Aug. 30, 2010

Game Notes | Depth Chart | Showdown Info | Tickets

Opening Statement: “We started some of our preparation for the University of Colorado last week, and had segments in practice that were geared toward the game plan. The benefit of that was last Saturday during our mock game, we were able to do some of that work, do some of those reps against CU looks. But having said that, we were still competing against each other, still playing a lot of different rotations at spots, and that’s all going to come to a change now this week. Our focus solely will be on installing our CU game plan. We’re looking forward to a hard-fought game on Saturday. We still need a good week of practice to get ourselves ready to play. I certainly respect Dan Hawkins and the University of Colorado, and I think that this game will be a good barometer as to where we are at. Having said that, I’ll open it up to questions.”

On starting CU preparations early because of the youth of the team: “That was the real benefit, was to make sure that our quarterback had a dry run on some things last Saturday. Being as young as we are at quarterback and within the offensive line, it was important that we get this stuff in front of them earlier, and get a few cracks at some things prior to game week.”

On the status of QB Klay Kubiak: “Klay is cleared to do some stuff; he will practice today.  He is not 100 percent, but he will participate in everything, even team periods, and he will get some reps today.”

On starting Tyler McDermott at center: “It will be Tyler and Weston Richburg who will play in this football game as centers, and Weston, again, has never played in a college game, so it’s just where we are. We’re young up front, we’re young at quarterback. I’ve said all along how we develop in those areas will not only be the key to our offense, but the key for our football team. We’re going to have to get up and running in those spots pretty quick. We flash out there on the practice field at times, but think Saturday will give us a really good indication as to where we are at.”

On plans to get both centers out on the field: “Weston Richburg is very talented, but he is a redshirt freshman; he hasn’t played a lot. Asking him to be a full-time center is probably not the right thing to do at this point. There will be a day when he will be a center, and a pretty darn good one. We’re a work in progress on the line, and obviously Pete Thomas is going to make some errors, we know that. We’re just going to have to keep playing through it. We did it in 2008. We struggled a little bit last year, but wherever we are on Saturday, it could be better than what we think, it could be not as good as we think, but wherever we are, we have to get better with every practice opportunity at that point moving forward. That’s our job as coaches, and that’s my main concern.”

On CU’s passing game: “It is a concern; they struggled a little bit throwing the ball against us last year. Now they have a little more talent and speed out there running around, and they’ve settled on a quarterback. We’re going to have to do things better than we did last year. We’re going to have to get pressure on the quarterback more effectively than we did. We’re going to have to make some more plays on third down than we did. We certainly don’t want to let any of those receivers get in behind us and start making some big plays on us.”
 
On the experience of CSU’s defense: “I think it’s a big help, and I think that every year as we move forward we are going to have more and more experienced guys, guys that have played, no doubt. But you can tell when we’re out there now, going against each other, that we are a little better defensive football team; we’re just settling in a little better there.”

On alternating running backs: “Whoever gets hot stays in there. Obviously there’s a workload limit that Anthoney Hill has to manage; we don’t want a guy to carry the ball six, seven, eight plays in a row. Whoever is hot is going to play. Raymond Cater is obviously our starter. He had a very good camp. I like what John Mosure has been doing of late, too. John came out in spring ball as third, fourth or fifth, and he really went to work, didn’t say much, and has produced in the fall camp. Now he is probably our No. 2 back. Chris Nwoke is struggling a little bit; I still think Chris is a very talented player, but he has to find his groove a little bit.”
 
On his plan for using his receivers: “We have a pretty good idea of how we are going to play our receivers, who will be in the slot, who will play on the split-end side, that sort of thing. Again, we have kind of a different array of guys, so we are going to ask guys to do what they do well, and try to not ask them to do what they don’t do well.”

On the young offensive line: “I like the talent level. You go down there in that room and there are good players; they’re just young right now. We’re not quite as inexperienced as it sounds; (Jake) Gdowski started the CU game last year. We’ve got about three guys who have played a little bit of football there. How we play at center and how we play at the other guard spot is going to be crucial.”

On CU having twice as many in-state starters: “We always want to recruit the state of Colorado the best we can, but we also make decisions in recruiting based on what’s right for our program.”

