GREEN LIGHT: Inside Practice Observations
The information flow out of the Champions Center this spring has been limited. Sure, you can still glean some intel from the curated clips provided by the CU State-Sponsored Media™, but those videos are really just cinematic brochures. To find out what’s actually happening this spring, behind the curtain, we have to really work for information.
But don’t worry, readers — we got you.
Here’s some of what I’ve heard from folks that are in the Champions Center:
–One source told me that spring practices have been the most intense practices of the Deion Sanders Era at CU. With nearly 75% of the roster being new to the program, spring practices have been extremely competitive. Because so many of CU’s additions are veteran upperclassmen, there is a distinct sense of urgency. As one source told me, these players “aren’t playing for the future, they’re playing for the depth chart today.”
–I asked insiders which new players have been positive surprises and received the following responses:
-> Cornerback Cree Thomas. Thomas transferred from Notre Dame, where he played in only one game. However, he’s made a lot of plays this spring and “is in the running” for a starting job opposite RJ Johnson. “He’s really surprised me with his explosiveness. And he’s a long, long corner.”
-> Running back Richard Young. Young, the Alabama transfer, rushed for 64 yards last season for the Crimson Tide. One source told me that Young is a “human sledgehammer” and that he has shown an incredible ability to break tackles this spring. “How in the world do you keep this kid off the field?!”
We wrote about Young last month for BuffsBlog. Check out the post at:
-> Wide receiver Kam Perry. I was told that Perry is CU’s #1 wide receiver right now. He’s “broken a lot of ankles” in the secondary and reminded one source of LaJohntay Wester. “The most explosive WR in a room full of explosive WRs.”
Stay tuned to BuffsBlog this off-season for more practice nuggets.
YELLOW LIGHT: What is CU Doing at Kicker?
It appears that the only scholarship kicker on CU’s roster is Grambling transfer Josh McCormick. McCormick was 6 of 10 on field goal attempts, and 7 of 8 on extra point attempts, last season at Grambling. McCormick was not the full-time designated starter at Grambling — he split time with Theodore Cabellero, who was 8 of 11 on the season.
TL/DR: CU is going into a season with one scholarship kicker, a player that split time at Grambling, and hit only 60% of his field goals.
That’s not exactly a recipe for a lot of confidence.
I hope McCormick is great. But relying on a lower-level transfer that doesn’t have much experience and wasn’t particularly successful at his prior stop is concerning. If he misses a few kicks early in the season, it could get ugly.
CU needs a Plan B at kicker. One possible solution is Boomin’ Buck Buchanan. I’ve heard whispers that BBB is seeking another year of eligibility. However, BBB isn’t listed on CU’s roster.
Let’s hope Deion Sanders knows better than me and has a Plan B at kicker.
RED LIGHT: No Special Teams Coordinator
Deion Sanders announced last week that CU would not have a special teams coordinator. As a result, Colorado is the only team in the Big 12 —and one of the few in the country—without a designated, full-time special teams coordinator. Instead, Colorado is sticking to a “by committee” approach, splitting the responsibilities of kicking, punting, and return units among various position coaches and quality control assistants.
To understand how unique this is, one only needs to look at the rest of the Big 12 landscape. Every other program in the conference employs a dedicated assistant whose primary or co-primary responsibility is overseeing special teams. Don’t believe me?
| School | Special Teams Coordinator / Lead |
| Arizona | Craig Naivar |
| Arizona State | Jack Nudo |
| Baylor | Mark Scott |
| BYU | Justin Ena |
| Cincinnati | Luke Paschall |
| Houston | Chris Couch |
| Iowa State | Rob Grande |
| Kansas | Taiwo Onatolu |
| Kansas State | Stanton Weber |
| Oklahoma State | Drew Svoboda |
| TCU | Casey Petree |
| Texas Tech | Kenny Perry |
| UCF | Pete Alamar |
| Utah | Sharrieff Shah |
| West Virginia | Pat Kirkland |
The risks of CU’s committee approach are primarily rooted in game management and technical oversight. Special teams involve a unique alchemy of offensive and defensive personnel, requiring a coordinator who can manage complex substitutions under a 40-second clock. Without a point person, the “bystander approach” can creep in, which leads to alignment errors or wasted timeouts.
I can hear folks screaming in the background — “last year, CU had a special teams coordinator (Michael Pollock) and CU’s special teams struggled!” True. Hiring a special teams coordinator isn’t a panacea for all special teams issues. You’ve still got to hire the right person. Last year CU didn’t have the right person in charge.
But in a Big 12 conference that is arguably the most competitive and parity-driven in the country, games are frequently decided by a single blocked kick or a well-timed return. Teams in the Big 12, where the talent is very evenly spread, need to focus on winning games at the margins. Having someone whose job requires them to take full responsibility for CU’s special teams matters. If Colorado finds itself on the wrong side of those plays in 2026, the decision to forego a coordinator will shift from an offseason quirk to a dumb, and preventable, mistake.
I want to thank BuffsBlog readers for checking out last week’s post about ways to improve CU’s gameday experience. The post generated a lot of discussion and readership, and Fernando Lovo messaged me to encourage readers to continue commenting on the post for other potential improvements. If you’d didn’t have a chance to read the post, check it out (and drop a comment) at:
The women are going dancing!
This was a fantastic week for the CU women’s basketball team for two reasons. First, head coach JR Payne signed a new contract extension that will have her leading CU’s program through the 2031 season. Second, the Buffs played themselves into the NCAA tournament with two strong wins in the Big 12 tournament, including a 62-53 win over 20th ranked Baylor. And despite a crushing loss to eventual Big 12 tournament champion West Virginia on Saturday night in the conference semifinal game, CU fans should feel confident about the Buffs’ resume.
