Practice Report, Day 3: Els Busy With LBs, Special Teams
July 31, 2017 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — It's been a busy first three days of camp for Colorado assistant coach Ross Els.
Els, who came to the staff in the spring after serving as defensive coordinator at Purdue last fall, coaches inside linebackers and is also the Buffs' special teams coordinator. Both are duties he held for much of his career, one that has spanned stops at Nebraska, Ohio U. and Purdue, among others.
With the Buffs, Els has inherited a group of inside 'backers led by junior Rick Gamboa, a two-year starter, team captain and a player Els has called a "coach on the field" because of his outstanding knowledge of the game.
Gamboa, who moved into the starting role as a redshirt freshman in Week 3 after an injury to Addison Gillam, led the Buffs in tackles with 96 in 2015. Last season, he was third, finishing with 79 stops to go along with three tackles for loss, eight third-down stops and four pass breakups. He also had an interception return for a touchdown against Oregon State, a 20-yard score.
But Gamboa's "drop" in total tackles is a bit misleading. Because he came off the field in many obvious pass situations when the Buffs would add an extra defensive back, he played 499 defensive snaps — just 10th on the team. When figuring his tackles per snaps, he averaged one tackle for every 6.3 snaps, second-best on the team.
"When you play linebacker and start getting a lot of experience, your vision just increases," Els said. "As you get older and more experienced, you see start being able to see everything. You start seeing pullers, you start seeing guys motioning across. Certainly Rick is at a another level than anybody else in our linebacker group."
But after Gamboa, the experience at inside linebacker is minimal for the Buffs this season. Penciled in alongside Gamboa at the "jack" inside spot (Gamboa mans the "mike" position) is Drew Lewis. The junior did see action in four games last year and finished with eight tackles, including a sack and a pair of third-down stops to go along with a pass breakup and a forced fumble.
If Lewis can hone his game to match his athleticism — he had some of the best performances in a number of tests in CU's offseason strength and conditioning measurements — he could become a force inside.
The next likely candidate inside is redshirt freshman Akil Jones, another player with excellent athleticism. The Buffs have been working Jones at both the mike and jack positions in camp, not only to see which might be the best fit, but to also give him experience at both spots if they decide to use him both places this year.
"Akil had a very good first practice," Els said. "One of the things we're doing with Akil is we're kind of looking at him at both linebacker positions right now. So he's had to learn two, which slowed him down the last couple of days. But I thought he had a great first practice. Akil's going to play a lot for us."
After Jones, the Buffs have a pair of walkons, senior Trent Headley and redshirt freshman Jacob Stoltenberg, along with three true freshmen: Carson Wells, Jonathan Van Diest and Nate Landman. All three freshmen have seen time inside in camp thus far, with each getting a chance to work alongside Jones.
"It's the first time they've had an opportunity to play college ball, so it's completely new for them," Els said. "It's a weird group as far as the experience they've had."
As mentioned previously, CU relatively often will change its scheme in obvious passing situations (or against pure spread offenses) and use just one inside backer in favor of another defensive back or the "Buff" back spot, the hybrid linebacker-safety spot.
SPECIAL TEAMS ATTENTION: Els has also been spending plenty of time with CU's special teams units. While head coach Mike MacIntyre has still divided specific team duties (punt return, punt coverage, kick coverage, field goals, etc.) to individual coaches, Els is basically the overseer.
"I've done special teams almost my whole life, so I love being involved in that stuff," Els said.
The Buffs have no doubt made special teams a priority early in camp. Monday, MacIntyre said, "I've been really pleased with what we've done, and we've done more special teams in our first three days than we did the last couple years. I kind of reorganized it to put more of an emphasis (early), especially having a new kicker. It's looked really good the first few days."
The new kicker is 30-year-old Aussie freshman James Stefanou, who has been displaying a powerful leg. But, MacIntyre said, all three kickers — Stefanou, Davis Price and Chris Graham — have been showing big legs thus far.
"I see powerful legs," MacIntyre said. "I see guys that can hit it and they've looked the best we've ever looked since I've been here. Honestly it's the power of their legs."
MacIntyre said punter Alex Kinney is also having an excellent camp, putting together what he said were "the best three days I've ever seen him have since he's been here."
COLEMAN FINDS NICHE: Senior defensive lineman Tim Coleman has been active in camp thus far. MacIntyre said he believes Coleman is set for a solid season as a pass rush specialist.
The Buffs lost last year's pass rush specialist, Jimmie Gilbert, to graduation. Gilbert finished with 10.5 sacks and was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection.
But the Buffs think they should be able to pick up those numbers with a mixture of players. That group will include senior Derek McCartney at outside linebacker and Coleman from the line.
"We really like his ability to pass rush," MacIntyre said. "We'll see him a lot in our pass rush situations, down and distances, teams that throw it a lot. That's kind of his niche and he's a phenomenal young man, worked extremely hard. … I'm excited about seeing him have a great fifth year and we have a role for him I think he can excel at. He has the speed and power and I believe he's ready to go make some plays for us."
Coleman has put in some solid work in the weight room, and is now listed at a solid 6-foot-3, 255 pounds. While it might be a tad on the light side for a true defensive end, it will work well for a pass rush specialist.
ON ENTO: MacIntyre was asked if he might possibly redshirt senior wide receiver Kabion Ento, one of four senior WRs vying for a starting spot.
Three of those seniors — Bryce Bobo, Devin Ross and Shay Fields — are all returning starters and will no doubt see the field for plenty of playing time this year. But Ento had a terrific spring and could be a big playmaker.
If he redshirted, he would be one of three senior wideouts next year, joining Juwann Winfree and Jay MacIntyre.
MacIntyre, though, said that's not a likely scenario.
"I expect him to play," he said. "He plays in so many spots for us. But we'll see how all that comes out after camp's over; how healthy we are after the first few games. If it looks like something we could do, he's the only one that really has an opportunity to redshirt except for the young freshmen, so we'll think about that."
PRACTICE NOTES: Monday was the first day in shoulder pads for the Buffs. They'll be in shoulder pads again Tuesday, take a day off Wednesday and then don full pads for the first time in camp Thursday. "We were in pajamas the last two days," MacIntyre said. "You play football in pads. I saw a lot of good thing there from some of the guys and we'll get in there and watch the tape and get going again tomorrow." …
Every day, it seems, a Buffs wide receiver makes some big plays in practice, and it's more often than not someone different each day. Monday, Devin Ross made a spectacular grab on a deep ball at the goal line, going up in tight coverage and out-fighting the defender for the ball. … Freshmen Laviska Shenault and Jaylon Jackson both made nice grabs in 7-on-7 drills. … Redshirt freshman corner Trey Udoffia continues to impress, as does sophomore Dante Wigley.
MacIntyre's message at the end of practice was a reminder of a mantra he has preached since arriving in Boulder: "Start fast, finish strong."
SCHEDULE: The Buffs will practice again Tuesday in shells, put on full pads Thursday and then scrimmage Saturday at Folsom Field. The Saturday practice is open to the public and begins at 10 a.m.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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