Brenden Rice thinks CU's diverse receiving corps can spark a special season

BOULDER — On Tuesday, Casey Roddick told DNVR that the offensive line’s goal was two 1,000-yard rushers.. and that three would be ideal.

Well, on Thursday, freshman wide receiver Brenden Rice shared a similar goal.

“Any three of us with at least 1,000 yards,” Rice said of CU’s receivers.

The goal will be tough to reach, considering Colorado has only produced 10 1,000-yard receiving seasons in its history. Only Michael Westbrook and Charles Johnson have done it in the same season (1992).

Westbrook and Johnson had Kordell Stewart at quarterback. Rice will have Brendon Lewis or J.T. Shrout.

“Both have them have stepped up,” Rice said. “Now I’m super excited just to see who’s gonna take that role.”

Shrout, the transfer from Tennessee, is the veteran in the room despite having three years of eligibility remaining.

“J.T. has an exceptional arm,” Rice said. “I’m proud of how he came in and started becoming a leader.”

Lewis is a second-year true freshman, and joined Colorado in the same recruiting class as Rice.

“B-Lew has lived up to everything he said he was going to be this year,” Rice said. “He stepped up in the position of, ‘You know what guys? I know what happened last year. I’m ready to go ahead and take control this year and lead you guys to a Pac-12 Championship.'”

But whether Rice can reach 1,000 yards doesn’t only depend on who’s throwing the ball. While there’s plenty to be excited about, he only has six  catches to his name.

Head coach Karl Dorrell put it well during spring ball.

“You saw glimpses of really, really greatness last year with him in certain games,” Dorrell said.

The goal now is to get rid of the “certain games” and “glimpses of” in that sentence.

Over the summer, Rice split his time between Boulder and his homestate of Arizona. When he was at home, he was working out at Athletes Performance Enhancement with a variety of high school, college and NFL players. He notes his ability to quickly get in and out of the breaks in his routes as the biggest point of emphasis.

In terms of who he models his skill set after, his father is first on the list.

“I do like a little bit of Jerry,” Rice said. “Jerry had a little bit of savviness. He made everything look the same.”

From there, it’s a long list that includes some of the best receivers in the game like DeAndre Hopkins, Julio Jones, D.K. Metcalf and Davante Adams.

“D.K. with the speed and aggression,” Rice said. “Julio is a big dude and he’s savvy. He can get in and out of routes. He can hide from you in your blind spots. He knows what he’s doing.”

Rice says that hiding in blind spots is one of the few ways to beat freshman cornerback Christian Gonzalez in practice.

“He’s a great player,” Rice said. “He’s an exceptional player and I’m just happy that every day I get to go against him.”

Rice spends his time studying cornerbacks too, and he sees some of the game’s best when he watches Gonzalez. He says Gonzalez’s hips are reminiscent of Patrick Peterson’s and he’s smart like Deion Sanders.

“Gonzo takes so many characteristics from different players,” Rice said.

The wide receivers test Colorado’s secondary in practice, thanks to a diverse group of receivers. The diversity, Rice says, is what makes the group so hard to defend.

“Everybody brings a certain quality to the receiver group so you have a mismatch,” Rice said. “You might get a deep threat, you might get a route runner, you might just get a strong physical cat.”

Who knows… maybe that diversity can lead CU to its first-ever season with three 1,000-yard receivers.