BSN Exclusive: How the Buffs' secondary is prepping for their first test

Wednesday was a long day for the Buffs’ safeties.

Like the rest of the team, they woke up in time to catch meetings at 7:30 a.m. Then they hit the practice facility at 8:30 for their first indoor practice of the season, which lasted nearly three hours. Afterward, they lifted in the afternoon before meeting up again for an hour-long walkthrough later that evening. That’s a minimum of six hours of scheduled work, pretty much the standard during camp.

But for the safeties, there was more.

Before dinner, they met for a 90-minute study session, part of a last-ditch binge to lock in the details of a new defensive scheme before the season begins Aug. 30 against Colorado State at Mile High Stadium.

“Being with the coaches for 30 minutes, we don’t have time to go over everything we need to do,” junior starting strong safety Aaron Maddox told BSN Denver.

Maddox and the other safeties brought their team-issued iPads to dinner early, so they could study film together. The iPads are loaded with clips of Buffs practice and tape from their opponents’ games.

Before Colorado moves on to studying its opponents, the team must ensure they’re doing things right on their end. That means nit-picking footwork, hand-positioning and knowledge of their assignments.

“It’s getting close and we’re starting to show that we get it each day, on film,” Maddox said. “It feels really good.”

There’s a lot to learn in new head coach Mel Tucker’s defensive scheme. He teaches concepts differently than past coaches and asks his players to manage different responsibilities. The goal for the secondary is to learn the details so they don’t need to think about them while they’re on the field. Once it’s second-nature, they just have to play fast.

“We just need to stay true to our techniques, even when we get tired,” Maddox said. “Our secondary can ball, no doubt about it. We all got skill. We all got talent. When we tune into those details we’re going to be a really, really scary secondary.”

But the clock is ticking. With the first game of the season just around the corner, it’s time to cram. There’s a lot to learn and not much time to learn. On Sunday, Tucker said the Buffs will keep learning all the way through the end of the season.

“I like where we are right now,” Tucker said. “But we’re not anywhere we need to be. We’re still a work in progress. It is always going to be that way. We’re never going to be satisfied.”

Maddox is fitting film study of the Rams’ receivers whenever he can into his schedule. Sometimes that’s between meetings. Sometimes during meals. Sometimes at home during his limited free time.

“Small things can really help you in a big game. Death by inches,” Maddox said. “I like to see his release, the way he gets off (the line of scrimmage), the way his feet are lined up. Even the way he drinks his water. Everything.”

The game against Colorado State will be one of the toughest for the Buffs schematically. Since it’s the first game of the season, they can only build their defense based on tape from previous years. Most of the looks the Rams give the Colorado defense should remain the same but there could be some twists.

That makes the matchup a test of the Buffs’ schematic knowledge.

“This is going to be a rules game,” Tucker said. “We’re expecting to see some unscouted looks. You just have to apply your rules within the scheme.”

When Colorado State shows 10 personnel (1 RB, 0 TE) with three receivers split to one side, the Buffs have a rule for how to defend that look. When a receiver goes in motion, the defense will shift to account for that change. The coverages are determined largely by how the offense lines up but also by game situations like the down and distance.

“When you apply your rule, it basically says, ‘Everything we do is sound versus every formation that they have or every motion adjustment they have,'” Tucker said. “They may line up in something different than what you’ve seen on tape, but just apply your rules to what you see and just play the play.”

This complex defense is tough for an offense to beat because the defense is putting itself in what Tucker has predetermined as the best possible situation, given the scenario. That’s why Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun said he’s been prepping to play Colorado since late June.

“It requires that kind of exhaustive — probably moreso extensive — preparation,” Calhoun told BSN Denver.

The Air Force coaching staff has been watching tape of Georgia’s defense from the last three years, as well as what Mel Tucker did at Alabama. He mentioned the creative ways cornerbacks and safeties are used.

“You can go back, everywhere Mel has been he’s been a part of great, great defenses,” Calhoun said.

But the presnap reads that give Tucker’s defense a massive advantage also require quick thinking and exceptional communication. One mistake and a receiver could be running free down the sideline.

The complexities of the scheme have forced graduate transfer Mikial Onu to box himself into the starting free safety role. He hasn’t had time to learn other hybrid safety positions like the money or star. As he grows more familiar with his primary job at free safety, he may begin to learn other roles as well.

“He’s very instinctive,” Maddox said of Onu. “I really like his physicality. I like that he’ll come down and hit. We’re never second-guessing whether he’ll come down and lay the lumber.”

But a physical presence isn’t all Onu is bringing to Boulder.

Back at SMU, the defenses Onu was part of had a tradition: When somebody gets a turnover, they run the ball over to the sideline and dunk it in a trash can.

“I think it’s an incentive,” Onu told BSN Denver. “Whenever you get an interception you’re looking like, ‘Where’s the crown? Where’s the trash can? Where’s the turnover chain?’ It gets people going.”

“We’re going to have an incentive like that here. You’ll see. I’m not going to spoil it.”