Brooks: MacIntyre Eager For Spring Game Competition

BOULDER - In future springs, Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre plans to let his captains or seniors flip coins, choose sides and cap spring drills with a football game.

This spring, his first in Boulder, was different.

With only 10 healthy offensive linemen to disperse between the Black and Gold squads for Saturday's spring game (10:30 a.m., Folsom Field), MacIntyre believed he should play general manager and split his squad.

And according to Saturday's starting quarterbacks - Connor Wood (Gold), Nick Hirschman (Black) - their head coach did a credible job of balancing the Buffaloes roster. Still, competitive juices bubbling, each believes his team has an edge.

Said Hirschman: "I think I'm biased, but I think my team is always going to be better, regardless of who I have. But, yeah, they are split up pretty evenly at every spot."

Wood also said he likes his team, adding, "I think they got the majority of the running backs, but we've got the majority of the receivers. It all kind of balances out."

Hirschman and Wood, both juniors, enter Saturday's game hoping to further convince MacIntyre and offensive coordinator/QB coach Brian Lindgren of their capabilities in directing CU's new offense. The final week "pencil" depth chart - a spring-ending chart will be issued next week - shows Hirschman, Wood and redshirt freshman Shane Dillon listed as the co-leaders.

Dillon is on the Gold team with Wood, while Hirschman has sophomores Stevie Joe Dorman and John Schrock with him on the Black squad.

MacIntyre has made it clear to all players at all positions that Saturday's game is not to be taken as an April frolic for the benefit of the Pac-12 Network. CU's game is one of five being televised live Saturday. The game's format will feature 12-minute quarters with a running clock except in the last two minutes of each half.

Evaluations by MacIntyre and his position coaches continue, and Saturday's work offers players the chance to make a mark in game-type conditions. A final review/wrap-up practice - the 15th of the spring - is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

"The competition is big," MacIntyre said. "I'm looking for guys playing hard and competing on every snap . . . executing the best we can and I'm hoping there's not a lot penalties and turnovers. We'd like to see a couple (of turnovers) defensively but not a lot offensively. I'm hopeful it will be a smooth game."

Wood and Hirschman have gotten the message on competing.

"He's (MacIntyre) really stressed that this game is a big evaluation for everyone," Hirschman said. "It's a football game. You won't have the coaches standing behind you telling you what to do. You're on your own."

"I know coach MacIntyre has really hit it hard," Wood added. "He's told us that this game means something . . . it's going to be exciting to get that same kind of game atmosphere we have in the fall."

Other players have picked up on the competitive atmosphere that MacIntyre hopes will be prevalent. Senior defensive end Chidera Uzo-Diribe (Gold) said the game should be "fun" for several reasons - one maybe not so obvious.

"It gives a lot of us a chance to talk trash to the other players and finally get in a game-like atmosphere," Uzo-Diribe said, laughing. "My roommate, Terrel Smith (Black safety), ever since teams were broken up I've been in his ear about it, going back and forth. Right now, our house is divided."

Uzo-Diribe agreed that MacIntyre did a nice job of evenly dividing the squads, then added, "with a little advantage on the Gold side."

But that's debatable. In addition to Wood and Dillon, the Gold offense skill-position players include receivers Paul Richardson, Tyler McCulloch and Keenan Canty and tailback Tony Jones. In addition to Hirschman, Dorman and Shrock on the Black offense, skill players include receivers Nelson Spruce, Jeff Thomas and D.D. Goodson, and running backs Christian Powell and Josh Ford. (Full Black/Gold rosters are linked to this story)

If MacIntyre hopes to come away with a good read on competition at positions, he's especially keen on seeing it in special teams play. "We'll really be evaluating special teams," he said. "This is where we get to see kids do that . . . and it's all live."

A decision on a starting quarterback likely won't be made until deep into August camp, and Saturday's game, noted MacIntyre, will "shed some light, I don't know if a lot" on that decision. All the QBs, he added, "will get quite a few reps. It's a true game type situation. We try to give them as much game type in practice - over and over and over and hope that accelerates the quarterback. It's the best way a quarterback can learn - 11 on 11. And that's why we do a lot of it."

Hirschman and Wood said the new offense and its simplified terminology has eased the transition and bolstered the confidence of each.

"It's making it a lot easier for me to see things and make checks, better throws," Hirschman said. "I love running the ball, love making contact . . . I joke that we're not football players, we're quarterbacks. But it's fun to go in there and be a football player again."

He also credited "the new culture" introduced by MacIntyre and his staff as being beneficial to the entire team. "The fresh faces and the new style of coaching have really helped our team," Hirschman said. "All these coaches stress family and team as being No. 1. For a team to build chemistry, that's the way it's got to be."

"It's fun - the coaches make it fun," Wood said. "I think the tempo of practice, the tempo of the offense, makes things exciting. It gives us an edge."

Also, added Wood, there are "less things to think about. The verbiage is very much condensed. We can come up there (to the line of scrimmage) have a couple of signals and get going."

MacIntyre's player-adaptive "pistol" offense, noted Wood, appears to be a comfortable fit for all. "(Thursday) was an OK day, but we've been pretty much on fire for the past two weeks since we came back from spring break," he said. "I've been very encouraged . . . the linemen are picking up a lot of different stuff - blitzes and different looks. And I'm proud of our receivers for adapting so well to the different stuff in the offense."

His confidence, he added, has spiked: "In the scrimmages, I think I've played very well. When were in Folsom, with the refs out there, that's when I thrive. I'm pretty confident about where I stand . . . give credit to the coaches for really fostering a culture for that.

"It makes the entire team confident, but for the quarterback position it's good how much more consistent and accurate we have been as a group. Just the way coach (Brian) Lindgren approaches coaching us has been great for me especially. It'll be fun on Saturday."

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU