GRADING THE OFFENSE IN THE CU SPRING GAME AND Xs AND Os ANALYSIS

It’s difficult to put too much stake into a spring game.  Players are constantly rotated, and a great play against the 2s on defense is probably not as valuable from an evaluation standpoint as a great play against the 1s on defense.  Still, we’ve graded the tape of the Spring Game and have a breakdown of the positives and negatives from the Spring Game.  

Quickn note: Please click on each of the YouTube links below. Each link will take you to a single play that is being referened in the blog post and NOT to the entire video. It should be simple and easy!

Formation Notes

CU kept things very vanilla from a formation standpoint.  CU ran about 70% of its plays out of Gun 11 personnel, with the quarterback in the shotgun with 1 TE, 1 RB and 3 WRs.  There were times CU ran out of shotgun with Ace / 12 personnel (1 RB and 2 TEs), with the tight ends inline and on at least one play with the tight ends flexed as wingbacks.  

Note that CU ran no two-back sets.  We’ve been hearing all spring that Colorado was running more 2-back sets to help set up the running game — and I expected to see a lot of Drelon Miller in the backfield as the 2^nd RB.  We didnt’ get any of that. It’s pretty apparent that coaches want to keep that formation and those plays in their back pocket for Georgia Tech on August 29th.

Lineup Notes

In the first half, the starting offense was Jordan Seaton at LT, Zac Owens at LG, Zarian McGill at C, Zy Crisler at RG, Mana Taimani at RT, Savell Smalls at Y, Dallan Hayden at RB, Drelon Miller at H, Kam Mikell at X, Terell Timmons at Z, and QB JuJu Lewis.  

[It might be helpful to give a quick glossary on wide receiver positions.  The primary tight end is the “Y.”  The WR on the strongside (the tight end side of the formation) is the “Z” wide receiver and the WR on the backside, traditionally the split end, is the “X.”  Just remember that the Z always travels with the Y and you’ll be smarter than 95% of football fans. Often teams will put a smaller WR at Z and the team’s larger and more physical WR at X.  I suspect that Omarrion Miller, once he’s returned, will be the starter at X for the Buffs.] 

In the second half, QB Kaidon Salter replaced JuJu Lewis with the 1s, TE Zach Atkins replaced Savell Smalls with the 1s, and RB Brandon Hood replaced Dallan Hayden with the 1s.  Wide receivers substituted liberally, and we saw much more Isiah Hardge with the first team as the Z WR in the 2^nd half.  

Players that were held out of the Spring Game include likely contributors WR Omarrion Miller, RB Micah Welch, DT Amari McNeill, CB Colton Hood, CB Preston Hodge, Edge Sam Okunlola, DT Taurean Carter and Edge Keaton Wade.    

Offensive Notes: QB Play

I was impressed with Kaidon Salter on Saturday.  I was even more impressed with Kaidon Salter after grading the tape of the game.  

Salter is clearly at his best when he is putting pressure on the edge of the defense via RPOs, sprint out passes, and zone reads. This is in sharp contrast to last season, where Shedeur Sanders was deadly picking defenses apart from the pocket. Instead of playing in the pocket, Salter is at his best when he’s attacking the defense horizontally.

Kaidon Salter attacking edge of defense with simple RPO to the motion H slot.

On rewatch is is apparent that Pat Shurmur was trying to keep things as vanilla as possible so that CU didn’t give away any state secrets in advance of the August 29th kickoff against Georgia Tech. This probably increased the degree of difficulty for Salter. For example, there were several zone reads that were called where it’s clear that Salter was told not to read the play but to give the ball to the running back. As a result, there were plays where Salter would have probably scored a TD if he kept the ball, but he ended up giving the ball to the running back.

Salter might still be running if he kept the ball on this play.

The same thing happened later in the 2nd half. These reads are so obvious that it’s clear that Shurmur told Salter to give the ball and not run the ball.

Salter might still be running on this play, too, if he kept the ball.

