Colorado's secondary is prepared for Texas A&M's versatile playmakers

BOULDER — Mekhi Blackmon made a mistake in Week 1.

After Blackmon picked off a pass in the end zone for a touchback at the end of the first half, he charged down the sideline to the other end of the field, where he posed in front of photographers with safeties Chris Miller and Mark Perry.

In the NFL, that’s how just about every defense in the league celebrates forcing a turnover.

On Friday night, the celebration was called for unsportsmanlike conduct.

“I didn’t know that was a flag,” Blackmon told DNVR on Wednesday. “I also saw a lot of games this weekend too—TCU did the same thing and didn’t get a flag, so I don’t know. I guess I’ll just be smarter this time.”

Penalties were a problem for Colorado in its season-opener. Blackmon’s penalty was one of four personal fouls that Colorado was called for. Head coach Karl Dorrell and others have stated that discipline will be an emphasis this week in practice.

Blackmon said the emphasis is important.

“You’ve just gotta have a consciousness of knowing penalties are going to hurt us in the long run,” he said. “Just trying to be smart, stay composed. You made a good play, just act like you’ve been there before. Holding and things like that, that’s going to happen but just limiting it is what we’re emphasizing.”

This week, in particular, will be an important one to play with composure.

Colorado will host No. 5 Texas A&M at Empower Field in Denver at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Colorado is 4-34 against ranked teams since 2009 and its last win over a top-10 opponent came in 2007 against No. 3 Oklahoma.

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“This is not a situation we haven’t been in before,” Blackmon said. “We dealt with this last year at Texas. I’ve been here when we played Nebraska. We were the underdogs. So just us being tired of feeling like the underdog, little brother. We feel like it’s our time to prove ourselves. (Texas A&M is a) great team, but we’re working hard to prove ourselves as a team.”

Colorado’s secondary will have a tough draw against A&M. Specifically, Blackmon and Miller will draw tough assignments.

The Aggies have four players who are currently seen as first-round prospects in April’s draft: defensive tackle DeMarvin Leal, guard Kenyon Green, running back Isaiah Spiller and tight end Hunter Wydermyer.

Wydermyer will spend significant time in the slot, as will Ainias Smith. Smith is a 5-10, 190-pound receiver who converted to running back last season and is now used as a utility man; he spends some time in the backfield and also flexes into the slot.

Miller is Colorado’s slot guy, but he spent some time at dime linebacker in Week 1 because Robert Barnes was unable to play. When Miller was at dime, Blackmon moved into the slot.

With Barnes likely to be back this week, it’s anybody’s guess how the Buffs will line up.

“We’ve got a lot of different things going on for us against those two guys, so we’re just ready to play,” Blackmon said.

Barnes, who fits best as a coverage linebacker, could be the answer for Wydermyer.

“He’s very versatile,” Blackmon said. “He’ll be able to match up against 85 (Wydermyer) really good.”

I’d guess that Miller plays exclusively in the slot with Blackmon on the boundary. Miller would take Smith when he lines up at receiver, while Barnes would be left to cover one of the top tight ends in the country. When Smith is off the field and Wydermyer is in the slot, Miller would be in charge of covering the tight end.

But that’s just a guess.

If Miller does spend the whole game in the slot, where he’s matched up with Wydermyer and Smith, he says he’s up to the task.

“It’s really exciting,” Miller told DNVR. “Going up against great competition allows you to raise your level of play and allows you to compare it to some of the best in the country.”

With Jimbo Fisher running the offense for A&M, the Buffs are likely to see a wide-open passing attack, which will stress the secondary.

“It’s exciting because it’s more action, honestly,” Miller said.

Blackmon is excited, too, and he says this A&M offense is similar to what the Buffs see week-in and week-out.

“It’s basically like I’m playing a Pac-12 team,” Blackmon said. “The Pac-12 is one of the most passing conferences. This is just getting us ready for regular conference. This is no different than what we’ve seen in the past.”

There could be opportunities to make plays this week, as A&M is poised to give a second-career start to freshman quarterback Haynes King. In his starting debut last week against Kent State, King threw three interceptions, with the common thread being that he was pressured and forced the ball into small—or nonexistent—windows.

“We’re ready,” Blackmon said. “Just capitalizing on it and then that’s a way for us to get points for our offense—potentially pick-sixes and things like that. Just giving them the ball back as much as possible.”

Blackmon gave his offense the ball back once on Friday–even if he cost the team a few yards after the interception.

A receiver motioned to his side of the field and Blackmon noticed that he was leaning outside a little bit. He acted like he was playing inside, even though he knew the receiver was breaking toward the sideline. There was some space to complete a pass, but that was intentional.

“I was trying to let him get to where he wanted to get so the quarterback would throw the ball,” Blackmon said. “Regardless of if he did throw a better ball or not I would have closed and he wouldn’t have caught the ball, but luckily he overthrew it. Tips and overthrows, gotta get those.”

It was a play Blackmon wouldn’t have made earlier in his career, he said.

“You’ve gotta be confident in what you’re doing first,” Blackmon said. “Then, over time, you’ll say, like, ‘I can be more crafty with this, be more crafty with that.'”

Blackmon said he felt the breakthrough in baiting quarterbacks last season, but he dropped the ball when it finally got to him. This year he, Christian Gonzalez and safety Mark Perry have started joining the wide receivers after practice to catch balls out of the JUGS Machine.

But despite the work he’s put into trying to become a pick artist, Blackmon’s goal this week isn’t to intercept another pass.

“Just get the ‘W,'” Blackmon said. “Right now, just get the ‘W.’ No touchdown passes, get the ‘W.'”