Tuesday Buffs Bits: Winfree Rounding Into 'Game' Shape

BOULDER — It's been a long road back, but Colorado junior wide receiver Juwann Winfree is finally starting to remember what it's like to get into the flow of a football game.

Winfree transferred to CU in 2016 after a standout season at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College and was having an excellent fall camp before being sidelined by an ACL tear. That ended not only his 2016 season, but also kept him from participating in spring ball this year.

But Winfree put in every hour possible rehabilitating his knee injury and was cleared to participate when fall camp opened. While he didn't crack the starting lineup, he did catch one pass in CU's opener, then added two for 28 yards in Week 2 against Texas State.

Last week, however, he had his most productive day as a Buff: five catches for 33 yards against Washington in a starting role. Winfree stepped in at the slot position for the Buffs, taking the place of injured Jay MacIntyre.

"It was exciting for me," Winfree said at Tuesday's CU press conference. "That's something I've been dreaming about since I was growing up and I actually got the opportunity, finally, and it felt great. It just felt good to make plays and be a contributor to the team. I felt amazing."

Winfree has good size — 6-foot-3 and 210 pounds — and good speed, making covering him a difficult task for opposing defenses. He can play both outside and the slot position, giving the Buffs some versatility.

"I want to be a receiver that can be used anywhere on the field, and I feel that I can be," Winfree said. "It felt a little easier because on the outside you have to deal with a lot of contact and defenders up in your face early, and in the slot you get a lot of free releases. For me, if you're going to give me a free release, I feel that I'm going to take advantage of it. The fact that I was given free releases for most of the day, I tried to make the most of my opportunities. It felt great playing in the slot."

Maybe the most difficult task for Winfree has simply been working his way back into "game speed." His Buffs debut this year against CSU was his first game since late fall 2015. When he was given permission to remove his knee brace on Sept. 6 this year — one year after surgery — it was a big step forward.

"Even though I was working out the whole offseason, it still felt a little different just to be back in there," Winfree said. "Missing a whole spring of football, a whole camp and season, it's big on muscle memory as well, getting your legs back and body back into running routes the same way and being there when the quarterback expects. There are still going to be minor things that you need to work on that you may feel like you have, but you don't really see what other people see. It's been a year and about two weeks since surgery for me, so I definitely feel it's there."

LOOKING FOR WIN IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: The Buffs have lost six straight games in Southern California, a streak that includes three losses to USC in the Coliseum and three to UCLA in the Rose Bowl. Colorado's last win in Southern California came in 2002, when Gary Barnett's Buffs knocked off the 20th-ranked Bruins, 31-17, in the Rose Bowl.

"I think (our players) enjoy going back there and playing," head coach Mike MacIntyre. "Number one, their families are all there. Number two, they know a ton of guys on those teams because I'd say 80 percent of UCLA's and USC's players are from that area. They played against them, they went to high school with them, they played pee-wee football with them and they probably played AAU basketball with them. That gives them an added incentive to do well."

JUMBO LINEUP: One of the more interesting Buffs offensive sets in last week's game against Washington came on the goal line. Facing a third-and-goal from the 1-yard line, the Buffs sent tight ends George Frazier, Chris Bounds and Eddy Lopez into the game, as well as Beau Bisharat as the fullback in front of Phillip Lindsay. Lindsay scored on the play.

"That's our one-ton lineup," joked CU tight ends coach Gary Bernardi.

BUFFS AIM TO REDUCE SACKS ON MONTEZ: Already this year, CU has given up 14 quarterback sacks in four — half the amount the Buffs yielded all of last year. Starting quarterback Steven Montez has been in on 12 of those sacks.

"You want less hits on your quarterback when he doesn't see it coming," MacIntyre said. "On our sacks, some of them were the offensive line's fault for sure and some of them were Steven's fault and some of them were coverage sacks. You'd like to have zero sacks and get rid of the ball. Steven's starting to understand that better and better and he's getting better at it."

UCLA has recorded nine sacks this year.

"We're going to have to protect and Steven's going to have to know where to throw the ball," MacIntyre said.

TURNOVER BATTLE: A year ago, the Buffs won the turnover battle, forcing 26 takeaways by the defense while the offense gave up just 20.

This year, they are even — 8-8 — after four games. The Buffs have lost two fumbles and thrown six interceptions and have recorded five interceptions and three fumble recoveries. They have recorded at least one takeaway in all four games this season.

"We've caused a few turnovers on defense, but we've had too many on offense," MacIntyre said. "That's the biggest key. The other night, that was a prime example in that football game. We caused one for them and they caused three for us. The punt block could be one, too. They were four to one. With four to one – if teams are even – they're going to win, bottom line. If you reverse that, we would have won, I really believe that. We've got to be able to take care of that and do better."

UNIFORM COMBINATION: The Buffs will wear all black for Saturday night's game as UCLA has elected to wear all white. MacIntyre said if the game had been a day game, CU would have worn gray uniforms because of the expected heat. Saturday's weather forecast in Los Angeles is for a high of 83 degrees, with temperatures dropping after sunset.

WORK FOR LINDSAY: Although the Buffs now have plenty of healthy running backs, senior Phillip Lindsay is still getting the bulk of the carries. Lindsay has carried 90 times for 446 yards; the next running back on the list is Michael Adkins II with nine carries for 25 yards. Adkins did not have a carry vs. Washington while Kyle Evans (1 for minus-4) and Beau Bisharat (5 for 11) saw some limited time.

"We'll just see how it goes," MacIntyre said. "The other side of it is we haven't played as many plays on offense as we'd like. A lot of those games we'd like to be in the 80s and 90s and we've been in the 60s and low 70s. That's 25 more plays, so that's part of it too. We'd like to get a few more first downs and a few more points."

GETTING CLOSE: To a man, the Buffaloes believe their offense is ready for a breakout game.

"We're not concerned at all," Winfree said. "We're keeping our heads high, but it is a little frustrating, because we're so close to breaking out and exploding. It's just the little mistakes that hold us back each time. I feel that we're really close to breaking out and this week we need to put it all together, and I feel that we will."

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu