BOULDER — Sefo Liufau is no longer in search of artificial swag. As such, the Colorado senior quarterback will no longer wear cosmetic items like a visor on his helmet.
Football mortality taught him that.
A Lisfranc injury not only ended his 2015 season, it threatened to end his football career. CU nearly had his expected replacement, Davis Webb, on campus, until the Texas Tech quarterback transfer pulled the rug out from under the Buffs last spring and made a beeline for Cal, where he is now the starter.
And Liufau, with his foot healed, suddenly had a new lease on his football life. He focused on just playing, stripping fluff such as an unnecessary visor.
“I think I needed something different last year,” Liufau said. “This year, itap not necessary.”
On Friday in CU’s season opener against Colorado State, he’ll step on a field many thought he might not see again. He’s grateful he has the chance.
“I think there may be a heightened sense of focus,” he said. “It is kind of two-fold for me. When you break your foot and there is an opportunity that you cannot play again, there is a realization that sets in that you can’t play again. Then I get blessed and am able to come back and play. It is also my senior year, and I got the realization of there are only so many snaps left of college football for me, and you never know when you or anyone else can get hurt again. Anything with football or in life can be taken from you, and I think a lot of times we take it for granted, so there is definitely a heightened sense of focus for me.”
This is the last time to make things right. This is the last time to fulfill the expectations, to validate the school-record passing numbers, to turn near-miss losses into victories.
It starts when he takes the first snap at Sports Authority Field at Mile High on Friday night against Colorado State.
“If you would have asked me a couple days or a week after I broke my foot, I would not know if I am going to make it back,” Liufau said. “I just want to take it one day at a time. To be in the position that I am in and to know that I made it is a great feeling. There will be some butterflies.”
He’s worked hard for this moment.
“Sefo never really went home (in the summer),” CU coach Mike MacIntyre said. “He was here every day. He would pay his own money to fly to Portland (Ore.) to work with his own passing coach to help keep everything going while he was down. It’s helped his velocity on the ball and his accuracy. He’s worked tirelessly. I’m excited he’s back. He’s looked good in practice. I’m looking forward to him having the year that he’s earned.”
Liufau has thrown for 7,397 yards and could become the school’s all-time leading passer in one play early in Friday’s game. All he needs is 13 yards. He already owns the highest career completion percentage in program history. And both of those records were accomplished despite missing the final two games last season after injuring his left foot.
He also missed all of spring football, but he’s back, looking fit after losing 10 pounds from a season ago. More important for CU, Liufau looks the part of a player ready to ditch the publicity of passing numbers that mean little without victories. Liufau appears ready to walk a winning walk.
“They see that heightened intensity,” MacIntyre said. “When they see other people overcome things with the work ethic and the time they have to put into it, they understand it. If you know your friend’s hopes and dreams and you can help him reach them, then you’re going to do a little more to reach his hopes and dreams. That’s what I see that Sefo has done with this team.”