Buffs Safety Fisher Ready To Build Off Last Season

BOULDER — Heading into the 11th game of the season last year, Colorado safety Nick Fisher was still a player with potential, waiting for the opportunity to put that potential on display.

Locked in a secondary loaded with experienced veterans — and future NFL draft picks — Fisher played just 39 snaps on defense in the Buffs' first 10 games.

Then came a break — and soon thereafter, Nick Fisher became the textbook definition of how to make the most of an opportunity.

In the 11th game of the season, Fisher stepped in at safety for the Buffs against Washington State after starter Afolabi Laguda was ejected in the first quarter for targeting. That brought Fisher into the game against one of the nation's leading aerial attacks, led by one of the nation's elite quarterbacks, Luke Falk.

All Fisher did was finish with six tackles (all solo), including three third-down stops and a huge fourth-down stop to go along with one pass breakup. His fourth-down stop came at Colorado's 15-yard line, with the Cougars trailing 28-24 and in position to regain the lead, helping turn momentum back in the Buffs' favor in a game CU went on to win, 38-24.

For his efforts, Fisher was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week.

"That was big for me," Fisher said Wednesday morning, after the Buffs had wrapped up their 13th practice of the spring. ""I'd never really played a full game in college. I got in fairly early in the first quarter and just played. … It gave me a lot of confidence to be able to tell myself, 'OK, I can do this. I belong here. There's no reason I shouldn't be competing for a starting spot next season.'"

That is exactly what Fisher is doing this spring. While Laguda has the "boundary" safety position locked up again, Fisher is running number one at free safety. He added some strength and size in the offseason, has had a solid spring under new secondary coach ShaDon Brown, and will almost certainly see the field on defense far more regularly than he did in 2016.

"Nicks' done a great job," Brown said. "He played a little bit last year and he's improved tremendously. He's improved as a leader, he's improved his knowledge and he's improved his overall playmaking ability."

What has impressed Brown the most is Fisher's willingness to step into a role as one of the leaders in the secondary — an area of high priority for a group that lost three senior starters from last year's team.

"He's become a leader," Brown said. "He's done that through staying focused on his job. I tell those those guys that when you lead, you have to lead from the front, and he's embraced that. He's done a better job of staying focused and communicating and I think that's where he's progressed the most. His ability has always been there."

While the Buffs did lose three standouts in the secondary — Chidobe Awuzie, Tedric Thompson and Ahkello Witherspoon — it's not as if they don't have any returning talent. Laguda started all 14 games for Colorado a year ago, safety-turned-Buff back Ryan Moeller started nine and cornerback Isaiah Oliver played 440 snaps on defense.

"When you lose some guys who were the leaders, you have to cultivate new leadership and I think we have that in Afolabi and Nick and Ryan and Isaiah," Brown said. "Those guys are starting to raise their level of leadership. They've always been good players, but they've had to come on with their leadership and they've done that."

The key for the group in spring ball has not only been meshing as a unit, but also learning under a new secondary coach.

So far, the results have been good.

"It's going great," Fisher said. "Guys are getting closer and we're playing like a unit now. I feel like we're gelling and we're having great communication. Guys know where to line up — maybe a bust here or there, but not often, and it's not because we don't have guys that can't play."

Of course, the real test won't come until next fall, when the Buffs open the season Sept. 1 against Colorado State. But matched against CU's high-powered passing game this spring, the Colorado secondary has more than held its own.

Still, Fisher and his cohorts know people will be watching closely to see how much the Buffs slip in the secondary — if at all — after losing the three senior starters.

"We're just going to line up and play and do what we do," Fisher said. "People are always going to talk. But we've got great talent to come up and fill those spots. Those were big guys that left, but it's not like we don't have talent to replace them. We'll just have to see what happens."

NEW KICKER: Head coach Mike MacIntyre answered questions Wednesday morning about the latest addition to the CU roster, Australian kicker James Stefanou.

Stefanou, a former standout soccer player, comes out of ProKick Australia, an academy that has sent dozens of field goal kickers and punters to the United States, including the last three winners of the Ray Guy Award.

"We've been looking for kickers, just trying to find the best one we could find in the whole country — in the whole world," MacIntyre said. "We've been looking for one and they have like 70 guys from that same kicking coach who are all over here. We worked through him and were able to find who we felt the best guy that was out there. We would have signed him on signing day, but we had to jump through a few other hoops. He had been committed to us for a while."

Stefanou will turn 30 this year, but MacIntyre said there are two other kickers — also from Australia — kicking for U.S. colleges who are older.

PRACTICE NOTES: MacIntyre said nose tackle Javier Edwards continues to adjust and is getting in better and better shape. "He's been doing well," MacIntyre said. "He's lost about 16 pounds since he got here." While Edwards is the biggest player on the team, he still manages to lead some of the sprints and agility drills with other defensive linemen. … MacIntyre also said freshman quarterback Tyler Lytle has "made a big jump. I've been very pleased with Tyler's jump from the first couple days to now. He's really starting to grasp it."

Another player who has made some headway this spring is outside linebacker Michael Mathewes, who started out on the defensive line. The Buffs have moved the junior to outside linebacker and, MacIntyre said, "he's done some good things there."

SPRING GAME: The Buffs have just one more practice, Friday, before Saturday's spring game. The weather forecast for Saturday is for temperatures near 80 degrees and plenty of sunshine. Gates to Folsom Field will open at noon, with practice set to begin at 1 p.m. and the scrimmage at 2 p.m. Admission is free.

Contact: Neill.Woellk@Colorado.edu