BOULDER — Colorado football coach Jon Embree can joke that he ought to put in a call to the school’s men’s basketball program and ask coach Tad Boyle about the fundamentals of post defense.
Embree’s Buffaloes (1-7, 0-4 Pac-12) will face one of the nation’s biggest quarterbacks Saturday at No. 23 Arizona State (5-2, 3-1) in Sun Devils junior Brock Osweiler, who measures 6-feet-8 and at least 240 pounds.
“He’s impressive; he’s all of 6-8,” Embree said Tuesday during his weekly media luncheon. “Seeing him and other (Pac-12) quarterbacks at media days (in July at Los Angeles), it was like a basketball team down there.”
A native of Montana, Osweiler is a mountain of a man. He’s also talented. Osweiler has thrown for 1,968 yards and 15 touchdowns against eight interceptions.
Osweiler isn’t afraid to tuck the ball and run which makes him “very unique” for someone that size, Embree said. Osweiler has netted 95 yards rushing in seven games. He would have almost double that total if it didn’t include 86 yards in losses due to sacks.
“That’s a testament to his athleticism,” Embree said. “He’s a guy that probably should be playing basketball. I wish he was.
“And he does a good job when he decides to run. He doesn’t just take off and leave the pocket. Obviously, (with his height) he can see things. He’s one of those guys that, as you go through this league, you see that it’s a quarterback-driven league.”
CU junior defensive end Will Pericak said Osweiler’s size makes it difficult on the Buffs defensive line.
“With his height, he definitely has good vision on the field,” Pericak said Tuesday. “A lot of the smaller quarterbacks, you know they’re going to be out of the pocket, trying to run around so they can see downfield.
“But he doesn’t have to run around to see. Even if we get our hands up, he can see over us. It makes it that much more important to get to the quarterback, to hit him and make his throws so that they’re not routine.”
Footnotes
After opening the Pac-12 schedule with four games against North Division teams, Colorado will finish out with five against its colleagues in the South Division. “It’s a little bit like a fresh start for us,” Pericak said. “It’s an opportunity to show the South that we’re here and we can play with anybody.”
…CU senior quarterback Tyler Hansen (concussion) remains listed as “day-to-day” for the ASU game but “is improving every day,” Embree said.
…Embree on his team playing 13 straight weeks this season without a bye: “We knew what the situation was this year (with an extra game allotted to CU to defray expenses incurred in playing at Hawaii). We’ll have byes in the future, including next year.”
Tom Kensler: 303-954-1280 or tkensler@denverpost.com
