Buff Babys

It's only natural, actual facts are thrown at you
The impact'll blow trees back and crack statues
Million dollar rap crews fold, check the sick shit
explicit, I crystalize the rhyme so you can sniff it...

I was one of the nearly 5000 Black and Gold faithful who made the trek to Boulder this past Saturday to catch CU’s final open scrimmage. With less than two weeks before opening with the Sheep at The House That Bowlen Built, the Buffs might want to add the color green to their unis. Green, as in young.

22 of the top 44 players are freshmen or sophomores, and it shows in places. The linebacking corps are my chief concern, where outside super-Big 12 vet Jordan Dizon and stout Brad Jones, the Buffs are woefully thin. Their backups looked lost on a few plays, allowing TEs to walk into the endzone untouched or RBs to gallop right past them. Suspensions have hurt LBs, as penciled starter Michael Sipili used a fellow students face as a punching bag. Behind the three starters are three green walk ons.

Behind the linebackers are a solid group of starters in the backfield, lead by speedy corner Terrence Wheatley. Opposite him is the surprising Ben Burney, who played man very well and shows great ball instinct; and roaming the middle are two fierce hitters in Ryan Walters and Daniel Dykes. Both are wood-bringing monsters who even during the scrimmage looked like they were intimidating the WRs. Again, all of their backups are youngins, freshmen and sophomores abound. Again, more mistakes among that group. Not on the scale of last year, but the youth shows in blown coverages during the scrimmage.

Parts of the OL are also peppered with the youngsters, as are the WRs. The young OL is strong, run wise, as they mowed the DL on a few plays. However, the young wideouts are head and shoulders above the vets athletically, so there will be no drop off there. Josh Smith, while looking like a young Milli or Vanilli, is the peach of the bunch. Speed with him and the other freshmen WRs, Kendrick Celestine and Markues Simas. Smith will most likely be the starter by mid-year. Even the QB, Cody Hawkins, will be taking his first NCAA snap, even though those games versus Kevin and Winnie in the backyard don’t count. Lil' Hawk looks sharp, think Joel Klatt style manager, with a bit more raw talent/strength.

The bottom line? I’m not ready to assign a win-loss total to the squad yet. But, the sheer number of especially young Buffs might lead one to believe that it could be heavy again in the right column.