Colorado Buffaloes Scrimmage Recaps and Position Analysis

Quarterback Cody Hawkins was impressed with Stewart.  "Even though he’s kind of unheralded," said Hawkins of Speedy, "people have a lot of respect for him in the locker room."

"Each guy has different strengths," said Helfrich of his new weapons.  "We’ll try and put them in position, then basically, it’s going to be whoever does their style best."

In the August 17 scrimmage, there were fewer impressive numbers put up by the running backs.  Quarterback Tyler Hansen scrambled his way to 72 yards, with sophomore Corey Nabors collecting 53 yards on only four carries.  Darrell Scott had only six carries totaling 36 yards, but he did score his first touchdown.

Given the bulk of the carries were returning players Kevin Moyd and Demetrius Sumler.  Moyd, a junior tailback hampered by injury in 2007, had 10 carries for 31 yards and a touchdown.  Sumler had a total of 27 yards on nine carries.

After the scrimmage, CU running backs coach Darian Hagan named Demetrius Sumler as his starter in the backfield against CSU.  "It’s that value of experience," said Hagan of Sumler.  "He’s kind of the whole package.  I thought the young guys would come in and push him, but they haven’t pushed by him."

This is not to say that the three talented freshmen will not play.  Scott, Polk, and Stewart will open the season in specific situations, at least until they learn all of their assignments.  "Of course, we always like to run a stable of guys in there," said Hagan, "and we’ll continue to do that."

Wide receivers

The wide receivers had a good outing in the first scrimmage, with the Buffs overall accounting for 304 yards passing.  Sophomore Josh Smith led all receivers with 72 yards on three catches.  Fellow sophomore Scotty McKnight made the most of his two catches—only 18 total yards, but both went for touchdowns.

"Both (touchdown) plays were slight improv plays by Cody and me," said McKnight of his four-yard and 14-yard scores.  "We’ve worked on doing some things so that we’re on the same page when a play doesn’t go as planned.  We just find a hole in the zone, and today we did that."

Senior Patrick Williams also had a decent first scrimmage, collecting only two passes but gaining 29 and 32 yards on those plays.

"The team is doing really well," said McKnight after the first scrimmage.  "The attitude is upbeat, we’ve had a great tempo throughout camp.  Now we just need to keep going and improving."

Overall, receivers coach Eric Kiesau indicated he is looking for the three "most well-rounded" receivers, who can excel in both the passing and running games.  With the Buffs switching to the no-huddle, up-tempo offense, there will not be as many opportunities for substitutions, so the players on the field will need to be "the guys."  Williams, Smith, and McKnight were the top three after the first scrimmage...

And nothing changed after the August 17 scrimmage.  "I have a top three and we’re working on the four, five, six, and seven," said Kiesau.  "I think the group overall is progressing very well."

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