Karl Dorrell's Buffs put on shoulder pads for the first time today, which was practice No. 5 of fall camp in total.
Dorrell discussed how the team is progressing with a growing sample size of practices in the bag and also how Colorado now enters the early stages of being able to separate players into distinctive categories beginning with the starters and then working downward in establishing a formalized depth chart.
"I’m very pleased after five straight days with the work we’ve gotten in," he said. "So far, for the first five days, we’re pleased with where we are. We’ve still got a ways to go, for sure, but the attitude is right and we’ll get there by the time we play.”
Notably, the Buffs are now trudging ahead with their practice schedule which, as it continues to intensify, will allow Dorrell and his assistants to more clearly observe how players are separating themselves from one another.
The Buffs being in pads is the first step towards Dorrell being able to get a feel for who his starters will be.
“This is real ball now," he said. "It started in helmets without much contact and all of the sudden, you put on the — I call them the lightbulbs, which are the shoulder pads — and we had some, good physical work. We had some banging going around and I was really pleased with what I saw on both sides (of the ball)."
Dorrell said his guys responded well to the first day in pads and that he witnessed a robust level of competitiveness.
"We had a competitive drill at every position where they would go against each other 1-on-1," he said. "They did a great job competing. I wanted to see who wanted to compete, who wants to be tough, win the drill and things like that. There were a lot of good measurements today with a lot of hootin’ and hollerin’ of guys cheering each other on. It was a great start for our first day in pads.”
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As many will note, the vast majority of Dorrell's coaching career has seen him lead a wide receivers room.
With the exception of 2003-2007, when he was head coach at UCLA, 2011-2013, when he was QBs coach in the NFL with Miami and Houston and his stint in 2014 as Vanderbilt's offensive coordinator, Dorrell has coached wideouts at every coaching stop since his career began in 1989.
Given that extensive history, he begins every practice with Colorado's wide receivers.
"I kind of gravitate there — I played the position and coached it for most of my career, so yes, there is a natural draw to that," he said. "(The players) know that, they want me there and I want to be there to have some impressions on them. I get involved in their periods, working on technique and fundamentals. I do that with a number of position groups but it does start with (the WRs) at the start of a practice. I spend some time and then set my rounds from there."
"They’re great kids — we’re so deep at that spot. There’s a number of guys that can be helping us this year and we have to narrow that down at some point, but it’s a great problem to have.”
Colorado will take the day off tomorrow and then put the pads back on for fall camp practice No. 6 on Thursday, where Dorrell wants to pick up where the team has left off through practices one through five.
“It was a good work day," he said. of Tuesday's sessions. "We did a lot of stuff — we did our second and third down transitions, we did some red zone, we did some backed up (near our own redzone) coming out against the defense — so we’re doing some game situational things and I think our players are doing a really good job of paying attention and getting good work in."
