What we learned during Saturday's scrimmage

BOULDER — Colorado held the first of two fall scrimmages on Saturday, as the Buffs gear up for the 2021 season.

The scrimmage was the only time during camp that media will be permitted to watch the Buffs play 11-on-11 football, giving us a taste of what is to come.

Colorado ran over 90 plays, according to Karl Dorrell, which was within the target range.

“It was good work, good chance to see everybody all the way down to our thirds get a chance to scrimmage,” Dorrell said. “I saw some really good things, explosive plays. I liked how the special teams sections went. I felt that there were some good explosive plays there.”

The most explosive play in the special teams sections was a kick return from Brenden Rice.

Overall, Dorrell is happy with where the team is, less than three weeks before the season-opener.

“A number of guys are in pretty good position at this point in camp,” Dorrell said. “I tell the team that we’re still going through the dark days of camp and there’s no light at the end of the tunnel yet, but it’s good competition. This will be good tape for us to watch and to see our guys play without their coaches behind them telling them what to do.”

Colorado held a significant number of players out of the scrimmage, especially on the defensive side of the ball. CU has rules regarding reporting injuries so I can’t list everybody who didn’t participate. However, I’ll add that some of them were probably held out to prevent injuries, not because they were injured.

Here’s what we learned on Saturday.

Shrout is injured

The big news of the day is sophomore quarterback J.T. Shrout’s injury.

Shrout sustained a non-contact knee injury during the scrimmage and was carted off the field. While the extent of the injury is unknown, it’s hard not to fear a torn ACL.

“It’s heartbreaking,” wide receiver Dimitri Stanley said after the scrimmage. “All we can do is really just rally around them and kind of pick them up and bring them along with us.”

Shrout was competing with freshman Brendon Lewis for the starting job. If Shrout misses time, true freshmen Drew Carter and Jordan Woolverton would serve as the backups.

“They’ve been right there with B-Lew and J.T. so at any given moment they can hop in and be ready and I’ve got full trust in them,” Stanley said.

Lewis shines

Luckily for Colorado, Brendon Lewis had a great day.

For the most part, Lewis took what the defense gave him. He picked apart the defense on short throws and didn’t make any noticeable mistakes. When he caught the defense jumping off sides he threw up a deep ball that wasn’t quite on target.

Lewis threw three touchdowns, one each to wide receiver Dimitri Stanley and tight ends Jared Poplawski and Alec Pell.

“I thought B-Lew did some really good things,” Dorrell said. “He made some plays with his feet and also made some throws.”

Overall, it was an efficient outing for Lewis and the ball was never in harm’s way.

Jarek Broussard picks up where he left off

To nobody’s surprise, Jarek Broussard was the star of the show on Saturday.

On the second play from scrimmage—following a dump off from Lewis to Pell—Broussard ran up the middle, brushed off a couple of potential tacklers and ran 66 yards to the end zone.

“He’s just a breakaway runner,” Stanley said. “He can make anything happen, fit in the tightest holes.”

Broussard didn’t see the field again for a few possessions, but on his second carry of the day he ran 42 yards, bringing his average down to 54 yards per carry.

Broussard only touched the ball two more times during the scrimmage, and neither was all that notable, but Broussard was absolutely the MVP of the day.

“We got his reps and got him out,” Dorrell said.

Broussard definitely looks faster without the knee brace he wore in 2020.

The tight ends are featured

Stanley led the team in receptions but it was the tight ends who provided the biggest surprise.

While Brady Russell has the starting job locked up, Colorado will use at least one other tight end regularly, and probably a couple of them. At least four tight ends, and probably about six, are competing for the No. 2 job.

Alec Pell has received rave reviews during camp. The redshirt freshman came to Colorado as a linebacker but he shifted to tight end because of a lack of depth at the position ahead of the 2020 season. On Saturday, Pell contributed a couple of nice blocks and a couple of catches, including one that he turned up field and he punished a defender on his way to the end zone.

Jared Poplawski also showed up on Saturday. He’s back on the field for his junior season after two ACL tears. He also caught a touchdown from Lewis on Saturday.

“He’s come a long way to get himself back,” Dorrell said. “It’s fun to see him get a score today and that gives him some confidence and some validation that he can play and be an effective player. I’m sure he’s gonna build on that.”

Guy Thomas is productive

One of the most competitive battles of fall camp is at outside linebacker. Carson Wells will hold down one spot but the other is up for grabs. Redshirt freshman Joshka Gustav is competing with juniors Guy Thomas and Jamar Montgomery.

On Saturday, Thomas probably did the most to add to his case. He was in the backfield often, particularly in the early parts of the scrimmage. Dorrell said the competition is still tight though.

“It’s not like it’s night and day difference or head and shoulders difference from any of those three right now,” Dorrell said. “I like all of them, with Guy Thomas, Jamar and Joshka. Those guys have all had really good camps so far.”

Marvin Ham II flashed at the inside linebacker position, too. He picked up an early sack and made his way into the backfield on other occasions.