Colorado University Athletics
Safety Tedric Thompson eyes a deflection and an interception.
Thompson, Experienced Buffs Secondary Hoping To Be Air Tight
August 15, 2016 | Football, B.G. Brooks
Senior Safety Has Been CU’s Picks Leader In Last Two Seasons
(Fourth in a series of position-by-position previews of the 2016 Buffs to be posted on CUBuffs.com during the preseason. Today: Secondary)
BOULDER – Tedric Thompson has led the Colorado Buffaloes in interceptions for the past two seasons, but to hear him explain why is to gain insight into what he's all about.
And it's not about the numbers . . . at least not the personal ones.
Thompson is a prototypical strong safety – 6-feet, a solid 210 pounds and the fervent deliverer of chilling hits. He also has that extra sense, a football knack, of being a right-place/right-time guy. His coaches rightfully call him a playmaker, and his team-best three picks in 2014 (CU's only three) and 2015 back up that description.
If he's fortunate enough to lead the Buffs in interceptions for a third consecutive season, he'll take it – but he's not chasing it. His six picks over two seasons "is something that just happened," he said. "I really don't have (personal) goals, I just want to get wins.
"Any interception I do have, if you really go look, it's because the other ten guys on the field are doing their job and I just happen to be where the ball's going. So it's really just a team effort. When it comes to stats, it's not like I'm doing it myself. It's the team."
This season he's part of a secondary that, on paper and tape anyway, figures to be one of CU's best in a while. Maybe a long while. The Buffs' backend is stocked with versatile and talented upperclassmen; three seniors, including Thompson, could start and their backups figure to include experienced juniors and sophomores.
"We're versatile in our secondary," second-year safeties coach Joe Tumpkin said. "We've got four or five safeties we think can help us out in different situations."
The cornerback position also is well-populated. "This is as much (depth) as we've had," corners coach Charles Clark noted, "but we have to continue to bond as a group. We're still working on different combinations for different situations."
Thompson and fellow senior Chidobe Awuzie – arguably the best backend utility player in the Pac-12 – have seen most of those situations. Both broke into the starting lineup as true freshmen (2013) and have been fixtures there since. Last season they ranked one-two on the defense – Awuzie with 897, Thompson with 882 – in number of snaps played.
Thompson has played both safety spots, Awuzie has played everywhere in the secondary. He's currently listed as a starting corner, but has also spent time at safety and will be the No. 1 nickel back. Starting at the corner opposite Awuzie likely will be senior Ahkello Witherspoon or sophomore Isaiah Oliver, with juniors Ryan Moeller or Afolabi Laguda opening at free safety.
Players vying for backup roles include sophomores Nick Fisher, Kyle Trego (JC transfer) and Daniel Talley; junior Andrew Bergner; and redshirt freshman Lucas Cooper and true freshmen Ronnie Blackmon, Trey Udoffia and Tony Julmisse, who is also auditioning at receiver and is a near lock to be on the depth chart at one of the two spots.
Said Tumpkin: "Our first and second teams are pretty good . . . I'd like to find one or two more just to make sure we're solid. One of the younger true freshmen coming in is going to have to step up and help us."
Over August camp's first week and a half, Tumpkin had few complaints about what transpired in the backend. "Right now I'm really, really pleased with where we are," he said. "I'm very happy with all of them; they've all shown some form of improvement and are doing things better from the spring.
"The big thing is, they know the defense now. They've been in it two springs and are in their second camp now. So right now they're to the point where they need to work on the technique part of it."
Thompson is among Tumpkin's backend mainstays and "is playing very well right now," Tumpkin said, adding that Thompson becoming more of a vocal on-field, in-house leader is an ongoing process. Tumpkin termed him a "quiet leader . . . we had a talk about this a couple of weeks ago. You're not going to hear him being very vocal out here. But in the locker room – one of the things I've told my guys it's one of the biggest areas for us.
"I told him, 'It's how you handle the locker room . . . when I walk around in there I see guys reaching out to you.' And in that situation is where you have to be very firm and show your leadership skills as guys are talking to you.
"Then (on the field) you show your work ethic to the younger guys and guys who are talking to you in there. He's taken on that role and I'm very happy with his progress."
Thompson, of Valencia, Calif., has difficulty believing he's about to embark on his final college season.
"When I first got here, people told me it would go by in the blink of an eye – and I just kind of brushed it off," he said. "But it's crazy. I still have visions of my first fall camp and how my head was spinning everywhere, getting yelled at and not knowing what to do. Stuff like that. But it's a blessing now and I'm happy about it.
"Last year just flew by . . . I don't want to look back on my senior year with any regrets. I see Chido and a lot of the other seniors thinking like that. It's just got to go down through the team."
'SPOON' STAYING THE COURSE: At 6-3, 195, Witherspoon is the rangiest of the Buffs' defensive backs. Overall, he's one of the least experienced, having played only one season of high school football and one season of junior college ball at Sacramento City College.
But his athleticism is undeniable, as is his eagerness to learn the game. He described his first week and a half of work as "a great start, better than ever in my years here . . . I feel like I'm kind of taking the next step."
He called experience in the Pac-12 gained over the past two seasons (23 games, nine starts) invaluable but also noted that head coach Mike MacIntyre is "always hounding me and staying on me to be consistent . . . it's not a one-time thing, a one-day thing, a one-week thing. It's all the time. You have to understand that this game is 24/7."
In the last 21/2 weeks of August camp, Witherspoon said he will be focused on "playing low 100 percent of the time. I'm probably at 96 percent now, but that's up from 70 percent last year . . .
"I'm trying to come out and keep my eyes low on the (receivers) hips. I'm seeing it on film and coming out to practice every day with a purpose."
Witherspoon said he's "never been this excited" about a football season. "It's not even close. I think that comes with confidence and not getting out there to play but to make plays. I'm ready to go. It's just a different feeling and I'm enjoying every minute of it."
UP TO (PAC-12) SPEED? With this season's depth, talent and experience, the Buffs' secondary appears to be better suited to withstand the air raids that occur weekly in the Pac-12. Thompson thinks so, anyway.
"Yes, because I know how hungry the back end is," he said. "But that's just like the rest of the team. We're hungry because we're going against our receivers every day. We know if we can battle with them every day then we really have nothing else to worry about in the Pac-12. Honestly, I think these are the best receivers in the Pac-12."
Thompson rattled off the names of returnees Shay Fields, Devin Ross and Bryce Bobo, and newcomer Juwann Winfrey. "Because of (them) it's making camp that much harder on us," Thompson said. "Every day it's a test. Shay and Devin have been playing some in the slot, which I'm responsible for covering. They're making me better and I'm making them better."
Witherspoon, who played in all 13 games last season (547 snaps), made two of CU's 14 interceptions in 2015 as well as seven third-down stops. He believes these back end Buffs are better suited for Pac-12 play because they "cover well individually, and I think we communicate well as a group and work together well. That's something that's going to breed success. Having natural athleticism is good but having the smarts and the good decision making is a big part of it."
Tumpkin, who came to CU in 2015 after spending the previous five seasons as Central Michigan's defensive coordinator, got his first in-person look at Pac-12 passing games last season. He was impressed.
"If you want to be a DB and be successful down the road, do it in this league and you've got a chance," he said.
As for this CU back end being more primed to hold up to Pac-12 passing games, there's a chance of that, too, he said: "But it's always relative to me with our pass rush . . . as good as we are up front is as good as we're going to be in the back end. If we're able to create pressure and do things with the front seven then it's going to be easier for us to get it done in the back end."
The Buffs were tied for 10th in the conference last season with 27 quarterback sacks. At plus-1, they were seventh in turnover margin, but their 22 takeaways (14 interceptions, eight fumble recoveries) moved them from No. 125 nationally in 2014 to No. 34 in 2015. And they were second in the Pac-12 in pass defense, allowing 218.2 yards a game but 24 touchdown passes.
IT'S A HANDS-ON GAME: A daily point of emphasis in the secondary, said Tumpkin, is "getting our hands on as many balls as we can. That's one of our goals. I tell them all the time as a defensive back, either getting a PBU (pass broken up) or an interception is what you want.
"You don't want to get a tackle; that means he caught the ball. That's kind of the mindset we're in. We want to challenge the receivers the right way. You have to do that in this league."
