A winter storm has forced the Colorado football team to practice inside this week, but it hasn’t slowed the Buffaloes’ progress.
On Tuesday, the Buffs completed their 16th practice of the preseason as they prepare for the Nov. 7 opener against UCLA at Folsom Field (5 p.m., TV: ESPN2).
“It was a really good day,” head coach Karl Dorrell said. “We had a good, productive day.”
CU continues to work on polishing its offensive and defensive schemes, while some position battles continue, but Dorrell said the Buffs are also in the beginning stages of game planning for the Bruins.
“By no means are we out of training camp,” Dorrell said. “But we’re within two weeks now; we’re 10 days away (from the opener) and so we wanted to get a chance to start breaking the seal on that preparation for our first opponent.”
Dorrell still hasn’t named a starting quarterback and there’s plenty of work to be done for the Buffs to be ready to play a game, but Dorrell said he continues to be pleased with how the players are preparing.
“We’re heading in the right direction to get ourselves ready to go on November 7 at 5 o’clock,” Dorrell said.
Aggressive approach
A series of injuries have caused junior Chris Miller to miss 14 of the Buffs’ 24 games over the past two seasons, but that’s not slowing him down. A former cornerback, Miller is now expected to start at Star, a safety/outside linebacker hybrid position, and he’s not worried about getting injured again.
“You can’t play this game worrying about an injury or you will get injured,” he said. “I just go out there and play fearlessly, play attacking my gaps, do what I have to do. It’s not a game to be played timid or scared.”
One of the most talented and versatile players on defense when healthy, Miller said he’s enjoying his position. Because of his position flexibility, he’s also soaking up whatever knowledge he can from all the coaches.
“I’ve actually worked with every single (defensive) coach, so I can’t really say there’s one I work with the most,” he said. “I meet with (safeties coach Brett) Maxie pretty much every day; he’s my main guy, but I meet with every coach to try to pick the knowledge and learn a little bit more about the game to help better myself to be a better teammate for everyone else.”
Eyeing the future
Dorrell and the Buffs are hoping to win as many games as possible this season, but the unique nature of this year is allowing them to also look to the future a bit. Because the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a shortened season, the NCAA has said this year will not count towards players’ eligibility. Because of that, Dorrell said more young players than normal could see the field.
“It is kind of a free period of time to kind of get some work done to try to develop your depth (and) to try to win games,” Dorrell said. “We’re trying to do all of those things and there’s going to be some freshmen that will help us this fall, that we’re counting on to be a factor for us and I know they’ll be a factor for us in 2021, as well.
“It’s a great chance to really develop your young players. Some of them that are ready to play, you’ve got to get them playing time. You’ve got to get them used to playing at this level.”
In addition to freshmen, CU has several players that are sophomores and juniors that don’t have much game experience either. Throw in the fact that Dorrell is in his first year with the team, and he said, “It is an opportune time to get the depth of your program a chance to really maybe get some game reps and really build off that for their future.”
Notable
Dorrell said Tuesday was a good day for the kickers and singled out punter Josh Watts. … Joshka Gustav, a redshirt freshman outside linebacker who is from Hamburg, Germany, said he hasn’t been home since Christmas. He chose to stay in Boulder this year because of travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. “I didn’t want to risk anything that I’m maybe stuck in Germany and I can’t come back for a season,” he said. “I was wanting to play it safe and stay here.”
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