Some additional observations (apologies for the grammar, too late to be editing):

We are scary thin at WR. I know that Clemons was hurt and couldn't play but after he and Richardson we are struggling for back ups. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised with the play Canty and I think that he could be a great slot receiver. I see him as kind of a utility receiver, one that you find different ways to get him the ball in space, but I think that a physical DB will be able to take him out of the play most of the time. Cefalo also seemed like he could be a decent slot receiver, but much more of a possession guy, who can find a seem and he appears to have good hands. However, my concern is that our offense doesn't really use three receivers so the traditional "slot" position, if used by our offense, is occupied by one of our TE. (Please don't get me wrong, I love our TEs and will briefly discuss them below.) Then there is Will Jefferson. I want to be excited about the kid but I was extremely disappointed to see his play on Saturday. He dropped several balls and according to the Stat sheet only caught one pass, which shocked me because it seemed like he was targeted seven or eight times, and then fumbled after the catch(probably would have been ruled incomplete bc it was in the process of catching). He seems to have everything you need to succeed at WR except good hands, even last year when he was running the ball he had problems fumbling, which is a really big problem. Lets hope he works on it over the summer and something clicks because we really need it to.

I was very impressed with our TEs, all of them. Slavin looks like he could be really good an flourish in our offense if he can learn to block better and thus get on the field more. Griffon also looked like a great pass catching TE. The contested catch going out of bounds on the left sideline was a great pass by Hirschman and an even better catch by Griffon. Probably needs to work on the same thing as Slavin, but I do find it odd that we have not really heard anything about him up to this point. Deehan was as good as advertised and showed us exactly what we have been hearing from all the coaches about his play, great all around TE with tons of potential.

We seem to be pretty deep at RB. Tony Jones looks great probably runs a little more N/S than Speedy but probably doesn't have as much power to break tackles. I am sold on Ford but we all need to remember he was running a lot against the second and third team defense. That being said, he looks like he will be contributing and we will need him with 13 weeks in a row this fall. I think it is great that these two emerged behind Speedy because that way we can redshirt some, if not all, of our incoming RB recruits and let them develop. Why didn't Cordary get more carries? Just curious if anyone knows something about his situation?

Our O-line looked solid for the most part but they definitely missed a few assignments, especially on the right side. I realize that handler will develop and grow into a nice right tackle but for now the summer and fall camp should really help them grow.

Just one comment about the Defensive side of the ball. While I understand he was playing with the 3rd string, Justin Gorman was all over the field making tackles in the second half. I wonder if he could really shine in a few years playing a safety role?

The word around the camp fire is that Eugene Goree and Trea Jones are no longer on the team. From a good source, Trea quit the team last week and it was not a huge surprise to those on or close to the team. It appears that he will remain at CU for the rest of the semester and then transfer.  The departure of Goree is probably more disappointing, at least to me, considering our defensive line is so thin to begin with. However, it has been rumored that he "quit" the team several times over the past few years only to later return, so also not a surprise. I wish them both well in the future and hope that they find greener pastures. GO BUFFS!

             Even assuming that we loose a close one to Nebraska, Cabral should definitely be hired, however, as an assistant. I have heard others voice their concerns over his overall lack of "Head Coach Feel" in interviews and press conferences. I happen to share similar concerns about his overall potential as a long term solution. However, I think that he is a hell of a motivator, mentor, coach, and Buff. Having a great Buff as a leader of the program right now might be the most important reason why we need to keep Cabral.
             When the Program went through the Barnett debacle I think a lot of the administration wanted to change the "culture" of the program. In a horrible twist of fate and poor judgment they believed that the best way to do so was to hire a coach from the "outside" and then encourage him to abandon any traditions that he saw fit and to start some new ones. (ie. Buffalo Round Up) Now that Cabral is in charge and restoring some those traditions, our football players have become Buffs again. It is pretty clear that when we have Buffs out there playing Colorado Buffalo Football then we can beat just about anyone.
             So at this crucial juncture in Colorado football history it is important that we continue to restore some of those traditions no matter who we hire as the head coach. I, for one, cannot imagine a better person to do the job of creating Buffs out of young men than Cabral. So he definitely needs to be hired in some defensive assistant capacity.  I don't know if it would be an issue for a new head coach to keep the former interim head coach unless the two came from the same program and/or were already friends.  So keeping Cabral as a defensive coordinator could be an issue if we hired someone from outside the program. Which may limit our coaching options, however, no so much that our best option would be removed from the list.  My conclusion so far.....we should hire Bieniemy. He would be an exceptional recruiter in the Pac 12 and that is exactly what we need if we are going to compete in that conference.

All that being said, he certainly is doing a hell of a job make be a believer that he would be just fine as a head coach. Go Buffs!
Thoughts on keeping Cabral but in a capacity short of head coach and what limitations that may have on our head coaching search?

I, like many of you, have been trying to decide for myself what I would like to see happen with the current coaching staff. Not whether to fire them but when to fire them. At first I thought that we should fire Hawkins now since we know that he is not going to be our coach going forward and maybe we could salvage some dignity over the last half of the season. "Yes", I thought, "End this madness now"! However, the more I think about it, the more it becomes clear that we should wait until the end of the season. By firing him now we (the CU program) don't really gain anything. OK, the fan base gets some sense of justice by canning the coach that has produced nothing for five years but nothing really gained. The players would be upset, distracted, and would start thinking about a transfer. It could get ugly...even uglier. The recruits would have plenty of time to look elsewhere and other schools would have plenty of room for them. Lets be honest, the current recruits are or must have considered the possibility that this staff will not be at Colorado next year. So if we wait and can keep a positive perception of the team, as opposed to a dysfunctional one, then hopefully we can keep the recruits committed. The programs head coaching search would also benefit from keeping a positive perception. It would make the job more attractive and make the transition into the program that much easier. Players would likely be more open to change if they trust the administration and are not furious with them. The availability of HC candidates would also increase, and by waiting we can avoid having the Athletic Department fall in love with a candidate before all the possible candidates are known. Another issue that we are all familiar with is money. I am not sure exactly how this particular contract is structured but I do have a basic understanding of athletic contracts. I think we would be responsible for the remaining value of his contract . Therefore, we would have to pay more in the buyout now than we would at the end of the season. It is hard for me to justify firing him now. Make him suffer and explain himself....not that he ever has explained anything.....he has been to busy excusing himself. Lets try and keep a positive perception.

GO BUFFS!

I think we all remember being really excited when, at the US Army All American game, Diante announced on national TV that he was going to the Buffs over many scholarships. If you do then I'm sure you also remember how disappointed you were when he committed to Oregon on signing day. I think it had something to do with his grandmother liking the coaches or something....yeah, Chip Kelly is really doing a bang up job with player development. Well, I can't say that it wouldn't have happened at CU...Simas...but we can all sleep a little easier now. Diante Jackson has been declared ineligible to compete for the 2010 football season for a failure to maintain the minimum academic standards required by the NCAA. Jackson did not play in any games last season as a redshirt freshman and was not listed on Oregon's two-deep roster heading into the start of the 2010 season. For his sake I hope he does a better job of turning it around then Simas did after he suffered the same fate. Then again since we might be playing against him soon, he should get a DUI and not show up for court.

Go Buffs

In case anyone was wondering what a real coach sounds like in an interview after a disappointing practice when they have real concerns about their offense then read the full interview of Chip Kelly. But here is glimpse:

       "We stink right now," he said. "We're just so far from where we need to be as far as attention to detail. This was a step back for us today."

"You're an 18-, 19-, 20-year old playing at Notre Dame and it's 70 degrees out and I've got to motivate you?" he said. "That's where we're not on the same page."

Kelly said he's not depending on the team leaders to send the message to the rest of the team.

"That's what they hired me for," he said. "We've got to get it out of them.

My favorite comment is his constructive criticism of his QB. It was very Phil Jacksonesque... motivation by criticism:

"His footwork's got to get better, his read progression," Kelly said.

