Colorado's defense dominates the first spring scrimmage

BOULDER — The first scrimmage of the spring is in the books.

Colorado took the field Friday afternoon for their sixth of 15 spring practices. The plan for the practice changed earlier in the day, when the coaching staff decided to shorten the practice from its full length down to 20-25 plays of red zone work because of the team’s health.

“We don’t have a lot of depth. You guys see there are a lot of guys that aren’t playing,” Dorrell said after the scrimmage. “If we wear them down too much then we won’t be able to finish spring practice.

The plan, Dorrell said, is to hold a full-length scrimmage next Friday at Folsom Field.

The lack of depth has hit Colorado particularly hard along the offensive line. Though the defensive line was not at full strength, it won the majority of the battles up front. Few running lanes emerged but Alex Fontenot made a nice run up the middle and Jarek Broussard was shifty and explosive enough to create something out of nothing on multiple occasions. Second-year true freshman Jayle Stacks bulldozed defenders up the sideline on one occasion.

“What you saw today is what he’s been doing the last two, three or four practices since we’ve been in pads,” Dorrell said. “He’s a load to bring down and he’s one of those guys as a back that he’s a bigger back and he’s kind of a utility player for us. He catches the ball well out of the backfield. We get him in some run game with him in the backfield. He does a number of things for us. So we’ve been, I would say, pleasantly surprised with Jayle.”

To be clear, the defense still came out on top.

Cornerback Nigel Bethel and safety Ray Robinson each picked off passes during the shortened scrimmage. Linebacker Marvin Ham broke up a pass on a great read while in coverage.

The best passing play for the offense was a jump ball from sophomore walk-on Grant Cicarrone that true freshman wide receiver Michael Harrison came down with in the end zone. Montana Lemonious-Craig made an acrobatic catch on the sideline, the other highlight in the passing game, on a day when the pressure from Carson Wells and Alvin Williams dictated play.

Ciccarone rotated in with Brendon Lewis and J.T. Shrout at quarterback during the scrimmage, while true freshman Drew Carter stayed on the sideline.

“Drew is progressing. He’s not quite ready to trigger in a scrimmage yet,” Dorrell said. “He’s still learning and he’s digesting a lot of information.”

Dorrell said we’d get a look at Carter in the second scrimmage.