BOULDER — When Christian Gonzalez chose Colorado over Alabama, Notre Dame and other blue bloods, one explanation was that he saw the opportunity to play as a true freshman.
According to Gonzalez, that wasn’t an issue.
“I believe I could’ve gone anywhere and played early,” Gonzalez told reporters Monday.
As Gonzalez wraps up his freshman year at CU, his confidence is at an all-time high. At least, that’s what he said and head coach Karl Dorrell said he’s seen the shift.
“He’s had a very good offseason,” Dorrell said. “He looks the part, physically. He’s put on a few pounds, his body’s getting more defined and he’s being more aggressive in coverage. And you can feel his presence out there on the field a little bit more, and the players out there actually can see it too.”
Gonzalez’s confidence comes from two places.
First, his on-field production last season as a true freshman in a Power 5 conference. He was the 14th true freshman ever to start the season-opener at Colorado and he performed admirably; he was targeted 36 times throughout the season and only gave up 20 catches (55.6%) and 239 yards with one touchdown. Of the 45 Pac-12 cornerbacks who gave up one or zero touchdowns in 2020, Gonzalez played the most snaps in coverage. His 85.3 NFL passer rating allowed ranks 23rd of 62 qualified Pac-12 corners.
The second source of Gonzalez’s confidence is the work that Gonzalez put in over the offseason. In particular, work in the film room.
“Going into spring, my goal was just to use film study and believe it,” Gonzalez said. “That’s what I struggled with.”
Believing film study can be hard. The tape will tip defenders off to various passing concepts and patterns they could see on game day. But when a young cornerback hits the field, he might recognize the route his receiver is running but not trust his knowledge enough to jump the route and make a play on the ball.
The focus on film study, Gonzalez said, has slowed the game down for him and that’s allowed him to see more than just the receiver he has to cover.
“Knowing what everybody else on the defense has to do and seeing all the plays develop, it’s just way easier,” he said.
According to Gonzalez, watching a film isn’t just a tool to prepare for a single opponent. He’s noticed that the knowledge he gains one week will probably come up again.
“When you’re in a film study, you pick up offensive tendencies and most offenses copy off of each other,” Gonzalez said.
Speaking of offense, another true freshman received a very positive review from Dorrell on Monday: quarterback Brendon Lewis.
“He’s graduated from the development stage,” Dorrell said, when asked. “You remember seeing him in the Texas game and how well he played there—which we were all very excited about the type of production that he was able to do—just imagine that, but he’s even better than that.”
And Dorrell went into the specifics.
“I think he has a better understanding of the concepts and the offense,” he said. “There’s no panic in his game anymore about being short-changed with the movements and the things that we’ve asked him to do. He’s reading through progressions really well. He looks very, very confident, very poised in the pocket. He’s made a couple big jumps of improvement and growth since the fall.”
Good stuff.
But back to Gonzo.
So… why did the four-star with length, athleticism and a list of offers that any high schooler would be jealous of choose Colorado if he could’ve played anywhere?
“It’s a great school,” Gonzalez said. “It used to be a great football team and I just want to rebuild that, help the team do that.”
Plus this:
“And it’s just beautiful here. That’s one of the reasons too.”