Clark said his corners' coverage skills and ball skills have improved partly because of daily post-practice work catching footballs and tennis balls flung at high speed from the JUGs machines.
"Sometimes that's biggest part of coverage because you're in position like we were last year," Clark said. "We made a couple (of interceptions, PBUs) but we need to make more. We'll continue to work on the ball skills and the technique and jell as a group."
Clark is entering his fourth season on Mike MacIntyre's staff, having coached the safeties in years one and two. The secondary he's seeing in year four "is more experienced, that's the thing. A lot of guys have played a lot of football."
THE INSIDE LOOK AT . . .
Secondary
Coaches: Joe Tumpkin, safeties, second season; Charles Clark, cornerbacks, fourth season.
Returning starters: CB Ahkello Witherspoon, Sr.; CB/NB Chidobe Awuzie, Sr.; SS Tedric Thompson, Sr.; FS Ryan Moeller, Jr.
Returnees: CB Isaiah Oliver, Soph.; SS Afolabi Lagudo, Jr.; CB Nick Fisher, Soph.; CB Andrew Bergner, Jr.; CB Jaisen Sanchez, Soph.
Newcomers: CB Ronnie Blackmon, Fr.; DB Lucas Cooper, Fr.; DB Chris Helbig, Fr.; DB Daniel Talley, Soph.; DB Kyle Trego, Soph.; DB Trey Udoffia, Fr.Â
Key losses: SS Marques Mosley; NB John Walker (from 2014); FS Jared Bell; FS Evan White; CB Yuri Wright (from 2014).
Stat line: The Buffs made 14 interceptions in 2015, up from only three in 2014. Of those 14, 8 were made by returning members of the secondary. Thompson has been the team leader in picks for the last two seasons, with three each in 2014 and 2015.
Bottom line: CU's secondary should be a defensive strength; it's deep, experienced and in Awuzie and Thompson has a pair of players who could earn postseason all-conference honors. That's not to say others in the backend are incapable of doing so, but Awuzie and Thompson have been around long enough to know their way around the Pac-12 and what it takes to be a stellar DB in an air-it-out conference. Depth is key, and the Buffs have enough of it to make their nickel and dime packages well-stocked.Â
Next: Special teams
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Â
BOULDER – Tedric Thompson has led the Colorado Buffaloes in interceptions for the past two seasons, but to hear him explain why is to gain insight into what he's all about.
And it's not about the numbers . . . at least not the personal ones.
Thompson is a prototypical strong safety – 6-feet, a solid 210 pounds and the fervent deliverer of chilling hits. He also has that extra sense, a football knack, of being a right-place/right-time guy. His coaches rightfully call him a playmaker, and his team-best three picks in 2014 (CU's only three) and 2015 back up that description.
If he's fortunate enough to lead the Buffs in interceptions for a third consecutive season, he'll take it – but he's not chasing it. His six picks over two seasons "is something that just happened," he said. "I really don't have (personal) goals, I just want to get wins.
"Any interception I do have, if you really go look, it's because the other ten guys on the field are doing their job and I just happen to be where the ball's going. So it's really just a team effort. When it comes to stats, it's not like I'm doing it myself. It's the team."
This season he's part of a secondary that, on paper and tape anyway, figures to be one of CU's best in a while. Maybe a long while. The Buffs' backend is stocked with versatile and talented upperclassmen; three seniors, including Thompson, could start and their backups figure to include experienced juniors and sophomores.
"We're versatile in our secondary," second-year safeties coach Joe Tumpkin said. "We've got four or five safeties we think can help us out in different situations."
The cornerback position also is well-populated. "This is as much (depth) as we've had," corners coach Charles Clark noted, "but we have to continue to bond as a group. We're still working on different combinations for different situations."
Thompson and fellow senior Chidobe Awuzie – arguably the best backend utility player in the Pac-12 – have seen most of those situations. Both broke into the starting lineup as true freshmen (2013) and have been fixtures there since. Last season they ranked one-two on the defense – Awuzie with 897, Thompson with 882 – in number of snaps played.
