Colorado University Athletics
Brooks: Tuesday Tidbits
October 13, 2015 | Football, B.G. Brooks
CALLING ALL INSIDE 'BACKERS: What's the next step down from thin? Whatever, Colorado's inside linebacking corps is there. The Buffs aren't quite depleted at the position, but another injury or two might qualify using that term.
CU will go into Saturday night's Pac-12 matchup against Arizona (7:05 p.m., Folsom Field, FS1) with its top three inside linebackers sidelined. Addison Gillam (knee) has missed the past four games, Kenneth Olugbode (knee) missed last weekend's loss at Arizona State, and Ryan Severson (ankle) will miss Saturday's game.
Coach Mike MacIntyre on Tuesday said this week's list of replacements includes three freshmen and a sophomore. Redshirt freshman Rick Gamboa has started the past four games in place of Gillam and "has played really well for us," MacIntyre said.
The pair of true freshmen who could be used are N.J. Falo and Grant Watanabe, the sophomore is Christian Shaver. Falo has played in three games, Shaver two.
"Gamboa is the only one who has played a lot of plays," MacIntyre said. But they had a good day of practice (Tuesday), they had a good day of practice Monday. So they'll get out there and do what they can do."
"We'd obviously like to have our starters out there, but we trust our backups, we trust what they can do," defensive end Derek McCartney said. "We're just going to keep trusting in them and their abilities."
MacIntyre also said Gillam's status would be determined later this week, adding it would be difficult for the junior to see any duty Saturday without getting any live "reps" in practice over the next two days.
SLOWING DOWN THE WILDCATS: This isn't an ideal week to be short on experienced inside linebackers. Arizona's running game, directed by read-option quarterback Anu Solomon, ranks second in the Pac-12 at 298.5 yards a game.
And the Wildcats lead the league in total offense (530.2 yards a game) and scoring offense (42.3 points a game). Solomon, who returned last weekend for a 44-7 rout of Oregon State after missing the previous game with a concussion, accounts for 241.6 yards of total offense a game (seventh in the conference).
MacIntyre said watching Solomon run the Wildcats' spread offense "is kind of uncanny, some of the things he can do. You're thinking, 'How can he even get the ball away,' and how he scrambles around and makes plays. He adds another dimension to it."
The Wildcats also feature a big offensive line blocking for Solomon and running back Nick Wilson, who averages 113.8 rushing yards a game. Plus, MacIntyre added, "Everything is a run-pass option. So when they're running a run play, there are really pass routes going on (and) Anu is reading that as he goes. He does a good job of reading that."
Playing only three quarters against the Beavers, Solomon 17 of 30 passes for 276 yards. For the season, he's 92-of-145 (224.2 yard average) with 11 touchdowns and no interceptions.
ON LIUFAU'S EFFICIENCY, TOUGHNESS: CU quarterback Sefo Liufau's 389 passing yards at Arizona State was his second-highest career passing total, but he was sacked a season-high eight times by the aggressive Sun Devils. He also was intercepted once, bringing his season total to three, against six TD passes.
Liufau is completing 59.5 percent of his passes (116-of-195). He said he "missed too many throws" at ASU and that improving his accuracy is "maybe down to fundamentals. I think that just being able to sit there in the pocket and just deliver the ball; I think that I just have to do it, basically. It's as simple as that, just be able to hit your receivers and give them some time to get some yards after the catch."
The Sun Devils hounded Liufau all night, delivering hits that had him rolling on the turf and sometimes struggling to get up. But he never failed to return to the huddle, which MacIntyre said reinforced his belief in Liufau's resolve.
"I even went up to him (at ASU) and said, 'Sefo can you keep doing this?'" recalled MacIntyre. "And I said, 'Because if you can't, you let me know right now,' and he said, 'No coach I can keep doing this, I'm going to keep going.' He can keep doing it."
MacIntyre said Tuesday's practice was Liufau's best since before the Colorado State game: "It was like he hadn't even been touched (in games) he was throwing the ball really well, our timing was good. It gave me a great feeling that he feels back kind of in the saddle so-to-speak. I've said it before, I've never been around a quarterback that is as tough as he is."
QUOTABLE: "I would like to get the win and walk through the door with a smile on my face and not have the dog be the only one smiling in the room . . . . there's no doubt that you would like to walk in the room and be excited about everyone around you and having a good feeling about the weekend." – MacIntyre on encouragement received from friends and family
NOTABLE: The Buffs once again will be minus running back Michael Adkins II, who will miss his fourth consecutive game with a knee injury . . . . The Wildcats are expected to be without injured standout linebacker Scooby Wright, who has started only two of six games due to a knee injury suffered in early September. Said Liufau: "Scooby's a really good player; you have to give him that. I think that Arizona has a lot of good guys that are able to come in; obviously they're no Scooby Wright, but they're solid players, they're Pac-12 players. So yes, they're missing Scooby right, but they'll still be a strong defense without him." . . . . On what MacIntyre believes his defense must do to prepare for the Wildcats' high-powered, up-tempo spread offense: "Reps, reps, reps . . . mainly it's repetition and a lot of it is not full team repetition. It's diagnosed down into sub parts." . . . . MacIntyre said his father and mother-in-law were both hospitalized before the Oregon game two weekends ago. His father, George, is battling multiple sclerosis, while his mother-in-law has been diagnosed with cancer. MacIntyre called his profession important but noted, "There's a balance." Still, he said he would "love to win a bunch of football games; I'd feel a lot better." . . . . Saturday marks CU's Homecoming game. The Buffs' record in those contests is 61-34-5, but they've lost seven consecutive Homecoming games.
Contact: BG.Brooks@Colorado.EDU