I thought Salter threw the ball well, particularly in the first half of the scrimmage. Salter is an experienced QB — he seemed to make the “easy” plays and didn’t force too many throws. He hit Joseph Williams with a very nice throw in the 2nd half — as an aside, Joseph Williams looks like he’s going to be a good player for the Buffs this year and he had a near catch in the end zone in the 1st half of the scrimmage that was Travis Hunter-like. Salter didnt’ get greedy with the football and took checkdowns, too. There was only one play that he made that I cringed at — and it probably speaks to Salter’s weakness. In the 2nd half, he dropped back in the pocket and threw the football behind Kam Mikell on a crossing route, leading to an interception.

Salter throws the interception.

Salter is not a traditional pocket passer — he excels on the perimeter of the defense. If Salter is going to be “the guy,” then Pat Shurmur needs to call plays that don’t require him to sit back in the pocket and try to pick apart a defense. While some think that Shurmur’s play calling leaves a lot to be desired, I strongly believe that he’s smart enough to call plays that highlight Salter’s strengths as a player and not his weaknesses.

Despite the pick, I was impressed with Salter when grading the film. As I’ve noted, it’s important that Shurmur gives Salter the freedom to run the ball more on zone reads and that Shurmur call plays that get Salter on the perimeter of the defense. If Shurmur does that, Salter’s going to be a very good quarterback for the Buffs. The structure and vanilla-like nature of the Spring Game held him back on Saturday — but he would’ve made many more plays if he were given “full go” flexibility and if Shurmur called plays to take advantage of his abilities. Shurmur will do that this fall.

Salter finished the spring game 11 of 19 for 79 yards, with the 1 pick. He rushed for another 15 yards.

JuJu Lewis looked like a promising early-enrolled 17 year old, for the most part.  Fans need to remember that Lewis should be finishing his junior year of high school this year but he graduated a full year and a half early to be an early enrollee as a 17-year old. Lewis had a variety of freshman moments, tripping on the turf on one dropback play (credit the tackle to Johnny Greengrass), and getting two passess knocked down at the line of scrimmage.

Lewis had some true freshman moments as should be expected. 

Still, fans can tell why the program is so excited about his ability. The ball jumps out of his hand. There were 2 plays in particular that I thought showed some of the ability that the Georgia native possesses. On one first and 10 play, Lewis dropped back and threw a beautiful ball to Kam Mikell on a slant pattern. It’s easy to compare this throw to the interception thrown by Salter as they’re similar throws, and my working theory is that Lewis may be the better pure dropback passer right now. Lewis also made a gorgeous throw to Mikell in the end zone that resulted in a PI call at the end of the 2nd half. Lewis can really throw the football. The only thing he doesn’t have is experience.

JuJu Lewis finished the spring game 10 of 18 for 63 yards and 1 touchdown.

Lewis completes a pass to Mikell that requires placement and accuracy as much as arm strength.

At the end of the day, I think that Salter will start because of the additional pressure that he puts on the defense with his running ability. Still, it’s exciting that the Buff have a long-term answer at QB, someone that seems to have the ability to make downfield throws.

Offensive Notes: OL Play

I thought the interior of the offensive line played very well.  

As an initial matter, Zarian McGill is going to be the best center at Colorado in a long time.  He graded out as my top ranked lineman from the spring game. McGill played last season at Louisiana Tech and graded out at 71.4 per PFF, and was the highest ranked Bulldogs’ offensive lineman (and a higher ranking than any CU offensive linemen last year).  The prior year, he was named second-team all-Sun Belt as a fourth-year junior at Louisiana Monroe.  After watching McGill play in the spring game, I understand why Cash Cleveland — the Human ATM — transferred. Godspeed, Cash!

Additionally, Zack Owens is a formidable run blocker.  The 4-star former Clemon guard mauled defenders in the run game. It’s also clear that Owens, who is down from 375 pounds to 345 pounds, has more mobility and he got to the 2nd level regularly in the Spring Game.

Owens and McGill (center and left guard) with a great combo block, leading Owens to push the defender about 10 yards downfield!

