BOULDER — Seventeen days and more than two dozen practices or walkthroughs since August camp began, the Colorado football team commences game-planning today for its season opener.
CU plays Colorado State on Aug. 31, but to coaches and players, game-week preparation couldn’t come soon enough.
“You just start limiting everything,” CU coach Dan Hawkins said Wednesday. “Right now . . . you’ve got every blitz and front and play and formation. Kids are out here carrying a bazillion concepts in their head.
“(Beginning today) you can start honing down. You can simplify and do more reps on what you’re actually going to do in a game.”
From now on, starters and top backups figure to get most of the repetitions.
“The other guys are going to have to get mental reps and be great scout team players,” Hawkins said. “Then, hey, if their number is called and they’re paying attention and know the game plan, they’re able to come over and transition and get going.”
Hawkins has said he knows little about CSU quarterback Billy Farris, a first-year starter as a fifth-year senior. But Hawkins did recall watching the Rams’ QBs warming up before last year’s meeting.
“I was a big Caleb Hanie fan, but they all looked good,” Hawkins said, referring to the former starter who completed his eligibility last season.
Fun and games.
In his tenure at CU in the 1990s, coach Rick Neuheisel was ridiculed by some fans for taking his squad tubing down Boulder Creek. Hawkins also believes it is important for players to get to know one another in a different setting. “Team unity” functions this week have included a trip to Dave and Buster’s and to the CU rec center, where players did belly flops at the pool.
“I just believe there is so much magic in the world and so much magic in people; sometimes you let life trample that down,” Hawkins said. “The more they connect with their families and us and the team, that’s a huge deal.”
Footnotes.
Hawkins said he does not believe the sprained thumb suffered by freshman tailback Darrell Scott during Wednesday’s morning practice is serious. . . . Redshirt freshman safety Anthony Perkins, a 2006 All-Colorado selection at Northglenn High School, is in the mix for playing time in the nickel and dime formations, as well as on special-teams units, Hawkins said. . . . Senior fullback Maurice Cantrell had the hit of the day on a block. “You’ve got to have those guys to make the offense move,” Hawkins said.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
