Brooks: Bobo, Buffs Receivers Taking Cue From Spruce

BOULDER - The weekly wins are still on the Colorado Buffaloes' football wish list, but there's a welcome phenomenon taking place at CU.

Eyebrows were raised and snickers were suppressed in August, but that receiving corps touted by position coach Troy Walters as among the best in the Pac-12 is collectively striding in that direction.

Of course, productive receivers must have an efficient quarterback, and the passing game offers strong proof of the Buffs having both.

Junior Nelson Spruce is No. 1 in the FBS in receiving yards (694), receptions per game (11.2) and receiving touchdowns (10). Sophomore quarterback Sefo Liufau is No. 5 in passing with 1,573 yards and 17 TD passes. And the Buffs are No. 19 nationally in passing, averaging 321.6 yards a game.

Who knew?

Well, for one, Walters . . .

"I thought we had good enough receivers to put up those numbers," he said. "Now at the same time you want to be balanced and be able to run the ball. You don't want to be too skewed and throw it all the time . . . we want to be known as playmakers in the pass game and run game, blocking downfield - and I think we can get better at that. But overall, this offense is getting to where we thought it could be."

If he couldn't have projected just how explosive the Sefo & Spruce Show would be in the season's first five weeks, Walters was more aware than most of the potential. Walters said in August to expect large things from Spruce, calling him "the total package" in a receiver. Go ahead and put a bold check in that box. And based on spring performance, Walters also said no one should sleep on redshirt freshman Bryce Bobo.

BUT THAT'S WHERE WALTERS' crystal ball began to show hairline cracks. Bobo didn't catch a pass in the opening loss to Colorado State, but in the four games since he has snagged 13 balls - still not quite the production that many expected of the 6-2, 190-pounder. But there are valid reasons - such as Spruce's numbers, the emergence of true freshmen Shay Fields and Donovan Lee and the reemergence of seniors Tyler McCulloch and D.D. Goodson.

Yet among Bobo's two catches last weekend at California was a key 30-yard fourth-quarter TD reception that sent the game into overtime. It was his first career scoring reception, and in an offense that suddenly has taken flight in record fashion, Bobo saw it as both a personal breakthrough but little more than a business-as-usual moment for this receiving corps.

"It was a big confidence booster for me, just like the spring game," he said. "I think it shows I can make plays as well as some of the other receivers . . . it showed me that working hard paid off."

If his first college TD catch was big for Bobo, it was almost as big for Walters, who remembers his first in 1996 for Stanford as clearly as if he'd just flipped the ball back to an official: "Fourth quarter, left end zone, fade route, five- or six-yard touchdown. It was the first game of my redshirt freshman season against Utah. They still play that game on the Pac-12 Network as a classic, but I don't know why."

But of equal importance to Walters as getting points for the Cardinal, it made him "realize I could play at this level . . . anytime you score a touchdown against a Pac-12 opponent, you're playing big-time football. It gave me confidence to know when I got out there I could make a play to help the team."

Same for Bobo, who made Walters "so proud because there are times when he could have gotten frustrated," Walters said. "Some games he didn't play as much, sometimes when he was in there the ball went to Spruce. Bryce wasn't kind of the main guy. I told him, 'Be ready, be ready. Keep your head up. When your number's called, you've got to make a play.' His number was called in that Cal game and he made a big catch. That gave him confidence and he's going to get better each game."

Liufau looking long, hard and often for Spruce has become as natural as bears looking for berries in early October. "I don't blame him," Walters said. "I tell all the receivers all the time the quarterback is going to throw to guys he's confident in. I think he's confident with everybody, but with Spruce, he's proven. He's done it. And as coaches we're going to call plays to get Spruce involved and try to create match ups. But the other guys have to be ready.

"But the thing I'm most impressed with all my guys is that we're all together. There's no jealousy, no 'Well, Spruce is getting 19 (catches), I only had two or three.' We all want success for each other. We know if one guy's successful, then the team is going to be successful."

Bobo agrees: "I don't have a negative outlook on that at all. Sefo likes to spread the ball around. He doesn't just target one person, but Spruce is open all the time so I can see why he throws Spruce the ball. I know my role; I need to work on being a better receiver and I'm going to be doing that.

"Spruce is Spruce. He's just amazing and I'm going to learn from him as long as I can as long as I'm here and he's here. Maybe I can take some of his attributes and put them into my game."

One of Spruce's three TD receptions at Cal seared itself in the minds of CU coaches and players and undoubtedly will find its way onto the team's seasonal highlight reel. Let Bobo handle the recap:

"It was the catch in overtime where he jumped over the corner and reached back and grabbed the ball. That was an amazing touchdown. At first, I was like, 'Oh, it might get deflected.' But Spruce came down with it - like he always does. Plays like that, you watch carefully and learn from them."

Spruce, said Bobo, is a route-running perfectionist who never hesitates to share his knowledge with the younger Buffs. They seek him out for the most general advice, such as, "What can I do better?" said Bobo. "Right away, he'll be like, 'Get your weight lower, get your shoulders square so the DB won't know you're about to break.' He helps us a lot on things like that."

BOBO IS STILL LEARNING his position's finer points, and among the areas Walters wants to see improvement in is Bobo taking advantage of his size. Bobo concedes he sometimes makes "too many moves instead of just going downhill like I used to in high school. I think I'm going to revert to what I was doing - just go out and be a bully on the field . . . that's my money.

"When I get the ball in my hands, I need to just put my shoulder down. That's how I'm going to be; I don't like being tackled by just one person. That's the mindset I'm going to have."

As they enter the heart of their Pac-12 schedule - Oregon State visits Folsom Field on Saturday (2 p.m., Pac-12 Networks) - Liufau and the offense could use a physical presence at receiver to help ease the pressure on Spruce. He set school single-game records with 19 receptions and three TD catches at Cal, and as Walters understated, "The attention will be on him."

With a grin, Walters added, "Now, 19 catches each game? That's tough to do. But I think he'll keep up the pace; I think he'll continue to be successful because I think defenses will play him straight up. They're not going to change much. He does such a great job of studying DBs. He's a student of the game and his fundamentals are excellent.

"To me, eight catches a game is standard. He needs to get that every game. Then, depending on the type of game - if we're throwing a lot more, then who knows how many catches? But he's humble. He treats every week like it's a new week. He's forgotten about the 19 and he's not going to let all the attention get to his head."

Liufau has called Spruce his "security blanket," but if defenses try to yank it away and take Spruce out of the offense, Bobo believes opportunities escalate for him and Liufau's other targets. Liufau has completed two or more passes to 13 receivers (including tight ends and running backs) this season.

"Me, Shay, D.D., Tyler, Donovan Lee are all coming together around Spruce," Bobo said. "He's no doubt the top receiver. But the other receivers being playmakers also takes more pressure away from Spruce. That will get him open at times and let other receivers make plays as well."

Walters sees that penchant for playmaking among his guys developing right on schedule. Practices have been productive, coaches have pinpointed players' strong suits, and players have embraced their specific roles.

"Not everybody is a decoy," Walters said. "Some guys work better underneath on certain routes, so we try to put guys in position to make plays. They understand that we need depth. It's hard to go through a season without a guy getting hurt or missing a game. The guys are ready and when their number's called they step up.

"D.D. had a drop in the third quarter of the Cal game, a big drop. He came back with a big third-down conversion. Donovan Lee got in when his number was called and made plays. If your number is called one time or fifty times you've got to make a play."

That's what Bryce Bobo did - and there's every reason to believe that he and all those other guys not named Nelson Spruce are ready to do it again.

Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU