MacIntyre: Buffs Have 'Chip On Their Shoulder'
August 05, 2016 | Football, Neill Woelk
CU coach addresses media heading into fourth year at Colorado
BOULDER — This isn't the first year a Mike MacIntyre-coached Colorado team has entered fall camp with a healthy dose of optimism.
Just last season, the Buffaloes talked freely about turning the corner — then struggled to a 4-9 record, once again enduring a season pockmarked with close losses.
But at Friday's annual media day, MacIntyre said there is a difference in this year's team, one that boasts 56 upperclassmen (23 seniors and 33 juniors) and a wealth of experience — a total of 412 starts are represented on this year's roster, the most in school history.
"I think they do have a chip on their shoulder," MacIntyre said. "You always hear that, but they really do — and they've stuck with this program. These kids have stuck through it all. We've built a team, and that's how you develop a program from the ashes. You get people to stay here, to believe and compete and keep going."
Granted, it's early — very early — but what is evident after just two fall camp practices is that the upperclassmen have taken ownership. They have accepted responsibility and are holding their younger counterparts accountable, from the beginning to end of every practice.
Senior strong safety Tedric Thompson is one of those players who has endured the difficult times. Thompson, a preseason third-team all-Pac-12 pick and rated among the top 20 strong safeties in the nation, said he and the rest of CU's upperclassmen are simply "done with it" when it comes to coming up short.
"No more," Thompson said quietly. "I've been here for four years and every one of us is tired of it. We're just done with it. Coach Mac talks about the little stuff, and that correlates with practice. When the older guys see something that's not supposed to happen, we let people know. We're just tired of losing. That's where the leadership and discipline comes from. Nobody wants to lose anymore. We're here to do one thing — work hard. We're going to challenge each other, compete and get ready to win some games."
MacIntyre and the players know that until they hit the field Sept. 2 for the season opener vs. Colorado State in Denver (6 p.m., ESPN), all the words in the world won't make a difference. But MacIntyre said he has seen a difference in this team, one that began to manifest itself last spring and continued through the summer workouts.
"They are definitely taking charge in a lot of different ways: in the meeting rooms, weight room and out on the field," MacIntyre said. "They've built it in layers. Now they're at the point where they believe they can do it and see they can do it. It's not only in their words, but it's been in their actions more than it ever has before."
What is certain is that this is MacIntyre's most talented squad in his four years in Boulder.
Defensively, the Buffs have a potentially outstanding defensive line, a host of talented linebackers and a group of defensive backs that could make a legitimate claim as being among the Pac-12's best. Offensively, they have a talented group of wide receivers, a quarterback who owns 75 school records, a solid stable of running backs and a line that while still unsettled, has plenty of starting experience.
It's why expectations for this year's team might be as high as those of any CU team in recent years — despite being picked by the media to finish last in the Pac-12 South.
"We always want expectations to be high," MacIntyre said. "We play in the best conference in America, so the expectations are always high for us. The expectations at the University of Colorado are always high. There's great history here."
And those expectations, of course, include a bowl game. Colorado hasn't played in the postseason since the 2007 season and hasn't finished with a winning record since 2005 — and yet, MacIntyre didn't flinch when asked if he considered this season to be a "bowl or bust" year.
"I've heard that since the first year I got here," MacIntyre said. "When you haven't gone to a bowl game in a while, that's always the first thing said. Our goal for our players is tomorrow's practice. We want to win every game we play — we really do — and I definitely feel like we have the opportunity to do that. Hopefully, at the end of the year, all of that (bowl talk) will take care of itself."
SENIOR YEAR FOR SEFO: Buffs quarterback Sefo Liufau has been a starter for most of three seasons and owns 75 school records. But because he is coming back from a Lisfranc foot injury, one that kept him out of practice all spring, and because he hasn't enjoyed a winning season yet, there are still questions surrounding the CU senior.
MacIntyre, though, said he has complete confidence in his starter.
"I think this year he'll put all it together and have a phenomenal year and walk out of here the way he should — with what he's earned and the victories he needs to get," MacIntyre said.
One thing MacIntyre said he and his staff will continue to stress with Liufau is that he no longer has to shoulder the load. As MacIntyre has pointed out several times already this season, "the rest of the team has caught up to him."
It means Liufau will be able to depend more upon his teammates.
"He just needs to stay within himself, not try and go, "I've got to make this, I've got to make that,'" MacIntyre said. "Just get him in the flow, let him play and let him realize he doesn't have to make the play to win the game. It will naturally happen within the offense. It might be his play to make, it might be a handoff to a running back, it might be a block that the left tackle makes picking up a blitz … all of that goes together.
"I think he understands that, but you don't nitpick with him on it. You just set it all up, put him in the best situations to go and he'll make more of his share."
RIVALRY OPENER: For the third time in his four years in Boulder, MacIntyre's Buffs will open the season against in-state rival Colorado State. MacIntyre has a 2-1 record against CSU, including last year's 27-24 overtime win in Denver.
"There's always a lot of hype for the opening game anywhere in the country," MacIntyre said. "That's always exciting, but when you play a rival in the very first game at a neutral site, it's a unique experience and puts a little more hype and emotion on it. Playing that football game is a big deal. It's one that our players hear about for 365 days a year. You don't hear about every other game 365 days a year. That puts a little more of an emotional tie to the game than most games."
REPLACING SPRUCE: For the first time in MacIntyre's tenure, Nelson Spruce won't be lining up as a receiver for the Buffs. The Pac-12's all-time leader in receptions is gone, leaving a rather large void.
MacIntyre, though, said he believes the Buffs have plenty of capable people to fill the gap.
"The guy that has done it in the games and has kept improving his body and working, would be Shay Fields," MacIntyre said. " He's an excellent player. Last year he was having a great year and he hurt an ankle on that long 78-yard touchdown play he made against Arizona. Shay Fields is a guy that I think can step up and be a top echelon Pac-12 wide-receiver."
Despite being hampered by the injury for part of the season, Fields still finished with 42 catches for 598 yards and seven touchdowns last season.
REMEMBRANCE: MacIntyre opened his press conference Friday by offering condolences to the families of Charlie Whitaker and Tom Kensler.
Whitaker, a long-time Buffs fan and regular volunteer at CU practices, died recently of pancreatic cancer. "He always had a great smile," MacIntyre remembered.
Kensler, a long-time reporter for the Denver Post who covered the Buffs for years, died recently of complications from an aneurysm. "He was a true journalist and had a great heart," MacIntyre said.
ON RECRUITING: The Buffs are enjoying one of their most fruitful early recruiting seasons ever, with more than 15 early commitments.
MacIntyre attributed the success to an increased in-house recruiting staff and the presence of the Champions Center, CU's new facility.
"It's been a process," MacIntyre said. "We revamped our recruiting office. When I got here we didn't have the resources for it and that's what I wanted to do. Rick (George, athletic director) and I talked about it and he got the resources together. We went from one person in that recruiting office to seven.
"The other side of it is, when the young men get here on this campus and they see this facility along with the most beautiful campus in America, when they go down to see Pearl Street and enjoy all that, I think that kind of puts the icing on the cake. But when you walk into a $156 million football complex, that they have never seen anything like it before, that also makes it special."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
