CU Depth Chart 2021 vs 2022

[Joe Theismann's Leg]

Secondary overrated. Getting to QB hides a lot of weaknesses elsewhere. Buffs can’t rush the QB though, so secondary may get worked some. I think safeties will be better and corners good enough if we can stop run and figure out some blitzing that works.

I don't really understand how a Buffs fan could say that given that all of our recent success revolved around elite secondary play.

 

[241Volcanos]

I agree on QB, but I'm just hoping for solid. I don't see it being the type of performance that is going to cover weaknesses.

On the secondary, I strongly disagree. Having a good secondary (ie, 2016) allows you to take a lot of chances. I expect we're going to be limited to a bend-but-don't-break defense in 2022. The best we can probably hope for is to be solid against the run and for opposing QBs to forced to be efficiently patient as we're playing soft coverage with a sub-par pass rush.

I think we'll be able to trust our special teams, which could steal a game or two given how bad college STs can be.

To be competitive, this also doesn't look like a team that can afford to lose the turnover battle. That's always a crap shoot.

2016 was also best DLine in 15+ years and Awuzie best blitzing corner we’ve had maybe ever. I think Woods can maybe bring some of that and be what we hoped Perry would be.

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

This is a reasonable take. Overall though, I currently look at it this way; we had a historically bad offense last year, so we have a looooong way to go to being competent. Compounding this, we lost our three most explosive players on offense in Brou, Rice and Stanley. Sneed helps offset this, but still, the baseline is the real problem here. A competent offensive line is essential. We have rarely seen that here over the last 15 years, and I am not holding my breath. I am not so sure that Shrout would have been the starter in game one, but it’s undeniable he would have had a shot to take that position last year…no one knows what that would have looked like. All 3 QB’s are basically unknowns, and I will be curious to see if our OC can change the narrative about him being the anti-developer with these three (in a notoriously complex WCO system in todays CFB world). I understand that Chiv catches a lot of the blame here, and I won’t argue that. But we also have an offensive HC with an NFL pedigree that did exactly what to remedy the issue in season/in game?

Our defense held us in a few games last season, and almost all of our impact players are now gone. Secondary and DL appear to be significant concerns as you point out.

Our schedule is brutal next year, and while I don’t think we go winless, there is not one game on there that I would currently pick us to win.

My biggest concern is our inability to keep the few difference makers that we already had on the roster.

tl/dr offense might be marginally better, but what does that actually mean? 18.4 pts per game? Defense might be okay, but we will likely be out of games a lot earlier than we were last year (especially against the several teams on our schedule that have some explosive playmakers), and a good portion of the games on our schedule might be very unwatchable after the 1st qtr. I don’t see that we’re doing anything to fix this team, and if we are, I’d love to hear about it. Depth on the OL will be a BIG problem.

As long as they score 16.43 ppg, we gucci

 

[The Alabaster Yak]

This is all great, but the question you need to be asking is how do each of these units stack up against the opposite units of our opponents. We can sit here all day and analyze the depth chart and say we might be okay here and there, but how does the TCU secondary stack up against our WR? How does the Minnesota DL compare against our OL? That’s what matters. I could give 2 sh!ts that our OL might be 1% better than they were last year when TCUs front 7 might be experienced and salty as hell. That 1% won’t mean sh!t.

Where do you get the 1% improvement number you’re throwing around? Seems pretty erroneous to use some unquantifiable, arbitrary, made up figure to try and prove a point like this.

 

[241Volcanos]

I don't really understand how a Buffs fan could say that given that all of our recent success revolved around elite secondary play.

Great secondary, very good DLine and LB, smart/tough QB who’d played forever,decent WRs and RBs. Was all there that one year.
2016 secondary alone doesn’t win us any more games in 2021.

 

[Buffnik]

Where do you get the 1% improvement number you’re throwing around? Seems pretty erroneous to use some unquantifiable, arbitrary, made up figure to try and prove a point like this.

My counterpoint would be that 62% of reported statistical justifications are arbitrary.

 

[JMBuffs]

My counterpoint would be that 62% of reported statistical justifications are arbitrary.

 

[skibum]

Where do you get the 1% improvement number you’re throwing around? Seems pretty erroneous to use some unquantifiable, arbitrary, made up figure to try and prove a point like this.

Don't focus on the exact number, focus on the concept: a player group can be a little bit better than before, but still not anywhere near good enough.

There's a lot of space between "better than 2021CU" and "good enough to get to a bowl game" and a **** ton between "better than 2021" and "good enough to be in the conversation for P12 south title."

 

[Buffnik]

Great secondary, very good DLine and LB, smart/tough QB who’d played forever,decent WRs and RBs. Was all there that one year.
2016 secondary alone doesn’t win us any more games in 2021.

I think we have different standards for "very good" and "great" because I can't even imagine thinking that we're looking like a very good to great overall defense.

 

[Da Lama]

Where do you get the 1% improvement number you’re throwing around? Seems pretty erroneous to use some unquantifiable, arbitrary, made up figure to try and prove a point like this.

Sarcastically pulled from another poster’s take.

 

[Buffalo Brad]

@Buffnik how many positions did you actually say we would be worse in vs better? QB and TE maybe better. Oline in-line with the worst in the conference last year. Rest bad or panic mode. Hmmmmmm.

 

[Buffalo Brad]

I will say though the team will be better coached. That area has had improvement. They will have a **** ton less talent to work with but they will be better coached. The staff, outside of the head coach improved. Too bad he is the face of the program and the one setting the tone for recruiting

 

[Buffnik]

@Buffnik how many positions did you actually say we would be worse in vs better? QB and TE maybe better. Oline in-line with the worst in the conference last year. Rest bad or panic mode. Hmmmmmm.

I put a lot of weight on how dysfunctional the offensive coaching staff was in 2021, which I didn't put it my post. I think having everyone on staff on the same page (and being objectively better coaches than who they replaced) is a large fundamental improvement. As you know, I'm also incredibly high on Turley and have a lot of belief in what he'll accomplish with his first full offseason. But all that wasn't roster stuff, so I didn't think it belonged in this thread. Full context is that when I looked at our actual roster it's not as dire as I thought as attrition shakes out, so I believe the staff changes will have an opportunity to work. And it's not like I'm predicting a bowl game, just that things won't bottom out & will probably look more competent.

 

[241Volcanos]

I think we have different standards for "very good" and "great" because I can't even imagine thinking that we're looking like a very good to great overall defense.

I was referring to 2016 D.

 

[Buffnik]

I was referring to 2016 D.

Gotcha.

fwiw, I'd describe that defense as having average LBs and a DL that was great in a one-dimensional way (occupying blockers while holding the point of attack) but also had a lot of limitations. The secondary was elite and we usually played 6 DBs after D-Mac went down.

 

[Leon Sandcastle]

Valid take.

But, man, I only said 3-5 wins. If that's Kool-Aid, times are beyond dark.

You might have just answered your own question

What's our "rock bottom"?

I'm wondering about what "rock bottom" means for CU football. Is there a low the program can hit that would cause stakeholders to rally, refuse to accept it, and do what is necessary to be good or great again? Or will it just be allowed to die since those who remember and most who of those who...

www.allbuffs.com

 

[bigbang2]

Premature, there is going be more attrition and arrivals.

 

[BuffinCali]

Premature, there is going be more attrition and arrivals.

This guy!!!

Recently, @Buffnik mentioned big bang may be Dorrell. I laughed, even reviewed posts just to verify.

Then, I realized, this is an attention whore. A Stephen A. Smith. No facts, just irrational opinions and the more responses generated to his posts, the more he doubles down.

From here on out, I see Stephen A. Smith in this forum. No facts, just noise and hyped responses to stroke an ego. I will give zero energy to Stephen A bigbang

 

[buff4bcs1985]

I know we've all been in "doom and gloom" mode with the transfer portal. That's legit.

We also lost some key guys to graduation (or who chose not to use the extra Covid+1 year of eligibility).

But I'm looking at this depth chart from the Utah game (attached below) and thinking about the 2022 roster.

Guys, I'm not sure we're actually worse in 2022. We may be better.

QB gets more experienced and we'll have an actual position battle between a more experienced Lewis & Shrout (who was the guy who would have started the season last year if not for injury) along with Kopp transferring in to join the battle.

RB took a major hit, but I do like Venn a lot as a recruit and this is a position a freshman can play.

WR took huge hits, but returns Arias as a starter along with MLC. Other guys flashed a bit and we've got some guys returning from injury. The addition of Sneed helps a ton and it's also a position where freshmen perform.

TE kept the front line guys and probably improved.

OL really only lost Kutsch in terms of someone who performed well in 2021. We get a few starters back. If we can pull someone from the portal (ideally a LT so Wiley could slide in to G), we'll be improved - I know, incredibly low bar - but could be competent & competitive as long as we stay healthy. Coaching + S&C need to carry us a long way here.

On the DL, I think we should be very nervous. We struggled in pass rush last year and we're losing our best pass rushers - especially if Lang leaves. I think we'll be pretty stout against the run, but we could be even worse at generating pressure. That's scary.

