Practice Report: Colorado gears up for Saturday scrimmage
The Colorado Buffaloes had their final practice today before their scrimmage on Saturday. Being that the Buffs already know what they have from a lot of their experienced players, head coach Mike MacIntyre stressed the importance of rotating the newer players in when asked about what to expect from the spring game.
“They’re going to see very vanilla and see our guys play,” MacIntyre said. “We’re going to try and substitute our guys in, and see some younger guys and some guys that haven’t played as many snaps will play a little bit more tomorrow.”
One of the big parts of the preseason scrimmage in the past was the ability for fans to come onto the field afterwards for a meet-and-greet autograph session with their favorite Buffs. Following the implementation of a new rule by the NCAA that states there must be a dead period in high school football recruiting from August 1st-August 31st, the postgame meet-and-greet session has been cancelled for this year.
The cancellation of the event was primarily to guard against the possibility of a high school football recruit coming down onto the field after the game and thus violating this rule. Although the Buffs athletic department had to cancel this event as a precautionary measure, coach MacIntyre expressed some disappointment about the team’s ability to interact with the fans and enhance their experience.
“I understand why they [NCAA] did that, but that’s not the intent, so they need to relook at that for fans and that type of situation," MacIntyre said.
Being that coach Mac was a safety himself in college,and has coached a variety of defensive backs groups at both the collegiate and professional level, he has seen many situations and varying skillsets. Since he’s seen it all, he knows how to coach and mentor the young cornerback group at Colorado.
He says the biggest thing he stresses to them is that they need to doing everything to get themselves in position to make a big play on the back end of a play itself.
“At the end of the play is where the DB is having to make plays," MacIntyre said. “He’s having to make the last tackle at the end of the play, he’s got to be able to make the play. The ball’s always going to be in the air, he’s got to get it out somehow someway. The end of the play is the defining moment for a DB. Period.”
Notes
- Coach MacIntyre says cornerback Dante Wigley has made a lot of progress since the spring. He says Wigley has made several interceptions and looks a lot more comfortable than he did in the spring.
-The conversion of Eddie Lopez from defensive end to tight end and Darrion Rakestraw from wide receiver to defensive back are permanent. Coach Mac says Lopez has done a good job with both blocking and catching, and Rakestraw has looked good as well.
-Coach Mac plans to use Lopez in more of a blocking, power tight end role than splitting him out wide as a patch casser. He wants to see him at between 275-280 pounds.
-Outside linebacker and JuCo transfer Shamar Hamilton is being evaluated by doctors and underwent an MRI for a leg injury, although Coach Mac in unsure of what part of his leg he injured.
-Coach Mac feels the defensive line as a whole, and Blinn Junior College transfer Javier Edwards have both looked good thus far. He looks forward to seeing them in more live game action, and feels tomorrow will be a good evaluation platform.