Spring Awards announced early
Due to a slightly unusual spring schedule for the Buffaloes, the Colorado coaching staff voted on the spring awards with four practices remaining in camp. Here are the winners.
Eddie Crowder Award (Outstanding Leadership) - ILB Rick Gamboa & OT Josh Kaiser
Fred Casotti Award (Most Improved Offensive Back) - TB Alex Fontenot
Dan Stavely Award (Moste Improved Offensive Receiver) - WR Laviska Shenault
Joe Romig Award (Most Improved OL) - OT Aaron Haigler & OG Brett Tonz
Ron Scott Award (Most Improved DL) - DE Chris Mulumba
Greg Biekert Award (Most Improved LB) - ILB Akil Jones
Hale Irwin Award (Most Improved DB) - CB Chris Miller
Bill McCartney Award (Most Improved Specialist) - SN J.T. Bale
John Wooten Award (Outstanding Work Ethic) - OL Colby Pursell
Dick Anderson Award (Outstanding Toughness) - ILB Nate Landman
Jim Hansen Award (Outstanding Academics) - DL Jase Franke
Montez still dealing with ups and downs
The first couple drives looked great for Steven Montez. The junior quarterback is the likely starter for Colorado when they take on in-state rival Colorado State on August 31 and is expected to make significant strides in the 2018 season.
He made several really good throws early, including a perfectly placed ball to sophomore Laviska Shenault Jr. for a touchdown.
Later in the scrimmage, though, Montez threw interceptions on back-to-back drives.
Darren Chiarverini focused more on how his quarterback bounced back after those plays, however.
"Steven turned the ball over and came right back and kept throwing it. Kept being aggresive," the new offensive play-caller said. "Sometimes we'll turn it over, but we're going to be aggressive and we're going to go after people. That's kind of the mindset I've always had."
To his credit, Montez did bounce back with another touchdown pass to Shenault (with the heavy lifting all done by the spring standout at WR) and a 24-yard run that initially looked like a TD.
For the game Montez completed 8 of 15 passes for 90 yards with the two touchdowns and two interceptions. He also carried the ball three times for 43 yards.
Big day for Viska
Laviska Shenault was not targeted a ton today, but when he was he scored touchdowns. On two receptions, the sophomore from Texas had two touchdowns. The first went for 24-yards (see above) and the second went for 14-yards.
On the second, he made three defenders miss tackles including the same guy twice.
"Viska made a really good run where we couldn't get him down which is what we expect Viska to do to be honest," Mike MacIntyre said.
