FORT COLLINS — The good news for Mike Bobo’s Colorado State Rams at the spring game Saturday at Hughes Stadium was that the Green and Gold offenses had little trouble moving, especially through the air — and both contenders for the starting quarterback position had impressive statistical afternoons.
Sophomore Nick Stevens, starting out with the Green and the first offense before some late-game shuffling, was 27-for-41 for 438 yards and four touchdowns. Freshman Coleman Key, opening with the Gold and the second offense before getting some snaps with the presumptive starters, was 17-of-36 for 337 yards and two touchdowns.
The bad news?
With new coach Mike Bobo’s push-the-place no-huddle offense on display, the Green and Gold offenses had little trouble moving against the CSU defense, especially through the air, even with All-American receiver Rashard Higgins held out because of a minor hamstring issue. The Green ended up winning 38-34.
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“The guys competed and it was good to see us make some plays down the field, a lot of explosive plays,” Bobo said. “The defense played OK in spots during the game, but we have to do a better job at (not) giving up explosive plays. Other than that, the guys competed, played hard and it was a good, competitive game and that’s what I wanted.”
Bobo said Stevens “did a nice job. He knew where he was going the whole game. He missed a couple, but that’s going to happen, and I thought he was a lot more decisive in his throws today.” And Key? “Coleman made some big plays as well,” Bobo said. “If we can get his eyes in the right spot, he’s got a chance to be a very good player as well.”
Stevens threw 25 passes as Garrett Grayson’s backup last season.
“I felt pretty good about the scrimmage,” Stevens said. “I thought I could have made a couple of better throws, but for the most part, I had a lot of completions for a lot of yards, as far as I have heard. … I feel like the last few weeks, it’s been a learning curve that we all handled pretty well.”
Key, who redshirted last season, has the strongest arm among the quarterbacks, and that perhaps even was true a year ago with Grayson — likely to be a second-day choice (rounds 2-3) in the upcoming NFL draft — around. Key said of Bobo’s offensive approach: “Especially with me being young, it’s taken me a while to become comfortable with it, but I think I’ve come a long way since the beginning of spring ball to get the concepts down and learning the system. … The first week or so, the first couple of days, things were moving so fast, I wasn’t sure what I was looking for, and now things are starting to slow down. I know what I’m doing. Fall camp is going to be a big test for me.”
Treyous Jarrells, seeking to succeed Dee Hart as the Rams’ featured back, ran for 50 yards on 12 carries for the Green, but otherwise there wasn’t much evidence of Bobo’s goal to have the sort of balanced approach he oversaw as Georgia’s offensive coordinator.
“We’re just trying to hide all our runs,” Bobo said dryly. “No, what they do defensively kind of limits some things and we wanted to work the quarterbacks, really in all three scrimmages, and kind of see what we have and where we stand and evaluate those guys. And we’re a little banged up at running back.”
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or
