Woelk: MacIntyre, Buffs Know Expectations Have Grown
August 22, 2017 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Just a year ago, members of the media wondered publicly whether Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre would survive the 2016 season in Boulder.
A year later, those same media members were asking MacIntyre at CU's annual media day how his team would handle the considerably heightened expectations heading into the 2017 season.
Amazing what a 10-win, Pac-12 South title season will do for a program.
MacIntyre, though, is still the same coach he was a year ago: a stickler for detail, a man who doesn't believe in shortcuts and a man who believes preparation is always the foundation for success.
It's why the saying "Knowledge equals confidence equals playing fast" has a prominent position in the Champions Center.
But MacIntyre also knows the landscape has changed for the Buffaloes. Colorado won't catch anyone by surprise this year.
"It's not like there's Colorado, that's a 'W' for the other team," MacIntyre said Tuesday. "I feel like we've gained that respect, but every year it's a new team, we've got to out there and earn it again. It's not going to be given to us by any stretch of the imagination. Just because we did well last season doesn't mean we're going to be good this year."
MacIntyre spoke to the media for more than 30 minutes Tuesday, answering a wide variety of questions, ranging from heightened expectations to his new defensive staff to specific personnel questions — all topics that have been unfolding as the Buffs have progressed through fall camp.
But if you are looking to jump past the minutiae and focus on the key themes, here's a quick breakdown:
New defensive staff: To be honest, this is a question that won't begin to be answered until well into the season. While the Buffs will no doubt be tested in their opener against Colorado State's veteran offense, CU's defensive progress won't be able to be truly measured until the Buffs have seen the field several times.
Still, there's no doubt MacIntyre has complete confidence in his new assistants, beginning with defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot and continuing with secondary coach ShaDon Brown and inside linebackers/special teams coordinator Ross Els.
"(Eliot) has a great rapport with our players," MacIntyre said. "He does a great job and they respond to him and they like him. He pushes them hard and he is very knowledgeable in his X and O's. … He's done a great job with the new guys on the staff and they have really molded well together. He also understands our defense inside and out."
The keys for Eliot's defense will be just how quickly the newcomers can fit into the overall scheme. The list includes defensive linemen Javier Edwards and Chris Mulumba, inside linebacker Drew Lewis and cornerback Trey Udoffia. (While Lewis is technically not a newcomer, he is a first-year starter.)
What will we see from quarterback Steven Montez: The sophomore from El Paso has quickly earned the designation as a "gunslinger," and for good reason: Montez has a big-time arm and the confidence to go with it.
The question, of course, is whether the Buffs can harness the power in that arm and turn it into production without having that power/confidence go awry.
"I don't try to pull the reins back on him, you have to let him play and make his plays," MacIntyre said. "At the same time we've tried to train him to be smart with the football, to have an understanding that he won't be able to fit every throw in there. His ability to create plays on the run and make certain throws is part of what makes him extremely dynamic. It forces defenses to decided whether they want to rush him, keep him in the pocket, what they want to do. I think his ability to make plays outside the pocket and in the pocket will make him dynamic. He needs to understand certain throws that he can make and that he cannot make. I'm pretty sure he'll have a lot of good moments and a couple bad moments like all quarterbacks do."
Translated, it means simply this: the Buffs know they are getting some big-time big-play potential with Montez in the pocket. The potential reward is huge. They are willing to take the risk of the occasional mistake in return.
Overall team culture. This is an area that's often overlooked from the outside because it's virtually impossible to measure. There are no statistics on accountability.
But it's an integral building block of a program, and MacIntyre and his staff firmly believe the foundation has been set. It was established over the last couple of years by the first players to come into the program under MacIntyre, and it's now solidly in place.
MacIntyre gave an example Tuesday, noting how the team's seniors established a rule that everyone must be present for a team meeting at least six minutes before it's scheduled to begin. Those who aren't present then must put in a little extra running.
Only twice since January, MacIntyre said, has anyone been "late" for a meeting.
"They understand the work ethic," MacIntyre said. "They're holding each other accountable. … They've really set that standard of doing a little bit more, doing it a little bit harder, holding each other a little bit more accountable, and those seniors have set that example. That wasn't something that I set. They realize we haven't arrived, that we have more to do, we better be more on spot, we better be more accountable, and I see that in this team and in the leaders of this team."
Team depth. There is absolutely no doubt that this is the deepest team MacIntyre has had at Colorado in terms of quality players at every position.
The best example, of course, is wide receiver, where the Buffs not only have four returning starters, but have backups at every position that quite likely would have been starters for MacIntyre's first couple of teams.
It has created competition at the position that brings out the best in players every day in practice and thus makes everyone better. It's where MacIntyre would like to see happen throughout the roster.
"We want that at every position on our team, and we're starting to get there," he said. "We're not quite there yet, but we're almost there — and when you do that, that's when if somebody goes down, you don't drop off a bit. I see that with our receiving corps."
But it's also clear that the depth continues to improve. Last year, just four true freshmen saw the field for the Buffs. This year's first depth chart of the season does not have a true freshman in any starting position and just six true freshmen in the two-deep.
Overall, the pressure's on: MacIntyre, his staff and his players know this. There is no doubt that a "wait and see" attitude still accompanies the perception of the Buffs. While last year's record was no doubt impressive, the question remains: aberration or trend?
MacIntyre's answer is the same as it's always been: the proof is in the performance.
"Every year it's a new team," MacIntyre said. "We have a lot of good football players, but we are throwing some new guys out there in positions and they have to go to play. We go back to square one and we start all over again."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