Dan Hawkins translation: We're coming along. We got to shore a few things up. Enthusiasm was good. The thing with the QBs is that it takes 11 guys but everyone wants to just put it on one guy.

 I read that earlier in spring practice Andre Simmons was home in South Carolina but that he was expected to return. Can anyone confirm that he has indeed returned or is going to return? I was also thinking about his playing time last season and how his production and understanding of the offense was limited by his late arrival. Does anyone know  if he is close to being able to claim a red shirt for last season? Thanks.

As far as I can tell Tony Jones is great all-purpose back that has big time program potential. Oddly enough so did the likes of Michigan, Boston College, Rutgers. I've done limited research and it appears that he has had one hell of a grueling recruiting process. It appears that he got two early offers from Boston College and Michigan respectively. He visited each and graciously reported having enjoyed both. It appears he might have had a few injuries but was able to sustain productivity. Despite his productivity at some point both Michigan and BC "filled up his roster spot" leaving Tony without any offers. He would later visit Rutgers but never received an offer. The next few articles suggest that he was having some trouble in the classroom and he was focusing on taking care of that. There was a quote from one of his coaches saying something along the lines of Tony is focusing on his work and not worrying about recruiting "after what he has gone through".

I'm excited about have someone of his talent and caliber and I hope that he has taken care of all of his classroom concerns and he continues to do so. I just can't help but wonder if there is something more to the story. What is the word around the campfire?

This is probably a dumb question but I thought I remembered there being five 4 star recruits as of last weekend and now I only see four. I looked for any stories/headlines as to who I'm missing but have not been able to identify the defector. On an unrelated note why did we have such poor luck recruiting DE Willis from Byrnes High?  I know that we have ahas success recruiting that high school in the very recent past so what the deal? Thanks and Go Cocks!

I'm a CU Alumni. I graduated in '06 and I've seen some highs and I've seen some lows. I've always been a supporter of Hawk. Maybe because I wanted to believe we were in good hands and maybe because he occasionally shows the potential we all hope he has (Oklahoma '07, Texas tech '07, Kansas '09). But it is time. Its time to face reality. Young? Yes we're young but we've been young for four years. Lets concede for the sake of argument that it is not the coaching staffs fault for still being young. Look around the nation and there are a lot of teams with young talent that are doing better, looking better, playing more inspired, and have a better record than the buffs (Washington).  So thus begs the question, and many have chimed in on one side or the other, whether the coaching staff is failing at coaching the players or whether the players we have are not capable of playing at the level necessary to win.

I refuse to believe that our players are incapable of playing at a high level and compete in the Big 12, or any conference for that matter. Look at the "unbiased" recruiting rankings. Look at the other schools who wanted these same athletes. More telling is look at the athletes who didn't come but are doing great things, not all of those who are capable of doing great things chose not to come.

So that leaves the pink elephant in the room. What is wrong with the coaching staff? There seems to be two glaring problems, this year anyway, that have us wondering if anyone is actually coaching. First, the coaches don't trust any of our "young" players enough put them out there and let them play. This of course leads to lack of confidence, which leads to hesitation, which leads to poor play. With everyone "confused" no one is playing with emotion which leads us to the second problem.

The coaches do not coach with any emotion. Instead preferring to "stay off of the peeks and out of the valleys". Well there are so many problems with this that its scary but lets look at a few. These are not professional athletes. Many of them are just starting to nurture that "chip on their shoulder". The coaches need to get angry or excited or something. Lead by example. Professionals no longer need that example, they are already there, its good to keep them focused or "off the peaks and out of the valleys" but not eighteen to twenty two year olds. The other major problem is that the entire team looks to the coaches, as they should, to identify their swagger. The problem is that no one is fired up, no one is angry when we loose, no one gets called out for missing assignments. I'm not suggesting that players get called out in the media, not at all, but I would like to see some accountability. If not by the players then by the coaches. If it matters to the coaches then it will matter to the players because it sure does matter to me. Always a buff. Beat the Tigers!