Embree Happy With First Spring Scrimmage

BOULDERGÇöThe University of Colorado football team held its first spring scrimmage at the lower practice fields Saturday, running about 30 plays after an hour of other drills.

GÇ£WeGÇÖve gotten better every day,GÇ¥ CU coach Jon Embree said. GÇ£We have to do that. The quarterbacks played well, all three, when they were in there, and P-Rich made a couple of freak plays for long touchdowns. It was a good scrimmage, IGÇÖm please with the whole spring so far. ItGÇÖs fun because weGÇÖre coaching football this year, not effort and attitude and those other things like we had to do when we got here last year.GÇ¥

GÇ£One thing I like about this team is thereGÇÖs a sense of urgency, and itGÇÖs not created by the coaches, itGÇÖs the players and leadership creating it,GÇ¥ he continued. GÇ£You can tell guys are in their playbooks at night. ThereGÇÖs a mindset, a certain attitude about wanting to get good, that makes it so much more fun as a coach.GÇ¥

No statistics were kept, but the scrimmage was balanced between the offense and defense. In the first set of 10 plays, the offense got after the defense, but then the defense responded in the next set of 10 plays. Some highlight material was also prevalent, with Paul Richardson and Connor Wood connecting for two impressive touchdowns.

GÇ£The offense moved the ball well for the most part,GÇ¥ Wood said. GÇ£We definitely had some good plays and highlights to be proud of. Paul had a great day, he caught two and had two touchdowns. The running backs did well on the check downs and some of the flat routes. The offense line as a whole did great, too.GÇ¥

Richardson caught one screen pass and broke it for a touchdown while his other score came on another down field, a 70-yarder on a third down.

GÇ£We looked solid,GÇ¥ Richardson said. GÇ£Our line was allowing us to run the ball well so when we went to pass, we were wide open.GÇ¥

Richardson and Wood have been working hard to create a chemistry and better timing. GÇ£That was the hardest part,GÇ¥ Richardson said. GÇ£Our biggest thing is working out our timing and accuracy, both his drop and my routes. By the time IGÇÖm coming out of my break and with his drop, so IGÇÖm there when the ball is there.GÇ¥

The offense didnGÇÖt have any turnovers in the scrimmage, but as scrimmages go, that means the defense didnGÇÖt generate any.

GÇ£No turnovers is good and bad,GÇ¥ Embree said. GÇ£I keep harping on the defense, we have to get turnovers. We get them in different drills with different settings, but we didnGÇÖt get any in the scrimmage, but thatGÇÖs positive for the offense too. I donGÇÖt think either side dominated the scrimmage.GÇ¥

The Buffs are now one-third of the way through the spring, with five of 15 practices now in the books. The Buffs will practice Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday before taking a week off for spring break, then finish up with seven practices, capped by the Spring Game, which is scheduled for April 14.

GÇ£The key is to get better every day,GÇ¥ Embree concluded. GÇ£This is more of a technique spring, not as taxing physically like last year was, but weGÇÖll be able to get to that in the fall. With our depth issues, this was about getting a core group of guys prepared. IGÇÖm not overly concerned that weGÇÖre not banging as much as we did last spring, itGÇÖs more technique and I think itGÇÖs starting to show because guys are playing faster.GÇ¥

Colorado University Athletics