Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Riddle Retains Confidence In Goodman
October 05, 2009 | Football, B.G. Brooks
"He's going to be in competition this week . . . we'll make sure he's the best guy," special teams coach Kent Riddle said Sunday of Goodman, who endured his first subpar game of 2009 in CU's 35-24 loss at West Virginia.
Entering the Thursday night contest, Goodman had made three of four field goal attempts - including a career-best 54-yarder - in the three previous games.
Against the Mountaineers, he missed three of four attempts, with one of those a 57-yard try that Riddle said Goodman had shown he could hit during pregame kicking.
"He has the ability to make that; he made a couple in pregame," Riddle said. "He just changed his mechanics a little bit trying to get a little extra juice on it and pulled it. We'll iron that out . . . he can make that one."
As for the other pair of errant attempts - one from 40 yards that was wide left, the other from 45 that hit the left upright - Riddle said Goodman simply missed the first, but the "snap was tied into" the second miss.
While Riddle admitted he was "disappointed in the overall performance," he said Goodman "did a good job of bouncing back after he missed the (first) two in drilling one right down the middle.
"I thought that showed a lot of growth over last season, to be able to put those behind him and move on.
"He was great (after the misses); he didn't come off the field and say it was a bad snap or anything like that . . . he just said, 'I'll get it.'"
Riddle said Goodman "knows about his production, he knows we need results. We can't go down there (after getting turnovers) and have momentum swings, because it's a letdown. He understands that. I expect him to bounce back and get done what he needs to get done."
The Buffs opened camp with four potential placement specialists - scholarship freshman Zach Grossnickle, walk-on sophomore Ryan Aweida, returnee Jameson Davis and Goodman.
But Davis, troubled by a left knee that was slow to heal after off-season surgery, left the team before the opener, leaving Goodman and the pair of untested underclassmen.
"I think you have to look at what the other viable options are," coach Dan Hawkins said. "I mean, we're not going to put somebody out there if we don't think the other person is a viable option.
"Now, I'm not saying those other guys can't have a chance, because they obviously can. But I don't think they have the pop, the 'get-off' and the leg strength that Aric does right now. That's just the case."
REVIEWING KASA'S DEBUT: Freshman defensive end Nick Kasa, CU's top 2009 recruit, debuted at West Virginia. He missed the first three games with a slightly torn MCL in his left knee that was allowed to heal naturally rather than surgically repaired.
Kasa was in on five plays and made one tackle, a productive ratio, said defensive line coach Romeo Bandison: "If you make a play one out of five times - 20 percent of the time - that's pretty good.
"I thought for the first time out, he did a good job. He looked good out there, he ran around and moved quick. His knee didn't seem to be an issue for him."
Kasa concurred, but added he felt more comfortable during Sunday's practice than he did against the Mountaineers: "I felt pretty good - not so much going off the line, but running around in the open field.
"I was kind of too cautious about everything. But (Sunday), that all kind of disappeared. I feel normal and really good right now."
Conditioning was his main concern now, as well as getting a handle on his assignments.
"I just need to catch up a lot," he said. "I pretty much know the plays, but it's different looking at them on a piece of paper than it is running them on the field. I need the 'reps' like I was getting today. I got a lot more and I know right now I'm going to get a lot more in the game (at Texas)."
Bandison said that wouldn't be because of the weekend departure of sophomore defensive end Lagrone Shields, who has quit the team.
"That will have no impact on Nick's and Forrest West's time (West also is a true freshman DE)," Bandison said. "They were slowly coming along . . . those guys were on the way to being more in the game plan and getting more playing time."
Hawkins said he spoke with Shields, a 6-foot-3, 275-pounder from Memphis, on Sunday but did not try to dissuade him from asking for a transfer: "I think it's something he'd been thinking about for a long time. I think it was something he'd already figured out in his mind."
Shields reportedly hopes to enroll at Texas Southern University in Houston.
Hawkins said Shields' decision to transfer was based on "a lot of things. I think he feels a little more comfortable closer to home, a lot of things - not just football. I think he's tried to adjust since he's been here . . . We wish him well and hope he stays on track."
Hawkins believes Shields plans to finish the semester at CU.
NO KOR FOR SCOTT? Sophomore tailback Darrell Scott, who has been bothered by a knee injury since the Toledo game, temporarily might be out as a kick returner.
But "you never say never," Hawkins said, noting CU doesn't want to put Scott at risk of further injuring his knee by having him return kickoffs.
"That's the reality of it right there," Hawkins continued. "Just like at running back, we don't want to put him in a position where he's uncomfortable or not have confidence - that's the thing.
"I think once he gets back healthy and he's confident . . . that's why I say, 'You never say never.' You don't want to put a guy in a position where he's uncomfortable."
Scott, who averaged 26.3 yards on 13 kickoff returns in two games, did not play in that role at West Virginia. He rushed four times for five yards.
Subbing for Scott returning kickoffs was sophomore Brian Lockridge, who averaged 25.5 yards on six returns, including a long return of 43 yards.
STAT WATCH: No surprise, but the comparative national offensive and defensive rankings for the Buffs and Longhorns are tilted heavily in favor of second-ranked Texas.
In total offense, CU is No. 77 (355.0 yards a game), Texas is No. 4 (521.2). In scoring offense, CU is No. 71 (25.7 points a game), Texas is No. 1 (49.5).
In total defense, CU is 102 (408.7 yards allowed a game), Texas is No. 11 (259.5). In scoring defense, CU is 86 (28.0 points allowed a game), Texas is No. 19 (15.2).
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
