FORT COLLINS — A seam briefly opened for running back Raymond Carter, and the only one who reacted fast enough on the defensive side of the field was a coaching intern. He moved out of harm’s way.
Carter, in one of the biggest plays of Colorado State’s spring practice, took it to the house during one of the three periods of live hitting. The ball was placed on the opposing 45 and Carter, a junior transfer from UCLA, was gone in a flash.
“It felt good. I’ve been waiting for a big run all during spring ball, especially live drills,” Carter said after Friday’s major hitting session for the week.
The Rams get the weekend off before the final week of spring drills.
The run and significant improvement by the offense most of the afternoon helped put CSU coach Steve Fairchild in an unusually good mood for a spring practice.
“Usually you don’t see Coach Fairchild smiling,” Carter said.
Actually, Fairchild was joking about some trash talk between the offensive and defensive assistants.
“A lot of funny things were going on,” Fairchild said. “I just told them we’re not anywhere near game-ready, but we’re getting better on both sides of the ball.”
He’s looking for a big windup and carry-over into summer workouts.
Fairchild didn’t get into many personnel specifics, but he said, “There’s a ‘want to’ here that I like.”
He has been pleasantly surprised by the progress in just three weeks.
“It’s not easy offensively when you’ve got a new offensive line,” Fairchild said. “You’ve got a couple of quarterbacks (incoming freshman Pete Thomas and redshirt freshman Nico Ranieri) who were in high school a year ago, and then to even have something that looks like practice . . .”
The QB rotation for the final period of hitting was Thomas, wide receiver/quarterback T.J. Borcky and Ranieri. Fairchild said nothing is to be read from the order.
He’s not tipping his hand to any depth chart decisions, but said, “Even if we stopped right now, we’d have a fairly good idea of our personnel.”
As far as “spring revelations,” Fairchild said he liked the improvement of the receivers, one area that struggled early in camp. Defensively, Fairchild and defensive coordinator Larry Kerr cited cornerback Momo Thomas.
Footnotes.
Fairchild said there still is some installation of plays left for the last three practices, including next Saturday’s spring game. He wants to see more all-out blitzes. . . . Retired Florida State coach Bobby Bowden will be the featured speaker at next weekend’s annual high school coaching clinic. Former Bowden assistants Pat Meyer (CSU’s offensive coordinator) and Todd Stroud (tight ends) were instrumental in bringing Bowden to Fort Collins.
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
