With the season officially just past the half-way point, it’s time for BuffsBlog to hand out some hardware for mid-season superlatives. This season has been a roller-coaster for the Buffs. The good news is that it’s clear that CU can beat every team it plays the rest of this season. The bad news is that it’s equally clear that CU can lose to every team it plays the rest of this season.
CU is locked in a ferocious fall fracas for bowl eligibility, flinging itself week-after-week into a full-fledged firefight for football’s finish line — a bowl game. The key? To get to 6 wins, flipping the narrative from frustrating to “finished the fight.” Fail to follow through, and the finale to the fall season could feel fatal to post-season fantasies. F that.
Amirite?
So without further ado, let’s dive in.
Offensive MVP: Zarian McGill and Jordan Seaton
Zarian McGill has been a warrior for the Buffs this seaon. The 6’2” 320-pound transfer from Louisiana Tech (via Louisiana Monroe) joined Colorado as the #798 overall player in the transfer portal and has vastly — vastly — outplayed the transfer ranking. McGill is currently CU’s highest graded offensive lineman by PFF with a 72.3 grade on the season, edging Jordan Seaton’s 70.4 PFF season grade. McGill will battle for All Big 12 honors along with BYU’s Bruce Mitchell and Kansas State’s Sam Hecht.
Jordan Seaton has also had a fantastic year. He is the highest graded pass blocker in the country thus far this season, with a pass blocking grade of 94.7 per PFF. In 2nd place nationally is Fort Collins, Colorado native Trey Zuhn. Zuhn, a graduate of Fossil Ridge High School, committed to Texas A&M over the Buffs in 2021. Can you imagine if Seaton and Zuhn were bookend tackles for the Buffs this season?!
Seaton would be the overall MVP of the offense — if his run blocking were better. However, Seaton has struggled run blocking and is below average. His PFF run blocking grade of 51.9 on the season is probably a little harsh, but there’s no question that Seaton needs to improve his run blocking.
[Also, BuffsBlog is proud to be the kind of site that names 2 offensive linemen as offensive MVPs.]
Offensive Freshman of the (Half) Year: Quentin Gibson
Quentin Gibson hasn’t gotten the ball enough this season. He only has 9 catches for 43 yards on the year. However, Gibson has made a big impact —- as a kick returner. He has 17 returns for 427 yards, ranking 2nd in return yardage nationally only behind UAB’s Solomon Beebe.
Gibson was named Offensive MVP of CU’s “Backup Bowl,” a scrimmage designed by Deion Sanders to get CU’s backups film that they could show to other schools in the transfer portal. That scrimmage was held this past weekend. While the “Backup Bowl” is a fantastic idea by Sanders, Gibson shouldn’t get any transfer ideas — CU needs him. He’s explosive. Pat Shurmur just needs to do a better job of getting him the ball in the open field.
One other observation — Gibson is a better blocker than his slight frame would suggest. He has a PFF run blocking score of 64, which is better than average. And, yes, the fact that Gibson one of CU’s better blockers at the wide receiver position is an indictment of the blocking skills of many of CU’s larger wide receivers.
Most Fun Player to Watch (Offense): Yahya Attia
Watching CU this season has been a chore on occasion. There’s no transcendent player like Travis Hunter that forces fans to regularly jump out of their seats, and the team misses Shedeur Sanders’ mercurial brilliance.
But the one thing that has brought me great joy when watching CU’s offense is “YoYo” Attia. The 340-pound Attia, playing tight end / H-back (!), absolutely crushes unsuspecting defensive linemen on pin and pull run plays. He’s a master of the wham block, a vertical trap block on a defensive lineman that is charging upfield, confused why the play-side offensive tackle “forgot” to block him. It’s a car crash every time.
And it makes me smile.
Defensive MVP: Tawfiq Byard
This is an easy one.
Tawfiq Byard has been CU’s defensive backbone. He’s playing at an All-Big 12 level, and currently leads the Buffs with 47 tackles, including 32 solo stops, on the season. In pass protection, he’s also arguably been CU’s best player. He’s been targeted 22 times in coverage, allowing completions on just 45% of throws. In pass coverage, he has only given up 140 yards through the air through seven games (an average of 20 yards per game).
Even more impressive, he’s done this while wearing a cast on his right hand after suffering a hand injury in week 3.
Shockingly, PFF has Byard with only the 11th highest grade among CU’s defensive players (behind, in order, Tawfiq Thomas, Amari McNeill, Kylan Salter, Benn Finneseth, London Merritt, Keaten Wade, Arden Walker, Tavian Coleman, Shaun Myers and Carter Stoutmire). This shows that PFF grades always need to be taken with a grain of salt. Despite his PFF ranking, however, Byard is CU’s best defensive player.
Also, a quick shout-out to Amari McNeill. He was 2nd on our defensive MVP ballot (if there was an actual ballot) and he currently has the highest PFF score among defenders that have played material snaps (with a 78.9 PFF grade). McNeill’s a very good pass rusher from the defensive tackle position — he has 9 pressures on the season — and he has 16 tackles and a forced fumble on the season thus far. It’s a crime he and Jeheim Oatis aren’t playing more.
Defensive Freshman of the (Half) Year: London Merritt
London Merritt will be an All-Big 12 player before he graduates.
Merritt has been disruptive at defensive end. The one-time Ohio State commit has logged 11 total tackles (6 solo, 5 assisted) alongside 3.5 tackles for loss thus far this season. The one-time Ohio State commit has been an imoprtant contributor largley due to the injury absence of presumptive starter Sam Okunlola.
More importantly, however, Merritt has been CU’s best edge run defender. He consistently sets the edge in the run game, something that the Buffs’ defensive ends often struggle to do. As Merritt is now fully adapted to the collegiate game, expect the freshman to have an even bigger impact during the back half of the season.
Most Fun Player to Watch (Defense): Alexander McPherson
Last year I was at Mile High Stadium in Denver to watch the Denver Broncos play the Las Vegas Raiders. While the Broncos won, the best player on the field was undoubtedly Raiders’ defensive end Maxx (yes, there are 2 Xs – I had to double check) Crosby. The 6’5” 255-pound tattooed defensive end finished the game with 5 tackles and 2 sacks, and he was a pass rushing menace.
Alexander McPherson looks an awful lot like Maxx Crosby.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not predicting an All-Pro career for McPherson. But the 6’6” 240-pound true freshman has at least two things in common with Crosby: frame and relentlessness. It’s fun to watch McPherson because he’s absolutely relentless. He refuses to quit on a play. He annoys offensive linemen with his effort, and he’s made several plays by tackling a player from behind after he was initially blocked. He’s not just an “effort” guy, either — McPherson has real pass rushing skills. He has 9 hurries on the season in only 74 pass reps. He needs to get stronger, and he will, but CU has a potential star on its hands with McPherson.
Play of the Half-Season: Tawfiq Byard’s interception vs. Iowa State
Iowa State, ranked 22nd nationally, had the ball early in the 4th Quarter down 21-17. Inside CU’s 20-yard line, the normally unflappable QB Rocco Becht dropped back on 3rd-and-7 and thew the ball….to Tawfiq Byard. Byard, with a cast on his arm, made the biggest play of the game. A flag was thrown for an apparent pass interference behind the play and the officials gathered for some time — and then waived off the flag. Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell was livid on the sideline. In fact, he was still yelling at the officials after the Cyclones forced a CU punt. Was it the right call? Yes, if you’re a CU fan.
Colorado went on to win the game, 24-17, the 2nd top 25 victory in the Deion Sanders era at CU.
Team MVP of the (Half) Season: Kaidon Salter
(Author ducks for cover)
Kaidon Salter has been the most important player for Colorado thus far this season.
First, look at his stats. On the season, Salter is 93 of 142 for 1,156 passing yards, 9 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. He is also completing a career high 65.5% of his passes. More critically, however, he’s CU’s 2nd leading rusher with 270 yards and 5 touchdowns on 65 carries. He’s run for 7 yards fewer than leading rusher Micah Welch.
Not convinced? Look at his rankings. ESPN has him ranked as the 17th best QB nationally with a 79.7 QBR. He’s ranked ahead of players like CJ Carr at Notre Dame, Dante Moore at Oregon, Aidan Chiles at Michigan State and Garrett Nussmeier at LSU. And while Pro Football Focus isn’t quite as high on Salter (he has a 71.6 PFF grade), he’s still ranked ahead of players like Houston’s Conner Weighman and Corndog Dylan Raiola.
Kaidon Salter is CU’s MVP.
Now for the caveat — Kaidon Salter is not Shedeur Sanders. If CU had Sanders this season, then it’s likely that the Buffs would be undefeated at this stage. However, Salter’s done a good job despite subpar play calling and despite being replaced by Ryan Staub for 1 and 1/2 games.
Folks, CU’s schedule has been much harder than most experts thought going into the season. Georgia Tech is 7-0, BYU is 7-0, Houston is 6-1, TCU is 5-2, and Iowa State is 5-2. CFB Ref has ranked CU’s schedule as the 9th most difficult in the country through this week’s game against Utah. Salter has done a good job given this gauntlet. At the beginning of the season most experts thought that the 2nd half of CU’s season was going to be harder than the first half of the season. That’s not the case. CU has a real chance to be bowl eligible at the conclusion of this season. If they get there, it’s because Kaidon Salter continued to play as CU’s MVP.
OK, Buff fans — let us know which of these picks you agree with and which of these picks you disagree with in the comment button below!!!
Like what you’ve seen? If so, check out more of BuffsBlog – including a post on the power play that keeps an important door open for CU’s athletic department:
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