Two of Colorado’s newest players have already been able to positively impact the Buffs both on and off the field.

R.J. Sneed and Josh Chandler-Semedo were CU’s two biggest additions from the transfer portal and both are expected to fill positions of need and contribute immediately in 2022.

DNVR was able to catch up with the two recently to hear how they’ve handled joining a new team as established college football veterans. Here’s what we learned.

Big shoes to fill

With Nate Landman taking his talents to the next level, a potential void is left smack in the middle of CU’s defense.

Fortunately, since coming over from West Virginia, Chandler-Semedo hasn’t skipped a beat.

“The transition has been smooth,” Chandler-Semedo said. “The defense is pretty much the same. There are some different schematics but it’s a lot more of a pro-style defense than what I ran at West Virginia.”

It didn’t take long to notice Chandler-Semedo’s on-field experience and ability to quickly process the game, as the Buffs’ middle linebacker made multiple plays in the scrimmage on Aug. 20th.

“I like to think of football as 90% mental and 10% physical,” said Chandler-Semedo. “Most of the plays I see I’ve seen before. I’ve taken almost 4000 snaps in my career 10,000 including practice so I’ve seen a lot of offense so a lot of it is just instincts at this point.”

According to inside linebackers coach and head recruiting coordinator Mark Smith, Chandler-Semedo’s experience is invaluable and it’s a big reason why he could see the WVU transfer being able to rack up 100 tackles for the Buffs this fall.

“He’s got a real instinct and a real knack for the football,” Smith told DNVR. “Josh is one of those guys that as a play develops, he can really diagnose it faster than most. And you see that from his time at West Virginia. We’re counting on to do the same thing here.”

Much like the high expectations from the staff, the former Mountaineer has high hopes for himself. Chandler-Semedo not only expects to produce at the level he was able to for WVU, but he’s taken it upon himself to be a leader in a front-seven that is stacked with experience.

“This team already has a lot of leaders,” Chandler-Semedo said. “They probably had 10 to 15 leaders before I showed up so [I’ve] just added my little twist and follow their lead. We’ve got a lot of good leaders on this team like Rob, Quinn, T-Lane and others.”

Get used to hearing, “Josh Chandler-Semedo with the tackle” over Folsom Field’s brand new PA system this season as he attempts to pick up where Nate Landman left off.

Potential X-factor?

R.J. Sneed’s arrival on campus in January immediately improved the Buffs’ wide receiver room. While an injury interrupted his off-season, Sneed is back at practice and ready to contribute against TCU.

After five seasons at Baylor, the graduate transfer faces a familiar opponent in his first game for CU. DNVR spoke to the former Bear about playing his previous school’s rival in his first game as a Buff.

“I wouldn’t say revenge because I’m a Buff now,” Sneed said. “We just need to do what we need to do to win the game. I’m not really focused on what happened last year or my last school I was at it’s more like we just need to make sure we’re focused for this team and don’t take them lightly.”

Although Sneed has a history with TCU, he explained why this year’s TCU team can’t be compared to previous seasons even if there are some returning players.

“It’s a totally different defensive coordinator,” said Sneed. “So they’re not going to play the same thing they played last year with Coach Patterson. “When it comes to tendencies, you can say tendencies but when you’re watching film, you’ve never really seen that guy play their [new] defense besides the spring game so it’s not really the same. You have to go off of what you’ve seen the defensive coordinator do in the past.”

Former Bears, Denzel Mims and Tyquan Thornton were both drafted in the second round in 2020 and 2022 respectively; The Bear-turned-Buff talked about what he learned from his former teammates and the type of mentality he is bringing to Colorado.

“Working hard regardless,” said Sneed. “Day in, day out, go get our work. I played with two guys who both got drafted in the second round. I saw how they worked. That’s really what got my work ethic up too. You see somebody else working hard, you want to do just as good, if not better.”

While it’s unclear exactly how involved Sneed will be in this Friday’s game plan, his presence alone should do wonders for a receiving corps that is planning on featuring multiple sophomores and freshmen.