Return of Jackson, Possible Winfree Return Could Bolster Buffs Attack

BOULDER — Since fall camp began, depth at wide receiver has been considered to be one of the Colorado Buffaloes' major strengths.

That depth could be a major factor this week when the 5-1 Buffs (2-1 Pac-12) travel to Washington (5-2, 3-1) for a 1:30 p.m. game Saturday at Husky Stadium (Fox).

Two of Colorado's starting wide receivers left last weekend's game against USC with injuries. Sophomore Laviska Shenault Jr. had a toe injury and senior Jay MacIntyre suffered a concussion. Shenault is undergoing further evaluation while MacIntyre is going through concussion protocol.

But while their status for Saturday's game was unclear Monday morning, the Buffs will have at least one — and very possibly two — key returnees ready for the Huskies. Redshirt freshman Jaylon Jackson made his career debut Saturday against USC and senior Juwann Winfree could be ready to return after missing the last four games with an ankle injury.

Both were players who had outstanding fall camps and figured to be a key part of the Colorado passing game.

"We're a little thin right now and I'm trying my hardest to make sure I'm back this week," Winfree said after Monday morning's practice. "There's no guarantees, but I'm going to give it my all."

After catching a touchdown pass against Colorado State in the season opener, Winfree had a five-reception game at Nebraska before a hit out-of-bounds in that game sent him to the sidelines with an ankle injury that has been slow to heal. He has now missed four games, and did not make the trip to Los Angeles last weekend for the USC game.

But he's now as healthy as he has been since the Nebraska game and is hopeful of returning this weekend.

"I'm not looking at it like there's pressure on me to get back — I think I can help the team, but there's still a lot of ballers out there who can make plays," Winfree said. "But at the same time, I want to get back as soon as possible. When I get my opportunity, I want to be able to go out there and give everything I've got to help us win some games."

Winfree's presence adds a big, sure-handed receiver who can make plays in traffic as well as on deep balls.

Jackson, meanwhile, adds another element of speed and quickness to the Buffs' arsenal. In his first game in a CU uniform he caught two passes for 19 yards against USC, including a 14-yarder on third down that kept a CU scoring drive alive.

It marked the end of a long and arduous comeback, one that saw him miss his entire freshman season with an injury, then suffer another setback in fall camp this year that delayed his return to the lineup.

Saturday, he made his first catch in a game since a playoff matchup in his junior year at Cedar Hill High School in Texas — also the last time he played in a game.

"It was just a blessing to be out there and compete with my brothers," Jackson said. "It was great. That first pass, I was looking for the 'backer and when he didn't come down on my route, I said, 'Oh yeah, this one's coming my way.'"

As Winfree said, the Buffs have plenty of other playmakers at the position. Junior Tony Brown has at least four catches in each of his last four games while sophomore K.D. Nixon had six catches against the Trojans, his fifth game this year with at least five receptions.

GAME TIME SET FOR OREGON STATE: The Oregon State at Colorado game (CU's annual homecoming affair) on Saturday, Oct. 27, will kick off at 1 p.m. (MDT) and will be televised by Pac-12 Networks.

FRANKE FACES SURGERY: The worst injury from the USC game was a season-ending knee injury suffered by defensive lineman Jase Franke. The senior was having by far his best season as a Buff, and will now have surgery some time in the next two weeks.

"It's really sad losing Jase," said head coach Mike MacIntyre. "It's the end of his career. It was really heartbreaking. … He's done a great job here for us as a player. He's a phenomenal young man and he's going to be a big-time success in life. We're going to miss Jase. Hurting your knee is hard enough but when you know it's over, that's really hard."

PLEASED WITH MONTEZ: While CU quarterback Steven Montez had his lowest completion percentage of the year against USC — 26-for-47, 55.3 percent — MacIntyre said some of those incompletions came because of wrong routes by receivers, and others were simply a case of Montez throwing the ball away under pressure to avoid a sack.

"Overall, Steven kept playing well enough to give us a chance to win," MacIntyre said. "You go back and watch that game, how that guy competed, Steven competed like crazy. Steven gave us an opportunity to have a chance to win."

BACK TO WORK: This will be a relatively short week for the Buffs. They landed at Denver International Airport at about 5 a.m. Sunday, and must get back on a plane Friday for another long West Coast flight before Saturday's mid-day game in Seattle.

Thus, CU's staff has tweaked the schedule this week in order to give players a little more recovery time.

"No excuses, no regrets," MacIntyre said. "Nobody cares, they just expect you to show up and win on Saturday so that's what we have to do. We'll have to tweak a few things, that's what we always do when we play late-night travel games. We always have and we've had some success after that. You get used to it. But we have to tweak practice a little bit."

MacIntyre said the players had a good workout Monday morning, especially given that they were coming off their first loss of the season.

"We had a good practice and slowed it down a little bit, a little more walkthrough and that type of thing," he said. "They were focused, they were upbeat, they were communicating with each other. I thought it went well."

PHYSICAL GAME: While Colorado's injury list from Saturday's game was a long one, the USC report was equally lengthy.

The biggest loss for the Trojans was a season-ending ankle injury to linebacker Porter Gustin, USC's best defensive player. Also injured in Saturday's game were defensive tackle Brandon Pili (shoulder sprain), defensive lineman Marlon Tuipulotu (elbow) and linebacker Palaie Gaoteote, who suffered a concussion in a collision with CU's Shenault.

BROADCAST CREW: This week's Fox television crew should be familiar to Buffs fans — it's the same crew that worked the USC game. It includes Joe Davis on play by play, Brady Quinn on color commentary and Bruce Feldman on the sidelines.

Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu