Young members of CU's secondary step up against the Beavers

After the Buffaloes defeated Oregon State in double overtime Saturday, Karl Dorrell addressed the absence of redshirt junior cornerback Mekhi Blackmon, who did not play against the Beavers.

Leading into Saturday, Blackmon had posted 45 tackles for CU, good for fifth on the team, while his four pass breakups were tied for the team lead and his six third down stops were second on the Buffs only to Nate Landman.

All in all, Blackmon has been one of Colorado's most reliable defenders since taking over as full-time starter at cornerback preceding the condensed 2020 season.

But Saturday, Blackmon was unavailable.

"He was a game time decision," Dorrell said. "He just wasn't well enough. He's been battling some soft tissue injuries all season long. He hasn't been healthy one game this whole season."

"To his credit, he's battled up to this point where he felt like this was going to be a tough way to play at the level he would normally play. He thought that he couldn't do it (Saturday)."

In Blackmon's place, true freshmen Nikko Reed and Kaylin Moore stepped in and ate up reps at left cornerback, with second-year freshman Christian Gonzalez handling his normal duties at cornerback opposite them.

Tyrin Taylor, who had to sit out the first half of Saturday game as part of his full-game suspension for targeting last weekend at Oregon, also was inserted into the mix.

In overtime, Moore, Reed and Taylor were anchoring the Buffs' secondary with Oregon State driving on its first possession.

"(The Beavers) were down there deep in our territory and in the red zone, and we have three true freshmen out there playing in the critical moments of the game," Dorrell said.

That's not to say growing pains weren't visible or that the Buffs' young buck defensive backs played a perfect game.

Moore got caught flat-footed on a fourth quarter screen pass to OSU's Tre'Shaun Harrison, missing a tackle on what wound up being a 27-yard touchdown that gave the Beavers their first lead of the game.

Freshman safety Trevor Woods, who saw extended action in the secondary against Oregon State, also missed a tackle on Trey Lowe's 31-yard touchdown run earlier in the third quarter.

That said, Woods had a superb pass breakup in the fourth quarter.

Oregon State quarterback Chance Nolan floated one over the middle that seemed destined to land comfortably in the hands of Tyjon Lindsay, but an out-stretched Woods got a hand on the ball at the last moment, nearly coming down with an interception.

Blackmon's status ahead of next Saturday's game at UCLA remains unclear; Dorrell may have more information on that at his Monday press conference.

At any rate, Colorado's young secondary players have been asked to undertake bigger roles on defense over the past few weeks and largely, they have risen to the occasion.

"I'm completely confident in those players because they compete with anyone," Dorrell said. "They battle our guys on offense all the time — I know what their abilities are and I have a lot of confidence in those guys."