Cole Becker would concede that his college football career got off to a less-than-ideal start.

Stepping in for the Buffs as a true freshman, he missed his first three career field goal attempts before drilling one from 51 yards in week four at Arizona State.

In Becker's defense, Karl Dorrell threw him into the deep end from the jump, as his first three kicks were from 53, 46 and 46 yards.

While he may have started slow, after his early misses, Becker went 14-of-17 for the remainder of the season for Colorado.

When he reflects on his first year of college football, Becker feels strongly that it did a lot for him.

“Having that year here I could just learn the way of the program, learn how I’m supposed to act, how I’m supposed to play, it was good to get that year out of the way," Becker said. "Now, I have much more confidence that I can perform at a higher level.”

Dorrell relayed last Saturday that Becker has looked good this spring and is feeling more sure of himself.

After all, Becker did go 3-of-4 last year on field goals of 50-59 yards. His 56-yard make in last season's finale at Utah set a record for the longest field goal by a freshman in CU program history.

He also made three field goals (of 28, 52 and 43 yards) in Colorado's double-overtime win last fall over Oregon State, including the game-winner.

"He’s very confident," Dorrell said. "One thing you’ll notice with him compared to what he was a year ago, you would guess here and there whether he was confident on making a kick. Now, he has a little swagger about how he works. He’s been booming the ball, just kicking it very well.”

Becker described his offseason and spring as being similar to an MLB pitcher being on pitch count, where his reps are designed to focus on quality, not quantity.

In fact, Becker said in a typical practice, he'll only take between eight and 10 total live reps, which includes field goals, kickoffs and extra point attempts.

While it certainly won't be a headline topic in any spring football report coming out of Boulder, one position (among many others) that remains something of a question mark for CU this spring is that of holder.

Then-senior tight end Matt Lynch handled those duties last season, building a good rapport with Becker in the process, but Lynch has since graduated.

Punter Josh Watts, who also saw time at holder last season, entered the transfer portal in January.

Needing to plug that hole, the Buffs this spring have tapped freshman punter Ashton Logan, who's in his first semester at CU, to serve as holder.

"It's all about trust," Becker said. "You just can't hop into the operation expecting him to be as good as Matt Lynch was or as good as Josh was. There's a learning curve and that's why we have spring, summer and fall camp.

"...He’s getting there. The spring’s really for us about getting the operation nailed down…It’s been good to get time with him to be able to train him a little bit more.”