Adams Ready To Take Reins Of CU's Offensive Line

BOULDER — When Colorado assistant coach Klayton Adams met with his offensive line for the first time a few weeks ago, he had one simple message:

“I don't care how many games you've started, I don't care how many games you started at what position — nobody in here is a starter,” Adams told his new charges. “We're going to try to find the best five guys to go out there that first week. We don't have any time to waste.”

Thus begins a new chapter in an area that will be of the utmost importance to the Buffs when they start spring ball in less than two weeks. When Colorado opens spring drills on March 2, it's no secret that putting together a cohesive, dependable offensive line will be a major point of emphasis.

It will be Adams' first spring as the Buffs' offensive line coach, as he makes the move from coaching running backs. But he is by no means new to the position — or new to the players.

He's played the position (he was a standout offensive lineman at Boise State in 2003 and '04, when the Broncos were 24-2) and he's coached the position (he coached tackles/offensive for two seasons at Sacramento State). He's also become familiar with CU's linemen in his role as the Buffs' running backs coach for the last three seasons.

Now, an offseason shuffle has put Adams back to the position with which he is most familiar. The Buffs have added a co-offensive coordinator/wide receivers coach (Darrin Chiaverini), a running backs coach (Darian Hagan), moved Adams to the offensive line and switched Gary Bernardi to tight ends and fullbacks.

“Obviously it's the position that I played and probably the position that I'm most passionate about,” Adams said. “I'm definitely comfortable there and excited about the challenge. … While there will definitely be some small adjustments here and there, you still have an idea of who each kid is, an idea of what he's capable of doing, and they have an idea what to expect from me.”

Adams' job will be to develop some consistency on a line that last year enjoyed precious little of the commodity. An injury-plagued year that began with the Buffs losing starting left tackle Jeromy Irwin in the second game of the season resulted in a makeshift, piecemeal process that saw only one position — center — have the same starter all year.

Elsewhere, CU had three different starters at left tackle, three at left guard, two at right guard and three at right tackle. It created difficulties in pass protection — the Buffs gave up 41 quarterback sacks — and made it equally difficult to establish any continuity in the running game. In Pac-12 play, Colorado averaged barely 104 yards per game on the ground, 11th in the conference.

“This position is one where chemistry is unbelievably important,” Adams said. “How people communicate with each other and work with each other is the key. Unlike anything else in our game, offensive line is really one position played by five people. They're tied together and everything they do on every snap affects everyone else.”

Adams is convinced the Buffs have the talent to put together a solid, consistent line. Counting Irwin — who won't be available for spring ball but will be back by the summer — CU has seven linemen with multiple-game starting experience last season. The list includes senior Alex Kelley (13 starts at center last season), junior Gerrad Kough (10 starts at guard), junior Jonathan Huckins (10 starts at guard), sophomore John Lisella II (five starts at tackle), senior Shane Callahan (five starts at tackle) and junior Sam Kronshage (six starts at tackle).

Also ready to make their presence known are a handful of youngsters who redshirted last year as freshmen, including Tim Lynott Jr., Dillon Middlemiss, Isaac Miller and Aaron Haigler, as well as sophomore Josh Kaiser, who played in all 13 games last fall. It won't be a surprise if one or two of those players carve out some significant playing time.

“There's a lot of young talent there,” Adams said. “But I don't think we'll really know until we get out there and we get eight or nine practices in that we'll begin to figure out exactly what the best pieces to the puzzle are. But I do know we want to figure out who are the best five people we can put out there and what spots they should be in.”

That could mean some position switches.

“You want to be careful not to move guys so much that they never get comfortable, but you also want to give them an opportunity at different spots,” Adams said. “Sometimes guys surprise you.”

CU's offense will be undergoing some adjustments this spring. Chiaverini brings some of Texas Tech's schemes with him to Boulder, and he and Lindgren are incorporating some of those schemes into the Buffs' attack.

“Probably 50 percent of the time in the last few years we've been in a lot of those different formations,” Adams said. “When people use the term 'spread offense,' what it means is understanding the dynamics of having 53 and a third yards from sideline to sideline and understanding that unless you are in the red zone, there's a lot of yardage behind the defense as well. Understanding how to take advantage of that space can sometimes mitigate some deficiencies or inexperience that you may have up front.”

But the Buffs may actually end up trimming the overall size of CU's playbook. When Chiaverini came on board, he said one of his points of emphasis would be to “scale down” CU's scheme. “It's great to have a bunch of stuff, but what we do, we want to do really well,” Chiaverini said.

Adams agrees.

“I do think in order for us to take a step forward offensively, we probably need to narrow our focus a little bit and figure out exactly what it is that we can be the best at in our league,” Adams said. “It doesn't have to be a very big package, but based on our personnel, based on what our experiences are as coaches, based on the league that we play in, what is the piece of the league where we can be the best? You try to figure out as you go, but I think that's really what we're trying to home in on.”

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu