Karl Dorrell, over Zoom, hosted his first pre-game press conference on Tuesday as Colorado closes in on hosting UCLA over the weekend to kick off the 2020 season.
Now that senior Sam Noyer has been tapped to be CU's starting quarterback, Dorrell reflected on the process of convincing Noyer to return to the Buffs and complete his final year of eligibility in Boulder.
Noyer's position change to safety preceding the 2019 season has been well-documented, as has his eventual entry into the NCAA Transfer Portal that December, his graduation from CU the following spring as well as how, when the phone call from Dorrell and Co. came, he had even moved back to his hometown of Beaverton, Oregon.
Ultimately, Dorrell trusted the input of two key subordinates: Danny Langsdorf, who had recruited Noyer our of high school when he was coaching at Oregon State and Darrin Chiaverini, who had been on staff at CU for the entirety of Noyer's career at CU, in particular in 2018 when Chiaverini was the Buffs' offensive coordinator.
"...From my experiences and a couple coaches that are on our staff, Darrin Chiaverini being the most (vocal), he thought that Sam was a very, very capable quarterback," Dorrell said. "...We were just so short at the position in terms of our scholarships...I think Sam understood that, so I didn’t have to bring much of an argument. He saw that there was a chance (for) him to come in and compete for a chance to win the job and it all worked out.”
Dorrell has repeatedly said that the competition between Noyer and junior Tyler Lytle for the opening game starting position was tight. The phrase 'neck and neck' Dorrell has used multiple times.
But Noyer, while lacking any collegiate starting experience, proved to be the superior commander of CU's offense throughout camp, which is why he will take the Buffs' first snaps of the 2020 season on Saturday.
"Sam came in and at this point in time, has the best feel for our operation offensively," Dorrell said. "That’s the reason why he won the job. He’s very capable and we think he can continue to get better in time because both of these quarterbacks, as old as Sam is and Tyler, had very few competitive snaps playing the game. Even though Sam’s an older player, he’s still a young player in my mind because he hasn’t played a lot.”
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On the defensive side of the ball, Chiaverini's fingerprints can also be seen.
Recall that true freshman cornerback Christian Gonzalez was originally committed to Purdue for a few months last year, from the middle of the summer through November.
But Chiaverini stayed on him, eventually convincing him to back off his verbal pledge to the Boilermakers, which he did, in favor of CU, on Nov. 18.
Now, nearly a year later, he's emerged as a starting defensive back for Colorado.
Dorrell noted his mental maturity in being an uncommon specimen of freshmen that get to college and pick things up with relative ease.
"He’s one of those rare kids that really came in and digested our system," Dorrell said. "(He was) really able to perform and do the things that we attribute to that kind of success. As you can imagine, there’s not a lot of true freshmen that can do that. He’s been one of those true freshmen that has been able to do that. He’s a very talented kid and I think he’s going to be a good player."
Colorado's pressing defensive priority ahead of Saturday's game is getting ready to handle Bruins junior QB Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
The Buffs do have the ability to insert walk-on freshman quarterback Mike Chandler into the scout team to try to give the first team defense something of a preview to playing against a dual threat signal caller.
That said, Dorrell admitted there's really not that much of a genuine simulation the Buffs can run to replicate what Thompson-Robinson can do.
“Mike Chandler, who is one of our young quarterbacks, can try to emulate Dorian, but Dorian is a really, really good player," Dorrell said. "He’s a dynamic player and obviously a tremendous athlete. I think what’s underrated is that he’s a very accurate thrower. He throws the ball with great accuracy, he can throw the deep ball very well and make it seem effortless to do it. His escapability and what he does in playing that position — I think he’s one of the better ones in our conference, for sure."
As players and assistant coaches alike have alluded to, neutralizing Thompson-Robinson will be no small task, especially as the 6-foot-1, 200-pound junior gears up for his second full season as a starter.
"Watching him on last year’s tape and knowing that he’s made another step of progression going into this year, he’s going to be a very dynamic player," Dorrell said. "I think he’s going to be tough to go against, there’s no question about that. From our defensive perspective, we understand that."
Still holding firm onto his no-excuse, no-pouting attitude, Dorrell is ready to watch his team handle their first opponent at Folsom Field, this Saturday at 5 p.m.
"We’re (ready) for the challenge and we’re excited about playing and proving that we’ve made progress from last year to this year," he said. "We’ll see how things work out on Saturday."
More notes from Karl Dorrell's Tuesday press conference are below.
Karl Dorrell provides a key injury update on junior tailback Alex Fontenot:
“He got injured late last week and he’s not going to be available to play. I’m not privy to talk about the circumstances of the level of the injury and things of that nature, but I know that he’s not going to be able to play this week. He’s obviously very disappointed. He was counting on himself coming back from a pretty good sophomore year and coming in and playing this year. It’s unfortunate that he’s dealing with an issue, but it’s not surgical, which is a good thing."
"He’s going to have to just heal up. This is a short season — no one’s losing eligibility this year, so we’re hoping to have him back at some point this year and if not, then we’ll have him ready to go for next season.”
Sophomore Jarek Broussard instead has been tapped as CU's No.1 tailback heading into Saturday's game:
“Jarek — what a great story he has been for us because he’s been a guy that’s had two ACL (tears) and has missed a considerable amount of time since being here. He came into camp and really continually got better day after day after day. He didn’t miss a practice, stayed in great health and he had a couple scrimmages where he played very soundly and did some very efficient things as a runner. He’s really good in protection. You can’t underestimate his size because he’s strong and has got great balance."
"I’m just so excited for him because that’s a pretty tough road to overcome, going through that, being a skill player and really having to work hard to get into this position. I’m really excited for Jarek. He deserves it and he had the most consistency in our camp."
