On Wednesday morning, the Pac-12 released its preseason football media poll and Colorado is predicted to finish fifth our of sixth within the South Division.

Oregon and Southern Cal are predicted to compete in the Pac-12 title game, with the Ducks slightly edging the Trojans in preseason votes to be conference champions.

For the Buffs, who come off of three consecutive 5-7 seasons and of course, head into the first year of the Karl Dorrell era, the preseason prediction for them to finish near the cellar of the Pac-12 South isn't exactly surprising.

That said, Dorrell believes that his team possesses continuity, especially amongst the coaching staff, that many national media overlook.

Namely, his retention of defensive coordinator Tyson Summers and long-tenured wideouts coach Darrin Chiaverini, who will call the offensive shots this year, Dorrell sees as an advantage.

“I believe there’s a foundation because (Chiaverini and Summers) who are the coordinators, they understand the scope of what their players are on each side of the ball and what they know," he said.

Dorrell went on to say in a Tuesday appearance on the Pac-12 Network that due to his late hire, he sought to alleviate stress from his players and avoid completely retooling the playbook as well as key offensive and defensive terminology.

"We’ve changed a few things in terms of scheme and things that we’re doing from a schematic standpoint on both sides of the ball, but we did it really with minimal terminology change," he said.

"In other words, (the players) have the same buzzwords and things that they had last year — they’re really the same things they’re going to hear this year. It might be a little tweak in the system or two but it was important to keep that continuity given how late I was hired, to not be in too bad of shape going into the season."

The biggest question mark for Dorrell in his first year is who will be the Buffs' starting quarterback — true freshman Brendon Lewis, senior Sam Noyer or junior Tyler Lytle.

Dorrell has yet to determine his starter, but expressed confidence in his choices.

"They lack some experience, obviously, but we think that between the three, we’re going to be able to find a solid player that can manage the offense and hopefully grow and get better week after week," he said.

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Dorrell on his QBs room and the guys competing for the starting gig:

“That’s kind of the $100,000 question for this program: who will our starter be? We were able to talk a gentleman into coming back who’s already graduated in Sam Noyer, who 's part of the equation there. Tyler Lytle is the next guy who was the third stringer last year, because (Blake) Stenstrom transferred out to Princeton, but Tyler’s had some experience, not a lot of experience — this last season I think he threw three passes, so he hasn’t had a lot of playing time but those two guys are the primary guys to see how things turn out with reps and competition that we'll go through camp.

The third, who’s the dark horse, but really not really, is the freshman, the kid who who came in midyear in Brendon Lewis — he’s got a little bit further to go just because it’s so new to him compared to the other two that have been in the program, but all three are talented players."

Dorrell on Lewis' weight room prowess, which has been well-documented since the latter's arrival in Boulder as a January enrollee:

"That’s kind of funny, because he has most of the records for strength gains that are on quarterback record boards — that tells you a little bit about his athleticism. He’s a very competitive, athletic, player. We think he’s going to have a very bright future — he’s just a very young player. But he’s very strong, he’s athletic and maybe we’ll create some things for him as we go about the season.”

Dorrell on his 2020 class and how he kept it completely intact after Mel Tucker left Colorado for Michigan State:

"Keeping Tyson on board and keeping Darrin onboard, and then we had Brian Michalowski — he stayed and Darian Hagan — I did keep some of last year’s (coaching) corps intact, so that did help just to be able to keep the recruits. When I did get (to Boulder) I did try to sell myself as best as I could about honoring their scholarships and how excited I am about getting them in here.

I watched all of their tapes from when they were in high school — I looked at the class, studied them and really was impressed on who they were coming in. We talked a lot of ball along the way in introducing myself and I think they felt comfortable that things were going to be fine.‘

There was a new head coach that didn’t recruit me, but I like him. He seems like he’d be a standup guy and he says all the things that I want to hear.’ So I think that worked out in my favor.That (2020) class — they’re fabulous. There’s a lot of those guys that are going to have a chance to play for us and help us this fall.”

Dorrell on the depth of his WRs corps:

“It is a young but talented group led by K.D. Nixon who’s our senior coming back. We’re hoping that he does a great job in leading the charge for that group. Dimitri Stanley had some good positive moments last year, Maurice Bell did as well — Jaylon Jackson — all these guys had some time and experience last year who played.

The only thing that’s kind of (missing) is that we don’t have that returner who’s coming back that had 60 receptions. We’ve had a bunch of guys that have had five or seven here, 12 there, 22 there — not quite a returning starter that’s had a great productive year. We haven’t had that kind of (player) that’s coming back for our program.

But we feel K.D. is a leader in that and we’re hoping he has a great year for us down the stretch.”