The mood at the beginning of the first practice for Colorado was strikingly different than the mood at the end. Deion Sanders was all smiles as the team stretched and warmed up. He called for just one hour of full speed effort as the team donned helmets and pads for the first time. Less than sixty minutes later he dismissed the team without the customary “breakdown” saying they did nothing to earn it.
Sanders admittedly didn’t expect an A+ effort on the first day of practice but he was clearly not pleased with the defense. When asking the position coaches to grade the day’s practice, the defensive ends, defensive line, linebackers and cornerbacks all received an “F.” Conversely, the Colorado offensive units and special teams received a “C” from their coaches.
Offensive coordinator Sean Lewis took advantage of the defensive miscues but he understands the context of it being just the first of many practices to come.
“Day one stuff, right? We found some guys that were open. We played catch. It was good to see,” Lewis said.
“There’s some really good moments and there are some moments that are going to be teachable for us and things that we can grow from and learn from. It was a start,” he continued.
Having a bad practice is an adversity all teams have to deal with at some point. It’s also an opportunity to see who the leaders on the team are. Shane Cokes’ voice emerged as one to hold his teammates and himself accountable for the opening effort.
“Not nearly good enough. Defense not lined up. Missed assignments not running to the ball and not getting play calls in and tired and if we’re going to do what we said we want to do, we’ve got to fix it. Thankfully, we’re not playing TCU next week we’ll play on September 2nd. But I believe in these boys, everybody even myself included didn’t play well today. We’re going to fix it we’re going to correct it today, we’re going to get it right tomorrow,” Cokes said.
Victory in football is most often decided in the trenches. As the defensive line looks to gain its footing on the practice field, the offensive line was off to a slightly better start. But with the plan of attack centered around an up-tempo offense, it’s yet to be determined how the stamina of the boys up front will hold up. But offensive line coach Bill O’Boyle sounds optimistic.
“It’s hard to tell right now. You know, it was a shorter practice. But one thing I mean, we push this tempo for this offense, offensive line does. So we’ve got to do a better job. We’re not near there. So we’ll see at the end of camp,” O’Boyle said.
Stay with Thee Pregame Show for all of the inside access to fall camp at Colorado. And for more video content from Thee Pregame Show, visit our YouTube Channel. You can become a subscriber and get notifications for the release of our latest videos.
