Football Notebook – NFL Draft And Defensive Outlook

BOULDER – A peek into the cupboard on the defensive side of the ball and a look ahead to the NFL Draft is the focus of this edition of the Colorado football notebook.

• Colorado defensive back Chidobe Awuzie has been invited to attend the NFL Draft, head coach Mike MacIntyre confirmed Thursday.

"Chido has earned and deserves the right to be able to go to the draft and be a first-round pick, because I definitely think he is a first-round pick," MacIntyre said. "He can play so many spots for a team, he can play corner, safety or nickel and all your special teams. He graduated in three and a half years. To me he is a no-brainer first-round pick.

"This is great for our program, it puts exposure out there for us and I think it's been awhile since we've had a first round pick and we are excited about hopefully that the dream coming true for Chido."

CU all-time has had 24 first-round picks, which is tied for the fourth most among all Pac-12 schools and 24th most in the nation. The last time the Buffs had a player go in the first round was in 2011, when Nate Solder (No. 17 to New England) and Jimmy Smith (No. 27 to Baltimore) were drafted.

NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah believes Awuzie is a player who can come in and play right away, saying on Wednesday, "Awuzie would be an option from the bottom of the first round from Colorado. Readymade, plug-and-play."

The first round of the 2017 NFL Draft is being held on Thursday, April 27, from Philadelphia.

• The 2000 NFL Draft was the last time three CU defensive backs were selected in the same year. It also happened in the 1977 and 1980 drafts; the 1980 draft highlighted by CB Mark Haynes going No. 8 overall to the New York Giants, the highest CU defensive back ever to be drafted and to this day one of only three DBs selected in the first round (others were Deon Figures going 23rd overall in 1993 and Smith in 2011). Now, Awuzie, Tedric Thompson and Ahkello Witherspoon look to make it a fourth time that three Buffs from the secondary all go in the same draft year.

• Can CU's defense and in particular its secondary build off the 2016 season when it was so good against the pass, and do so losing three key components in Awuzie, Thompson and Witherspoon? The Buffs face four teams next season that ranked in the top 25 nationally in passing yards per game and three of those four return their starting quarterbacks (Washington State, UCLA and USC do; Cal is the one school that does not). Take those four teams out and then left on the schedule are only two other programs (Arizona State and Washington) who ranked in the top 50 in passing last season.

CU only gave up 193.6 yards passing last season, which includes the bowl game (182.5 without). The last time the Buffs held opponents to under 200 yards passing in consecutive seasons was 1998 (148.5) and 1999 (176.1). There were four DBs drafted off those two teams – Marcus Washington in the sixth round in the 1999 draft, and Ben Kelly (third round), Damen Wheeler (sixth round) and Rashidi Barnes (seventh round) in the 2000 draft.

• No other Pac-12 defense must contend with replacing eight starters like the Buffs will. However, new CU defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot will not have a bare cupboard by any means to work with next fall. There are 10 players returning who have started a game for the Buffaloes, led by ILB Rick Gamboa with his 25 career starts and OLB Derek McCartney with 24.

CU also returns six players – Gamboa (1,218), McCartney (1,172), Afolabi Laguda (1,029), Ryan Moeller (972), Leo Jackson III (840) and Isaiah Oliver (656) - who have 600 or more career plays on defense under their belts. Of these six, Laguda registered the most snaps last season with 792 to go with his 80 tackles that ranked second on the team and tops among all returnees.

• Oliver is another one of those players who by definition is not a returning starter, but was a key component in CU's secondary last year that ranked 20th nationally against the pass. In 440 snaps on defense last season he recorded 14 passes defended (13 pass breakups and one interception). Adding in his six passes defended from his true freshman season in 2015, he enters his junior year with 20 passes defended.

Oliver is one of just four returning players in the Pac-12 that in their careers have recorded 20 or more passes defended.

CAREER PASSES DEFENDED – PAC-12 LEADERS

Name, School	Cl.	Passes Defended (Breakups/Interceptions)
Arrion Springs, Oregon	Sr.	25 (24/1)
Darius Allensworth, Cal	Sr.	23 (21/2)
Iman Marshall, USC	Jr.	23 (17/6)
Isaiah Oliver, CU	Jr.	20 (19/1)
Marcellus Pippins, WSU	Sr.	18 (13/5)

Oliver, who is a two-sport star, is also having a heck of a spring as a track decathlete. On Wednesday, he broke three 10-year-old school decathlon records in the long jump, 100 meters, and 400 meters at the California Invitational. On Thursday, he broke the 20-year-old school record in the 110-meter hurdles for the decathlon when he ran 14.46.

The cool part about his success on the track this week is that his father, Muhammad, was there cheering him on. Muhammad, like Isaiah, was also a two-sport star. He was a world-class decathlete (an NCAA track All-American) at Oregon and was also a cornerback for the Ducks before being selected in the ninth round of the 1992 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos and playing five seasons in the league with five teams (Denver, Green Bay, Kansas City, Miami and Washington).