Colorado head coach Karl Dorrell met with the media Wednesday for the final time before his team takes on Minnesota Saturday.
The Buffs' coach discussed improvements seen in practice this week, his offensive line, the quarterback competition, non-conference scheduling and more.
Below is a transcript of the media session, with a video of it up top.
Opening statement: I like where this team’s mind is at. They responded to the challenges that we put in front of them. They obviously know that the first two games didn’t come out to the outcomes that we wanted. They're trying to work themselves back into forcing themselves to win, which is where the attitude needs to be. I think they're at that point where they know that they can play much better. They know that they haven't performed to their capabilities, and it's showing on these these last two days in practice. We've had really good practices. The detail’s heightened, the execution has been heightened. Everything we’re doing, we’re trying to scrutinize. Usually, that's what happens when you're struggling. You have to find details in your game to kind of create the foundation or recreate it again. Their attitudes have been tremendous. I'm very happy with where we are to midpoint of the week. We're going to play better. I know that we're gonna play better on Saturday. I know that we're excited about that, getting a chance to show that that's not what we normally would do in these first couple of games. Hopefully, we'll get something that's a breakthrough for us.
On if they’ve done anything differently this week to try to achieve a difference result: “Yes, exactly. We've done a lot more competitive stuff just trying to clean up our fundamentals and details of things. We've done some things with each other more this week than we've done in previous weeks. I think that's really helped. It has a lot.”
On whether that competitive work is more one-on-one stuff: “No, not necessarily. No, it's not one versus one, but we're trying to improve the quality of our practice. Sometimes, it might be getting some of the twos some reps to really help either side. We're just trying to up our game with our preparation and so that we can get better fundamentally.”
On the ongoing quarterback competition: “Much as it has been since camp. They’re both sharing first-team reps. They're trudging through it, trying to work on their skills, too. They both had a really good week. I think they're both feeling like they in a lot of ways have underperformed. They’re eager to get back out there.”
On challenging the quarterbacks: “They're both trying to make their point right now, which is what you need. You need those guys who continue to press the envelope which is in front of them so that the offense can get better when they get better.”
On what his ideal non-conference schedule would look like: “That's a good question. But with all this stuff that's going to be in terms of realignment and conferences merging, it’s hard to say. I think football is definitely going in a different type of direction, where there's tie-ins. I know we have the tie-in with the ACC, for example. I don't know how that really is going to relate to what future scheduling is gonna be. But it's all out of my control. I think the schedules when I first got here on campus in 2020 were already made through 2032, so not much for me to really do. It is what it is. Like I said in my press conference, whatever our lineup is, whoever we're playing, we’ve got to be ready to play. We feel we're capable of winning games and we just have to do that. We have to get better.”
On his confidence in the offense and quarterbacks to pull their weight to help out the defense: “I'm more confident because of the areas that they're working and improving. You can see that our practices have been fairly efficient regardless, but you can see the heightened awareness about really trying to hit every pass in team periods and things like that. I'm encouraged with how their antennas are up higher and with more urgency about learning and getting things cleaned up. When your quarterback’s playing well, that gives a chance for everybody to play well. They understand that and I think they've taken that to heart and really working hard.
On what makes Minnesota the toughest of their three non-conference games: “I think I said it because of their experience coming back. That was the thing. They have a sixth-year quarterback and he's been a three- or four- year starter. Their skill positions are all back. They didn't lose a lot of depth on their o-line. On paper, they have a veteran team. We knew that was the case. The TCU game with a new coaching staff…there were still some changes in that game and then Air Force, you just never know what that's going to look like. When you're asking me during the Pac-12 Media Day, that was a team that concretely we knew more information about because what was coming back that we faced a year ago.”
On his impressions of R.J. Sneed and the receiving corps as a whole: “He's been solid. He’s been solid and it hasn't been his fault. He just hasn't had a lot of targets. I like how he caught a high ball out in the rain, where we struggled catching the ball, but he plucks it and gets seven yards. We need to get him going. The answer to your question is just to get him going. He will be more in play this week. The point bringing him up slowly is him coming off of the injury that he had in his recovery. We wanted to make sure we didn't put too much on him too early, but he feels good. Matter of fact, he's running up the hill right there, so I think we can kind of continue to grow his package more and more.
On how the offensive line has graded out: “OK. I think if he asked Kyle DeVan, he'll probably say not good enough. We can be better. We can do better in a lot of areas offensively. As a matter of fact, every area – the running backs, tight ends, o-line, quarterback and receivers, given what we did last week. There's that sense of urgency about them guys trying to get back to playing productive football.”
On biggest effects he’s noticed from NIL within his locker room: “You don't notice much of the effects in terms of time management right now. They're so busy doing what we do. We're in season, so that's not the issue. I feel that there's opportunities that are continuing to grow for everybody that's out there. It's a good thing. I think we're all trying to settle it down and figure out what are the right ways to manage this. I think that's the discretion that people are on right now. But I don't think it's been that big a negative for us. We'll never be in a market like a lot of schools, being in a high-price player like free agency. We don't believe in NIL from that standpoint. We build it more on in terms of their name, image and likeness, in terms of what they've done through our program and their name recognition and being involved in our community and getting involved with certain aspects of projects in and around Boulder and particularly a lot of these businesses around here. We're probably more locally generated in terms of the things that we do. It's been pretty positive so far.”
On Joshka Gustav coming back at some point: “I'm hopeful. It's just because he's a veteran piece guy who played well last year. He is turning the corner. He's had an extra procedure to kind of eliminate some things and it really helped. He's actually on the road to recovery right now to get back to practicing again. I don't have a timeline, though.”
