Buffs LB Gamboa Not Buying 'Step Back' For CU's 2017 Defense

BOULDER — Make no mistake, Colorado linebacker Rick Gamboa has heard the chatter. So has every other member of the CU defense.

It is not a popular theme.

While there are a number of variations, the basic idea is this: One year after the Buffs defense paved the way for a 10-4 finish and a Pac-12 South title, it will be the offense that carries the load in 2017.

To be fair, it's not difficult to see why that theory exists. The CU defense that last year was among the national top 20 in total defense and scoring defense lost eight starters, a defensive coordinator and two more defensive assistants.

That kind of math doesn't add up to a repeat performance.

CU's offense, meanwhile, returns a bevy of talented skill position players, a veteran line and a coaching staff that remained intact in the offseason. An offense that was among the nation's top 50 a year ago should ostensibly be even better this season.

Thus the theory of flipped roles.

Gamboa, however, isn't buying the theory. Neither are his defensive teammates. Rather, the mere suggestion that the defense might take even a slight step back causes Gamboa's eyes to narrow, his jaw to clench — followed by the slightest hint of a smile, the kind of smile that suggests he knows something of which others aren't aware.

"Everyone can think what they want," the junior inside linebacker said this week. "Everyone's going to find out Sept. 1."

That, of course, is the Buffs' season opener against Colorado State in Denver (6 p.m., Pac-12 Network). It is when we should know rather quickly just where the Buffs defense stands.

"We've been hearing it all spring and all summer," Gamboa said. "All the guys we lost, we're going to take a big fall, and the offense is going to have to carry us this year. Everyone on defense hears it every single day. That's just motivation for us, knowing where we have to be."

It has indeed been a source of motivation for Buffs defenders in their summer workouts. Gamboa, now a team captain, has done his best to make sure he and his teammates reap every benefit possible out of their offseason work, a process he knows will make the difference next fall.

"It's been good," Gamboa said. "Some of the workouts with (strength and conditioning coach Drew) Wilson have been rough, but that's what we need. He's really been pushing it, whether it's conditioning or the weight room."

A year ago, Gamboa — still a "youngster" then — saw the difference a strenuous summer could make. This summer, he believes, has followed that blueprint.

"The one thing we had last summer was that our workouts tested us mentally and physically as a team and they bonded us together," Gamboa said. "They brought us closer because we knew we could push through it as long as we had each other's back. All the work we put in, all the extra stuff we did, all the things Wilson had us grind through paid off. We're doing the same thing this summer."

But unlike last summer, Gamboa is now clearly among the team leaders, particularly on defense. In the span of 12 months, he's made the transition from young underclassman to battle-tested veteran — and it is a mantle he wears seriously.

"In the past, I've focused mostly on myself getting better," Gamboa said. "I was one of the younger guys and I followed the lead of people like KO (former teammate Kenneth Olugbode). But now, being a captain, I can't just focus on myself. I have to help push everyone to be better, bring everyone along. The responsibility of being a captain is a big responsibility."

Gamboa has no doubt earned his stripes. He stepped into the starting role in the third game of the 2015 season after an injury to Gillam — a game in which he forced an interception that led to an Olugbode touchdown return in a win over CSU — and he has started every game since.

It has been, he admits, a rocky road at times. There were moments such as the Arizona game in 2015 when Olugbode went out with a leg injury and Gamboa found himself playing alongside two other freshmen, N.J. Falo and Grant Watanabe. The Wildcats rallied for a win in Boulder and the game proved to be an eye-opener for Gamboa.

"All of a sudden I was the oldest inside linebacker on the field for us," Gamboa said. "It was me, Grant and NJ. That was something new for me. That's when I realized I can't keep relying on other people; I had to be more responsible for everything, even the things I wasn't so good at. That game I realized I had to grow up a lot more than I was at the time."

By season's end, Gamboa had become one of the most reliable players on CU's defense, as he finished with a team-leading 96 tackles. Last season, he played alongside Olugbode again, and was again one of CU's most productive defenders, finishing with 79 tackles (second-best on the team), three tackles for loss, eight third-down stops and a 20-yard interception return for a touchdown against Oregon State.

"Last year it just felt a lot more comfortable," Gamboa said. "The speed of the game felt normal. It wasn't too fast and I wasn't getting mauled by offensive linemen. That was a big change for me."

Along with improving his football IQ to the point that defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot has called him a "coach on the field," he's also added strength and speed. He's now a rock-solid 6-foot, 230 pounds, and by all accounts has had an excellent offseason in the weight room and conditioning drills.

"Now, playing is so much easier and I react so much faster," he said. "I look at things and I know what's going on even before the ball is hiked. I'm noticing myself being able to get to the ball faster, reading my keys faster and noticing what's happening before the play starts — whether it's formations, splits, a lineman's stance, where the quarterback is looking."

But he's also now one of the "old guys" on the defense. Instead of learning from those around him, he's expected to be the player who imparts his gathered wisdom, particularly to fellow inside 'backers Drew Lewis and Akil Jones.

"The past two years I've always been the young guy in the meeting room," Gamboa said. "Now, especially in the defensive room, I'm one of few guys who's played a lot of snaps. When I realized that, especially in the spring, I knew I had to grow up and become like the older guy in the room."

It is a role to which he is adapting as quickly as possible.

"It's definitely a learning process," he said. "I'm always used to having someone teach me or me learning on my own. I've never really been in the position of having to teach other people how to do everything. That's definitely been a learning process I've been going through with Drew and Akil, and even with the freshmen that just came in."

But most of all, Gamboa and his fellow defensive veterans are making sure their cohorts in the defensive meeting room understand they don't expect a slip from last year.

"We set a bar for us last year and we know where we have to be as a defense if we're going to reach that bar or be better," Gamboa said. "We know the standard of what it takes to be one of the best defenses in the country. I think a lot of people are going to be shocked at what we put out on the field."

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu