Buffs coach talks about the Eastern Washington Eagles
Fresh off of their big rivalry victory over the Colorado State Rams, head CU football Dan Hawkins and his team are only thinking about the Eastern Washington Eagles and what they must do to become 2-0.
“Eastern Washington is a really good football team,” Hawkins said. “They only lost to Appalachian State by 3 points last year. They are a proven commodity. For anybody to take them lightly is a great miscalculation.”
Eastern Washington is ranked seventh in the Big Sky Conference following a 49-24 loss to Texas Tech where they held strong.
The upcoming game against the Eagles will be the second game in Hawkins’ tenure as Buffs head coach against an opponent from the Big Sky Conference. The first was against Montana State in 2006, which ended in defeat for the Buffs.
Coach Hawkins said at the press conference that although he was pleased with his team’s effort against Colorado State, there is still more work to do.
“Defensively, we played a pretty good game,” Hawkins said. “Offensively, we had our moments, but again there are a lot of little things that we need to work on. There was a step here, a vision there. It was the first time out of the box for the offense and many of our players.”
One thing Hawkins said needed work was the Buffs’ new no huddle offense, which the team incorporated this off-season.
The Buffs’ new offense proved to be effective against the Rams, especially near the goal line where sophomore quarterback Cody Hawkins scored on two quarterback sneaks that caught the Rams defense off guard.
Coach Hawkins called the new offense “okay”.
Hawkins also praised the play of a pair of defenders- junior linebacker Jeff Smart and senior safety Ryan Walters.
Smart and Walters both led the team with 11 tackles.
“Jeff Smart made some plays out there that were reminiscent of Jordon Dizon,” Hawkins said.
This is high praise, as Dizon was a Butkus Award finalist last year.
Hawkins also confirmed that Darrell Scott, the highly touted freshman high school recruit, who rushed for 54 yards on 11 carries, will not be named the lone starter at the running back position.
He is still grouped at the top with fellow running backs sophomore Demetrius Sumler and fellow freshman Rodney Stewart.
“There will continue to be a grouping at tailback,” Hawkins said. “All of those guys are going to be used.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ryan Atherton at Ryan.Atherton@colorado.edu.
