the NFl yet, and he had much more speed and raw ability than Spruce.

That being said, Spruce reminds me of a Wes Welker guy in the NFL....a solid slot receiver who can get open in the middle and convert.
He'll be an asset.

I keep imagining what the offense would look like i fPRich had stayed and we had Spruce on the other half of the field. Man that would have been tough to defend!
Click to expand...

Put Fields at the slot and that offense is absolutely explosive.
 
He's not a jet but he has good enough speed. He runs good routes, catches everything, and has a knack for getting open. In short, the guy is a football player. Some guys are mechanical and have to learn the game, Spruce just picks it up naturally. Top 10 for sure, I said top 5, that's the players I've seen play.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top