Senior wideout K.D. Nixon talked at length this week about getting back in the groove of things as the Buffs gear up towards fall camp. The Buffaloes this year certainly have a bit of a shortage in the senior department, with Nixon being just one of nine soon-to-be outgoing players on the team.

At face value, in the middle of a pandemic, that might come off as being a detriment, but the way Nixon put it, the rest of Colorado's roster, juniors and underclassmen alike, have done a good job at stepping up as leaders in their own right.

In other words, Nixon has not felt the need to be overbearing when it comes to providing leadership to the team.

"I feel like the biggest thing I’ve learned over the years is letting people be themselves while also seeing how to approach them and how to coach them," he said. "With the team now, we’re all so close that I don’t have to be an extremely important leader — I can trust them to be leaders. That’s the difference this year. Everybody’s a leader, not just me.”

It should go without saying the level of anticipation present with respect to the many promising wide receivers Colorado brought in via the Class of 2020. From Brenden Lewis, to Montana Lemonious-Craig and Chris Carpenter — the Buffs acquired some significant reinforcements at the position to bolster the already robust corps of wideouts on the team.

Nixon had a pretty positive review of the frosh WRs in terms of their collective development.

“They’re all getting better by the day," he said. "We’re helping them and teaching them the plays. They’re coming in and learning how to read coverages. I’m teaching them how to run proper routes — it’s just a time for them to get better and fall camp, it’s coming up, so the biggest thing we can do is work on RVAs: routes vs. air. All of them are doing great and I’m ready to see all of them play.”

By RVAs, Nixon refers to simply running routes without any DBs in coverage, thus running them "vs. air." As is the case with walking before running, it makes sense that wideouts must be able to run mechanically sound routes against the wind before squaring up against a cornerback.

The same could be said for quarterbacks. For Brendon Lewis in particular, Nixon has been working with him on routes "vs. the air" to build up his comfortability with his wide receivers, ball placement and overall anticipation of when his receivers cut across the field on their respective routes.

“I honestly think that’s the biggest opportunity (to build chemistry)," Nixon said. "Most of the routes are vs. the air, even when you’re pressed during a game or (playing) against the zone in a game, you’ve got to know defenses. If I know it’s man and (Lewis) doesn’t know routes vs. air, how fast I’d run it, what spot to throw (the ball) at, if (the DB) is on top, throw it to the back shoulder, (the DB) he’s below trailing, he could throw it over the shoulder — that’s the basics, the chemistry and that’s the teaching I’m doing with 'B-Lew' outside of just throwing a football. It’s a process. The quarterback is the hardest position in the game.”

Nixon thus far has relished his first opportunity in college to play the role of mentor to a quarterback. This is the first year that Colorado's prospective starting quarterback would be younger than he.

“'B-Lew' catching on so fast is just beautiful because I never had this chance to teach a quarterback," he said. "I just was able to see (Steven) Montez, Sefo (Liufau) and other college greats around the Pac-12.”

While he's been working regularly with Lewis to build chemistry and camaraderie, Nixon also has been putting in a concentrated effort with Tyler Lytle and Sam Noyer.

With the QB battle still completely up in the air at this point in time, Nixon sees the benefits of being as comfortable as possible with all three of CU's options for the starting signal caller in 2020.

“Tyler is the quarterback of my class so I’ve been throwing with him since my freshman year," Nixon said. "Sam, we’ve done daily (drills) since I’ve been on campus and B-Lew, he’s been in Boulder the week prior to the time we had to report back, so we had four weeks of throwing — it’s been a blessing with all three of them. It’ll be great to know who’s starting, but at the same time, I only can control the controllables.”

On a final note, Nixon is more than ready to get a full taste of how Karl Dorrell will run his show when the Buffs get suited up and hit the field as a team fo the first time under his leadership as fall camp looms around the corner.

Thus far, Nixon has liked what he's seen from the Buffs' first-year head coach.

“Once we get the opportunity, which is fall camp, because you’ve got to put the pads on no matter what, we’ll be able to see that coach Dorrell is really with us," Nixon said. "He already showed us off the field. He already showed us on the field with what we’ve been doing, but going into the fall, let’s battle. Let’s see what we’ve got — nobody’s got starting spots. That’s something you want to see, especially coming out of high school...but by hearing coach Dorrell say nobody’s got the starting spots — he’s serious. It’s like the NFL. You’re either going to play or you’re not.”

Join the conversation on Nixon at Buff Nation, the premiere message board community serving countless Colorado fanatics.