Dimitri Stanley describes what he's seen from Brendon Lewis

BOULDER — Dimitri Stanley will be a major piece of Colorado’s offense.

As a redshirt freshman in 2019, Stanley started nine games at wide receiver for the Buffaloes, catching 24 passes for 236 yards and a pair of touchdowns. On top of that, Stanley learned a few lessons.

“I just learned how much faster the game is — like what pace I have to play and the standard I have to hold myself to, being able to be accountable and have my teammates relying on me to make big plays,” Stanley told reporters Thursday.

Then he paused.

“Well, that and also just having fun out there, man. It’s just fun to be in front of all those fans and feeling that energy from the crowd and being with my brothers who I get to be with every day and finally getting to play and getting to knock some dudes around. It’s just playing a game still.”

Stanley has been running routes on the practice field with a few of the other receivers, a group that includes Maurice Bell, Daniel Arias and K.D. Nixon.

“The whole receiving corps as a unit is a bunch of hard workers,” Stanley said. “We all work out together, get catches in together, hit the weight room together. We have that competitiveness within our own corps that just helps us strive to be greater and helps us push each other.”

The wide receivers aren’t alone on the practice field, though. The quarterbacks are running through the playbook with them, and Stanley has been impressed by what he’s seen from highly-touted freshman Brendon Lewis.

“We’ve seen what he can do out on the practice field,” Stanley said of Lewis. “The kid is accurate, has a cannon and I’ve only seen his film but he looks like he can run around a little bit, too.”

For a receiver to shout out a dual-threat freshman’s accuracy before his running ability is certainly a good sign. Stanley has been impressed by what he’s seen off the field, too.

“Me and Brendon have built a really close relationship and a really close friendship,” Stanley said. “He’s a heck of an athlete, he’s got a heck of an arm and he’s a pretty smart kid as well. I’m looking for him to make some big plays coming up in fall camp and really show his stuff.”

But Stanley isn’t ready to say Lewis has a leg up over his competitors, Tyler Lytle and Sam Noyer.

“It’s going to be really interesting to see, honestly,” Stanley said of the quarterback competition. “It’s up in the air right now. It’s really up for grabs for any quarterback that we have right now. They’re all so talented and smart, and they can all make plays on the field so it’s really going to come down to competing and who wants the job the most.”