A look at where CU sits in the latest projections for the women’s tournament:
| Source | Projected Seed | Status / Notes |
| ESPN (Charlie Creme) | No. 10 / 11 Seed | Last Four Byes. Upgraded from “Last Four In” after the Baylor win. This means they are projected to avoid the First Four play-in games. |
| USA Today | No. 10 Seed | Solidly in the field. |
| On3 / National Analysts | No. 11 Seed | Listed as a “Safe At-Large” following their 22nd win of the season. |
| SI / Bracket Experts | No. 10 Seed | “Stock Up.” Their performance in the Big 12 tournament has moved them off the bubble and into a secure mid-tier seed. |
CU’s strength remains its defense and balance. CU has 6 players that average over 8 points per game, including leading scorer Desiree Wooten at 13.6 points per game.
Most importantly, however, is that CU’s defense is peaking right now. Coming into the Big 12 Conference semifinal game Saturday night, West Virginia averaged 77.6 points per game. CU held the Mountaineers to 48 points, their season low, in CU’s 48-47 loss. CU’s defense, led by guards Zyanna Walker and Desiree Wooten, is tenacious and will keep CU in games against teams with more offensive firepower.
The most fun player to watch? CU forward / Tasmanian Devil Anaelle Dutat, who is averaging 8.1 rebounds per game and leads the Big 12 in offensive rebounds. In the Big 12 tournament semifinal game against West Virginia, Dutat finished with 13 rebounds. She was the first CU player with double-digit rebounds in a conference tournament game in four years. She’s the French version of Dennis Rodman. Denis Rodman, perchance?
The women’s NCAA tournament bracket will be revealed this Sunday (Selection Sunday) at 6 pm on ESPN. Congrats to Coach Payne and the Buffs on a great season and good luck in the Big Dance!
….and the men’s hoops team?
There will be no NCAA tournament watch parties for the men’s basketball team. I’ll write a post-mortem on the season in the not-too-distant future, but I do have thoughts on something that I’ve seen pop up on social media — CU fans imploring donors to donate lots and lots of money to keep the freshman class together.
I’m not sure I agree.
Yes, the freshman players all have potential — but I’ve found that fans often have a tendency to overrate their teams’ own players relative to other teams’ players. I’m not sure how good the freshman are, outside of Isaiah Johnson. After all, most of the freshmen got a lot of playing time on a team that finished tied for 11th in the Big 12. I like Sanders and Holland and Inman and Michaeli, and think Tacko has potential, but CU shouldn’t pay them just because they were young and played a lot of minutes for the Buffs this year. The basketball team needs better players, and overrating CU’s own players is not the way to build a successful program in 2026.
For the avoidance of doubt, however, CU should pay Isaiah Johnson.
One more thing: the consensus in Boulder is that Tad Boyle will be back for the 2026-27 campaign. From a financial standpoint, it’s a lock—CU has eight million reasons to stay the course. However, I’m of the mind that a fresh start is necessary. As a constructive form of protest, I’m putting together a hypothetical coaching hot board. Don’t mistake this for me saying that Boyle will be replaced—he is safe for this upcoming season. Instead, think of this as a fantasy exercise in what $8 million in “found money” could buy the Buffs. It’s a look at the candidates who will likely be on the short list after next season.
Look for that post in the next week or so.
Random stuff to read or watch that will make you more interesting at your next dinner party…
–Scientists teach a clump of brain cells in a petri dish to play the video game “Doom.”
Yes, really. Read that again, and begin to freak out. Then read this article:
https://www.acsh.org/news/2026/03/06/human-brain-cells-taught-play-doom-seriously-49997
–Flying cars will take off in American skies this summer. ($)
https://www.wired.com/story/flying-cars-will-take-off-in-american-skies-this-summer
–Might we see “CU TV” in the near future?
–The NFL team that mortgages its future every year – and looks like geniuses in the process. ($)
https://www.wsj.com/sports/football/trent-mcduffie-rams-chiefs-ea80eb39?mod=hp_major_pos3
–When do we become adults, really? Scientists try — and fail — to capture what it’s like to grow up. This is worth your time.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-inquiry/when-do-we-become-adults-really
–Up the Summit! The Denver Summit, the newest professional sports team in Colorado, has their first game this weekend. Good luck ladies!
–“His mother vanished when he was 14 years old. 33 years later, he found her.” A story about perseverance:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/09/us/antonio-wiley-missing-mother-found.html
Love CU (and CU-adjacent) sports? Check out this story with our way-too-early prediction of defensive starters for CU next season and discussing the Xs and Os changes that we’ll see from new defensive coordinator Chris Marve:
I wasn’t aware of the kicker situation. That scares me. I’m less concerned about the lack of ST coordinator but it is crucial that coaches take responsibility for ST. I’d feel better about this if our position coaches had more experience, which is a point that you’ve raised repeatedly.
Thanks for your insight as always.
Gooden is a mauler in the run game but I’ve always worried about his pass blocking.
The ironic thing is that his his PFF stats show him to be a superior pass blocker (he had a 78.6 PFF pass blocking grade last year) and a BAD run blocker (with a 40.2 PFF grade).
BUT he only played 18 snaps last year, so there’s not much utility in the PFF grade. Still, I thought it was ironic given that it’s flipped compared to my perspective on him.
I’ve noticed Cree Thomas making plays in videos from the CU Sponsored State Media. He’s still very young, so the fact that he didn’t play at ND last year doesn’t really concern me. I think he could be a real player for us.
I’ve also noticed Chauncey Gooden making plays in the spring practice videos. He’s a moose.
Thanks for your coverage. It’s better than the paid coverage out there.