Steven Johnson: An early look at Colorado, TCU’s opening-game opponent on Friday
After much anticipation, the season opener for TCU is finally approaching. The first game of the Sonny Dykes era will be at Colorado against a rebuilding Buffaloes team at 9 p.m. Friday.
The conference media picked Colorado to finish last in the Pac-12 after the Buffaloes went 4-8 in coach Karl Dorrell’s second season. Colorado hit the transfer portal in the hopes of finding newcomers that could make an instant impact.
Dykes expects to see a lot of new faces at different positions which has made preparing for the Buffaloes a challenge.
“It’s a team with a lot of new players, a lot of unknowns. Colorado kind of restocked their roster going through the transfer portal and recruiting,” Dykes said. “In the past years you would have a pretty good sense of what the team is going to look like and who was coming back, you could find them on film. Now if you want to try and find everybody you’re having to prepare against you might have to watch 20 different teams play.”
One thing that Dykes and the staff noticed is Colorado’s youth. The Buffaloes roster is almost 80% freshmen and sophomores. A good chunk of those younger playersare starters.
The youth is particularly glaring in the secondary where four of the five starters are sophomores. With its four leading receivers from a year ago returning plus the emergence of Savion Williams, Gunnar Henderson and Jordan Hudson during the preseason, TCU should have an advantage in the aerial game.
Here’s what else stands out about Colorado’s roster:
QB1 undecided?
Both TCU and Colorado are keeping their starting quarterbacks under wraps ahead of the season opener. Just as the first-team quarterback was listed as Max Duggan or Chandler Morris on Monday, the Buffaloes are using a similar approach.
Brendon Lewis and J.T. Shrout were listed as potential options under center. Lewis was the starter last year and threw for over 1,500 yards and 10 touchdowns in 12 games. Lewis only completed 58% of his attempts and averaged six yards per attempt. Signs point to Lewis beating out Shrout for the job and getting another chance to lead the Colorado offense.
Experienced D-line
Colorado does have experience. Starters Terrance Lang, Na’im Rodman and Jalen Sami have combined for roughly 60 starts in their careers. Guy Thomas and Jamar Montgomery could be the starters at edge rusher. Both are entering their senior seasons.
While there is experience up front, there’s also much room for improvement. The Buffaloes finished last in the Pac-12 in sacks and allowed 5.1 yards per carry to opponents. Led by Steve Avila at left guard, if the TCU offensive line has improved as much as players and coaches believe then they’ll have ample opportunity to show it.
CU replacing its weapons
The Buffaloes were one of the worst offenses in the country, averaging less than 20 points per game in 2021. As Dorrell seeks more production from the offense, he’ll do it without a number of leaders. The Buffaloes are replacing their leading rusher and three of their leading receivers.
Senior Daniel Arias had 237 yards and a touchdown. Now he’ll be the go-to receiver starting out. Montana Lemonious-Craig had two touchdowns and will man the other outside receiver position. Cornerback pair of Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson and Josh Newton should be able to hold up well.
Deion Smith and Alex Fontenot are listed as potential starters at running back. Fontenot had 326 yards while Smith added 192.
Other names to watch
Colorado brought in six transfers according to 247Sports and a number of them are carving out roles in the two deep. Alabama transfer Tommy Brown was listed as a starter with Austin Johnson at right guard. He’s dealt with nagging injuries in the preseason. West Virginia transfer Josh Chandler is listed as a starter at inside linebacker with Quinn Perry.
Wide receiver RJ Sneed (Baylor), left guard Luke Eckardt (Arizona), and defensive lineman Chance Main (Incarnate World) all cracked the two deep at their respective positions.
This story was originally published August 30, 2022 at 11:45 AM.
