Colorado University Athletics
Buffs Kick Off Spring Football Friday
March 12, 2003 | Football
BOULDER - The University of Colorado football team will begin spring football practices Friday afternoon, as the Buffs will hold 15 sessions in a little over a month leading up to their annual Spring Game.
Due to NCAA regulations, the 15 practices may only include three in shorts (no contact), four in pads (no tackling), four in pads (tackling allowed 50 percent or less of the time) and four in pads (tackling allowed throughout).
Entering his fifth year with CU, head coach Gary Barnett is optimistic about his team's future. Though the Buffs return a strong stable of defensive players, Barnett knows he has many questions to answer and holes to fill on offense.
After losing the services of quarterback Robert Hodge, tailback Chris Brown and four senior linemen, the CU scoring unit realizes it has some rebuilding to do.
"I think we'll always have to customize our offense for our particular year based on our personnel, and I don't know what that's going to be right now," Barnett stated. "I don't have a clear cut picture going into spring, and I'm not sure if I will exactly know coming out of spring what our personality is going to be next fall. But, we will get some good work done."
Returning a total of 11 starters, the Buffs only have three on offense (WR John Donahoe, SG Marwan Hage, WR Derek McCoy) and eight on defense (DB J.J. Billingsley, DE Marques Harris, CB Phil Jackson, FS Medford Moorer, DE Gabe Nyenhuis, DB Clyde Surrell, ILB Sean Tufts, DT Sam Wilder), all having made six or more starts in 2002.
Others with significant starting experience (three or more career starts) include OL Karl Allis, DT Brandon Dabdoub, DT DeAndre Fluellen, TB Bobby Purify and TE Quinn Sypniewski.
"I think the defense comes in with the highest degree of consistency," Barnett continued. "It has the most experience returning, and therefore is going to have to carry the burden of this football team early."
However, while CU must look to its veteran defense for the time being, Barnett feels there are several spots on the offense that return familiarity and playmaking abilities.
"Our receiver corps is the first thing you see," Barnett added. "I think the second thing you'd see is our running back position, even though we lost two guys; I still see that as a strength. I think that our tight ends are going to be very good, too."
But still, for Barnett and his staff, the quarterback and offensive line positions remain the biggest concern entering the next month. Battling at signal-caller, sophomore Joel Klatt and redshirt freshman James Cox return after studying the offense under Hodge in 2002. As for an offensive line anchored by Hage, several players will bid for a starting job, including Allis, Gary Moore, Clint O'Neal, Derek Stemrich and several others.
"I think that we're going to have to wait and see what our quarterbacks can handle, and how far we can really develop in the spring. We've got to separate a couple quarterbacks, and we've got to figure out who four of the five offensive linemen will be."
The Buffs are scheduled to practice for two hours Friday and Saturday. In the event of severe weather conditions, they will move indoors to the Balch Fieldhouse. Friday's practice (March 14) and following scrimmages (March 21, April 5) are open to the media, but closed to the public. The Spring Game (April 19) is open to all with free admission for the public.
