Tim Skipper (CSU photo)
Colorado State assistant head coach and linebackers coach Tim Skipper Wednesday talked about the challenges the Rams will face Saturday night at Boise State. In their last 90 home games, the Broncos are 86-4. No, it hasn’t been Auburn and Ohio State coming in every other year with the Broncos playing in the Big West, WAC and Mountain West, but that’s still true-blue impressive.
“Boise, they always present problems for matchups,” Skipper said. “They try to shift and use motion to set things up, so pretty uch for us the main thing is to be fundamentally sound, get our eyes in the right places and line up to all their formations that they give us, pre-snap and post-snap. We have to be on it. They have explosive guys. They have a running back who’s arguably one of the best in our conference, and they have a quarterback who’s very athletic and receivers who run good routes with speed. We have to bring our A game if we’re going to keep up with them.”
The Rams’ linebacker corps was considered one of the team’s strengths going into the season, and it’s a disparate group, with the quiet Max Morgan in the middle.
“I always tell them, if you know what you’re doing, you’re going to be able to play a lot faster,” Skipper said. “I think these guys study and they break down film even before we do. We came into the first meeting for Boise and Max has already watched like five games and he had all these questions. When we get to the game it’s not cloudy.”
One issue is that the Rams will be without backup linebacker Kevin Davis for about three weeks after he underwent a minor shoulder cleanup procedure this week.
“Kevin Davis is a huge part of our core,” Skipper said. “He is a guy who’s very explosive and he does multiple things. Just in that one game, he played outside backer, then he came in and played some inside backer, and then on third downs, he did a lot of our cover and pressure stuff. He was a big part of is and we’re definitely going to miss him, but collectively we will be able to make up for that and be just fine.”
Skipper both played and coached at Fresno State under Pat Hill and he joined Jim McElwain’s new CSU staff for the 2012 season. McElwain had coached under Hill in 2007, when Skipper was Fresno State’s running backs coach.
Skipper said of Hill: “All he really worried about was just being tough. He just wanted tough guys. He said when we leave this stadium they’re going to know we came to play and we’re going to outhit you. That’s kind of grown on me and what I preach every day. When you go up against another man you better be tougher than him and he better shake your hand saying you have him a game.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or twitter.com/TFrei
