Buffs Camp Notes: Why Mel Tucker doesn't want his players to talk trash

 

The “dog days” of Buffs camp continued on Wednesday.

BSN Denver was in Boulder to hear what went down.

Mel Tucker doesn’t want his guys talking trash

Richard Sherman. Jalen Ramsey. Aqib Talib.

What do some of the biggest trash talkers in the NFL have in common?

They’re cornerbacks.

That’s why it was a surprise to hear Wednesday that Mel Tucker doesn’t want his guys talking to their opponents.

“We play, the whistle blows, go back to the huddle, reload, get ready to go again,” he said. “Play fast. Play physical. Just do your job then go to the next play.”

For a former cornerback and longtime defensive backs coach, especially one who wants his team to build a physical reputation, aversion to trash-talking is abnormal. But it was something Tucker brought up as a point of improvement during his opening comments Wednesday.

Why does he want his guys to keep their mouths shut?

“There’s no reason to talk trash to the other team. That’s not what good teams do,” he said. “Good teams focus on doing their job. Execute. They learn from the previous play then move on to the next one. There’s no time to talk.”

That doesn’t mean the Buffs won’t be sending a message to opponents.

“We have to talk with our pads,” Tucker said. “That’s what says the most.”

The full-go portion of camp is winding down

The final scrimmage of fall camp is Saturday and that will be the final time the Buffs wear full pads before their season-opener against Colorado State.

One focus this week has been staying off the ground during practice. Obviously, tackling or blocking a guy to the ground raises the potential for injury, but bodies lying on the ground are also a threat to teammates who could trip.

“This was our best practice in terms of being physical but staying off the ground,” Mel Tucker said.

Tucker’s been harping on his guys in meetings and mentioned earlier in camp that he shows his team tape of NFL practices, where almost nobody winds up on the ground.

“That tells me our guys are responding to coaching. We say ‘stay up,’ you gotta stay up,” he said.

It’s a tricky balance to strike since many starting jobs are still up for grabs and players want to impress. Tucker thought the practice was competitive between the offense and defense without risking injuries.

“It’s a great day in Boulder. It’s a great day for football,” Tucker said. “There’s nothing out there but green grass and opportunity.”

Tarik Luckett is already contributing at cornerback

Last week the Buffs made a roster change: True freshman wide receiver Tarik Luckett flipped to the other side of the ball.

Mel Tucker said this was a decision Luckett was involved in, but it was forced in part by necessity. The Buffs are extremely thin at cornerback, despite promising play from some starters in fall camp.

At 6-foot-3 and 190 pounds, Luckett is an incredible athlete but he wasn’t expected to contribute this season offensively. Now, he could be just a couple notches down the depth chart.

“He was making plays before he even knew what he was doing (at cornerback),” Tucker said.

Tucker shouted out freshman cornerback K.J. Trujillo who is also making plays in the secondary.

Like Luckett, junior Va’atofu Sauvao switched to the defensive side of the ball. Sauvao could fill a spot in a rotation that Tucker expects to be eight or nine players deep on a game-to-game basis.