As the Buffaloes get in gear for Spring football and the eventual 2020 season, the wide receivers room will not be an area or position group that'll have concerning question marks around it.

Colorado boasts a WR corps of experienced returning players plus a core of four incoming freshmen that assistant head coach and receivers coach Darrin Chiaverini handpicked from Arizona, Texas and California.

The Buffaloes have a surplus of talent at the wideout position that'll serve as good experience around CU's next starting QB, whether that ends up being Brendon Lewis, Tyler Lytle or Blake Stenstrom.

K.D. Nixon as a senior anchors the wide receiver room.

He has the most on-field experience of any returning Buffalo wideout and his 35 catches in 2019 were nearly four times as much as fellow returners Daniel Arias, Maurice Bell and Jaylon Jackson combined.

"For K.D., his time is coming," Chiaverini said. "It really is. He’s a good person, a really good player and I’m really excited for his senior year because I think he’s going to do some great things.”

It could probably be said of a lot of returning wideouts that their time is coming. The Buffs are a team that for a number of years now have brought in exciting freshman WRs who at times have had to work their way up to earning prominent offensive roles.

With that comes a natural nervousness among fans and watchers of the team in general when young guys aren't seeing the field early and often.

Luckily for the Buffaloes, Chiaverini is someone who can speak to having had to wait his own turn when he was at CU. In 1995 and 1996, Chiaverini's first two years, he lettered in football but was used in more of a reserve role behind older receivers.

In fact, Chiaverini recorded just 9% of his collegiate receiving yards as an underclassmen. By the time 1997 came around and Chiaverini was a junior, he finished second on the Buffaloes in catches and yards. As a senior, he led the team in both of those respects.

The point is that Chiaverini is someone who can personally attest to the grind and at times frustrating reality of not playing early on. Thus, when his position players go through the same process — look at Arias as a prime example — he can help guide young men through the times.

"At Colorado, I was a backup," he said. "I knew I was a really good player, but I was backing up a really good player, as well, an all-conference, All-American player. I can relate to these kids about trusting the process and getting better, working your individual skills to enhance them to a higher level. If you can do that, your time is going to come. I think the (players) that struggle in college are the ones that want everything right now, and when it doesn’t come, they want to give up or transfer."

"The good thing about the guys we’ve recruited at Colorado to play receiver is that they’ve stuck with in and gotten better each and every year."

In terms of guys who have gotten better every year, there seems to be no shortage of that in Chiaervini's WRs room from the top down.

"K.D. Nixon has gotten better every year," Chiaverini said. "And then a guy like Daniel Arias, who is a big, long, physical receiver with speed — he was playing behind Laviska. That’s a tough situation but he’s handled it (well) and is one of our best team players. Now that he’s a junior, it’s his time to take the next step. He’s done everything that we’ve asked him to do and his time is going to come."

"I’m excited for Daniel, I’m excited for Maurice Bell, another guy who’s waited his turn. I’m excited for guys like that who have put the time in and who’ve kept competing."

Aside from Nixon, the only other Buffalo wideout that returns with something of a hearty stat line from last year is Dimitri Stanley, who caught 29 balls for 312 yards in 2019 as a redshirt freshman. In 2018, he saw action in four games and went on to make the best of his redshirt experience.

In 2020, Chiaverini foresees a similar progression for Vontae Shenault.

"We think they can play and help us win games," Chiaverini said. "You look at someone like Vontae Shenault, who last year was a four-star kid. He has a huge ceiling and I can’t wait to get with him in spring, because he made so many strides during the season. Being able to redshirt him and him being able to come back as a freshman, it’s like what happened to Dimitri. Dimitri got playing time the year before, caught some balls and then came back this year and caught (just under) 30 balls as a (redshirt) freshman. That’s a big number for a freshman to catch 30. I’m excited to see those guys compete."

And of course, it would be woefully inadequate to discuss the Buffaloes' situation at WR heading into 2020 without mentioning the incoming talent that Chiaverini evaluated, recruited and then signed.

“You’ve got guys like Brenden Rice coming in, who just won the Arizona 6A receiver of the year. Keith Miller is a big, physical kid who can run and catch. Chris Carpenter can play in the slot, and the sleeper of the group is probably Montana Lemonious-Craig, who makes play after play and averaged over 25 yards per catch in high school, which is unheard of. He had 20-plus touchdowns, which is crazy in California.”

All in all, signs are pointing to Chiaverini's WRs being a major positional strength for the Buffs in 2020.