Buffaloes head coach Karl Dorrell on Thursday afternoon conducted a lengthy conference call with select national and local media to discuss all things pertinent to Colorado football, as the team goes about handling business during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Below is a full transcription of questions and answers Dorrell took and gave during his roughly 30-minute call.
Dorrell's opening statement: “Well, there’s not much going on, is there? Obviously, the whole world is dealing with the pandemic that’s been going on. I was hired back on February 23, and roughly it’s been about a month (since then.) I took the first two weeks to hire a staff and get all those pieces in place to get ready for spring practices, and then obviously this pandemic hits. It’s put us a little bit behind in terms of not being able to get on the field, but we’ll deal with it. There’s no question about that. It’s more important that we have the health and safety of our country. We need to do what’s right...we’re still trying to find ways to be productive. We’re working on recruiting, we’re working on our current players and even though it’s spring break right now, we’re trying to alleviate a lot of the different things that we’re dealing with. There’s plenty of stuff on our plate…we’re just moving forward and taking it day by day.”
Dorrell on communication with the 2020 signees, not yet on campus: “First and foremost, when I did get the job and got a chance to interview all of our players here on campus, I then went into the process of talking more with the 2020 signees coming in, whether they’re here right now or coming in this summer. I acted quickly to get myself acclimated with all the families. I’ve had contact with then and the constant communication that was started early is still in process right now."
"The biggest thing right now is making sure they’re getting all their paperwork, documentation and things of that nature for getting admitted on campus this summer. There's dorm applications and so on and so forth that they’re dealing with."
"We’re in constant communication, both my staff and myself, with keeping them abreast with what’s going on with us. Everyone’s been dealing with the same issues, so there’s common ground from that standpoint. We talk about how they’re working out, what they’re doing to keep themselves safe and healthy and stay in shape — there’s constant communication that’s going on with me, the staff and the incoming players. They’re part of our family, even though they’re technically on campus yet. But we try to engage with them regularly.”
Dorrell on a scenario where players might not return to campus until the summer: “Anything and everything is possible right now. Right now, we have these stay (at home) orders out for when we can go back on campus and things like that. We just issued some information to all of our student-athletes yesterday about the date being April 10th as to when we will reconsider and evaluate where we are as Boulder county. There’s a lot of things in terms of dates and deadlines that are out there, but as you know, the situation is pretty fluid. It can change to be extended."
"So those things, we know are possibilities (in terms of student-athletes not returning to campus until summer.) The biggest thing we’ve been doing with our guys is staying in communication and keeping them in the loop to what we’re doing on campus. What the coaches are doing, their preparation if there’s going to be any sort of spring ball at some point in time or not, we’re preparing ourselves for the summer in terms of we want to get our work done and get ready for the season. There’s a lot of scenarios that really none of them are etched in stone, but we have to be ready for them at any moment.”
Dorrell on watching film: “We’re watching a lot of recruiting tape. We watched a lot of our team earlier, two or three weeks ago, in terms of getting ready for spring practice. Now, we’ve kind of shifted gears to get caught up on the recruiting side. I watched all of our in-state players, for example and am working on a lot of the different areas that we actively recruit."
"I’m working through some tape from those areas right now and we’re meeting as a staff at least once a day, to try to get updates as to what they’re doing and who they’re getting in contact with...we’re staying pretty active and busy from a recruiting standpoint, given that we’re all separated in out homes right now. That’s the best avenue to take."
"The football side is the hardest part right now because those systems are in place, but we just haven’t really had a chance to really get into the teaching of most of that. We’ll have time to get caught up with our players at some point. I know this is the tail end of spring break...we’ll continue to engage our players at least two or three times a day to make sure they’re on pace academically and also to do some football work, as well because we don’t have any idea when we’ll get a chance to practice.”
Dorrell on evaluating guys on film vs. in-person: “I think the best way to get your best evaluation of players is really not on tape. That gives you an idea, but from my experience it’s getting your hands on the players on the grass. That’s when you know what you have. You can feel their movement, their explosiveness, their lack thereof — anything that’s a core ingredient for you to make an assessment. To me, it’s always been best when I see it live, when I see them running around and competing against each other. Those are the best tell-tale signs of making your evaluation."We did an assessment from a tape perspective, now I’d like to see it in person, but right now as you know, we can’t do that. There will be a point in time where we will be able to do those things and we’ll quickly get ourselves caught up in what we need to do.”
Dorrell on how detrimental not having spring ball whatsoever would be: “I’m not looking at it as a detriment, just because I’m new. I look at everyone dealing with this. I know there’s some institutions who may have already finished spring or gotten halfway through or maybe in the first week — who knows. I know that they’re all under the same guidance and standards of what’s going on right now in out country."
"From our perspective, we’re just going to try to maximize any chance we get with our players. Whether that’s a portion of time in May or April or June, we’ll be prepared for that. We’ll get a chance to quickly implement what we need to get implemented, keep our team in shape and keep them strong and excited about playing. There’s still some time for a lot of stuff to occur, and I know there’s going to be limitations of some sort, but we’re prepared for it. We’re not going to use any excuses. We’re going to go out there, put our best foot forward and get our team ready to play when that September date hits.”
