BOULDER — The reality check isn’t coming from coaches, senior teammates or parents. As with most life-altering realizations of college life, the message is being spread through the dorms.
Colorado opens the season at Hawaii on Saturday night. Freshmen, who a year ago were riding yellow school buses to crosstown clashes, will get on a charter flight to Honolulu this morning.
“I really haven’t been thinking about it. Some of the kids in the dorm said, ‘You’re about to go to Hawaii and play on national TV.’ They are kind of psyching me out,” said Tyler McCulloch, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound receiver who has earned co-staring status with veteran Toney Clemens.
McCulloch notes the difference between his Labor Day weekend plans and those of “civilian” freshman students.
“They all started going up to The Hill (CU’s traditional party headquarters) having their first party,” McCulloch said.
Most of the freshman student population has been on campus two weeks. Most of the football freshmen reported soon after Memorial Day for summer workouts.
“I worked hard all summer for this,” freshman starting kicker Will Oliver said. “I came straight here from high school.”
First-year coach Jon Embree and his staff wasted no time blending their recruits with returning players. Two other freshman starters are right cornerback Greg Henderson and walk-on punter Darragh O’Neill of Fairview.
Nelson Spruce in on the receiving depth chart, Hawaiian Paulay Asiata is the backup left guard and Mullen’s Brady Daigh is listed as second-team inside linebacker.
“I wouldn’t say I’m nervous. It hasn’t kicked in yet. It’s coming quick,” McCulloch said. “Before the game, I’ll be thinking a little. Coach always tells us by the time the game starts, it should just be automatic because of all the preparation we’ve done to that point.”
He also knows the intangibles of playing in front of the biggest crowd of his life and opposing defensive players, who, unlike teammates in practice, really want to crush him.
McCulloch knows how important the first hit is after missing most of his senior year with liver and spleen damage only to return in the playoffs.
“The first game is the toughest,” he said. “Even for the older guys. Once the first play is in, after that I’ll know what I’m doing.”
There is no anonymity in the kicking game.
“There’s no second down on special teams,” CU special teams coach J.D. Brookhart said. “We put them in enough pressure situations. I’m sure it will feel good to get the first ‘make.’ “
Embree is going out of his way to relieve the pressure on his first-time players, telling Henderson that stellar Hawaii quarterback Bryant Moniz is certain to complete passes, if not touchdown passes, over him and that Oliver will miss some of his kicks.
The coach remembers the pressure he put on himself as a CU freshman in 1983.
Embree told the tale of spending an entire night in the training room after spraining an ankle and risking being left home on the first road trip.
“I knew how important it was to be on that trip and play,” he said. “I get that same sense of urgency from these guys. From my freshman season, there was a lot of things I didn’t know and it was probably better that way. The same is true for these guys.”
Natalie Meisler: 303-954-1295 or nmeisler@denverpost.com
