CU Heads Off for Spring Break After 83 Play Scrum

BOULDER GÇö Friday marked the first day of spring and the last day of classes before spring break, and the University of Colorado football team is nearly halfway through with its 2014 spring practices, completing an 83-play scrimmage in a little over an hour prior to the team scattering in different directions.

Unlike last weekGÇÖs mini-scrimmage which took place on just one half of the field, FridayGÇÖs run included possessions starting all over the field, from the offenses own 1-yard line and the 20- and 8-yard lines in the red zone.

GÇ£Overall, I thought both sides did well,GÇ¥ head football coach Mike MacIntyre said. GÇ£The first scrimmage, I thought the offense dominated, but this one the offense got off the goal line a few times, but the defense also stopped drives. The defense did better in the red zone today and they played harder and more aggressive. When youGÇÖre the head coach, you want to see both sides do well, when youGÇÖre on offense or defense, you just care about your guys. I was pleased with our kicking and field goals and they worked hard and we got a lot done.GÇ¥

The scrimmage featured 16 total possessions, with the offense scoring four touchdowns and a field goal; the defense technically had a safety when the ball was snapped out of the end zone from the 5-yard line, similar to the first play in last monthGÇÖs Super Bowl. There were 67 plays from scrimmage (43 pass plays, 24 rushes) and 16 special teams kicks (kickoffs, punts and placements).

Sophomore quarterback Sefo Liufau threw all four touchdown passes and to four different receivers: redshirt freshmen snared two Bryce Bobo (covering 51 yards) and Phillip Lindsay (22 yards), with senior Wes Christensen (8 yards) and sophomore Sean Irwin (10 yards) making the other pair. The other score during the session was a 31-yard field goal by redshirt frosh Chris Graham.

The defense, which allowed the offense to convert 12-of-17 third downs last week, clamped down this time around, allowing only four makes in 16 tries (and zip for two on fourth downs as well). It also had seven quarterback sacks, two each from sophomore Addison Gillam and redshirt frosh Derek McCartney, with sophomore safety Tedric Thompson making an interception and senior linebacker Woodson Greer blocking a field goal.

CU practiced seven times prior to its spring break, and will resume sessions on March 31 before the 15th and final one on April 14; the spring game is actually the next-to-last practice of the 15 allowed.

GÇ£In spring practice, itGÇÖs good to have a week off,GÇ¥ MacIntyre said. GÇ£ThereGÇÖs no game coming up, theyGÇÖre getting to the middle of it and now theyGÇÖll have some time off and want to hit each other again in a week. I talked to David Shaw (Stanford head coach), weGÇÖve known each other for a while. They actually have three weeks off, and theyGÇÖve won a bunch of games.GÇ¥

So what is the plan for the next 10 days?

GÇ£First, I told them to do the right things on spring break,GÇ¥ MacIntyre said. GÇ£They will. When they come back, theyGÇÖll be fresh. I told them to run on spring break and do some core work. They canGÇÖt just sit on the beach all day, they have to do some stuff to prepare to come back.

GÇ£When we get back, we will have some guys back who havenGÇÖt been out here yet so we will do some different things. Offensively, we didnGÇÖt have our big fullback (George Frazier) and we didnGÇÖt have Christian Powell, and heGÇÖs a power runner, so weGÇÖll do more emphasis on our heavy sets. Defensively, weGÇÖll have to prepare for those heavy sets, so weGÇÖll be doing that the first part after we return.GÇ¥

The quarterbacks have donned new jerseys for practices, light blue has been added to the gold they currently wear, but also some new verbiage.

GÇ£What weGÇÖre doing with the gold jerseys ... we call it uncommon ... and we want uncommon effortGÇ¥ MacIntyre said. GÇ£We watch a guy on offense, defense and special teams, we want an excellent uncommon play. ThatGÇÖs a great way to reward them, we give out the jersey in front of the whole team and we show the clips of how they earned it. If we can get everybody to do that, we can be exceptional. Each practice weGÇÖll reward for an uncommon play. If a guy gets it twice he can keep the jersey.

GÇ£Sefo has been very good,GÇ¥ he continued. GÇ£The first couple of days, I noticed a zip on the ball, he was stronger, I think he was completely healthy, his body was fresh. HeGÇÖs throwing off his back foot better and rotating his hips better, so he has more zip on the ball. HeGÇÖll be more accurate. He was good before, but heGÇÖs gone out and done the things that Coach (Brian) Lindgren told him to do in the off season on his own and heGÇÖs improved in that area.GÇ¥

Liufau got off to a slow start Friday, completing just of his first eight throws, though two were dropped and a third stripped away, but then completed six straight including his four touchdown throws; he finished the day 9-of-17 for 145 yards. In the two spring scrums, he is now 16-of-28 for 253 yards and five scores with no interceptions, which works to a 191.97 passer rating.

GÇ£The offense started a little slow today but ended on a high note,GÇ¥ he said. GÇ£IGÇÖm really impressed with the receivers, Bryce (Bobo) is a big guy and will get bigger and faster. Wesley Christensen also, heGÇÖs put a lot of hard work in, heGÇÖs made some big plays. The offensive line is doing really well, IGÇÖm happy with their progress. ThereGÇÖs nothing bad going on, everybody knows whatGÇÖs going on play wise and doing what theyGÇÖre supposed to do.

GÇ£Coach Mac told us weGÇÖd have a gold jersey with a U and Uncommon as the name tag on the back end,GÇ¥ he added. GÇ£The quarterbacks are wearing blue now. If coaches see a good play on film, theyGÇÖll nominate you and Coach Mac will decide the winner and if you get the gold jersey ... and if you get it twice you get to keep it.GÇ¥

GÇ£Both Jordan (Gehrke) and Sefo have done well,GÇ¥ MacIntyre added. GÇ£Sefo hasnGÇÖt done anything to lose the job by any stretch. ItGÇÖs exciting to see that Jordan is right there on his heels, not that much separation. You better have a few guys who can play. Jordan has the ability to escape (the pass rush) and can make some plays and heGÇÖs getting a good grasp of the offense. When Connor (Wood) left, I felt like GÇÿuh oh,GÇÖ and that opened the door for Jordan and heGÇÖs taken advantage of it.GÇ¥

Gehrke was 11-of-16 for 128 yards, completing his first eight throws of the scrimmage; he, too, had two balls dropped. He has solid numbers in the two scums, 23-of-33 for 286 yards (one TD, no picks), with his passer rating a solid 152.50.

GÇ£ItGÇÖs important for us to have a high completion ratio and a good run ratio,GÇ¥ MacIntyre said. GÇ£We feel like thatGÇÖs how you move the football, keep other teams off the field and win football games. Defensively, they were doing more man today in the scrimmage. I let the coaches call everything, they have plans for each other, so they donGÇÖt bring scripts out, they just go off what they see.GÇ¥

NOTES: Players who missed the scrimmage due to recent injuries included CB Kenneth Crawley (fractured finger), DL John Tuso (ACL tear) and WR Joe Hall (fractured finger); TB Michael Adkins (ankle sprain) and CB John Walker (hamstring) returned to action ... CU quarterbacks are 40-of-65 in the two scrimmages (61.5), a number the coaches would still like to see higher, but the 8.3 yards per attempt and 13.5 yards per completion are both very healthy averages ... The weather was a little chilly for the first day of spring, in the low 40s, but otherwise a sunny day to mark the occasion ... The Buffs will scrimmage once more, on April 4, ahead of the annual spring game at Folsom Field; the latter is set for Saturday, April 12 with a Noon start. The Pac-12 Networks will televise the game.

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