BOULDER — Colorado’s first practice of fall camp Thursday featured a couple of no-shows due to academics, and a potential star’s debut was delayed due to paperwork, but one addition made up for them.
Sophomore Nate Bonsu, a possible starter at defensive tackle, declared himself 100 percent after missing all spring drills with a knee injury.
“I’m doing really good,” he said.
Bonsu, who played in all 12 games last season and made 15 tackles, tore his medial collateral and lateral meniscus along with developing bone chips. He did it in an offseason conditioning drill.
“It was definitely a big disappointment,” he said. “Everybody knows how we ended the year. Everybody out here is ready to prove that we’re actually a really, really great team.”
He said while on crutches, he improved his upper body lifts, and his recent squats have reached 660 pounds, just down from his personal best of 705.
Buffs get Georgia transfer.
When Colorado hosts Georgia on Oct. 2, it can get an inside scouting report from a new player, Georgia transfer Makiri Pugh. The defensive back left after spring ball under defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, hired away from the Dallas Cowboys to replace the fired Willie Martinez.
Grantham changed the scheme from a 4-3 to a 3-4. Pugh, the backup nickel back a year ago, thought he would get a shot to start this season. After spring ball, he found himself at backup safety.
“I just wanted an opportunity to possibly start,” said Pugh, a three-star prospect out of Independence High School in Charlotte, N.C. “Just a fresh start.”
Still waiting.
Wide receiver Travon Patterson, a highly touted transfer from Southern California, watched practice in street clothes. His paperwork is in the process of being cleared.
Wide receiver Andre Simmons and tight end Clark Evans still have academic work to finish. Summer school ends today.
Colorado coach Dan Hawkins said sophomore defensive end Forrest West will need “another couple of weeks” before he returns from a knee injury.
Fourth-and-short.
Redshirt freshman Terdema Ussery switched from wide receiver to safety at his request. He played both positions his junior year at Dallas’ St. Mark’s School of Texas and just receiver his senior season. . . . The team helmets didn’t feature any decals. “You have to earn your Buff,” Hawkins said.
John Henderson, The Denver Post
