With 13 of 15 spring practices now complete, the Buffaloes are gearing up for their annual Showcase this Saturday at Folsom Field, an event that is open to the public.

CU's 15th and final practice, all of which will be viewable on Saturday, will feature an hour-long scrimmage from roughly 2 to 3 p.m. Individual drills will comprise the first hour of practice, which starts at 1.

While the Buffs will complete practice No. 14 on Friday evening, Karl Dorrell is looking forward to putting a bow on this spring in front of fans.

"Friday will be more — (players) will be in just helmets, so there'll be some situational stuff, non-contact stuff on Friday.," he said.

He's offered critiques at times, but on the whole, Dorrell has appeared pretty pleased with how his team has conducted itself this spring.

"We're gonna have some fun," Dorrell said of Saturday's scrimmage. "It was really a good spring. We've got two more practices, so I want to finish strong and show our fans really what to look for in the fall. There's definitely some promising stuff that we're doing and we need to showcase a little bit of that this Saturday and continue to work this summer."

For as geared up for Saturday as CU's coaches and players are, don't expect to see the Buffs' entire playbook being put into action.

Offensive coordinator Mike Sanford recalled how, last year, when at Minnesota and preparing for a Sept. 18 game against the Buffs, he and the Gophers' staff studied Colorado's 2021 Spring Showcase as a way to get a look at the team.

Thus, knowing that Saturday presents a scouting opportunity for CU's 2022 opponents, Sanford plans to keep things somewhat cut and dry from a playcalling perspective.

"We'll be pretty vanilla," he said. "...Obviously, we don't want to give away all the trade secrets and any competitive advantage that we can give out players, we want to give them. It's reckless to run the entire system of everything you have."

Looking at personnel, the Buffs hope to bring a few formerly injured players back into the mix.

Senior wide receiver Maurice Bell, who missed all of 2021 with a pre-camp season-ending injury, is back to taking live reps with the offense and is expected to take the field Saturday.

Senior tailback Alex Fontenot remains a question mark; Dorrell was uncertain if he'd be able to scrimmage following last Saturday's closed practice, of which Fontenot was not a live participant.

Junior quarterback J.T. Shrout, who is not cleared for full contact this spring, will not partake in the scrimmage part of practice Saturday, but Dorrell is confident that by the time CU regroups for its early summer workouts in June, Shrout will be healed completely from his knee injury suffered last August.

All things considered, Dorrell hopes Saturday caps a solid all-around spring for the Buffaloes.

"I think collectively as a group, offensively and defensively, there's so much gain and growth that's happened over these last 13 practices," Dorrell said. "It'll show on Saturday and fans will get a chance to see it. It's a good place to be, getting out of spring and being in the position we're in."