Woelk: Second Scrimmage Provides Big Plays, 'Teaching Moments'

BOULDER — From the perspective of a head coach, Colorado's first two scrimmages of fall camp have yielded for the most part what Mike MacIntyre wants to see: some big plays on both sides of the ball and neither side dominating play.

Saturday's second scrimmage of camp certainly followed that script as the Buffs went full speed in a variety of situations, ranging from end-of-game to four-minute drill to red zone work and even an overtime simulation.

Along with the big plays, there were some procedural mistakes, a couple of which came in crucial situations — but even those, MacIntyre said, can be used as teaching moments at this point.

"I saw plays on both sides, which is good," MacIntyre said. "Both sides made plays, both sides had their ups and downs. We got the scenarios of the game going with the referees running it and the clocks and substitutions and everything. We didn't have a ton of flags, but a couple of them were great teaching moments. We could stop, teach what happened, have the referees come in and talk to them."

Big plays from the defense included an Isaiah Oliver interception on a tipped ball, sacks from Drew Lewis and Dante Sparaco, a big fourth-down stop from safety Evan Worthington and some nice plays from young linebackers Carson Wells, Jonathan Van Diest and Akil Jones.

Offensively, Bryce Bobo had a pair of big catches, both on throws from Steven Montez; and running backs Michael Adkins and Alex Fontenot both broke nice runs. Also coming up with nice catches were wideouts Devin Ross, K.D. Nixon and Laviska Shenault.

MacIntyre also singled out the play of redshirt freshman cornerback Trey Ufoffia, and also praised the kicking game.

Bobo, who made a name for himself last season with highlight-reel catches, had a pair on Saturday. He hauled in a long Montez throw at the goal line for a touchdown — the longest play of the scrimmage — then caught snared a scoring pass in an overtime drill, gathering the throw in on the run and breaking a tackle en route to the end zone.

The deep ball came as the "game clock" was expiring. Montez rolled to his left under pressure and somehow managed to put the ball almost 60 yards in the air on the money to Bobo, who got position on the defender and went up in the air for the catch.

"I just kind of worked with him while he was rolling out and he threw a deep ball right where I needed it," Bobo said.

"When the guy gets an opportunity to make a play, he makes plays," offensive co-coordinator Darrin Chiaverini said.

If there is a constant to the scrimmages thus far, it is that CU's offense indeed has the potential to be explosive — and the defense continues to make strides.

"I still say the same thing I said coming out of spring practice — I think defensively we won't be quite as salty early as we were last year, but we have some really good players," MacIntyre said. "Those other guys (last year) could correct themselves in the middle of a drive. They'll get that after the first few games (this year). Our offense — I think should be the best offense we've had since I've been here in five years. That's where we're going to have a win a little different than we did last year early on because that's where our strength was."

While there were some mistakes on offense that co-coordinator Brian Lindgren said "you don't like to see in the second scrimmage," there were still more positives than negatives.

"There were a lot of learning opportunities," Lindgren said. "It will be good for our coaches and players to learn from the film and try to clean that stuff up the next time we get out here. We had a couple procedure issues that you don't like to see, but there were a lot more good things. Guys did a good job of bouncing back, flushing the mistake and making plays later."

Overall, Lindgren and fellow co-coordinator Darrin Chiaverini continue to be pleased with the offense's overall progression.

"Coach Chiaverini and I just have a better handle of what we want to do as far as the system and concepts that we want to run," Lindgren said. "I think our players across the board have a better understanding of the concepts, the adjustments. At this point I think we have more of our package in and we feel good about where it is compared to last year. That's just natural being in year two."

SCHEDULE: With the summer school session now over, the Buffs will adjust their practice time slightly next week. The players will have the day off Sunday, then return to practice on Monday. CU has tentatively scheduled an evening scrimmage for Friday.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu