Fair. More knowledgeable outside perspective than I'm used to seeing.
Here's the deal:
On special teams, CU is more solid than it's been in years. Both kicker and punter are really good along with having a lot more depth of speed for returns and coverage. Might be the team strength, which we haven't seen in a long time in Boulder.
On offense, the WRs don't take a step back from 2017 and probably are able to help Montez a lot more because they're big bodied guys this year. The past 2 years, despite the numbers those seniors put up, they struggled beating press coverage and physicality so they were rarely open quickly unless there was a defensive breakdown. With the current group. they're open even when they're covered and I don't think they give up anything on the big play threat. CU has more of a threat at the TE position than it has had, too. McMillian, like Lindsay, is a very good receiver out of the backfield also.
The offense, as the preview got into, really comes down to the OL and Montez. If Montez takes the mental step in his development this year and shows some leadership and an ability to read a defense, he has the tools to be scary good. With the OL, there is a lot of youth and an injury recovery question with Lynott. But the talent level has been raised. The big thing it has been missing for years is nastiness. Guys like Moretti and Tonz are violent and nasty. If that mentality surfaces and coaching overcomes the inexperience, particularly at C where we are playing a very talented guy in Pursell who greyshirted and then redshirted so isn't a typical freshman, then this OL could be surprisingly good. I think that right now it is fair to assume that Montez is uneven in his performances and that the OL struggles, so predicting an uneven offensive output is reasonable. However, there's a very definite path I can see to this offense being dynamic and also able to grind teams when it's called for. Lots of potential upside that could surprise a lot of people.
With the defense, strength up the middle has to be there within this scheme. Two senior safeties and two senior inside linebackers give a very strong core. On the outside, CU returns both Udoffia and Wigley at CB who both started a lot last year. But there's a good chance that neither of those guys starts in 2018. RS-Freshman Miller looks to be locked in as CB1. He's a freak. CB2 is the main DB position battle in fall camp and the guy not mentioned by the preview is Abrams, who was one of the most sought after JUCO transfers this year. Long and athletic, but skinny. Very similar to Ahkello Witherspoon who is now with the 49ers -- but Spoon wasn't ready his first year out of JUCO and Abrams might not be either. If not, Udoffia is the likely starter and he's a former WR who has a nose for the ball. Buff fans don't have many concerns at CB. The question is whether they'll be great or just good. It certainly helps that they've got senior safeties to call the coverage and coach on the field.
OLB is where there are question marks in the back 8 of the defense. Taylor has the potential, as the preview stated, to be a freak. Rare to have a guy with LB size who has the speed so that you don't have to sub out an OLB to go to nickel. But he's also a guy who didn't play HS football and has only his JUCO experience. Speed covers a lot, but we don't know if he's going to be a liability at times too. That's a difficult position to play since it has to defeat the zone reads in the run game while also being able to cover a slot WR in man coverage. The other OLB is really an edge pass rusher that only has limited coverage responsibility and only has to deal with the boundary on zone read run defense. Buffs couldn't generate an edge pass rush from the position last season and the big question is whether the guys vying for that spot can do so this year. True soph Callier flashed early last season with strong pass rush skills, but teams adjusted to his limited arsenal of moves and neutralized him within a couple games. RS-Junior Falo returns after a year's suspension as a guy CU was counting on to be the starter last season. RS-Frosh Wells is the 3rd guy who could be the real wild card here. Last with the LBs, the inside finally seems to have depth that will allow Gamboa and Lewis to avoid getting worn down from playing too many snaps. Jones and Landman look ready to play a lot.
Which brings us to the DL. It was horrible last year. We lost Jackson to graduation, who was easily our best DL from a group that struggled. But depth seems to be much better this year and experience should help. Edwards at NT is probably the biggest key. If he can hold the point of attack this year, watch out. He was one of the top JUCO transfers in 2017, but his fitness and technique were horrible. But he's the biggest and strongest guy on the team and there's a new position coach. Senior. His backup, Tuiloma, is also huge and will be an experienced RS-Junior this year who should be able to take enough snaps to keep Edwards fresh. There's also a senior, Franke, who is more the size of a one-gap DT but rotates in at NT on passing downs while also giving some at the DE spots. He'll be effective and help the team win in his limited snaps. At DE, we've got Mulumba who was another 2017 JUCO. One of the most improved guys from the start of last season to the end and he could be a handful as a senior in 2018. He will start. Opposite him will be a mix of Johnson (JUCO transfer) who was mentioned in the preview. He's a bull who is shorter than what you normally see from a 3-4 DE and reports from the spring were that his tenacity and low pad level gave the OL a lot of trouble. His main competition to start who will likely rotate with him is pretty much the opposite. Lang is a RS-Frosh CU was able win a recruiting battle with USC for in 2017 who is like 6'7" but came in very undersized last year after losing a lot of weight focusing on the classroom and getting eligible in the spring & summer. He had been slated to play as a true frosh but had to redshirt because he was down to like 250 lbs. World of talent and could be the wildcard. Also, true freshman Antwine was a big recruiting win for us in 2018 over Oklahoma State (flipped him late) and he could be a guy who comes in and starts from day one.
Lots of pieces and lots of questions on the defense. It could be bad, it could be uneven, it could be damn good.
Other than special teams, that's the theme for this year. Lots of potential and reason to be confident that every position is manned by a good player with depth, but we've got no idea how it will all gel together or whether our QB will develop as a veteran leader who treats it like a job. I'd say it's actually a deeper and more talented team than we had in 2016, but that team had a group of seniors in all the key spots that had talent and a huge hunger to go out as winners after what they'd suffered for 3 years. My biggest question in 2018 probably comes down to that hunger. 2017's team got complacent and cocky, thinking they'd arrived after the 2016 season. Will the 2018 team learn from that and make sure it never happens again? If so, watch out.
