Buffs QB Liufau Expects To Be Ready For Fall Camp

BOULDER — For much of the spring, Colorado football fans were excited, then anxious, then distraught over the possibility of a record-setting quarterback being available to the Buffs when fall camp opens in August.

Funny thing is, he's been here all along. Barring a major setback between now and early August, a player who has his name attached to 74 school records and has another nine well within his reach will be ready to roll with the Buffs when they open fall camp.

The one key element? There has never, ever been a question about this quarterback's commitment to his teammates, his coaches and his school. There has never been a question about his work ethic, his dedication and his word.

The only question concerning Sefo Liufau has been whether he will be recovered from a foot injury in time for the beginning of camp — and that question becomes closer and closer every day to being answered.

“I plan on being there,” Liufau said earlier this week. “I fully believe I'll be ready to go for camp. I believe I'll be ready way before that. That's been my goal from Day One and I think I'm well on my way to accomplishing that.”

Liufau is recovering from a Lisfranc foot injury, suffered late last fall in a home game against USC. The then-junior appeared to be on his way to his best game of the season when the injury occurred, going 6-for-8 for 94 yards to lead CU to a 7-3 lead, before a sack ended his season prematurely.

Lisfranc foot injuries are among the most feared in the sports world. They can take as long as a year or more to heal — and some simply end careers.

Liufau is determined to make sure neither applies to him. Almost since the moment he hobbled away from the Champions Center on that cool November evening on crutches, his focus has been to not only come back, but come back a better player than ever before.

He's getting there. His rehab process, by all accounts, has been steady progress. He's now throwing on a regular basis, working on his footwork, lifting weights, running, testing his agility — and the results have been almost all positive.

There might even be a small — very small — silver lining to the process. Because he couldn't go through spring drills, every other part of his body has had the chance to fully heal.

The back injury that plagued him throughout his freshman and sophomore year? A thing of the past. The shoulder injury suffered early last season — the one that literally prevented him from throwing in practice more times than he'd care to count in the fall? Gone. All the other bumps, bruises, sprains and strains? Healed.

“In one way, it's actually been great for my body to take a rest from the constant grind and constant pounding,” Liufau said. “It's kind of funny — I still have a long way to go, but I might be overall in the best shape of my life. I'm actually able to do some things that I wasn't able to do before surgery. It's really encouraging to me and to the trainers.”

Of course, the physical portion of the process has been just one part of the equation. The mental grind has been equally taxing. While much of the rehab process has been positive, there have been days, he admits, when, “I just had to take it easy. I just had to give my foot some rest and not push it.”

That's when the doubts about whether he could return in time for the 2016 season nagged him. He read the literature and talked to other players who had suffered the injury — and he knew the odds.

Then, of course, there was the looming possibility that CU would bring in another experienced quarterback for the 2016 season — which is exactly what the Buffs attempted to do. In February, they signed former Texas Tech quarterback Davis Webb, only to see Webb change his mind last week and choose to instead enroll at Cal. It turned out to be one of the biggest quarterback battles that never was.

But what most people don't know is that Liufau supported the coaching staff's decision.

“We talked to Sefo about bringing someone else in,” CU head coach Mike MacIntyre said. “He supported that. He's such a team guy, he wanted to make sure we had someone in here in case he wasn't ready, someone who had some experience. That was his concern.”

Throughout the spring, Liufau was by no means oblivious to the chatter surrounding Webb's signing, impending arrival and ultimate change of heart. He knew there were those who not only doubted his ability to return from the injury, but doubted his ability to lead the Buffs to a winning season.

Through it all, Liufau chose to control what he could — his rehab — and tune the rest out as much as possible.

“It's noise to a degree, but I admit it does add a little extra motivation,” Liufau said. “There are so many people who have doubted me since I've been here, and that's OK. There are always people who aren't going to like you, or doubt you in life. The motivation has always been there, but it's grown, if that's possible.”

Liufau's body of work is impressive. He moved into the starting job early in his freshman season and never left. Among the 74 school records that are attached to his name are most passing yards in a season (3,200), most completions in a game (46) and season (325), most touchdown passes in a season (28) and most 300-yard passing games in a career (9).

He's also just 14 yards away from setting the record for most career passing yards (he currently sits at 7,397) and he's 12 TD passes away from the career record in that category (he currently has 49).

But he knows the numbers that count the most are the wins and losses. While the Buffs did double their number of wins last year (four) from 2014, he knows that's not nearly enough. Not even close.

“The records don't matter,” Liufau said. “The validation I'm looking for is that win-loss record — and not from the people outside. I owe it to my teammates and coaches and the university. I owe them so much for allowing me to come here, and I'm ready to make this last year really count. I'll gladly give up all those records just to win on a consistent basis.”

There's no doubt CU's coaches are also counting on him. While they were obviously disappointed that Webb changed his mind at the last minute and chose Cal, Liufau's steady progress has helped ease their concerns.

“He was in every meeting, he was at every practice — he was out there every day this spring,” MacIntyre said. “He knows everything we're doing and he feels very comfortable with it. He's continued to work on his throwing mechanics, he's studying, he's working — all those things.

“He's doing what I expected Sefo to do. He's a phenomenal young man and a great competitor. Everybody respects him and everybody in that locker room believes in him. I'm very, very confident in what he'll be able to accomplish. We're expecting him to have a big year and I think he's primed and ready to have it.”

One of the biggest drawbacks of Liufau's rehab process was that he could not participate in spring drills when CU was making some significant adjustments to the playbook and pace of play. It meant he had to watch from the sidelines as Steven Montez and Jordan Gehrke ran plays, moving the offense up and down the field.

“A lot of spectating and a lot of thinking,” is how Liufau described the process. “You see what's going on, what we're trying to do and what pieces of the puzzle fit where.

“The offense is a little bit of a change, but not so much in the sense that it's vastly different in terms of our plays. It's more just being able to go at that speed consistently. That will be the biggest change. It's a different mindset and a different level of thinking when you are moving that fast and processing it at that rate.”

Recently, Liufau has had some moments on the field when he's throwing to a receiver, when he's moving up and down the field, that he has forgotten about his injury. Those are the moments he wants to occur more frequently, the times “when I'm not even thinking about it, when I'm just working on my game.”

In all likelihood, that moment won't come overnight. There probably won't be a time when he's suddenly pronounced fully healed and ready to play.

Rather, it will be a process. He'll work as much as possible when the Buffs begin organized offseason strength and conditioning sessions next week and if all continues to go well, he'll simply get to the point that he's ready to go.

But he already knows this much: the time away from playing the game, the time on the sidelines, has made him hungrier than ever to return.

“Honestly, I didn't know I'd miss it that much,” he said. “But when something that you've been taking for granted all your life is taken from you, you want it back that much more. I'm 99 percent sure my foot's been doing well and I expect it to hold up for me.

“I expect to play the game again that I love. I plan on being ready.”

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu