Boulder – Spring football scrimmages are often a blur, sometimes a bore. This one was no different, a sea of silver, black and gold banging on one another again as they had in several practices before, only this time in full uniform and with a crowd.
The new Colorado coach, Dan Hawkins, showed some of his football variety on both ends Saturday at Folsom Field. Hawkins strikes as the kind of guy who prefers a buffet over a sandwich. He likes spicy football and lots of points, but his team managed little of either in this scrimmage before a few thousand fans.
So, after his offense finally managed a passing touchdown, Hawkins called it finished. The exercise had lasted 2 hours and 24 minutes. There were several key injured players out, players the Buffaloes will rely upon in September and beyond. Fans, everybody knows this look is nothing like that look, right?
“They never do that,” Hawkins said.
They look now. They measure now.
In that spirit:
1. Colorado is not fast enough. It needs more team speed. What team could not use more? This one had better find a way to take the speed it has and back up defenses and keep offenses contained on the edges. The Colorado offense looks as if this could be a season-long quandary. The Colorado defense looks better suited for its task.
2. The best pass all day was a 20-yard out from right-handed quarterback Brian White. Tremendous throw, accurate, and he twisted his body and put zip on the pass. White’s best and worst, however, are a wide gulf. I was impressed with the way Hawkins has embraced the running ability of quarterback Bernard Jackson. Hawkins sees it as Jackson’s athletic gift and a gift for his team, not as a nuisance, as pure pocket passer lovers do.
3. Kicker Mason Crosby is one heck of a peg to hang a season upon.
Crosby was the show.
He attempted 16 field goals. He made seven. He tried three or four consecutively (you can do that in a scrimmage). He missed from 70 yards, but not by much. His longest make was 49 yards.
The college record for longest field goal made without a tee is 65 yards.
For longest with a tee, it is 67 yards.
The longest Crosby has made at CU is 60 yards.
The longest he has made in a practice is 72 yards.
The longest he has made this spring in practice is 68 yards.
Entering this college football season, he is the premier kicker in the land, a senior who returned for another boot.
I admire him. I am not sure I would have come back, what with all the turbulence and drama and revamped coaching staff in CU football. With a chance to be drafted in a few days likely somewhere from the third and fifth rounds, Crosby stayed put to help Hawkins do his thing at CU. To leave the place, he hopes, even better than he found it.
“I went back and forth on it, and I figured I was a part of the program when there were problems, and I can be a part of the fresh start and make sure everyone knows this is a good place,” Crosby said. “I like the aspect of making everything in your life, leaving everything in your life a little better.
“It was a good example to set for my brother, Rees, back home in high school in Texas. It was in my best interest to stay. I get one more year to become a better kicker in college, finish what I started here, get a degree and enjoy school.”
Crosby said he has 16 hours of classes this spring, will take 11 in the summer and by December he will graduate. That way, he can spend all of the early part of the next year preparing for the 2007 NFL draft.
I would be shocked if he does not earn the college record for longest field goal this season.
He has been groomed for it. Has the booming leg for it. And the desire and opportunity. Hawkins wants him to have it.
And Crosby wants his name up on Folsom Field’s board of great players. He has had his eye on that from the moment he stepped into the stadium. By staying, he will leave that imprint.
He also gives CU football in a season of transition and uncertainty something concrete, dependable, enjoyable.
He might have punting added to his duties.
He is learning to play guitar. Maybe he will join a band, he said.
The band of Buffs around him are thankful he joined them. One more time.
“When draft day rolls around here pretty soon, I am not going to double-guess that,” Crosby said. “I am going to have fun with my teammates and at my school. I’m looking forward to watching our coaches take what they have been saying and applying it. I’m ready to go anytime they get me inside the 50-yard line.”
And beyond.
Thomas George can be reached at 303-820-1994 or tgeorge@denverpost.com.
