Position Preview: Buffs Again Well-Stocked With Talent In Secondary
August 15, 2018 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — At a place where the Colorado Buffaloes have produced four NFL Draft picks in the last two years, there is once again no shortage of talent.
The 2018 Buffs are well-stocked with quality players in the secondary.
This year, the experience is at safety, where two veterans are expected to man the back end of the defense. Senior free safety Evan Worthington — possibly the next Buff to hear his name called on draft day — brings 14 career starts and 34 career games played to the table. Right next to Worthington at boundary safety will be another senior, Nick Fisher, a player who has appeared in 36 games in his career, including a pair of starts.
"That's a lot of experience back there," said defensive passing game coordinator ShaDon Brown. "When you have guys back there like that you can depend on, you feel good about that."
Worthington, who started 11 games last season for Colorado, is a playmaker who was catching NFL scouts' eyes as a junior. He led the team with three interceptions, and also had 86 tackles (third-high on the team), a sack, two forced fumbles, five tackles for loss and a fumble recovery.
Fisher, meanwhile, battled back from an early season injury to get two starts down the stretch. He finished with 29 tackles and recorded a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown in a win over Cal.
The Buffs have also been developing some depth in fall camp at safety. Senior Kyle Trego has been steady at the spot, as has sophomore Derrion Rakestraw, a converted wide receiver, and redshirt freshman Isaiah Lewis. Meanwhile, junior college transfer Aaron Maddox has shown a knack for getting to the ball in a hurry and true freshman Hasaan Hypolite has come on and displayed some playmaking ability as well in recent days.
At corner, the Buffs are relatively young but talented and deep. No less than five players are battling for the two starting spots, with Brown and cornerbacks coach Ashley Ambrose calling the competition too close to call halfway through camp.
Of the five, sophomore Trey Udoffia (eight starts last year) and junior Dante Wigley (seven starts in 2017) have the most experience, and both of had solid camps thus far. But challenging them have been a pair of junior college transfers, Delrick Abrams Jr. and Mekhi Blackmon, along with redshirt freshman Chris Miller.
"All of them have had good days," Brown said "Delrick Abrams has really flashed, Chris Miller has flashed when he's been out there, Trey Udoffia has had some great plays, Dante Wigley has had some flashes. All of them have made plays on the ball at times and all of them have had times when they haven't been so good on the ball. … But I think all of them can play at a Pac-12 level."
Blackmon, who didn't sign with CU until late June, has had to play catchup with the other four, as he didn't have the benefit of participating in spring ball. He also has some catching up to do in the physical part of the game, as he's listed at just 6-foot, 160 pounds. But he has made some big strides over the last week and has put himself in the mix with some nice plays on the ball against CU's quality receivers.
"Anytime you come from a junior college level, there's always a learning curve because of the complexity of the schemes and the tempo of the practices," Brown said. "But  Mekhi has done a good job of adapting. He has as good of hips and feet as any of them. He just has to continue to develop his body and the mental part of his game, and he's going to be a good player for us."
Ambrose has been working carefully with the group, mixing and matching combinations to see how they perform against CU's deep and talented wide receivers group.
"Since the start of camp we've gotten better and improved every day," Ambrose said. "But the great thing is we have five guys fighting for these two starting spots and they're competing hard. We're mixing them up, putting them with ones, putting them with twos, letting them get a chance to go against the one receivers and two receivers to see who wills step up to the plate and make plays."
As Brown said, each has had some excellent days — and each has had some less-than-stellar moments. Now, the key will be finding two players who can give the Buffs the most consistency at a position that demands a thick skin as well as terrific athletic ability.
"The guy who can be consistent and the guy who can be productive is the guy who's going to get the start," Ambrose said. "We'll find those guys in the next week or so."
Along with the five battling for the top two spots, the Buffs also have some depth in sophomore Kevin George and true freshman L.J. Wallace, a long, lanky (6-foot-4, 200 pounds) player who has had some promising days already.
At nickel, the Buffs have some experience in sophomore Ronnie Blackmon, who appeared in five games last year and has had an excellent camp thus far.
"Ronnie's doing a great job at nickel," Brown said. "I think that's his natural position. That's where he excels right now."
But while there is plenty to be decided before the Aug. 31 season opener, CU coaches are confident of one thing: the reputation the Buffs have built for producing NFL-quality defensive backs will continue this year.
"One thing we do really well here is develop DBs," Brown said. "It's not where they start, it's where they finish. Some of those guys that are in the NFL, when they started here they didn't necessarily look like NFL starters in their freshman and sophomore years, but they got there. Talent-wise, we have three or four NFL players in this group."
WHO'S BACK: Seniors Evan Worthington, Nick Fisher, Kyle Trego and Daniel Talley; juniors Dante Wigley, Darrell Hubbard, Griffin Foulk and Lucas Cooper; sophomores Trey Udoffia, Ronnie Blackmon, Derrion Rakestraw, Kevin George and Uryan Hudson; redshirt freshmen Chris Miller and Isaiah Lewis,
WHO'S NEW: Junior college transfers Delrick Abrams Jr., Mekhi Blackmon and Aaron Maddox; true freshmen Hasaan Hypolite, Ray Robinson, Dustin Johnson, L.J. Wallace and Brock Miller.
EARLY CAMP DEPTH CHART: Left corner: Miller, Wigley, R. Blackmon, George, Wallace; Right corner: Udoffia, Abrams, M. Blackmon, Hudson, Miller; Free safety: Worthington, Trego, Maddox or Cooper, Hypolite, Hubbard; Boundary (strong) safety: Fisher, Lewis, Rakestraw, Robinson.
WHAT'S IN STORE: The Buffs will be strong and steady on the back end with Worthington and Fisher, but they'll need the youngsters and newcomers to step up on the corners — especially as CU's pass rush takes time to develop. The Buffs will need to be seasoned and ready to go when the Pac-12 portion of the schedule rolls around, as they open conference play with a home game Sept. 28 against Chip Kelly and UCLA.
STAT TO REMEMBER: Two years ago, the Buffs produced 15 interceptions, nearly twice as many as the eight they recorded last season. With Worthington now roaming full time at safety, it's reasonable to think he could match the seven picks recorded by safety Tedric Thompson two years ago.
Contact: Neill.Woelk@Colorado.edu
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