SB Nation - Nick Kasa

Colorado Buffaloes Vs. Colorado State Rams Film Study

DavidAGerhardt — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:01:08 -0000

We're going to look at a running play that was unusual for the Buffaloes in this game, in that it worked pretty well. It was the most successful run all day by Tony Jones and one of the biggest gains all day by the Buffs on the ground. I'm trying to make it sound more impressive than it was, because it was only for 8 yards, but basically, our offense didn't do a whole lot that was impressive for me to dissect in this game. It was pretty vanilla overall, and perhaps the most exciting playcall all game was negated by a Gerald Thomas drop early in the game. But anyway, lets see what Mr. Jones did this time that worked, and what prevented it from being an even longer run. Also, forgive me for the lack of annotation on the images. It's my first time putting one of these together like this. I'll improve as the season goes on!

Follow the jump to see just how bad I am at adding circles to pictures on my computer!

As you can see below, we're lined up with Tony Jones as the lone tailback, two receivers split left, Nick Kasa (circled in red) as the traditional, on-the-line Y Tight End, and a Reciver flanking him at the bottom of the screen. The offensive line will be zone blocking to the left, which essentially means each guy is responsible for the space to his left shoulder. Nick Kasa is responsible for that last defender there on the line, and we'll see later how his ability to block him effects the outcome of this run.

At the snap, Jones and the Line all start to the left, which will take the CSU defense that direction. This includes Kasa. Keep your eye on him.

Now you can see the moment when Jones cuts back towards the hole. You can see the CSU linebackers all running the direction that Jones has been heading. Nick Kasa is now inside the CSU defender tasked with keeping an eye on the backside of the defense. You can see the hole that has opened up between Kasa and Jack Harris, the right tackle. This is one of the few times all game that Jones hits an open hole.

What you see below is Jones hitting the hole at full speed. The linebacker who would be in position to make the play is trying to change direction, but he ends up being just to far outside to make the play by himself. And you can see Kasa working on Cory James, the CSU defender. Kasa can't sustain the block, and James is able to get to Jones and make the play. Otherwise, Jones would've gotten to the first down line possibly with the opportunity to make a move on the safeties, giving him the chance to pick up even more yards. Even so, the misdirection here allowed Jones to have his longest run of the day against the CSU defense, and the second longest run by a RB all day for us.

As I said earlier, I'll do a better job marking up the pictures for the next one. And hopefully, there will be more interesting and exciting plays for me to break down for us!

Colorado Buffaloes Vs. Colorado State Rams: Upon Second Viewing

DavidAGerhardt — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 00:07:03 -0000

These are really just additional thoughts after watching the game a second time. It wasn't easy to look at, but I did it so you don't have to. I really hope this was a fluke performance by our offensive line, otherwise it's going to be tough for us to win anything this year.

Defense:

We were cycling a lot of linebackers in and out all game, and while that probably was good from a conditioning standpoint. I'm not sure it was great from a gameflow standpoint. Guys tended to take bad first steps on their first plays back in the game, especially on runs off-tackle.

The DTs couldn't disengage on running plays and for the most part were getting pushed way off the ball. That's got to stop before we get to the conference schedule, or teams are going to wipe the field with our defense. Will Pericak saw a bunch of double teams, so I'm not going to get on him a ton, but the other guys need to step up. Nate Bonsu, in particular, was not very strong in the run-game. Josh Tupou at times look good, but he was up and down (as you'd expect from a true freshman) and saw a number of double teams as well.

Follow the jump because your eyelids are heavy!

Crawley is fearless. He was filling against the run from the first play. And he wasn't getting knocked quite as far off the LOS as Henderson was on those quick WR screens. I'm not going to fault him on the TD pass after the muffed punt to end the half. I don't think it was a zone call, because neither Major nor Smith would've been in the right spot. So if it was man, that means Smith just let his guy go by him, while Crawley was up covering his guy.

On the play that got the Rams out of their own endzone (after we failed on 4^th down), Crawley's man caught the pass. But Crawley was giving him a ten+ yard cushion. Less and I don't think the Rams complete that pass., and maybe if the receiver doesn't look so open, we get the sack & safety there.

Otherwise, you saw it. We just couldn't stop them when we needed to late.

Offense:

You could tell our running game was going to have trouble from the get go. Tony Jones, on his first run had yards to gain through a hole created by Wood, Kasa and a pulling Lewis, but decided to try to bounce it outside, right into a tackler. Instead of at least 4 yards, he ended up with one. And that would be about how the rest of the day would go for us. Tony Jones was a disappointment. He went down on first contact a lot, and he was hit early most times. He also was dancing around way too much, leaving yards out there on the field. It wouldn't have taken much to turn the tide of this game, and his lost yards could have made that difference.

Gus Handler had an absolutely terrible day. From the get-go: on the second play, he allows a guy to ‘ole' right by him, pushing Webb outside of the pocket right into the DE. In addition to the hit he took, Webb was called for intentional grounding. He was getting zero push in the running game, and often got knocked backwards, and his protection calls were off all day. Our line was constantly shifted in the wrong direction, which allowed CSU to easily overload one side or the other throughout the day. And the a-gap between between Handler and Munyer was wide open all game. That's bad. They were able to give Webb a good pocket with plenty of time when they had the right call up front, but they didn't have the right call very often. Someone needs to teach these guys the idea of blocking down.

The entire offensive line looked out of sorts all day. There were only a handful of plays where everyone was doing their job well, and not many more where everyone was at least solid. But there were a ton of plays where at least one guy did something very wrong, and it showed.

And then one of the biggest problems of the day. We all know about the playcalling issues later, but here EB had the perfect play drawn up. The screen pass to Gerald Thomas early in the 1st quarter. It was perfectly executed by the offense. He had all the blocking in the world and no Rams in sight. Unfortunately, Thomas dropped the ball, but that would've been a 90 yard TD easily. When it wasn't playcalling on Saturday, it was the execution. That's a nasty combination.

We were incredibly susceptible to backside pursuit against the Rams. We will be facing much better and faster defenses as the year goes on, so that needs to be addressed immediately.

Nick Kasa perhaps didn't start as solidly as I thought he did. On the first run to his outside shoulder, he couldn't sustain his block and his man made the tackle for a loss. But on that failed 4th & goal, he was actually open, but Webb wasn't able to get him the ball.

Again, early, Jordan Webb was finding open guys. He had only one pass that looked truly off, and a number of them were dropped by the receivers. The problem with him, is that his passes don't allow guys to do anything once they have the ball. Not that we have the most athletic group of wide receivers. But he's constantly hitting guys low (so they have to go to the ground to catch the ball), not in stride (so they have to give up on their route or stop to make the catch) and in ways that got his guys turned around. And it only got worse after he took those huge shots.

Special Teams:

Our kickoff return team has a lot of young guys on it. A lot of 1^st and 2^nd year players. I think the blocking on that unit will improve as the season goes on, and it did even from the first kick return to the third one in this game.

We had a lot of issues last season. A LOT. And there were a few areas where we improved. I know that isn't much consolation, but one unit where we looked worlds better was our punt coverage unit.

And one unit where we had trouble because guys weren't wrapping up was on kickoff coverage. If we're going to be kicking to the goal line and forcing teams to return the ball, we've got to do a better job of wrapping guys up. Our players were making contact, but they weren't bringing the returners down.

Colorado Buffaloes Vs. Colorado State Rams: Quick Hits - A Loss

DavidAGerhardt — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 03:00:03 -0000

Calling this a loss doesn't do it justice. It was devastating. The Rams improved as the game went on, made adjustments, and generally took care of business. The Buffaloes? Not so much. What ensued was a painful three quarters of football (1, 3 & 4), and one quarter of somewhat competent football. Not a winning combination.

CSU 22 - CU 17. Yech.

Offense:

Protection was very bad in the second half and mostly bad in the first half. Handler wasn't sliding protection to the correct side enough and our guys had trouble sustaining their blocks. And the gap in between Handler and Munyer? It was open all. day. long.

Nick Kasa looked solid early, but then made some HUGE mistakes. Of course, you don't want a guy who has played TE for less than a year left alone to block the opponent's best pass rusher, but bad protection calls will lead to that. I fault him on that play, but he wasn't terrible for most of the game.

Follow the jump because you're a masochist!

Sensing a theme here? offensive line couldn't run block. They didn't get much push, and on the plays that they actually did, they couldn't sustain blocks at all. A really poor performance from the unit we were told was solid all summer.

If the offensive line was so bad at run blocking, why didn't we try more tosses? Just a thought. If Tony Jones is so fast, that should be a part of our offensive arsenal.

The offensive line got Jordan Webb killed. He wasn't the same after that big hit and our passing game was way less effective after that. His throws were much weaker and less accurate after his leg injury. Before the injury, he was moving the offense and hitting open receivers. They weren't always catching them, but he was finding them, and led the Buffs to two nice second quarter TDs.

The offensive line also allowed a lot of guys to hit Tony Jones, who looked a bit gimpy as the game wore on. We saw a lot less of him later, with D.D. Goodson and Malcolm Creer getting a number of snaps.

Tony Jones was dancing too much. He left yards out there today. Not many, but with the poor blocking he's receiving, he can't afford to leave anything out there.

I'll have to look when I watch this again, but it looked like Christian Powell was pretty solid, despite the trouble we had running the ball, and had a solid carry to convert on a short yardage play and a nice catch on a tough ball.

Gerald Thomas, when he can catch the ball, can do some things for this offense. He was caught looking upfield before he had the ball a couple of times and got lucky on one bobble that he ended up holding onto, but he could be something for us.

All the wideouts started slowly, but got better as the game went on. But they had key drops late and that stalled some important drives. Way too many drops overall. They were getting open, but they looked like they had lead hands early and late

Vincent Hobbs got a number of snaps and looked solid. He nearly made a tough catch on a low ball from Webb (after the injury).

Playcalling was less than stellar. I absolutely like the call to go for the TD on 4^th down when we were on the ½ yardline, but I do not like a bootleg for a gimpy QB. You run up the middle or you throw a quick fade to your 6'5" WR, McCulloch. And to end the game, you don't throw that swing pass. They had been sniffing it most of the game.

Jordan Webb held onto the ball too long at times, but it wasn't a problem every time he got hit. Still, if he survives as our starting QB much longer, he's going to have to fix that.

Defense:

Polk's injury hurt us. There was a major miscommunication on CSU's TD after the muffed punt. It might not've been better with Polk back there, but he's the leader of that unit. I'm anxious to hear his prognosis

Orms took his spot at safety, leaving Mosley as our #1 nickelback. And he was solid in that role. Orms was okay. While I'm not excited to watch this game again, I am interested to see how these guys did on each play.

Greg Henderson was abused on CSU's sustained TD drive the play where Orms was penalized for targeting, Henderson was out of position in his underneath coverage. Before that, the Rams easily ran him off the LOS with the quick WR screens to his side. He didn't see the field after that drive, leaving us with two true freshmen CBs, Wright and Crawley in. And you want to know the scary part? Our defensive backfield looked a little better with Wright starting. So if you're keeping track at home, that's three true freshmen at out there in the defensive backfield when we go Nickel.

Doug Rippy did not look very good in limited snaps out there.

Brady Daigh, on the other hand, made some solid plays, forcing a fumble and a nice TFL.

Derrick Webb made some very nice plays out there today. But he and the LBs also left some holes open which allowed the Rams to have a solid day on the ground.

Kyle Washington missed some tackles, but also made some plays out there. Whatever happens, this season, I like the talent we have waiting in the wings on defense.

The defensive line overall was not good and got pushed around by CSU about 80% of the time. There were occasional nice plays, but overall they were weak.

Nate Bonsu looked better than he has in a while. At least the coaches weren't lying about that. But he looked tired in the 3^rd quarter.

Josh Tupou needs some seasoning, but he's going to be a player for us. As his recognition improves, he could be exciting to watch (for those of us who like good line play, that is).

Will Pericak made some nice plays early, including a blocked PAT

Chidera Uzo-Diribe lined up at LB a few times. I thought that was interesting. It worked out once, as he got a nice TFL. And he made a couple of nice moves and had some nice plays, including that pass breakup and sack. He wasn't great against the run overall, though.

Special Teams:

Muffed punts are bad. Someone should tell the CU returners this. Crawley seemed to redeem himelf with a 24 yard punt return later, and his was recovered by the Buffs, but D.D. Goodson's muff was easily recovered by the Rams and led to a one play TD drive.

Will Oliver had solid height on his kicks. That's good.

Our punt coverage team was good, only allowing 2 of 6 punts to be returned, and only 6 total return yards. They can still improve (a whiff by Paul Vigo), but that's something.

Will Pericak, as I mentioned earlier, blocked a PAT.

Jury is still out on Mosley as kick returner and our blocking on that unit.

Darragh O'Neill wasn't getting great hangtime, but it was good enough. He only had one bad kick, but it still wasn't as bad as some of the ones he had last season.

And that's about all I care to discuss at this moment.

Colorado Buffaloes Vs. Colorado State Rams: The Key Match-Ups

DavidAGerhardt — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:00:26 -0000

GAME WEEK! Finally, right? And it's even worse with the closed practices because we've had zero observations to go on besides those that Embree and his coaching staff have given us. Yeah, I'm ready to finally watch this team. And on the other side of the ball, we still aren't 100% sure what we'll be seeing, so that makes this even tougher. At least there will be game tape on the other teams under new coaching staffs.

Anyway, this is what I'll be watching on Saturday.

Offense:

Colorado's Offensive Line vs. CSU's Linebackers - It sounds like CSU will be running some sort of a hybrid Defense with 3-4 personnel to take advantage of their talent at linebacker. Well this will be our first chance to see if our offensive line truly is the heart of this team like the coaches have been telling us. We have two new guards in Alex Lewis and Daniel Munyer (not only new as in new starters there, but also guys who moved to the positions after playing TE/OT and C respectively) and Jack Harris is back at right tackle after missing the final 11 games last season. Those guys are going to have to dig deep in the Passing game and make good contact in the running game against the CSU linebackers, especially Shaquil Barrett and James Skelton. Hopefully practicing all offseason against our own talented group of Linebackers has them prepared for this.

Colorado Wide Receivers vs. CSU's DBs - It will also finally be show-me time for CU's unproven group of receivers. Momo Thomas and Bernard Blake certainly won't be the toughest covers that Nelson Spruce, Tyler McCulloch, Gerald Thomas & Co. will have to face, but they probably are the toughest in our non-conference schedule. While our offense will be built around a running game, an effective passing game will help this team out immensely.

Colorado's Skill Players vs. total lack of experience in their current roles/on this team/at this position - Not a single starting skill player is back from last year's squad. Of course, that group only won 3 games, but that still means we will be dealing with growing pains all over the field. We have a starting TE who has played the position for less than a season, and his development is vital to our offense. Nick Kasa still has the potential to be an impact player here, but who knows if that will happen. At wide receiver, two new starters take the reigns, and we have no idea how Nelson Spruce or Tyler McCulloch will handle being the go-to guys. Jordan Webb is really the only guy here with a track record of any kind, but we still don't know what we're going to get with him in the driver's seat. And Tony Jones flashed a little bit last season, but will have to carry the load in 2012. That's not even including the FBs, backup RBs, 3rd and backup WRs or the other TEs. Lots of 'new' to take in with this game.

Defense:

Colorado's Defensive Tackles vs. CSU's Interior Linemen - While Will Pericak has always produced for us and should be even better this year, behind him (and next to him) there is a whole lot of unknown. Nate Bonsu is supposedly ready to play again after getting us excited as a true freshman and though we have a lot of potential in the big bodies that joined the team in August, but we don't truly know what we'll get out of Josh Tupou and Justin Solis just yet. And CSU has some talent in the middle of their line, starting with center Weston Richburg. Dealing with their running back (who is next) will be no picnic, but it'll be a lot easier for the rest of the defense if the big boys up front can win these battles.
Colorado's Linebackers vs. CSU's Running Game - In addition to Chris Nwoke, who is a load coming out of the backfield and is finally turning into a pretty good running back, our linebackers are going to be facing down a number of tight ends and h-backs in an offense that will presumably know how to use them effectively. Throw a QB that can move his feet into the mix and Doug Rippy, Jon Major and Derrick Webb are going to have a busy day. And we hope it's those guys doing all the work and not our Safeties, because that means CSU is gaining too many yards against us.
Kenneth Crawley vs. Starting as a True Freshman - He is a very talented athlete, but it's not often someone can step onto campus and instantly play at a high level. Fortunately the guy opposite him did a solid job of that last year, and he has apparently been going to Greg Henderson for advice. With Greg Brown overseeing the defense and former Buff Chapelle Brown assisting with the DBs, hopefully Crawley is able to make the jump to D1-Football with ease. Watching him in game one will be very interesting.

Special Teams Note:

True freshmen are listed as the top punt and kick returners, and I'm excited to see them get their first game action doing it. It's not surprising to me to see all guys that Embree & Co. recruited holding down the return positions and the starting wide receiver and cornerback slots. They've been preaching about the need to increase team speed and that has me thinking they've made some progress there.

But mostly, I'm just excited to be watching my Buffaloes again.

GO BUFFS!

Colorado Buffaloes Roster Breakdown: Special Teams

DavidAGerhardt — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 12:00:09 -0000

While we weren't great on special teams last season, there is reason to be optimistic regarding this group in 2012. The addition of bigger, faster players and a general increase of team depth should help our coverage units and the blocking on our return units, and some consistency with our specialists should help us to improve our kicking and punting. Let's take a look at who those specialists are.

Snapper:

Ryan Iverson, Jr - He's now a Junior and is going into his 3rd season as the primary snapper for the punt teams & 2nd year snapping for the FG units. He has had some velocity issues with his snaps, but he seems to be improving. He's a smaller snapper, so he really needs to be quick and on the money with his snaps because there's no room for error as a blocker. I don't think he's in much danger of getting replaced, having held onto the job for the last two years, but I really want to see him get the ball back to his punter faster.

Follow the jump to see who is the most special on our team!

Keegan LaMar, RFr - He's a little bigger than Iverson and he's from Fairview, so he's a local kid. Walk-on.
Trevor Carver, Fr - Another local walk-on, this one from Monarch.

Kickers:

Justin Castor, Jr - He should be a sophomore, but he was yet another case of a mysterious Hawkins late-season redshirt-pulled-for-no-good-reason. He hasn't had many opportunities since he was allowed to try that one kick two years ago. The next guy on this list beat him out last year. But it sounds like they may try using him for longer FGs and he may have the inside track on kickoffs (despite his troubles with sending the ball out of bounds last season). Coaches have said that he's pushing Oliver, which is good. Hopefully he'll continue to get chances to contribute and he'll make the most of them. He made his one extra point attempt last year, but he sent the ball out of bounds on kickoffs something like 4 times.
Will Oliver, So - He won the FG kicking job outright as a True Freshman last year and started strong. He ended the year with a mediocre FG percentage, but has apparently been working on the height of his kicks, which will help prevent blocks (4 last season), as will improved blocking on the ST units. He mostly kept a cool head, even in his first year, and I think he has the tools to be a good college kicker. Watch the height on his first couple of kicks this year. If the first few are high enough, I think we'll be in for a good season from him. If they vary a lot, we may be in trouble. He also sent one of his kickoffs out of bounds last season.

Punters:

Zack Grossnickle, Jr - If you're counting, we're up to 3 scholarships devoted to Ks & Ps and we haven't yet listed the two primary guys. Despite having a huge leg, Grossnickle lost his job to a guy who had never played football last season. I hope he continues to push, and perhaps he'll find a role as the kickoff guy, but he seems to be lost in the group of specialists right now. This coaching staff went with their guys in Oliver & O'neill last year and it looks like it'll be those two guys again. But if Grossnickle can keep working on improving, hopefully he will get his chance to show off that leg in some facet of the game. He has shown the potential to have plus hangtime on his kicks, but is inconsistent with it.
Darragh O'Neill, So - Like Oliver, he had to deal with some blocking issues up front, so hopefully those are remedied, but he was fair-to-solid in his first year as the starting punter in 2011. He was asked to try rugby punts more often than we would've liked, so hopefully they'll drop that plan. I think he can be a good punter for us. He showed us he can boot the ball and at times, was able to put it where he wanted to. I wish we could be watching practices to see how he looks and how his hangtime is. If he can give us solid hangtime on his kicks with some consistency, I'll be happy, though I think on their best days, Grossnickle has the ability to kick higher and further than O'Neill, but we don't always get their best days. I want the baseline to be better from our punters, and that's why O'Neill took the job last year.

Holder/Pinner:

Justin Gorman, So - He was the Holder all year as a true freshman and he did a solid job. I also like him because he's a good athlete (he returned some kicks last season) and as a former QB, he gives us some options if they want to run a fake at some point.

Punt & Kick Returners:

In 2011, we were only able to return 13 punts because A) our defense didn't force many and B) our blocking was weak on the punt return team. Our defense will be improved and it sounds like our ST units should be as well. We only have heard some rumblings & seen some photos of the guys they are choosing between to return punts and kicks, so let me know if I'm missing anyone. Multiple guys now have said that Gerald Thomas is a true speedster, so I'm glad to hear they're giving him a look as the punt returner. He has the ability to make guys miss, which is key there. Kenneth Crawley also has a shot and is a fantastic athlete and is getting a look. Keenan Canty only returned 3 punts for 17 yards last season so I don't think that gives him any kind of advantage, but he has solid speed and quickness and may prove a capable returner. D.D. Goodson is the kind of guy who could be a pretty good punt returner. He's got fluid hips, the ability to explode once he turns them and he's not afraid of contact. I'm sure there are others, but my money is on one of those guys to take the job. Though I would love to see Donta Abron get a chance as well.

Eleven different players returned kicks for us last season (not including squib kicks fielded by blockers), seven of whom are back this year. But it may be a newbie who takes this job. Marques Mosley was the one guy they mentioned after our first scrimmage as having had a nice kickoff return. He has some wheels and I wouldn't be at all upset to see him take the job. I imagine Gerald Thomas & Dona Abron will get looks, along with some of the guys who we trotted out there last season. Josh Ford had the best average of the returning guys by a small margin and he has solid speed with the ability to make one cut and get up to full speed pretty quickly. Malcolm Creer returned 5 kicks in the two games he saw action in before the knee injury, but I would imagine that he won't be sent out on that unit until they are certain he's 100% recovered. D.D. Goodson and Tony Jones may get shots, but I think Jones will have his plate full as the starting RB and I think Goodson isn't quite as fast as some of the other guys on this list, though he has good short-area quickness. Again, there are others, but my money is on one of the guys listed above.

Really, I imagine both of these jobs will go to one of the first or second year guys. It's a speed thing at these spots, and I think the new kids are simply faster.

Blocking & Coverage Units:

The blockers for kicks and punts were a leaky bunch last season, so I'm hoping that gets shored up. That will hopefully lead to fewer rugby punts and close calls on the punt units, and should make a large difference (along with better height on kicks from Oliver) in the number of blocked kicks and close calls on the FG/PAT team. Since we haven't gotten to watch practices, I have no idea who they're using on these units, though it sounds like a number of freshmen will be thrown out there with some starters for a nice mix of athleticism and experience. Christian Powell was one guy that was mentioned as having a number of roles on special teams, and the more physical players like that we are using, the better we'll be. Speaking of Powell, using guys athletes like him and Nick Kasa as blockers for kicks and punts should help out our returners quite a bit. The improved depth of our roster should help all of these units out a lot. I'm excited to see who they send out come Sept. 1st.

Having specialists who have been out there before is a good thing for us, especially if they're cleaning up things like kick-height and details like that. Add a group of improved athletes into the mix on the coverage and blocking units plus quicker and faster returners and it won't be hard to imagine we'll be better across the board on special teams.

Previous Breakdowns:

CU Media Day: Interview With Fullback Clay Norgard

Jon Woods — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:29:04 -0000

Next up in our interviews from Saturday's CU Media Day is Buffaloes freshman fullback Clay Norgard, who was the only member of the freshmen class to enroll in the spring. Check it out to see what kind of experience he gained and how he is looking to improve this fall.

Ralphie Report 2012 Colorado Media Day Coverage

- Jon Embree press conference news & notes
- Q&A with Adam Munsterteiger
- Interview with tight end Nick Kasa
- Interview with linebacker Brady Daigh
- Interview with fullback Clay Norgard
- Interview with punter Zach Grossnickle
- Interview with wide receiver Tyler McCulloch
- Interview with defensive tackle Nate Bonsu
- Interview with quarterback Connor Wood

CU Media Day: Interview With Tight End Nick Kasa

Jon Woods — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 15:43:46 -0000

First up in our interviews from Saturday's CU Media Day is Buffaloes tight end Nick Kasa, who has made the transition from defensive end and is hoping to contribute on the offensive side of the ball.

Ralphie Report 2012 Colorado Media Day Coverage

- Jon Embree press conference news & notes
- Q&A with Adam Munsterteiger
- Interview with tight end Nick Kasa
- Interview with punter Zach Grossnickle
- Interview with linebacker Brady Daigh
- Interview with wide receiver Tyler McCulloch
- Interview with fullback Clay Norgard
- Interview with defensive tackle Nate Bonsu
- Interview with quarterback Connor Wood

CU Media Day: What Buffaloes Freshmen Have Impressed?

Jon Woods — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:00:45 -0000

After watching practice at last Saturday's Colorado Media Day, Adam Munsterteiger of Buff Stampede was kind enough to answer a couple of questions for us.

Ralphie Report 2012 Colorado Media Day Coverage

- Jon Embree press conference news & notes
- Q&A with Adam Munsterteiger
- Interview with tight end Nick Kasa
- Interview with punter Zach Grossnickle
- Interview with linebacker Brady Daigh
- Interview with wide receiver Tyler McCulloch
- Interview with fullback Clay Norgard
- Interview with defensive tackle Nate Bonsu
- Interview with quarterback Connor Wood

Pac-12 Media Day Interview: Buffaloes Tackle David Bakhtiari

DavidAGerhardt — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 13:00:12 -0000

David Bakhtiari, left tackle for the Colorado Buffaloes was kind enough to give me a few minutes of his time for an interview. I tried to ask a few of the questions that you, the readers wanted me to ask, so enjoy those. Also, enjoy his mention of 'the fat-man finger.'

For your reference, I'm DG, he's DB:

DG - How's media day going for you?

DB - Good, a lot of good things are happening, moving around a lot, asked the same questions, just jumping around trying to get a lot of things done.

DG - What incoming freshmen have impressed you most?

DB - I'll jump around from position to position: DBs, I've heard (Kenneth) Crawley has been doing really well, same as Yuri (Wright). Ray Polk can give a better take on that. Of the guys I've been working out with, I've really liked Vincent Hobbs, he's been putting a lot of work in and he can move really well, (Jeromy) Irwin is a young kid coming in but he seems more ready than I was when I came in as a freshman. Christian Powell looks good. And wide receivers, Jeff Thomas is looking really nice, I've been hearing a lot of good reports on him, and then the shorter Thomas, Gerald Thomas, I've heard that kid can run, both those guys. One who can run and catch really well and Gerald I've heard is a speedster, those are both good assets to have and I could see them both coming in and making an impact on our team.

DG - What about returning players? Any you didn't mention earlier?

Follow the jump to watch the two of us arm wrestle!

DB - Nick Kasa will be a good asset to have, I think the CU fanbase can be excited to see him. Even if his name's not called once in a game, he'll still be a really, really, really good blocker. He's big and strong. He's a gifted athlete, size speed. And then I've got to give a shoutout to the offensive linemen. Alex Lewis coming back, he's going to be a really good player, he can move really, really well. Daniel Munyer, it was sad to see him hurt and (the injury) lingering throughout last season that prevented him from playing much, but it gave Gus (Handler) a chance to shine. I've got to say all these guys, Gus, Jack (Harris), Daniel and Alex [starting 5, anyone?], all those guys are going to be guys to be talked about.

DG - I want to ask you more about Alex Lewis moving from TE to OG. Do you like him inside at guard?

DB - Me and him work really well together, so to go against another opponent, that will be really nice. We're both really competitive players and we're both extremely athletic, so to line up against some other players and show off our athleticism we should be quite a duo.

DG - How does blocking for Tony Jones primarily differ from blocking for Speedy?

DB - Not a whole lot. For me, blocking is blocking is blocking, I just have to do my job and he's going to do his job. I feel that Tony has good vision so I'm not going to be worried about that. He has a good idea of where the holes are going to be. One thing I'm excited about with Tony that I've noticed is that he's got really good breakaway speed, so I'm hoping he's going to see the hole, hit it, and I'm going to be doing what I call the 'fat-man finger' (he is pointing his finger up into the air). I'll throw it up because he's 50 yards ahead of me because I can't catch him.

DG - As an offensive line, what are your group goals? Has Coach Marshall set anything out for you or have you set anything out?

DB - No, but I'll set something out right now (I like this guy): Our group goal is to not be stopped in the redzone anytime it comes to running. I think we've got a good mentality on the offensive line from the left to right side. We know when it's time to go into trench warfare and fight for those yards. That and then definitely beat, what, we were 106th in running (in NCAA last season), we're definitely going to be better than that. Definitely. I can say with confidence, right now there is undoubtedly no way will we be there or worse in the rankings, that is just appalling.

DG - I'm glad you guys feel that way. What about personal goals?

DB - Personal goals for an offensive lineman? That's kind of hard to ask because I feel like my job is, um...

DG - To not get noticed?

