Countdown to Spring Practices – Quarterbacks

Previously posted … 

Related posts … 

— Quarterbacks (4):

  • Seniors … Sam NoyerDylan Jacob
  • Juniors … none
  • Sophomores … J.T. Shrout (TR)
  • Red-shirt freshmen … Grant Ciccarone 
  • True freshmen … Brendon Lewis
  • 2021 Signees … Drew Carter (EE) … Jordan Woolverton

The Stats … 

Sam Noyer was the unlikely choice to start at quarterback for the 2020 season, with most Buff fans expecting either the long-time Buff Tyler Lytle or freshman Brendon Lewis to get the nod. Instead, it was Noyer, who led the Buffs to a 4-2 record with the following stats (through five games, CU does not include bowl games in its annual statistics):

  • Sam Noyer … 80-for-137, 1000 yards … six touchdowns with five interceptions … 45 carries for 191 yards and five touchdowns (including six sacks for a loss of 31 yards) … 1,191 yards of total offense
  • Tyler Lytle … 4-for-7, 13 yards … no touchdowns; no interceptions … one carry for 15 yards
  • Brendon Lewis … 6-for-10, 95 yards … no touchdowns; no interceptions … nine carries for 73 yards and one touchdown (v. Texas; Alamo Bowl)
  • J.T. Shrout (at Tennessee) … 24-for-42, 315 yards … four touchdowns and three interceptions … 8 carries for 4 yards

Nationally … 

  • Red zone offense … .913 (21-of-23; 17 touchdowns; four field goals) … 14th nationally
  • Rushing offense … 212.3 yds./game … 23rd nationally
  • Third down conversion offense … .427 (41-of-96) … 48th nationally
  • Total offense … 413.8 yds./game … 48th nationally
  • Scoring offense … 28.5 pts./game … 63rd nationally
  • Passing offense … 201.5 yds./game … 87th nationally

Comments … It seems hard to believe, but, had Sam Noyer not been talked into coming back to Boulder a year ago, and the Buffs had not picked up a transfer from Tennessee … the CU quarterback room this spring might consist of two freshmen and three walk-ons.

Tyler Lytle is now off competing for a job at UMass, leaving Sam Noyer as the only upperclassmen quarterback on the roster. Noyer underwent shoulder surgery after the season, and will miss spring practices. Noyer’s absence from the practice fields sets the stage for a spring competition between Tennessee transfer J.T. Shrout, second-year freshman Brendon Lewis, and early-enrollee Drew Carter.

While its good that Drew Carter is on campus, and as a true freshman will be able to participate in CU’s first spring practices under Karl Dorrell’s direction, Carter, along with 2022 commit Owen McCown, are CU’s future.

This set of spring practices will be about the here and now. Buff fans will be very interested to hear how Shrout and Lewis are faring in the battle to determine which signal caller will be the primary challenger to Sam Noyer when Fall Camp opens in August. Shrout has some film from Tennessee to watch, while Buff fans were encouraged by what they saw from Lewis in the Alamo Bowl – some good; some bad.

We’ll see what the next five week bring.

There will be three spring scrimmages in addition to the Spring Showcase on April 30th. In years gone by, we would have witnesses on hand to watch the scrimmages, and have a stats sheet to dissect the next day. That hasn’t been the case in recent years, however. All we are going to get are some sound bites from head coach Dorrell, offensive coordinator Darrin Chiaverini and quarterbacks coach Danny Langsdorf. It would be a surprise if there were a definitive winner this spring, but how the pair on the field adjust to CU’s upgraded offense will go a long way towards determining CU’s pecking order at quarterback this fall.

“Offensively, we’ve made some tweaks,” Dorrell said. “Adding more formations and motions and doing more adjustments and shifts, stuff like that which we didn’t really do much of. We were very vanilla offensively last year in terms of movement and shifting, things like that.”

Let the games begin …

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7 Replies to “Countdown to Spring Practices – Quarterbacks”

  1. Not a peep about Jordan Woolverton. I wouldnt bet against him. I am biased of course, but his monster stats, against lesser comp I know, are real.

  2. Hey Stu. Quick question about your column above. Specifically the following comment, “While its good that Drew Carter is on campus, and as a true freshman will be able to participate in CU’s first spring practices under Karl Dorrell’s direction, Carter, along with 2022 commit Owen McCown, are CU’s future.” This implies that you don’t think Lewis is part of the future, although he is technically in the same class as Carter and McCown. Is that what you meant? Just curious because I liked what I saw in the Alamo Bowl and think he is definitely part of the future.

    1. I was just distinguishing between the “future” and the “immediate future”, as in 2021. If Drew Carter is in the mix in 2021, CU might be in trouble. While Lewis and Carter may both technically be true freshmen, there is a full year of development between them. I very much see Lewis as a part of the “here and now”, while Carter probably won’t be in the conversation until 2022 at the earliest.

  3. I am so very excited – go Buffs !!
    My gut says Brendon Lewis will see playing time even if he is not the starter. His play in the Texas game should have coaches impressed in terms of handling pressure and being capable of game time performance.
    Will be an interesting Spring and August for sure…

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