Notes from Colorado's first day of spring practice

BOULDER — Football is back!

Colorado held its first of 15 spring practices on Wednesday at its indoor practice facility in Boulder. The spring practices are ramping up to the annual spring showcase Sat., April 23 at Folsom Field.

Although reporters weren’t allowed to watch the practice, head coach Karl Dorrell and quarterbacks J.T. Shrout and Brendon Lewis took the podium after practice to share their thoughts on how the day played out. Shrout won’t be a full participant this spring as he’s still recovering from a torn ACL, giving Lewis a chance to build an early lead in the competition for the starting job. On Wednesday, early indications were that Lewis did exactly that.

Here’s what we learned:

Dorrell praises Lewis

The story of the day, as it typically is during a quarterback competition, was the quarterbacks.

In particular, the story was Brendon Lewis.

Dorrell repeatedly said that Lewis looked like a “totally different player” than last year and praised various aspects of his first practice. As practice wound down, Dorrell sought out Lewis to tell him that his practice was “fabulous.”

For more on Lewis’ big first day, head here.

First day for the new coaches

Karl Dorrell overhauled his coaching staff over the offseason. Only one of his offensive assistants returned and there were tweaks on the defensive side of the ball as well.

During a 35-minute individual work period, Dorrell had his first chance to walk around the field and watch his new hires coach.

“Very focused training and learning; they’re doing what I thought they would do,” Dorrell said. “It shows in their play. Talk to these guys, they’ll tell you it was a really really positive day.”

Dorrell harped on how efficient the practice was.

“The practice today just flew by,” Dorrell said. “We went through all the plays—and there wasn’t any shortage of plays—we went through all the different segments with time to spare at the end of a period. I would say the efficiency of the practice is the best it’s been since I’ve been here and a lot of it’s because of the coaching style.”

Although this is the first practice under the refreshed staff, the new assistants have had plenty of time to work with their players in meetings over the past several months.

“They have invested a lot of time with their position groups,” Dorrell said. “I feel like they’ve got a really good comfort level with their position units. They’ve got great rapport anad a lot of energy. That’s one thing I like about these coaches: they have a lot of energy in their coaching style.”

The quarterbacks who took the podium both complimented the work of new quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator Mike Sanford.

“He’s been there as a player and then he’s coached for a long time, so he’s super knowledgable,” Shrout said. “He’s just super personable and I’ve loved the time that we’ve gotten to spend with him so far.”

RJ Sneed adds experience to the wide receivers room

Wednesday was the first practice for transfer wide receiver RJ Sneed, who is in his final year of college ability.

When asked about the receivers’ performance, JT Shrout brought up the former All-Big-12 performer’s name first.

“I think RJ Sneed had a really good day,” Shrout said. “RJ looked great.”

Brendon Lewis was asked about his receivers as well and, like Shrout, the first name out of his mouth was Sneed’s.

“RJ is really smart,” Lewis said. “Based on certain coverages you know he’s going to be where I need him to be, where I want him.”

Sneed is easily the most experienced receiver on the roster, despite being one of four seniors. His ball-tracking ability is elite and he’s explosive after the catch, as well. He posted 1,564 yards on 133 catches with eight touchdowns in five seasons at Baylor. He got extensive playing time in three of those years.

A list of standouts

The best part of every camp media availability is learning about the day’s standouts.

Here’s a list of names that Karl Dorrell threw out after practice:

• Freshman ILB Eoghan Kerry
• Junior DE Chance Main
• Sophomore CB Nikko Reed
• Junior DL Na’im Rodman
• Freshman CB Jason Oliver
• The running backs catching passes

Dorrell also brought up tight end Erik Olsen. The redshirt freshman is one of four freshmen in the tight ends room alongside senior Brady Russell. The freshmen are talented and there are plenty of breakout candidates. According to Dorrell, Olsen caught “seven or eight” balls during the first practice.

“That’s something that’s rare because the tight end has not been a focal point in this offense the past two year,” Dorrell said.

Dorrell also brought up a big play from sophomore receiver Ty Robinson.

“(He made a) great play in seven-on-sevens; 40-yard play and he reaches over two defenders and pulls it off somebody’s head,” Dorrell said.

Robinson is one of at least seven receivers vying for a starting job. After day one it sounds like he’s in good shape.

The big play shouldn’t be a surprise considering the explosiveness he showed off in high school.

Colorado kid Ty Robinson (Eaglecrest HS) with the No. 1 play on SportsCenter 😱 pic.twitter.com/wdYUQmStsu

— RK (@RyanKoenigsberg) November 28, 2019