On whether he thinks the team’s youth has been overemphasized: “There are no excuses; this is our football team; we have to go play. We’re not putting an asterisk by Pete Thomas. It doesn’t do us any good, he’s got to play. Same for their guys. I’m sure they have new guys in the lineup as well. It’s our job as coaches to get them clued in, get them motivated, develop them, and see how good we can be.”

On so many true freshmen starting and playing: “Well, it’s a talented group; these past two classes have been pretty darn good. I think that there are six to seven that could play on Saturday as true freshmen. There will be some redshirt freshmen obviously, and that’s the way it is. They’re good players; we brought them here to win football games, and we anticipate that they will play well.”

On expecting CU head coach Dan Hawkins to pressure Thomas: “Well, you always want to try to pressure a young quarterback and a young offensive line. They had a little more success against us when they tried to pressure last year. As you watched them as the year went on last year, they became a little more of a pressure defense. Every practice that we have around here, we deal with pressure. They have two talented corners, and we’re new at wide receiver. I mean, if I were him, I would blitz, too.”

On expecting Thomas to be able to manage the game: “With any game plan, we’re hoping our quarterback can manage it. We don’t want to ask Pete to do anything he can’t do, but we’re not going to scale anything back; he has to play quarterback, he’s got to play it in the scheme.”

On Thomas’ maturity and development: “The reason we were so fired up in recruiting him was that even before we got him on campus, he seemed like a young man that could do this. Once the ink’s dry on the letter of intent you think, ‘Wow, this is probably too big of a challenge; I’m not sure anyone could really be up do doing this.’ But he came in and he studied hard, he worked hard. He’s obviously a good teammate. I’ve been very impressed with him. It’s not going to be perfect, but I’m quite confident that he’s going to be a very good quarterback for us at some point.”

On recruiting Thomas and Nico Ranieri with the idea of starting as a freshman: “I think that particularly with these two guys, I mean the starter was graduating, so anytime there is an open position, the opportunity is there. But Pete’s only chance was to get here and go through spring football; I don’t see how a guy can just show up in the summer and be your starting QB. That would be very hard to do.”

On trying to fluster Thomas during fall camp: “The good ones are hard to fluster. I’ll get him before the week is out, but he’s a tough kid. He’s confident, and he’s what you want in that regard.”

On his relationship with Dan Hawkins: “Dan and I were down at the luncheon on Friday. I’ve always enjoyed his company. I respect him as a coach, the way he runs his program, and cares about kids. Every time I’ve been with him and heard him speak I’ve liked what he’s had to say. He has a great family; I know his wife and my wife think the world of each other.”
 
On this game being the rubber match, as he’s 1-1 against CU: “Well, we want to win them all, but I have said this all along: This game is not defining our football team. We’re going to play hard and hopefully we’re going to get a victory on Saturday, but if we don’t we better get back to work and get rolling, because one game doesn’t make your season.”

On Ricky Brewer’s emotions leading into his first game since 2008: “He’s really excited. And I’m so darn proud of him; all the things he has done off of the field, to get himself back. The guy turned what could be a very negative situation really into a positive. He’s got that charisma, and he’s obviously a team captain and leader of our football team. I’m sure he’ll be sky high to play come Saturday.”

On that being a good thing for the team: “I hope so.  I’ve never been one to worry about guys getting too excited to play. Usually you get whacked around in there a play or two and then settle into it. Excitement and playing with emotion is good. Guys that are flat, that’s not a good thing. Ricky will have us, our football team and our defense, emotionally on edge and ready to play.”

On CU QB Tyler Hansen: “He kind of creates a little bit with his legs. He’s not a whole lot different; he seems like a very good quarterback. He makes plays both running and throwing. We’re going to have to contain him. But if Cody Hawkins comes in, he beat us two years ago, so he’s a good player as well. And obviously like our QB, if they’re running the ball and making plays at receiver and doing all those other things, the QB looks pretty good.”

On whether he believes the rivalry has evened out over the past decade: “It seems like it to me. My first year they beat us, but we’re trying to play with them. Last year we won, and my last two years as an assistant here we beat them pretty good. I know they’ve won their fair share of games as well. It seems like a good game. It’s good for the fans, good for the schools. I know our kids are very, very excited to play in this game.”