Thompson has played both safety spots, Awuzie has played everywhere in the secondary. He's currently listed as a starting corner, but has also spent time at safety and will be the No. 1 nickel back. Starting at the corner opposite Awuzie likely will be senior Ahkello Witherspoon or sophomore Isaiah Oliver, with juniors Ryan Moeller or Afolabi Laguda opening at free safety.
Players vying for backup roles include sophomores Nick Fisher, Kyle Trego (JC transfer) and Daniel Talley; junior Andrew Bergner; and redshirt freshman Lucas Cooper and true freshmen Ronnie Blackmon, Trey Udoffia and Tony Julmisse, who is also auditioning at receiver and is a near lock to be on the depth chart at one of the two spots.
Said Tumpkin: "Our first and second teams are pretty good . . . I'd like to find one or two more just to make sure we're solid. One of the younger true freshmen coming in is going to have to step up and help us."
Over August camp's first week and a half, Tumpkin had few complaints about what transpired in the backend. "Right now I'm really, really pleased with where we are," he said. "I'm very happy with all of them; they've all shown some form of improvement and are doing things better from the spring.
"The big thing is, they know the defense now. They've been in it two springs and are in their second camp now. So right now they're to the point where they need to work on the technique part of it."
Thompson is among Tumpkin's backend mainstays and "is playing very well right now," Tumpkin said, adding that Thompson becoming more of a vocal on-field, in-house leader is an ongoing process. Tumpkin termed him a "quiet leader . . . we had a talk about this a couple of weeks ago. You're not going to hear him being very vocal out here. But in the locker room – one of the things I've told my guys it's one of the biggest areas for us.
"I told him, 'It's how you handle the locker room . . . when I walk around in there I see guys reaching out to you.' And in that situation is where you have to be very firm and show your leadership skills as guys are talking to you.
"Then (on the field) you show your work ethic to the younger guys and guys who are talking to you in there. He's taken on that role and I'm very happy with his progress."
Thompson, of Valencia, Calif., has difficulty believing he's about to embark on his final college season.
"When I first got here, people told me it would go by in the blink of an eye – and I just kind of brushed it off," he said. "But it's crazy. I still have visions of my first fall camp and how my head was spinning everywhere, getting yelled at and not knowing what to do. Stuff like that. But it's a blessing now and I'm happy about it.
"Last year just flew by . . . I don't want to look back on my senior year with any regrets. I see Chido and a lot of the other seniors thinking like that. It's just got to go down through the team."
'SPOON' STAYING THE COURSE: At 6-3, 195, Witherspoon is the rangiest of the Buffs' defensive backs. Overall, he's one of the least experienced, having played only one season of high school football and one season of junior college ball at Sacramento City College.
But his athleticism is undeniable, as is his eagerness to learn the game. He described his first week and a half of work as "a great start, better than ever in my years here . . . I feel like I'm kind of taking the next step."
He called experience in the Pac-12 gained over the past two seasons (23 games, nine starts) invaluable but also noted that head coach Mike MacIntyre is "always hounding me and staying on me to be consistent . . . it's not a one-time thing, a one-day thing, a one-week thing. It's all the time. You have to understand that this game is 24/7."
In the last 21/2 weeks of August camp, Witherspoon said he will be focused on "playing low 100 percent of the time. I'm probably at 96 percent now, but that's up from 70 percent last year . . .
"I'm trying to come out and keep my eyes low on the (receivers) hips. I'm seeing it on film and coming out to practice every day with a purpose."
Witherspoon said he's "never been this excited" about a football season. "It's not even close. I think that comes with confidence and not getting out there to play but to make plays. I'm ready to go. It's just a different feeling and I'm enjoying every minute of it."
UP TO (PAC-12) SPEED? With this season's depth, talent and experience, the Buffs' secondary appears to be better suited to withstand the air raids that occur weekly in the Pac-12. Thompson thinks so, anyway.
"Yes, because I know how hungry the back end is," he said. "But that's just like the rest of the team. We're hungry because we're going against our receivers every day. We know if we can battle with them every day then we really have nothing else to worry about in the Pac-12. Honestly, I think these are the best receivers in the Pac-12."
