The first week of TCU preparation in the books for CU

The Buffs have used the last week to begin game preparations for the 2022 season opener against TCU.

Head coach Karl Dorrell addressed the media after Saturday’s practice and provided updates on the health of his team, how preparation has been going and a slight preview of what’s going to happen next Friday.

Let’s dive into it all.

Do the QB shuffle

There appears to be some gamesmanship going on between Colorado and TCU when it comes to their respective starting quarterbacks.

Karl Dorrell was quick to address his team’s QB situation. While Dorrell has been adamant that he will not publicly announce a starter before Friday, Dorrell mentioned that he will not announce a starter to the team but J.T. Shrout and Brendon Lewis know who will be seeing the field first against TCU.

“We decided to announce that [we will] not announce a starting quarterback, just because I think it helps us in our process of what we do for this week,” said Dorrell. “It keeps them having to prepare for both since I’m sure they’re digging for information on the last time J.T. played and the work from BLew last year.”

“Just like I told them, they’re both going to play and we think that’s a good thing. So that’s how we’ll prepare through the week. And we’ll see how that looks on Friday.”

Steven Johnson, TCU beat writer for the Fort-Worth Star Telegram, said that TCU could play as many as three quarterbacks against the Buffs.

Sonny Dykes says he thinks all three QBs will play against Colorado.

Also said the staff will start deciding on more depth chart questions Thursday

— S. Johnson (@StevenMJohnson_) August 22, 2022

Dorrell addressed TCU’s potential multi-quarterback system on Saturday, saying that all three of them are distinctive types.

“They’re all pretty athletic,” Dorrell said. “One has outstanding speed, another one has really good speed and the final one is a pretty good athlete himself. So they have an athlete at that position, which is a challenge.”

Potential impact players for CU and TCU

We also received an update on who will be able to ramp up in time for Friday’s game, including transfers R.J. Sneed and Tommy Brown.

“Tommy Brown was very promising and with the work he was doing we think he’s going to be able to play,” said Dorrell. “Same thing with R.J. We think that he’s going to be able to play with the work that he’s done. Nigel [Bethel Jr.] is working. We’re about a week away, he’s got a good chance to make it as well.”

The Buffs will have their hands full finishing their preparation for TCU this week.

After 22 seasons, Gary Patterson is out as head coach of the Horned Frogs as former Cal and SMU head coach, Sonny Dykes, takes over in Fort Worth.

Coach Dorrell elaborated on the issues the Buffs have to deal with not only with TCU’s new head coach, but with some of the NFL talent TCU has at wide receiver.

TCU’s receiving corps is headlined by Quentin Johnson (junior) but the Buffs will have their hands full having to defend against Derius Davis (senior) and Taye Barber (senior) as well.

“They have some really good receivers,” said Dorrell. “We have to do a great job of understanding their skill sets and what they’re good at, and try to defend the things that they’re good at him and force them to make plays to neutralize some of those strengths. I think offensively, they do a really good job of creating space. We’re going to have to do a great job of minimizing some of that space by tackling well.”

Coach Dorrell then transitioned to the other side of the ball describing some of the challenges the Buffs offense will have to overcome against TCU’s defense.

“They do some very unique things,” said Dorrell. “They’re an odd front team, but they do play some four down. They play with that extra safety kind of that 3-3-5 defensive scheme that a lot of college systems are kind of using. It’s a challenging defense. It’s built not to give you a big play, and it’s built to make offenses take the long road.”

Quote round-up

Add Montana Lemonious-Craig to the list of players and coaches out of Boulder who are not only encouraged but excited about offensive coordinator Mike Sanford’s new offense and the coaching he’s received this off-season.

DNVR asked Lemonious-Craig where he’s seen the most improvement this off-season.

“I would say the detail on my routes is constantly improving,” said Lemonious-Craig. Coach Phil McGann holds me to a really high standard. We have a better scheme and Coach Sanford’s pretty good at calling plays. I just like how we can all be used in a lot of different ways.”

Lemonious-Craig also had great things to say about Baylor transfer, R.J. Sneed.

“It’s good to have a vet guy,” said Lemonious-Craig. “He’s played a lot of football, he’s seen a lot of looks. It’s always good to have that older figure there. Just in case you have a question that you might not be too sure about or one of the young guys has a question that I can’t answer. RJ might know the answer. So it’s always good. He’s a good teammate.”

Running back Deion Smith also had great things to say about Coach Sanford and the Buffs’ new offense.

“I feel like a big word is attack, said Smith. “We want to attack the defense in every way possible that we can. We don’t want to come out just trying to feel out our opponent, so it’s the biggest emphasis all summer, all camp is to start fast. The biggest thing for us is to come out here on Friday and start fast.”

Smith carried the ball only 53 times for 192 yards last year as the offensive line struggled throughout last season, but Smith has already seen great improvement.

“I’ve seen a lot of improvement,” said Smith. “They work more as a unit now. It’s not five different offensive linemen, I feel like we have one solid line, you know what I mean? I feel like a big thing that’s different is the scheme. A lot of stuff that Coach DeVan has brought in has been amazing and I feel like that’s helped also the offensive line likes their coach, they really enjoy their coach. They’re gonna do whatever it takes to make him happy. And to keep him here so I feel like that is the biggest thing that I’ve noticed.”

If you want to hear what Coach DeVan said when he talked to the media last week, check out last Friday’s edition of the DNVR Buffs podcast.

There are plenty of new faces in key places for the Buffs this season. Soon enough we’ll find out if those new faces have done enough to change the narrative in Boulder. The Buffs kick off the 2022 season on Friday night against TCU in Boulder. The game starts at 8:00 local time and will be broadcasted nationally on ESPN.