Dorrell's thoughts on the possibility of a modified 2020 season or potentially no season at all: “That’s crossed my mind, too. It’s hard to fathom that still being in March, but we’re hopeful (COVID-19) is not going to affect the season, but there is that possibility. We have to be prepared for any and all things that could happen. Our country’s health is more important than anything right now...those are the things that in our mind we need to create an understanding that are more important right now. We’ll figure out those things when the time comes. We’re hoping to get some positive solutions and answers in the next couple months.”
Dorrell on players staying in shape remotely and at home: “Our strength staff, which is led by Drew Wilson, has done a fantastic job. Our players just came out of a 9-10 week session prior to spring break, where they did a great job of getting themselves ready for the start of spring practices. They were prepared for that and right now, Drew and his staff have done a great job of just supplementing out players daily with different kind of workouts."
"Whether you have weights or a park to work in or a track to run around, he’s been really innovative with creating different elements with any type of workout given your environment to really get something positive in that particular day. He’s been shooting these things off every single day. I really put my hat off to what Drew and his staff have been doing, whether you’re working in your apartment or in your home or where you’re currently residing — all those different things, any type of scenario that could present itself in your own situation, I think our players have an idea of what they can do to stay in shape."
Dorrell on what he himself has been up to: “These days aren’t average, the days we are at home. I’m not quite used to it. I’m usually an early riser and in the office. I get a lot done before anyone else really gets in. It’s been very unusual for me to work out of the house. But fortunately for me, I have the technology...we also can zoom and meet as a full staff. We can watch recruiting tape, we can watch our own personal tapes from the season here at Colorado — there’s a lot of stuff we can be doing and I think it’s more of just getting used to your surroundings and using it as a work environment. That’s my biggest challenge. But each day has gotten better since I’ve been home."
Dorrell on the possibility of commits wanting to reevaluate and ultimately open up their recruitment: “That could occur. I understand that it could happen...there’s always an element of uncertainty when no one can give you a timeline as to when things can start, if the season will begin when it’s supposed to begin. Are we going to have spring practice? What about unofficial visits? There’s a lot of uncertainty that people have to weigh and make decisions about. We feel good about our incoming class."
"Our 2020 class is solid and ready to go. They want to get here as soon as they can. Obviously they’re concerned with if the season is going to be delayed, and I get that. But those are natural questions to have. As for the guys we’ve recruited for the future, this is a small senior class that I have this year in 2020. I only have a few seniors on the team...we’re going to recruit hard and really try to fill in those pieces that are needed. These elements can occur in uncertainty. This is an uncertain time. But we just have to keep moving forward and keep lining guys up that fit what we think are difference-maker types of players in the next class of 2021 that can really bounce off what we’ve done with our ‘20 class...they can to know what Colorado is going to look like, to be quite frank with you."
"These decisions aren’t necessarily going to be made at this point in time, but (recruits) want to see what Colorado is going to look like this year. I can guarantee you that it’ll be a very competitive team and I’m not going to make any excuses about the lack of time. We’re going to get this team ready to play."
Dorrell on Laviska Shenault: “Before I even got this job, when I was coaching receivers in Miami, I had already evaluated about 40 receivers prior to the Combine and Laviska was one of them. I had a lot of questions for him, because his production wasn’t this year as it as the previous year. I know he’s had some injuries in his career, and those are questions that I had."
"(At CU's Pro Day) it was good to meet him finally and get a few minutes to talk to him. I know his head’s in the right place right now in terms of his next step and what he wants to accomplish in the NFL. He knows he’s not a finished product, too. He knows that (his injury) is going to set him back and there will be question marks. He has enough on tape to prove to people that he’s an NFL quality player who can help somebody put points on the board."
"My advice to him was that you can’t change what you’ve done in the past. It’s really about what you do going forward to this opportunity...it’s really putting him in a mindset of looking forward and understanding that he’s not a finished product."
Dorrell on if coronavirus has impacted his ability to get to know his players as people and kids, not just football players: “It’s more difficult doing it not in person, yes, but the players (and I) are all off to a really good start, just with the interviews I made during my first week on the job in the get-to-know-you type of setting and (talking about) their hobbies, family life, things like that. Those are the icebreaker moments that I started early and as we continued to work together, I watched workouts and stuff like that, which helped process things."This (situation) puts things on halt. I won’t say it’s a hindrance, but I’d say it’s on halt because we’re not together and unable to see guys face-to-face. We’re in constant contact, our coaches are in constant contact...we’re going to use this as a challenge and not something that’;s going to set us back. That’s the mindset we’re trying to build with our team. What’re we doing to maximize this time that might be better than what everyone else is doing? I know our players are creating that mindset and are talking to each other about making sure they’re doing their workouts and handling their academics."
"This is a good challenge for us to see when we’re back on campus, what kind of shape we’re in.”
Dorrell discusses player-on-player accountability in the midst of everyone being remote: “That’s the most important part in my opinion. We're trying to as coaches create those lines of communication from coach to player, but the most important line of communication is the peer-to-peer communication that’s going on between your team. We’re trying to cultivate that. It’s not an easy thing to do, but we’re encouraging that with our players. We’re trying to create these group chats and group opportunities to do things together in terms of the workouts."
"But the communication is critical. If we can continue to build on that, even though we’re not together as a team, I think it gives us that much more of an edge as a team.”
Join the conversation on Dorrell's Thursday press briefing at Buff Nation, the premiere message board community serving countless Colorado fanatics.