Thompson rattled off the names of returnees Shay Fields, Devin Ross and Bryce Bobo, and newcomer Juwann Winfrey. "Because of (them) it's making camp that much harder on us," Thompson said. "Every day it's a test. Shay and Devin have been playing some in the slot, which I'm responsible for covering. They're making me better and I'm making them better."
Witherspoon, who played in all 13 games last season (547 snaps), made two of CU's 14 interceptions in 2015 as well as seven third-down stops. He believes these back end Buffs are better suited for Pac-12 play because they "cover well individually, and I think we communicate well as a group and work together well. That's something that's going to breed success. Having natural athleticism is good but having the smarts and the good decision making is a big part of it."
Tumpkin, who came to CU in 2015 after spending the previous five seasons as Central Michigan's defensive coordinator, got his first in-person look at Pac-12 passing games last season. He was impressed.
"If you want to be a DB and be successful down the road, do it in this league and you've got a chance," he said.
As for this CU back end being more primed to hold up to Pac-12 passing games, there's a chance of that, too, he said: "But it's always relative to me with our pass rush . . . as good as we are up front is as good as we're going to be in the back end. If we're able to create pressure and do things with the front seven then it's going to be easier for us to get it done in the back end."
The Buffs were tied for 10th in the conference last season with 27 quarterback sacks. At plus-1, they were seventh in turnover margin, but their 22 takeaways (14 interceptions, eight fumble recoveries) moved them from No. 125 nationally in 2014 to No. 34 in 2015. And they were second in the Pac-12 in pass defense, allowing 218.2 yards a game but 24 touchdown passes.
IT'S A HANDS-ON GAME: A daily point of emphasis in the secondary, said Tumpkin, is "getting our hands on as many balls as we can. That's one of our goals. I tell them all the time as a defensive back, either getting a PBU (pass broken up) or an interception is what you want.
"You don't want to get a tackle; that means he caught the ball. That's kind of the mindset we're in. We want to challenge the receivers the right way. You have to do that in this league."
Clark said his corners' coverage skills and ball skills have improved partly because of daily post-practice work catching footballs and tennis balls flung at high speed from the JUGs machines.
"Sometimes that's biggest part of coverage because you're in position like we were last year," Clark said. "We made a couple (of interceptions, PBUs) but we need to make more. We'll continue to work on the ball skills and the technique and jell as a group."
Clark is entering his fourth season on Mike MacIntyre's staff, having coached the safeties in years one and two. The secondary he's seeing in year four "is more experienced, that's the thing. A lot of guys have played a lot of football."
THE INSIDE LOOK AT . . .
Secondary
Coaches: Joe Tumpkin, safeties, second season; Charles Clark, cornerbacks, fourth season.
Returning starters: CB Ahkello Witherspoon, Sr.; CB/NB Chidobe Awuzie, Sr.; SS Tedric Thompson, Sr.; FS Ryan Moeller, Jr.
Returnees: CB Isaiah Oliver, Soph.; SS Afolabi Lagudo, Jr.; CB Nick Fisher, Soph.; CB Andrew Bergner, Jr.; CB Jaisen Sanchez, Soph.
Newcomers: CB Ronnie Blackmon, Fr.; DB Lucas Cooper, Fr.; DB Chris Helbig, Fr.; DB Daniel Talley, Soph.; DB Kyle Trego, Soph.; DB Trey Udoffia, Fr.Â
Key losses: SS Marques Mosley; NB John Walker (from 2014); FS Jared Bell; FS Evan White; CB Yuri Wright (from 2014).
Stat line: The Buffs made 14 interceptions in 2015, up from only three in 2014. Of those 14, 8 were made by returning members of the secondary. Thompson has been the team leader in picks for the last two seasons, with three each in 2014 and 2015.
Bottom line: CU's secondary should be a defensive strength; it's deep, experienced and in Awuzie and Thompson has a pair of players who could earn postseason all-conference honors. That's not to say others in the backend are incapable of doing so, but Awuzie and Thompson have been around long enough to know their way around the Pac-12 and what it takes to be a stellar DB in an air-it-out conference. Depth is key, and the Buffs have enough of it to make their nickel and dime packages well-stocked.Â
Next: Special teams
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
Â
Players Mentioned
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DB
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DB
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WR/DB
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DB
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DB
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DB
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DB
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WR
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