Colorado University Athletics
Bentley, Woods Bring Experience To Buffs ILB Corps
April 02, 2024 | Football, Neill Woelk
BOULDER — Colorado assistant coach André Hart has some returning experience this season in the Buffaloes' inside linebackers room, including two players who were among the top three tacklers on the team a year ago.
The list starts with senior LaVonta Bentley, who played in all 12 games last year with seven starts after transferring in from Clemson. He finished with 68 tackles, including 9.5 for loss, with five sacks, four quarterback pressures and two pass breakups.
Also returning is senior Trevor Woods, who made the jump to inside 'backer from safety at midseason. Woods started nine games last year — he missed three because of injury — and finished with 56 tackles, two interceptions, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble.
But after that, the pool of experience at ILB suddenly becomes very shallow — so much so that Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders identified the position as one the Buffs would like to beef up via the spring portal window.
Hart, though, isn't looking into the future. He's concentrating on the here and now as the Buffaloes enter their second week of spring practice.
"Prime wants to push the envelope and create competition, which I love," Hart told the media after Tuesday morning's practice. "The more competition you create, they don't sleep well, I sleep good. That's my philosophy. We have been looking and we have some guys kind of figured out that we'd like to go after … but right now we're focusing on what we have in house and making those guys better."
The Buffs no doubt must be better inside this season if the defense is going to take a step forward. Colorado last year finished 127th in the nation in total defense (453.3 yards per game), 107th against the run (176.4 ypg) and 121st in scoring defense (34.83 points per game).
Not that CU's defensive woes last year were by any means attributable to only the inside linebackers. Responsibility was shared by every position group.
But if the Buffs are going to be improved on defense — particularly against the run — they'll need the second-level defenders inside to step up to the next level.
"Last year I talked about we had guys that were good at the run and some were good at the pass, but we really didn't have a guy that was good at both," Hart said. "So this year coming into it, they've developed and are getting better."
Bentley is clearly the senior statesman of the group. After playing three seasons at Clemson, he transferred to Colorado last year, where he started CU's opener — then didn't start again until the sixth game of the season.
Now he has one more season to hone his skills in hopes of moving on to the NFL.
"I feel great, just getting better each day," he said Tuesday. "Bringing everything together, what I learned through the past years, and just trying to put it all together for this last ride. I'm blessed to still be playing his game and trying to get to the league. That's my goal. But I feel great out here."
Woods will also likely be a key piece of CU's defensive equation — even if he ends up playing two positions as he did last year.
Woods started the first five games of the year at safety. Then, after missing a game with an injury, he returned to the lineup and started the next four at linebacker.
This spring, he's working with the inside linebacker room but could still see time in the secondary if the situation dictates such a move.
"Trevor has instincts," Hart said. "He has the ability to play first and second down. So that was something we had to talk to Trevor about to make sure he understood his role going forward, and what he would be to us and how much he means to us. Because you have the portal these days, right? We didn't want to lose Trevor. We think he's a great kid. Great asset. Great teammate, and he's not gonna do anything but make us better in that linebacker room."
At 6-foot-2, 205, Woods is on the light side for an inside 'backer. He plans to add some weight over the coming months — but not so much that it slows him down.
Now his top priority is simply making sure he's ready to play wherever needed.
"I wasn't sure if I wanted to play linebacker or safety and I was kind of in between," Woods said. "I want to be able to do both … and they've kind of told me I can."
While the Buffs didn't make quite as many changes to the roster as they did a year ago, there was still some significant turnover in the offseason — including the coaching staff. Woods and his teammates will be playing for a new defensive coordinator this season as CU added former Cincinnati Bengals defensive backs coach Robert Livingston as the DC.
But overall, there is more continuity in the Buffs' second season under Coach Prime.
"It's more like kind of normal," Woods said. "Last year everybody got thrown together. This year, obviously, we lost some guys, we still brought in a lot of guys, but most of the team was still here last year. We've all played with each other, worked out with each other, gone to events together. Chemistry is just gonna go up all the time."
While Woods and Bentley are the leading candidates to be with the No. 1 defense next fall, there are other contenders. Transfer Jaylen Wester (Florida Atlantic) could make a bid for playing time, as could returnees Kofi Taylor-Barrocks, Victory Johnson and Brendan Gant.
"We're excited this year about the guys we have that come in, and the guys who came back have been developing and getting better," Hart said. "This spring game, you're gonna see some really good action I think."