DB - Yeah, the less noticed I am that means the better I'm doing. I guess my goal, my personal goal is I don't want to give up a single sack this year. I pride myself on not giving up sacks, and I was pretty mad at myself when I gave up my two last year, one mental error and you know, up against Nick Perry, who was a helluva player. So, it really hurts me when I do give up a sack, so my goal is to not give up a single sack this year.

DG - Are you in touch with any of the former offensive linemen, Nate Solder, Ryan Miller?

DB - Me and Nate were really close when he was here and he took me underneath his wing, well I kind of forced myself underneath there, because I knew I needed to learn as much as I could from the guy. He's a great guy. He was actually in town last week and came over to my house before he left, he's just a good guy. I really hope for the best for him and he deserves everything he's done. He works really hard and that's why we click so well, we both like working really hard. I keep in contact with him, occasionally he'll give me little tweaks and pointers which are really helpful, and otherwise he's just a good person to talk to, to see what life's like outside of college football and in the NFL, it's definitely an experience and he's having a lot of fun with it, or at least he's telling me he's having a lot of fun.

DG - What weight are you at and what weight do you want to play at?

DB - I'm about 296 and I would love to stay there. My ideal weight, I'd love to be 301 just to be one pound over 300 lbs. I just don't want to drop below 290. I feel like my body is not a fan of all this weight it has on it but it manages it. If I can stay anywhere between 290 and 301, that would be a good weight range.

DG - Thank you very much!

Colorado Buffaloes At Pac 12 Media Day

DavidAGerhardt — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 18:32:34 -0000

***Update! I have successfully interviewed Coach Jon Embree, David Bakhtiari and Ray Polk. I also asked Kyle Ringo (of the Daily Camera) a few questions. I'm going to work on getting those up. Mr. Woods also set up a meeting of the minds that will hopefully happen soon between myself, one of the writers for the Cal SBNation site and Dan from the SBNation Youtube Channel. Hopefully sometime soon you'll get to see us asking each other the tough questions, like: "Were you afraid when the explosions in the live Water World show happened next to the lunch area?" and "Why does Jeff Tedford always look unhappy?"

I'll be getting one-on-one interviews after lunch, but for now, here are my notes about the group session this morning:

Larry Scott first up after a pretty sweet new Ad for Pac 12 & Pac 12 Networks. There were some Buffaloes sightings, as well as a nice little chunk of footage of the C-Unit. They showed a lot of footage from all of the schools, but I noticed Tony Jones running the ball (at least once) and I think a quick shot of PRich. Then they got a sweet, above-the-rim dunk by Andre 'Animal-Style' Roberson from a couple of different angles.
First up was a quick plug for the Gibson Amphitheater, the location. More than 40 years of the best musicians in the world, so it's a fitting place for the players and coaches of the Pac 12 (I don't see the connection...)
No more exciting place to be than the Pac 12 today

Follow the jump to see how many questions they'd let me ask before they kicked me out!

Lived up to it again w/ 9 NCAA championships this year, more than any other conference, up to 451 total Championships
Pac 12 Media day also sees 239 current or former Pac 12 Student Athletes @ Olympics, representing 40 countries and nearly 25% of the US Contingent
Proponent of the new format of NCAA Football Playoff. Feels they balanced all of the needs of fans, Schools, NCAA and everything
Feels that the Pac 12 will be receiving unprecedented Nat'l Exposure this year in football
22 days away from the launch of the Pac 12 Networks
Officially welcoming "great football minds" to the Pac 12 Conference. Excitement, creativity.
Proud of unique location of Conference Football Championship (homefield of top team)
7 teams to bowls last year, expects at least that many this year
Gary Stevenson of Pac 12 Enterprises up next
CU will be one of the 6 games televised on opening weekend
Lots of football related programming in addition to games
Will replay all 79 home games including those aired on Fox and ESPN in 60 minute format
Excited about the talent that they've signed on for their shows and to broadcast games for Pac-12 Networks

And then the Buffaloes were up!

