On paper, there is a lot to be excited about with the Colorado receivers for the upcoming season.
Unfortunately for the Buffs, too many of those receivers aren’t on the turf right now.
As the Buffaloes go through spring drills, their talented receiver group has been hampered by injuries. In fact, receivers Jason Phillips couldn’t answer a question about what fans can expect from the group.
“Thatap a great question because right now I don’t know what coach Phillips expects from this group, considering the number of injuries that we sustained over the course of spring ball,” he said Tuesday after CU’s seventh practice of spring. “So, I’m still trying to figure that out.”
CU’s top returning receiver, Joseph Williams, has been out all spring with a right leg injury. Texas transfer DeAndre Moore has been out with a lower left leg injury. Walk-on Tagert Bardin hasn’t participated because of an arm injury. And, the Buffs recently lost returner Hykeem Williams to an injury.
Health aside, Phillips said there is clearly talent among a group that has been rebuilt since last season.
“The first thing thatap glaring is a lot of speed,” he said. “Thatap the one thing that we definitely did a good job recruiting, and obviously Coach Prime (head coach Deion Sanders) with his hand in the decision-making with this class has improved the speed in the room. So we’re excited about that.”
The group includes Sacramento State transfer Ernest Campbell, who has been running sprints with the CU track team this spring. And, Kam Perry, a transfer from Miami-Ohio, is a speedster who averaged 22.7 yards per catch last season.
Campbell, Perry, Moore and Danny Scudero (San Jose State) all came to CU in the offseason as highly productive transfers. As a group, they combined for 206 catches for 3,560 yards and 28 touchdowns. Scudero led the country with 1,291 receiving yards, on 88 catches.
Joseph Williams was CU’s second-leading receiver last year with 37 catches for 489 yards and four touchdowns. Hykeem Williams, Quanell Farrakhan Jr., and Quentin Gibson also return after playing a bit last year for the Buffs.
“Different type of players,” Phillips said. “Some guys that have done some things, accomplished some things at other places and come in with some production. And so thatap the thing that we’re starting to see that now. Once we get a couple guys off crutches and whatnot, then we should have a solid group.”
Itap a group Phillips is looking forward to seeing in the new Go-Go offense being installed by first-year coordinator Brennan Marion. The offense relies on a strong run game, but also gives receivers chances to make big plays.
“I think the offense is really predicated toward setting guys up to be successful,” Phillips said. “I think the skill sets, as far as the speed and whatnot is obviously going to be a plus. The Go-Go consists of a lot of different offenses. … Itap kind of similar to some of the things we did with the run-and-shoot (when he was a player at Houston in the 1980s). Itap got a lot of elements of run-and-shoot, air raid, West Coast. Itap a receiver’s dream, really.”
In addition to catching the ball, receivers in Marion’s offense are required to be skilled at blocking. Last year, Phillips was criticized for saying the Buffs didn’t work on blocking in practice and that it was a task that mainly was about the will to get it done.
Phillips joked Tuesday, “I got crucified the last time I said something about blocking, right? So I won’t make that same mistake.”
He added, however, that this group is doing “an excellent job of blocking.”
“I want to reiterate, itap got to be in a guy’s DNA,” he said. “No matter how many drills you do, if it ain’t in his DNA, he ain’t going to want to do it. … But these guys have gravitated to that.
“They’ve done an excellent job of demonstrating physicality.”
Now, the Buffs have to get healthy. But, when they are ready to go, Phillips is eager to see how it looks.
“You’re going to see something totally different than probably what you’ve seen in the past few years,” he said.
