Coaches one step closer to naming starting quarterback
A record crowd showed up Saturday to see a preview of what Buff football will look like come fall.
At the spring game, all three potential quarterbacks stood out, but last year’s starter, rising sophomore Cody Hawkins, is still looking strong for the position.
If the season started today, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Mark Helfrich said Hawkins would have the position.
“But the game isn’t today,” Helfrich said. “So those (other) guys can grow and build over the summer into the fall. So we’ll make that call certainly in due time.”
Hawkins, rising senior Nick Nelson and rising redshirt freshman Matt Ballenger racked up a combined 383 yards on 30 of 45 passes for four touchdowns and no interceptions.
Helfrich said that in order for Nelson to be a real contender, he has to work on his routine plays, pocket presence and turnover rates. Ballenger only took six of the 45 passes for 65 yards.
While Helfrich has put his confidence in Hawkins at the moment, Hawkins said since the starting quarterback job is still up for grabs, he has continued to feel pressure.
“You have guys like Nick and Matt who have great potential, and they’re doing an awesome job,” Hawkins said. “I thought the whole offense was very efficient on a lot of plays regardless of who was playing quarterback.”
| Passing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| C/Att | Yards | TD | Int | Sacks | |
| Hawkins | 15/22 | 185 | 2 | 0 | 4/15 |
| Nelson | 10/17 | 133 | 1 | 0 | 1/14 |
| Ballenger | 5/6 | 65 | 1 | 0 | 1/5 |
| Receiving | |||||
| No. | Yards | Avg. | TD | Long | |
| Devenny | 5 | 78 | 15.6 | 0 | 32 |
| Crawford | 4 | 39 | 9.8 | 1 | 12 |
| Simas | 4 | 34 | 8.5 | 0 | 15 | Rushing |
| Att. | Yards | Av. | TD | Long | |
| Sumler | 11 | 43 | 3.9 | 0 | 13 |
| Moyd | 9 | 30 | 3.3 | 0 | 9 |
| Ballenger | 3 | 16 | 5.3 | 0 | 11 |
The team is adamant that a quarterback will be determined in the near future. The decision will be made by the third week of summer camp, head coach Dan Hawkins said.
The rest of the offense did its part, and the first and second team offenses combined for 45 points. The black team (first team offense, second team defense) came up with the victory over the gold team (second team offense, first team defense) 28-17.
The offense continued the hurry-up, no-huddle offensive strategy at the game. Both Helfrich and Hawkins said that it is beginning to work, but more consistency is needed.
“Now we just need to do everything better and faster,” Helfrich said. “There were a bunch of times today where we could have got our defense on their heels; they weren’t quite set, and we weren’t either.”
Rising sophomore tailback Demetrius Sumler led the rushers with 43 yards on 11 carries. He also received two catches for 24 yards and a touchdown.
Rising junior tailback Kevin Moyd was second with 30 yards on nine carries, and he also landed on the receiving list with three catches for 60 yards and a touchdown.
Rising junior tight end Patrick Devenny led the receivers with five catches for 78 yards.
Coach Hawkins said the offense is starting to come together.
“We still have a lot of components to put into it, but the basic nuts and bolts of it, the shell, we’ve got in,” Hawkins said. “But there are still some other wrinkles I think that will add to it that we’ve got to get going on.”
The defense was missing a number of seniors, which defensive coordinator Ron Collins said was the cause of the defensive struggles. Ryan Walters, Benjamin Burney, Brandon Nicolas and Drew Hudgins were all absent from play because of injuries.
Collins said he did see some improvement in the defense though.
“They looked much better today,” Collins said. “There were still plenty of mistakes out there.”
Linebacker Marcus Burton led the team with 10 tackles and one 14-yard sack, and B.J. Beatty and Jason Brace combined for another three sacks. There were no turnovers.
An estimated 17,800 fans were in attendance at Saturday’s game, breaking the previous record of 13,600 set in 1989. Last year, only 5,800 people came to the game.
While the fans may have shown up to see the football team, there were two other notable appearances at the game.
Ralphie V made her debut before kickoff. During her halftime run, she freed herself of all but one handler. Coach Hawkins called it an “ESPN highlight.”
Also in attendance was Darrell Scott, the highly anticipated addition to the team in the fall. Scott, the nation’s top running back recruit by many recruiting databases, said he could not hide from the crowd of fans.
“I’m really excited,” Scott said. “I just want to get out, go for a starting spot, and play.”
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Kyle L. Haas at kyle.l.haas@colorado.edu.