McGill and Owens were fantastic run blocking. One of my favorite plays was a 25-yard run by Dallan Hayden, where McGill and Owens mauled their defenders. Great blocks by Jordan Seaton and Savell Smalls as well, with Smalls coming across the formation to kick out the backside end. This play is as well blocked as any running play from last season. Watch it.

McGill and Owens (center and left guard) help blow a hole wide open.

Another lineman that graded out very well was Chauncey Gooden.  I’ve had concerns about Gooden’s size, but holy smokes he’s a mauler.  He showed an ability to pull and get to the 2nd level while blocking, which has always been my concern with Gooden. I’m calling my shot on Gooden – he’ll be an All Big 12 player at CU before he’s done.

Gooden at RG pulls — showing surprising mobility for 380 pounds!– and crashes into the left defensive end.

If there was one concern about the offensive line after the Spring Game, it’s probably pass protection. Jordan Seaton really struggled with Arden Walker — which is a plus and a minus for Buff fans. Seaton will see a lot of very good defensive ends at left tackle. However, he may not see a better defensive end than Walker, who was just phenomenal in the scrimmage. Walker will have 10+ sacks this fall if he can stay healthy, and he’s going to make Seaton better by competing against him in practice every day.

Arden Walker could be the best pass rusher at CU since Jimmie Gilbert…and Walker may be better than Gilbert (who has the 6th most sacks in CU history).

Manu Taimani graded out better than I expected. He wasn’t an obvious weak link and there were several plays, including Hayden’s 25 yard run, where he made great blocks. I think my consternation over Taimani is a little overblown but RT is still a position of need.

Overall, I was happy with the play of the offensive line. The starting offensive line graded out well, particularly the interior trio of McGill, Owens and Crisler. There is still improvement that needs to happen at the tackle position, but I’m optimistic that Memphis transfer Xavier Hill will help. Also, Chauncey Gooden and Carde Smith both graded out well, and Gooden in particular is going to be a future PROBLEM for opposing defenses.

Additional Notes

Zach Atkins looked good at tight end. He made a huge 3rd down catch on 3rd and 20 where he caught a curl pass about 5 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, broke a tackle, and ran for the first down, showing surprising mobility. He had showed off his hands on another play where Salter zipped a pass to him along the sidelines but he was out of bounds. He didn’t get the chance to block very much — CU treated him primarily as a receiving tight end — and he was split out wide on occassion in 4 WR sets. I still need to see if he can move defenders in the running game — if so, CU may have its first 3 down TE in years.

Savell Smalls blocked well. He’s a load and if he can lock onto defenders, can give CU an advantage in the run game. Smalls had one catch in the game for -1 yards — he’s not a receiving threat.

The team needs more running backs. Both Dallan Hayden and Brandon Hood looked fine — Hayden rushed for 29 yards on 4 carries and Hood rushed for 17 yards on 6 carries. Walk-on Christian Sarem rushed 4 times for 11 yards and walk-on Titus Bautista rushed 5 times for 13 yards. The walk-on running backs really struggled. There were several plays that should have been much bigger plays but the walk-on running backs couldn’t make a defender miss in a 1-on-1 situation or the backs would simply fall down. CU needs Micah Welch to be healthy, and CU is hosting Cal transfer RB Jaivian Thomas this week. CU has had a good track record of getting visitors to commit, so hopefully Thomas commits as more depth is badly needed in the RB room.

Last, I’m going to enjoy watching Quentin Gibson. The 155-pound slot receiver is as slippery as a fart in a skillet, and is going to make a lot of plays this fall for CU. He graded out as my #2 WR (behind Joseph Williams) and will play a lot this fall. Joseph Williams graded out as my leading receiver in the game, with 4 catches for 42 yards and 2 TDs (not including the spectactular near-catch he had in the end zone). Terrell Timmons had 4 catches for 15 yards, and Quentin Gibson had 3 catches for 22 yards.

Stay tuned for the Xs and Os analysis of the defense and special teams, coming up soon….