LBs seemed to come on at the end of the year even without Landman, so I don't think we're looking at a drop-off there from what we saw at the end of the season. This group is going to need to come together and be the heart of the defense (hopefully behind a DL that can occupy blockers like that 2016 group, ie, Sami being like Tupou).

DB is where I'm in panic mode unless we can find some transfers. Our CB duo was slated to be the strength of the defense. Safety was a weakness last year, so I don't know that losing a starter was such a bad thing, but we at least lost what would have been experienced depth. A defense that has trouble generating pressure without blitzing coupled with the defensive backfield being a weakness is a hopeless situation.

Anyway...

tl/dr summary: I think we'll be much better on offense and much worse on pass defense. Overall, 2022 expectations for me aren't high but I'm not sure that they should be lower than 2021. Schedule looks harder, but my expectation is that we'll probably end up in the 3-5 win range. (Opinion subject to adjustment based on further roster announcements.)

 

[bigbang2]

This guy!!!

Recently, @Buffnik mentioned big bang may be Dorrell. I laughed, even reviewed posts just to verify.

Then, I realized, this is an attention whore. A Stephen A. Smith. No facts, just irrational opinions and the more responses generated to his posts, the more he doubles down.

From here on out, I see Stephen A. Smith in this forum. No facts, just noise and hyped responses to stroke an ego. I will give zero energy to Stephen A bigbang

I guess stating the facts is now a attention seeking whore. kD has my full support.

 

[NW Buff]

The OL will likely be better next year but that is such a low hurdle that it's kind of irrelevant.

 

[Creebuzz]

I’m on record that between zero and two wins is most likely. However, if you wanted to be optimistic, then yes, you would look to the departure of Chev as an end to four years of drama. While Sanford was a controversial hire and has mixed results at prior stops, I can’t see where he isn’t an upgrade over Chev, who is simply a very bad OC.

The offensive line quit on their dickhead coach Rodrigue. You get a major upgrade with DeVan on coaching, and the fact that the players are unlikely to hate his ****ing guts like the last dude. Throw in some healing up for Fillip, another year of strength and conditioning for the younger players like Wiley, add a portal transfer or two, and sure the line could be something other than a sieve.

WR transfers sucked, particularly Rice, but I don’t think Arias, Lemonious-Craig, Sneed, and Penry is awful. That group is still better than what we saw with Embree and early MacIntyre seasons.

Running back group is thin. Losing Broussard very much sucks.

It’s somewhat odd to be more optimistic about the offense when it finished almost dead last in 2021.

The defense is where you really have to get out rose tinted glasses. We didn’t generate much pass rush last year, haven’t added much and lost Wells. Defense seemed to fall apart without Landman in games, and he’s off to the NFL. Lose both corners and strong safety to the portal. The combo of no pass rush and unproven corners is a recipe for disaster, and that is why I think CU will get boat raced most of next season

 

[BuffWarHog]

I’m not at all optimistic about this upcoming season. However, the fact that we had probably the most incompetent OL coach in history leads me to believe that we aren’t as awful there as we all think. We simply don’t know how good we are because we had the college football equivalent of Elmer Fudd organizing the OL. Just some halfway competent coaching there should result in improved play.

And Benedict Arnold calling the plays.

 

[BuffWarHog]

While I think Brou was awesome for this team (used to love him, now I hate him…MSU), put me down as being high on Smith. If that guy gets a majority of the touches, I think he turns out better than Broussard. Or Clayton. Or whomever else.

 

[H.E. Pennypacker]

we gucci

Don't ever say that again!

 

[Bliff Cranch]

College football is all about the Jimmy’s and the Joe’s. CUs roster is full of Calvin’s and Hobb’s

 

[GoBuffs08]

 

[241Volcanos]

The OL will likely be better next year but that is such a low hurdle that it's kind of irrelevant.

Well ya. More for the 1-11 crowd to chew on from us 4-8s.

 

[Da Lama]

I will say though the team will be better coached. That area has had improvement. They will have a **** ton less talent to work with but they will be better coached. The staff, outside of the head coach improved. Too bad he is the face of the program and the one setting the tone for recruiting

Agreed. If we had this staff with a DIFFERENT head coach I'd be somewhat more optimistic. KD has that overwhelming sub par stank all over him.

 

[hawg1]

This is a good analysis.

Out of animosity, I see too many people focusing on playing time (or not) for the transferring player, but this is really about the impact on CU, no? Your take is appreciated.

I think Vegas sets line at 3.5 wins.