BOULDER — Considering Colorado’s upcoming opponent, Texas Tech, ranks second in Big 12 passing offense, it came as good news Tuesday when CU coach Dan Hawkins said Buffaloes senior cornerback Jimmy Smith is expected to be available for Saturday’s game at Folsom Field.
Smith suffered a concussion last weekend against Baylor. As a precaution, he did not practice Tuesday.
“We expect Jimmy to get going (for Saturday),” Hawkins said during his weekly media luncheon. “Even in the second half, Jimmy wasn’t playing, but it wasn’t like he was out of it.
“We’ll see. Everybody is sort of different in how they respond. We’ll see how the doctors monitor (Smith’s progress) each day.”
As a contingency plan, true freshman Terrel Smith (5-feet-8, 180 pounds, no relation to Jimmy) could discard his redshirt and see his first playing time on Saturday, Hawkins said. Terrel Smith and fellow true freshman Jered Bell are listed as safeties, but one could slide to cornerback.
As for evaluating Smith’s health, Hawkins said CU is fortunate to be involved with doctors in a study that compares a player’s normal brain wave activity with data obtained following a concussion.
“There’s sort of a manual, baseline concussion test that people have,” Hawkins said. “We sort of went beyond and above that. …We always err on the side of caution.”
In other news, junior defensive end Josh Hartigan is expected to play Saturday, Hawkins said. Hartigan, who has developed into CU’s best pass rusher, missed a large portion of last weekend’s game after turning an ankle.
Also, junior safety/nickel back Travis Sandersfeld “ran around a little bit” during Tuesday’s practice, Hawkins said. However, it is unclear if Sandersfeld, who suffered a fractured fibula against California, will play on Saturday.
Footnotes
Backup center Keenan Stevens was scheduled to have his left knee scoped Tuesday. “We’re not sure how long he will be out,” Hawkins said. “It could be a short time. It could be a long time. We’ll see what the significance of that is.”
…CU reported that about 9,000 tickets are available for Saturday’s homecoming game.
…Junior tailback Brian Lockridge has undergone successful ankle surgery, Hawkins said. Lockridge, who was the top backup to starter Rodney Stewart, is done for the season.
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
