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The Colorado Buffaloes wrapped up their last practice media availability before their game against Northern Colorado on Saturday.
Unlike last year when the Buffs had a core group of starters on their defensive line, which was complicated by rotational guys to give them a breather in situational circumstances, the team has centered this year’s unit around establishing a more consistently balanced rotation.
This is a luxury the Buffs have been affording, being that they have both depth, and versatility on their defensive line - all their guys can play all the positions along the line.
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Being that the Buffs have so many guys who can play anywhere along the line, Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre stressed the importance of this in regard to keeping guys healthy and fresh for the entire season.
“We’ve been able to rotate a few more guys, and we’ll have George [Frazier] back this week so he’ll get in the mix, and that helps us stay fresh and be physical up there like we want to be,” MacIntyre said. “Last year we had some really good players that played up there, but we didn’t rotate them as much. This year we can because of what we have - and that goes game-to-game too because of what we have, but we feel like we can rotate them a little bit better.”
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Another position where the Buffs have depth on their roster this year is at running back. In addition to Philip Lindsay, they have Michael Adkins back healthy after missing all but three games last season. They also have big bodied, bell cow Beau Bisharat, who seems poised to carry more of a workload this year - presumably in short yardage and goal line situations. Kyle Evans is expected to return to the field this Saturday after an injury suffered during the spring.
Being that football is a next man up type of sport and that running back has gained notoriety for its wear-and-tear related injuries, the talent and varying ability of the backs behind Lindsay is something that’s gives Coach MacIntyre confidence.
“It’s good to have a multitude of guys,” MacIntyre said “Where you’re not just having to rely on one guy where if he gets dinged up, then you have to chunk your offense, so we don’t have to do that, so I feel good about all of those guys.”
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One of the biggest players who will be tasked with neutralizing the offensive explosiveness in the Pac-12 will be JuCo transfer and plug-and-play nose tackle Javier Edwards. Despite the speculation surrounding the steep adjustments in game planning that the Buffs are inevitably going to have to make when facing the upper echelon of college football, Edwards isn’t concerned, or even fazed, by the difference in talent the Buffs will be tasked with adjusting to from week three to four.
“I’m not concerned at all, but as a team we can’t get big headed,” Edwards said. “We can’t really dwell on the past, and I know those other teams don’t do that.”
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Although the Buffs ultimately won last week’s game by a comfortable margin against the Texas State Bobcats of the Sun Belt Conference, the game got off to an abruptly surprising start when running back Anthony Taylor burst through the gap for a explosive 55-yard run. With some of the most talented running backs in college football on the Buffs schedule for later this year, Edwards preached the importance in attention to detail in the defensive line’s preparation to ensure they don’t get burned like that again.
“We got to do the right things, listen to coach, do everything he tells us to do with our technique, and that way they won’t catch us off," said Edwards.
Notes
-Several NFL scouts from both the AFC and NFC attended the first part of the Buffs practice today.
-MacIntyre would not comment on whether the decision regarding Frank Umu’s suspension status. We do not expect him to play this Saturday.
-According to MacIntyre, left tackle Jeromy Irwin has made large improvements in his development over the six years he’s been at Colorado and has the ability to play anywhere on the line.
-According to Edwards, freshman defensive end Terrance Lang has been impressive so far, saying that he’s a great athlete as well as a quick learner.