Next up: Colorado's Jon Embree, Ray Polk and David Bakhtiari
Embree's opening statement: excited for year 2, had good momentum at the end of the year
Goal for 12/13 is to make Bowl game. That means 6 wins or more is the goal!
Ended road losing streak last year, which was one of their goals and they are looking forward to building on that.
Q about PRich, is optimistic about getting him back this year, he's progressing very rapidly, still has to get back to doing football movements, but it's possible he could play.
I asked: What was the biggest hurdle as a first-time HC: Trying to create a new culture. Asking them to do a lot of new things. Accountability. 5 suspensions before they played Stanford (meat of the schedule). Focused on the long term, didn't get to do as much football as he wanted to do at first because of all the changing of culture and everything. Excited to be doing more of that now. Excited to be teaching and working more on improving at football this year (good news!).
DB (David Bakhtiari) answering about how important running the football is in response to whether running the ball is even more important w/ uncertainty at QB. Close knit group on the o-line. He's excited. Think that even though they lost Ryan Miller and Ethan Adkins, that they should be a good group.
JE, three kids for now in the QB competition. Nick's injury allowed him to get more study time in, and Connor got reps he needed. Webb is definitely a part of the competition. Would like Dillon to be a part of it, but he may not be ready to go because of shoulder surgery.
RP (Ray Polk) asked about a ‘rivalry' w/ Utah. "They're always going to be a good team". Still figuring out where they fit in in the conference. We'll find someone who we want to be our rival. For him, they look to the best team and they want that team to be their rival.
JE mentions how of the 28 players they lose, many of them were huge contributors. He feels good about what they have coming in, though. Have a good idea who is going to step up at all other positions except for QB. Likes the new TEs, WR and RB.
Like we've said here, despite losing a lot of players who played and started, they have greatly upgraded talent and speed on the roster, it's just a question of whether that speed 'goes in the right direction'. Likes where the program is going. Thinks they're on the right track talent-wise.
Media folks are forcing questions about ‘rivalry'. DB sees every team as a rival
DB - Big strong guys in both Pac 12 and Big 12, maybe a little faster in Pac 12 while slightly bigger in Big 12, but you get fantastic athletes in both.
RP says there are more fast players on teams in Pac 12 (in Big 12 you'd have one really talented Wideout, on Pac 12 teams, there are 3). Offensive schemes in the conference are some of the best out there.
Defensive back will see a lot of competition from incoming freshmen and they'll all have a chance to compete. Who is going to play opposite Polk and Henderson will be decided this summer, and the incoming freshmen (5 guys) are definitely a part of that discussion. Tight end is second and then D-line after that.
Question about recruiting Cali more now. JE explains that we have always wanted to recruit CA and they're hitting it hard still. 10 kids from CA last year and 4 or 5 commits thus far from CA.
Talks about how recruiting CA can help a program immensely. The state is full of talented kids.
RP: Doing a great job in summer workouts, better than they ever have in his time here, and not just weightlifting and running. This offseason they've been having player run meetings. Getting everyone involved in the defense. Greg Henderson will be great, PRich if he's healthy. Likes all the seniors on defense (Pericak, Rippy and Major). RP is excited and it'll be a fun season
DB talks about how good Nick Kasa looks good, he's been working hard all offseason, Pericak has improved both in the weight room and on the field. Chidera Uzo-Diribe actually works out with the skill players because he's so fast (he actually shook his head when he was talking about how fast CUD is). Gus Handler and Daniel Munyer looks improved and should be very good along the o-Line.

Injury updates:

CB Jered Bell knee suffered a torn ACL in the third ‘11 fall practice (Aug. 6); limited participation (individual drills) in spring FULL GO
DT Nate Bonsu shoulder underwent postseason surgery (Nov. 29) to clean up chronic issue FULL GO
OL Kaiwi Crabb back strained lower back in conditioning (Feb. 27) FULL GO
TB Malcolm Creer knee suffered sprained ACL/MCL at Arizona State (Oct. 29); had surgery (Dec. 1) and rehabilitating FULL GO
OL Ryan Dannewitz back suffering chronic lower back pain FULL GO
QB Shane Dillon shoulder underwent offseason shoulder surgery in February DAY-TO-DAY
DB Will Harlos hamstring suffered a slight pull and tightness in conditioning and has worked through it during much of camp FULL GO
DB Sherrard Harrington knee suffered a bruise in Apr. 5 scrimmage LIMITED
QB Nick Hirschman foot suffered fractures of both metatarsals (7/25/11, 3/3/12), has had three surgeries and target August return FULL GO
PK Will Oliver shoulder underwent surgery (Mar. 27) to mend a chronic injury FULL GO
DB Parker Orms hamstring suffered a severe strain in practice (Mar. 13) DAY-TO-DAY
FS Ray Polk wrist suffered a sprain in winter conditioning, participated minimally in spring drills FULL GO
WR Paul Richardson knee suffered a torn ACL in practice (April 9); underwent surgery (Apr. 16) and will likely miss 2012 season OUT
ILB Douglas Rippy knee suffered torn ligaments against Washington (Oct. 15), had surgery (Nov. 15), limited spring participation FULL GO
FS Richard Yates knee suffered a sprain in practice (Apr. 9) FULL GO

According to Dave Plati, Peyton Williams was left off the injury list, but he is still rehabilitating from his ACL injury that he suffered during his senior year of HS. I'm sure we'll get an update on his status at some point.

I mentioned this in the Media Day thread, but we've got some official weights of the incoming freshmen. DTs Justin Solis and Josh Tupou are listed at 305 lbs and 325 lbs respectively. That's some much needed beef up front. And Terrence Crowder and Davien Payne are 215 lbs and 225 lbs respectively. Good stuff.

TE Kyle Slavin is up to 245 lbs. Incoming frosh Vincent Hobbs and Austin ray are both listed at 240 lbs. Again, that's solid for the incoming freshmen and Slavin is finally bulking up. Hopefully that'll help them all to be ready to contribute.

Paul Vigo is now listed as an inside linebacker, so he's moved yet again. Jermane Clark is officially listed as an ILB and is on the depth chart there as well.

More news this afternoon!