Buffs Offense Shines In First Major Scrimmage Of Camp
August 11, 2018 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — If offense is your thing, you liked Saturday morning's Colorado football scrimmage, the first major test for the Buffaloes in fall camp.
If defensive dominance is your preference … well, there were some highlights, but not exactly the kind of performance CU coaches wanted to see overall.
Of course, that is always the case with any scrimmage — the home team wins and loses on every play. Big plays on offense mean breakdowns on defense. Takeaways by the defense mean mistakes on offense.
But perhaps most importantly, the Buffs walked away from Saturday's morning's Folsom Field midterm exam with a much better idea of what areas they need to address over the next three weeks before they open the season Aug. 31 against Colorado State in Denver.
"The offense made some big plays and defensively we didn't cover as well as I think we need to," head coach Mike MacIntyre said. "But I thought they kept playing hard. … Overall I was more pleased with the offense than the defense. But we've got to keep going."
To be fair, the No. 1 defense was missing a handful of key players because of injuries. Up front, defensive ends Mustafa Johnson (concussion) and Chris Mulumba (groin strain) didn't participate, while safety Evan Worthington (concussion) and cornerback Chris Miller also sat out the scrimmage.
Still, it was clear the offense was clicking. Quarterback Steven Montez — who has not been at his best in past scrimmages — had an excellent day, completing 11 of his 16 attempts for 185 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Backup Sam Noyer, meanwhile, also had a pair of touchdown tosses, Tyler Lytle made some nice throws, and just about every member of the Buffs' receiving corps chipped in a big catch or two.
"It was exciting to see (Montez) come out and operate at a high level," said offensive co-coordinator Darrin Chiaverini. "In the past he'd been doing well in practice and he'd struggle in a live scrimmage. To see him come out with the ones vs. ones and operate at a high level, that was good to see. I thought he operated quickly, I thought he got the ball out and made good decisions and he avoided mistakes."
The offense had just two turnovers for the entire scrimmage, an interception by Noyer — after the sophomore threw back-to-back 50-yard touchdown passes — and a rare fumble by running back Donovan Lee.
But otherwise, the offense operated smoothly for much of the day, punching in six touchdowns and adding six field goals. Kicker James Stefanou was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goal tries, including a 44-yarder, while Davis Price hit a pair and Evan Price connected on one.
Montez recorded his first touchdown pass via a short toss to running back Travon McMillian, who made a nifty move in the backfield to evade a linebacker and then raced 39 yards to the end zone. The junior quarterback notched his second scoring throw with a 4-yard dart to Tony Brown, who finished as the Buffs' leading receiver on the day with four catches for 42 yards.
Montez's longest completion of the day was a 51-yard throw to K.D. Nixon down the left sideline that ended up just short of the goal line, one of three receptions by Nixon.
Noyer, meanwhile, hit back-to-back 50-yard scoring throws, first connecting with Maurice Bell on a slant, then coming back on the next series to throw a long bomb to Kabion Ento, who made a fingertip grab for the score.
Also getting into the end zone were running backs Donovan Lee (8 yards) and Beau Bisharat (12 yards).  Bisharat was the leading rusher for the day with 43 yards on 16 carries, as CU coaches split the running back duties liberally among five backs. Along with Bisharat, four other backs — Lee, McMillian, Kyle Evans and Alex Fontenot — all had at least four carries.
While the defense did give up some big plays, there were still some highlights. Safety Derrion Rakestraw had a forced fumble with a big hit and linebacker Chase Newman came up with the only interception of the day.
Overall, it was CU's linebackers who were making plays consistently. Sophomore inside 'backer Nate Landman, who appears to be earning himself a starting spot, had a team-high eight tackles. Fellow inside 'backer Jonathan Van Diest had six tackles (and a fumble recovery), safety Kyle Trego also had six, and senior linebacker Drew Lewis, freshman Colby Keiter and Buff back Davion Taylor all had five tackles each.
With Landman having an excellent camp inside — and the Buffs having two starters returning at the spot — coaches are experimenting with moving Lewis outside on occasion, where he can utilize his speed to get to the quarterback.
"We thought it would be best if we had all three of those guys on the field and then you have Davion (Taylor) on the other side on regular downs," MacIntyre said. "You have a ton of speed out there and we feel like we're a better football team with all those guys. When we do nickel, Drew can play inside jack 'backer and we can do our pass rush and we can do different things. We feel like having all three of those guys out there gives us a better chance to play better defense."
Up front, the Buffs got a nice performance from true freshman defensive end Israel Antwine, who had four tackles, including one for loss.
"Israel is doing some really good things," said defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot. "He's physical, he's fast, he has a great work ethic. He's a guy that's going to do some really good things for us."
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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