5 players to watch for in Saturday's Spring Showcase

BOULDER — Spring ball is coming to an end.

Colorado will hold its annual Spring Showcase on Saturday at Folsom Field in Boulder. The festivities kick off at 11 am with a garage sale in Balch Fieldhouse where fans can buy balls, jerseys-shirts and other items from the team’s equipment room. The spring game will kick off at 1 pm inside the stadium and will be broadcast and Pac-12 Mountain. Following the spring game, fans can take the field to participate in a field day at 3 pm.

Here’s who to watch for when the Buffs take the field:

Brendon Lewis

The Buffs are in the midst of a quarterback competition for the third-consecutive season but JT Shrout won’t be able to participate until this summer as he recovers from a knee injury suffered in August. The leaves last year’s starter, Brendon Lewis, in the spotlight on Saturday.

The early returns from camp were very positive for Lewis, including head coach Karl Dorrell saying after the spring first practice that he looks like a completely different player than a year ago.

“All that experience he gained last year has really paid off for his composure, his confidence, his mannerisms, how he exudes himself in the huddle, how he breaks the huddle, how he’s commanding everything in terms of the information he’s giving out,” he said. “He’s definitely a much different player.”

Fans had a chance to lay eyes on Lewis during the first scrimmage of the spring two weeks ago. His arm looked notably stronger than last season but the results were nothing special.

Lewis has a chance to tighten his hold on the starting job on Saturday before the competition with Shrout really heats up in August.

Erik Olsen

The biggest standout early in camp was redshirt freshman tight end Erik Olsen. He wracked up a handful of catches in every practice in the early going, a few of which went for touchdowns.

“He’s a smart player, great kid and he understands what we want him to do and he executes it at a high rate for a young kid,” tight ends coach Clay Patterson said. “It’s exciting to see him get to catch the ball.”

Olsen was one of the standouts of the first scrimmage, with his best play coming on a catch and run in the flat during which he brushed off a would-be tackler.

The big-bodied tight end could factor into Colorado’s offensive plans this fall, but the position is competitive behind senior Brady Russell. Another redshirt freshman, Austin Smith, is a converted wide receiver and should be the best competition for the No. 2 job.

Alvin Williams

With Carson Wells off to the NFL, a starting job opened up for an outside linebacker. Sophomore Alvin Williams is near the top of the list of potential replacements.

Williams’ name has come up often during Dorrell’s post-practice meetings with the media.

“He has been here a couple years with me, and yes he’s still a young player in terms of his years, but he’s been around and been in our system for a good bit of time,” Dorrell said. “It was good to see those guys step up and let their natural instincts go a little bit more, because they’re confident that they know what they’re doing. And they’re playing faster.”

One of the points of emphasis during camp has been generating pressure—an unsurprising goal considering CU had the fewest sacks in the Pac-12 last year—and Williams has been one of the leaders in that regard.

The competition at outside linebacker is deep—Guy Thomas, Jamar Montgomery, Chance Main, Joshua Gustav, Devin Grant and Zion Magalei all have the chance to carve out significant roles—but Williams has the opportunity to wrap up a breakout camp with a big day on Saturday.

Daniel Arias

Dimitri Stanley and Brenden Rice are gone but the Buffs have plenty of competition at wide receiver.

“The area that I’m really, really pleased with has been the receiver growth,” offensive coordinator Mike Sanford said last week. “It was a big question mark with everything that happened in the offseason and today I looked over and you see Maurice (Bell) and Daniel Arias and Montana (Lemonious-Craig) and RJ Sneed, Chase Penry. I looked over there after a big play like, ‘We’ve got a wideout group here and they’re being coached by two of the best.'”

The star of the first scrimmage was Daniel Arias who made a couple of massive plays deep down the field. New wide receivers coach Phil McGeoghan is very impressed.

“I’ve seen him take some very remarkable steps in such a short period of time,” McGeoghan said. “It’s very important to him. He is here all the time working on his body, doing extra in the classroom studying, he has a lot of questions in meetings. I’ve been very pleased with Daniel’s progression. And he’s a guy who I’m really counting on this year to take that next step.”

Arias hasn’t been able to live up to the potential his size and speed present in the past, but he could be primed for a breakout campaign.

Josh Wiggins

Colorado also lost its top cornerback duo from a year ago, but the Buffs are excited about the young cornerbacks on the roster.

Sophomores Kaylin Moore and Nikko Reed figure to play bigger roles in Year 2, but a big true freshman class is pushing for reps on game days. That group is led by Josh Wiggins.

“He has an infectious personality,” cornerbacks coach Rod Chance said. “He’s still learning and growing each day but he does have that confidence that he carries along with him. (I’m) very excited about where he is.”

Wiggins and Reed were the studs in the first scrimmage from the cornerback position. Wiggins broke up two passes; one on a deep ball to Austin Smith and the other on a third down to Montana Lemonious-Craig on the sideline.

The competition in the Buffs’ secondary may be the stiffest on the team and a big day from anybody could loom large this fall.