BOULDER-- With so many seniors and redshirt juniors on both sides of the ball this year, using that leadership is going to be key for the Buffs being successful.
ICYMI: August Defensive Evaluation
Read: Practice Recap, Coach MacIntyre talks game day execution
Scroll down to ready full story
At the linebacker core, it's no secret they are packed with veterans and Junior Derek McCartney is hoping they use that in every game.
“Honestly the biggest thing we gotta do is we gotta lead, we gotta lead our defense and we just gotta make sure all of us take care of our jobs and we know what we’re doing.”
For most things in life confidence is key and that isn't any different on the football field.
“It gives us a confidence going into every game and because we know what we’re doing and with the leadership that we have we’re going to be able to do some good things.”
The hometown native has grown up watching Colorado football and being able to play their instate rival gets him and the team excited.
“We’re excited, they are a really good team and were just excited to get out there and play them.”
After going out and hitting the same people every practice a change of scenery is going to be good for the Buffs and it helps that their biggest rival is the first game of the season.
“I like it week one, it’s a fun game and we’re just excited to get going.”
McCartney had five sacks last year and has put on some weight. He should have more sacks this season with his bigger size and experience.
The team is going to rely on that veteran defense to stop Colorado State, they’ve been working on that throughout camp.
“It’s been good, we’ve gotten a lot better as a defense and we’re just learning a lot and a lot of our guys like you said we’re veterans and we got a lot of people who know what were doing on defense.”
McCartney is a selfless player, as you can tell in the interview it was all about the team. He is going to bring that to games this year and should be a big leader on the defense.
