Five stars from Colorado's first spring scrimmage

BOULDER — The Buffs are back at Folsom.

Colorado held its first spring scrimmage on Saturday in front of a couple hundred fans. It was the first of three scrimmages during fall camp, two of which will be open to media and the public. The other open scrimmage is the team’s spring game which will be held on Sat., April 23.

Saturday’s scrimmage included about 90 minutes of live football, with the only restraint being that defenders couldn’t touch the quarterback. Here’s who stood out:

1. JOSH WIGGINS

True freshman Josh Wiggins was the star of the day on Saturday, though it was a tight battle.

Two plays stand out:

1. Wiggins was covering tight end Austin Smith at the edge of the red zone. Smith got separation on a post route but Wiggins closed while the ball was in the air and knocked the ball away. It was a pretty solid pass from Lewis that looked like a completion all the way until Wiggins got a hand on it.
2. A few minutes later, Wiggins was manned up against a receiver near the sideline on 3rd and medium. Lewis tried to hit the receiver (who I believe was Montana Lemonious-Craig) on a quick underneath route and knocked the ball away, bringing out the punt team. Here’s a look at that one:

Wiggins is an early enrollee true freshman but he could see plenty of work this season, if all goes well for him. Three freshmen—Nikko Reed, Tyrin Taylor and Kaylin Moore—saw significant work at cornerback in 2021, and given the state of the position there’s no reason Wiggins can’t be part of the rotation this time around. After the practice, Karl Dorrell actually compared his confidence to Reed’s last season.

2. NIKKO REED

Speaking of Nikko Reed, he’s going to be our second standout from Saturday.

Reed, as noted above, is a second-year cornerback who could very well be a starter when opening day comes around in September. He’s a smaller cornerback but over the past eight months his proven that he can handle that size disadvantage on the field.

This was clear on Saturday when he made the second-best play of any defensive back early in the scrimmage when he was lined up in man coverage against Montana Lemonious-Craig near the boundary. Lemonious-Craig ran some sort of slant or shallow post route and Lewis drove a ball to him right on the break. Reed blanketed the receiver and broke on the ball for a big-time PBU while working on an island.

Reed was steady throughout practice, but no other plays stood out as superlative. At one point, Reed muffed a punt and Daniel Arias recovered, and that play is why Wiggins gets the nod for the top spot. The rest of his returns, for what its worth, were very solid with a couple of kick returns getting past the 25 before being blown dead.

3. TERRANCE LANG

Colorado’s defense won the day, though the battle was closer than it would have been in the 2021 season. Still, the defense dominated in the trenches and that effort was led by senior lineman Terrance Lang.

Brendon Lewis was pressured on more than half of his drop backs, though he did well to roll out and dodge oncoming defenders. Stats weren’t provided for the scrimmage, but at one point running back Deion Smith had six carries for zero yards and all of the credit should rest on the shoulders of the defensive front.

Terrance Lang was the catalyst on a bunch of these plays and he finished with a tackle for loss and a pass breakup. The pass breakup came on a play in which Lang was rushing up the middle and pushed a lineman back into the quarterback’s lap before reaching up to bat away the pass.

4. DANIEL ARIAS

Daniel Arias has all the tools to be one of the best players on the roster, but he hasn’t put them together to this point. But, he’ll be 24 by the time the season rolls around and this could be when he puts it all together.

Arias dropped a contested ball during red zone work with a defender boxed out behind him, and that’s why he’s so low on the list. Other than that play, he had an awesome day.

Outside of the muffed punt he recovered which was mentioned above, two plays stand out:

1. Arias set up a Colorado’s first score of the day by grabbing a deep ball 44 yards downfield over two defenders. Lewis may not have been able to make the throw in a game-situation, considering an edge rusher beat Frank Fillip on the right side an was within instants of taking out the quarterback. At the very least, Lewis would have been planted in the ground after the throw. But Arias did his job and brought in the catch which set up a first-and-goal for Colorado at the 1-yard line. At 6-foot-4 and 210 pounds, plays like these should be what Arias is best at.
2. Arias scored one of the two touchdowns for CU on Saturday. It came on in which Arias ran across the field from about 15 yards out and mirrored Lewis on a play-action bootleg rollout to the left. Lewis delivered the ball on target and Arias beat Wiggins and brought it in.

5. MONTANA LEMONIOUS-CRAIG

While both Nikko Reed and Josh Wiggins made plays against Lemonious-Craig during the scrimmage, the wide receiver put together a solid performance.

Two plays stand out:

1. 1. Early in the scrimmage, Lemonious-Craig ran a fade up the left sideline and Lewis dropped the ball in the bucket. The pass probably could have been thrown further upfield, but Lemonious-Craig was able to ease up off the gas as he ran up the numbers before curling toward the boundary at the last second and tapping his toes on the sideline. His ability to separate at the last second as he tailed off toward the sideline was what allowed him to make the play on an under-thrown ball. He timed it perfectly. He made his quarterback right. He looked like a vet.

       

   2. The second play came about halfway through the scrimmage when he ran a dig route across the middle of the field. He split the deep and underneath defender in zone coverage and caught a perfectly-delivered ball about 15 or 20 yards downfield.

Lemonious-Craig put together a solid outing and seems to be in the lead for one of CU’s starting jobs when the season comes around.

HONORABLE MENTION

Brendon Lewis – Lewis didn’t have a perfect day—he had open receivers but decided to throw the ball away instead on several occasions—but there was one clear improvement from his play in 2021:

His arm looks significantly stronger.

Lewis was able to drive the ball downfield in a way he wasn’t able to last year. The completion to Lemonious-Craig noted above is the best example. Lewis could pick apart zones underneath last year—and he did that well again on Saturday when given time—but his ability to drive the ball increased his range on those passes another five yards or so.

The sophomore also put everything he had into the touchdown ball to Arias, which was pretty clearly much more than he had last season.

Jordan Woolverton – The converted quarterback could have been one of the five stars. Honestly, it might be some anti-walk-on bias that’s keeping him out.

Woolverton broke up two passes, including one that was almost the exact same as the play Arias scored on later on in practice. It was a bootleg throw to Arias in the red zone that looked like an easy completion before Woolverton leaped out of nowhere to bat the ball away.

Woolverton has the explosion to make plays and could be a factor in the competition for playing time this fall.

Erik Olsen – Freshman tight end Erik Olsen has been the talk of camp to this point and that will continue after his performance on Saturday. He easily could have been in the top 5 of the day.

Olsen made a couple of catches underneath—it’s easy to see him pairing well with quarterback Brendon Lewis, considering Lewis does his best work close to the line of scrimmage and between the numbers—but his ability to make big plays was shown late in the scrimmage.

On a 2nd & 14 from the plus-20-yard line, Olsen caught a quick pass at the left hashmark while moving toward the sideline. A defender was draped all over him, but he still caught the ball before breaking the tackle and running up the sideline for a first down. The ease with which Olsen brushed off the would-be tackler was impressive and his ability as a catch-and-run threat could be crucial this season. Here’s a look ?

Austin Smith – Colorado has an awesome young tight end duo in Austin Smith and Erik Olsen. You could put either of these guys in front of the other for their performance on Saturday.

Smith moves just a little bit better than Olsen and figures to be a flexible option for CU. He can work as an in-line tight end but he might be even better when he’s lined up in the slot. That versatility is the key.

One one play, Smith lined up at tight end and blocked for a second before Drew Carter rolled out behind him. Then he let the defender he was blocking run free and turned around to catch a ball from Carter. He turned and ran for a 19-yard gain.