It should go without saying that whomever lands the starting QB gig this fall — be it Tyler Lytle, Sam Noyer or Brendon Lewis — will ultimately be lacking quality reps as a starter. That just comes with the territory of having an inexperienced quarterbacks room.
Redshirt sophomore WR Dimitri Stanley had a lot of good stuff to relay when sharing his perspective on voluntary workouts and how the wide receivers have been going about their business.
It would seem getting comfortable with the aforementioned signal callers has been a top priority.
Per Stanley, things are much more structured and deeper than routine mundane drills.
The players have gone about designing their own mini practices, and for Stanley and Colorado's corps of wide receivers, that has regularly involved running through the playbook and working directly with the Buffs' QBs.
These practices blend position group-centered exercises with a more full offensive approach.
“It’s been a healthy combination of both," Stanley said. "We actually have morning workouts that are comprised of players from every position. It’s about three or four different different groups plus the freshman group that came (via January enrollment). I’ve been able to see most of my (QBs) and work out with most of them."
"Later in the day, like today around 6 o’clock, we have another little player-run practice that we’re doing, running around and going through plays — we’re trying not to skip a beat at all.”
Stanley caught 29 passes for 312 yards and two scores last fall as a redshirt freshman and now, as the Buffs get settled into voluntary workouts, he looks at building rapport with the quarterbacks as a primary focus.
"That’s going to be a big part — building chemistry with my quarterbacks especially since we don’t have many with a whole bunch of experience in a game," he said. "We’ve been building that chemistry and trying to make sure we’re connected and making plays together.”
Of particular interest, Stanley said he's taking a lot of positive steps towards getting to know Lewis as a teammate, friend and potential starting signal caller.
While fans and media alike got a good early glimpse into Lewis via the recruiting trail and then earlier this year in the weight room, when he turned some heads during lifts in January, Stanley has established more of a working relationship with him over the past few months.
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“Me and Brendon have actually built a real close relationship and real close friendship," Stanley said. "He’s a heck of an athlete and has a heck of an arm on him. He’s a pretty smart kid, as well, so I’m looking for him to make some big plays coming up this fall camp, really show his stuff and really show the coaches what he’s got. We’ve seen what he can do out on the practice field."
"The kid is accurate, has a cannon and I’ve only seen his film, but it looks like he can run around a little bit, too.”
Darrin Chiaverini has always overseen an environment that values competition, camaraderie and self-improvement through blood, sweat and tears. The way Stanley put it, even without Chiaverini's oversight, the wideouts have held themselves to that same standard during these voluntary workouts.
“I can just tell you that the whole receiving corps as a unit is just a bunch of hard workers," he said. "We got Maurice (Bell), Daniel (Arias), K.D. (Nixon) — they all work out together and we all work out together, get catches in together, hit the weight room — we have that competitiveness within our own corps that helps us strive to be greater and push each other. There’s a bunch of hard workers in the wide receivers room.”
