Karl Dorrell says several key defensive starters will return for 2021

Karl Dorrell isn’t happy with the way things ended for Colorado this season.

“This team that ended up 4-2, I’m not happy with how we ended, I’m going to tell you that, I’m going to tell you that right now,” Dorrell told Matt McChesney of McChesney Unchained on Wednesday. “The last two games of the year we didn’t win, so that’s the taste that I have in my mouth. It’s not the taste that ‘Oh Karl, you had a great year and all that.’ That is far from where I’m at right now.”

Luckily for Dorrell, it sounds like he’ll have a chance to run it back with the majority of his team again next year.

During the podcast, Dorrell said that key defensive starters will be returning in 2021. He named two defensive linemen, Terrance Lang and Mustafa Johnson, and two linebackers, Carson Wells and Nate Landman, but he left the door open for others, as well.

“Nate, and Mustafa, and Carson, and T-Lang and all those guys, they’re all back next year,” Dorrell said.

The phrase “all those guys” leaves some room for more returnees. McChesney said in a question that the whole secondary is back but Dorrell never said so himself. That could mean that senior safety Derrion Rakestraw has decided to return. The Buffs have two other senior defenders—Akil Jones and Jeremiah Doss—who could choose to return for another year.

If you’re wondering why seniors have the option to return, here’s what’s up: The NCAA decided that, because the season was impacted heavily by COVID-19, all senior football players won’t have a year of eligible deducted for the 2020 season. Seniors can return as seniors for a second season in 2021, and juniors will remain juniors, sophomores remain sophomores and freshman remain freshman.

Dorrell said that the defenders decided to return because of the progress the team showed during the 2021 season.

“They feel that we have a chance to really do some damage if we all come back, if we all have a great offseason and develop as a football team, and build our depth, and continue to get better at our systems,” Dorrell said. “I think this prelude of what we did this fall tells them that we’re really in the thick of this thing. We have as good a chance as anybody to win this conference.”

CU felt the same way before the 2020 season and Dorrell said that the defense was a big reason why. He said that the coaches new that—at least on paper—the defense should be a strength for the team.

There’s a difference in 2021, though.

“They now have touched it,” Dorrell said. “They’ve touched it. They know where they’ve made some positive steps and there’s some ground that needs to be gained, too. They know it. They feel that they can be in the thick of this thing.”

Dorrell told a story about his time in college, after the senior starter in front of him on the depth chart graduated before the 1983 season. Dorrell said he assumed it was going to be his job. Then Michael Young, a baseball player at UCLA, decided to play football and competed for Dorrell’s job in practice before the season. Dorrell asked offensive coordinator Homer Smith why he was splitting time with Young.

“I’m always trying to find someone better than you,” Smith said.

That’s the same approach that Dorrell uses now with his team.

“Literally every position on this football team is going to be competitive. In other words, there’s no incumbent. You’re going to have to come in there and explain why if you were a starter in ’20, why you should be the starter in ’21.”

The competitions will include Nate Landman, who Dorrell says will have to prove he’s back from his injury and the best option at his position.

After the Alamo Bowl, Dorrell told his team about the upcoming competitions.

“I said, ‘you need to understand this: this year of ’20 has nothing to do with ’21,” Dorrell said. “What we did for 2020—this 4-2 record and yes we made a positive step of laying our foundation of our program—but that really has no bearin on what 2021 is going to be. In other words, it is open competition at every position.”

Every position includes quarterback

“Sam Noyer came from nowhere,” Dorrell said. “He knows he needs an offseason of work and and digesting information, getting better for him to play at a level that he thinks he’s capable of playing and that we expect him to play.”

Noyer, a second-team All-Pac-12 performer in his first year as a starter, just had shoulder surgery that could keep him out for an extended period of time. That opens the door for competition.

“We have some good young quarterbacks,” Dorrell said. “You saw young Brendon Lewis come in the game and do some really positive things. He should be excited about ‘If Sam doesn’t come back, then maybe I get a chance to lead this team.'”

The competitions should be intense this offseason and the team will be better for it.

(Be warned: This is a big quote, but it’s good one.)

“This team that ended up 4-2, I’m not happy with how we ended, I’m going to tell you that, I’m going to tell you that right now. The last two games of the year we didn’t win, so that’s the taste that I have in my mouth. It’s not the taste that ‘Oh Karl, you had a great year and all that.’ That is far from where I’m at right now.

“We ended the season losing games and that’s what I’m going to look at going into 2021. There were some steps of progress, yes, no question. Did it end the way that it should’ve ended? No. So I’m not happy. I’m not. I’m not gonna like, I’m not. We have work to do and our team knows that given the discussion we had after the Texas game, after the bowl, that this is the last time—this is the last time—that we will look this poorly again. As I’m being the head coach, this is not going to happen.

“We’re going to be more competitive. We’re going to be in games that we still feel like we’re in the balance of winning the game and I just felt like that wasn’t the way Colorado should’ve looked at the end of the year. I know Covid hit us. I know that we had opt outs. I know that we’ve had things but I’m not an excuse maker. I’m not.

“And whatever we put on the field I’m expecting we will have chances to win with. And we just didn’t play at that level at the end of the year.”