Colorado prepares for first spring scrimmage under Karl Dorrell

Later this afternoon, Colorado will conduct its first of four "spring showcases," in other words, scrimmages, in Boulder.

While it should be expected that many players will be seeing reps with the first team offense and defense and that the end result of the scrimmage will not constitute a depth chat, it'll nonetheless be interesting to see how the players perform.

For defensive coordinator Chris Wilson, spring ball in general presents an opportunity to test the depth he has across the board on defense.

“We have a great chance to sit back and develop guys and we’ve got a bunch of new guys that are getting a lot of quality reps, so that’s been fun to see them compete," he said. "The biggest thing is that we’ve got a year under our belt. A lot of things are different but a lot of concepts are similar. There’s a lot of carryover from year one to year two.”

Inside linebacker is a position in particular where Wilson has been able, perhaps it's fair to say forced, to cycle guys in an out for first team reps.

After all, defensive anchor Nate Landman is a non-participant this spring and that may not be changing until Colorado's summer camp, which Landman is not guaranteed to be 100% healthy for when it starts.

With Akil Jones gone and Notre Dame transfer Jack Lamb not joining the team until the summer, Wilson has had to turn to other helping hands to plug holes this spring.

One of them has been junior Jon Van Diest, the former Cherry Creek standout who played in four games last fall, seeing 81 snaps worth of action on defense.While injuries have nagged him since he arrived at Colorado in 2017, this spring Van Diest has impressed Wilson with his on-field presence and leadership.

“He’s doing well," Wilson said of Van Diest. "One of the things you see in him is not only he’s in optimal shape, but he’s really a good decision maker. We always say (ILB) is the leadership position. That group is the only position that is built into the front end and the back seven so they’re kind of the quarterback of our defense."

"(Van Diest) has done a great job with leadership, getting guys lined up, putting them in the right position and being decisive. He’s done a really great job for us.”

In front of Van Diest, the Buffaloes' primary objective from now until Sept. 3, when Northern Colorado visits Folsom Field for the 2021 season opener, will be replacing interior defensive line workhorse Mustafa Johnson, who forewent an extra year of eligibility at CU in order to declare for the NFL Draft.

Sophomore Jalen Sami and junior Janaz Jordan, both of whom saw a combined 257 snaps on defense in 2020, will look to do just that.

Despite them both having extended playing time under their belts over the last few seasons, Wilson wants to see them fine tune their games even further ahead of this upcoming season.

"They've got size, they've got length, they've got power at the point of attack, so right now, it's just getting their fundamentals in great position," Wilson said.