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Renewal
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Miriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (yes, I still have mine from college) defines “renewal” as:
- the act or process of renewing;
- the quality or state of being renewed;
- something (as a subscription to a magazine) renewed;
- something used for renewing (an expenditure that betters existing fixed assets); or
- the rebuilding of a large area (as a city)
For our purposes, as CU has wrapped up its spring practices with the playing of its spring game, let’s focus on the first two uses of “renewal” …
The Act or Process of Renewing …
This past week, I received a phone call … and an email … and a text … offering me the great opportunity to purchase season tickets in the seats adjacent to the pair of seats I have had in Section 218 for over a quarter of a century. Apparently, the folks who had the four season tickets to the left of ours (which have changed hands many times over the years) weren’t renewing their season tickets for the 2026 season.
Guessing there’s a lot of that going on.
In the first three years of the Coach Prime era, CU sold out its allotment of season tickets. There was a waiting list to join The Herd. This was quite the feat for a program which had last sold out its season ticket allotment in 1996.
Last year, the renewal rate was 98 percent.
Not hearing those types of numbers this spring.
Actually, we’re not hearing any stories about renewal rates this spring. While CU may still sell out its season ticket allotment, the fact that I’m being afforded the option to buy extra season tickets now may be an indication that the bloom is falling off of the Coach Prime rose.
Another indicator of how the CU program is viewed by its fan base is the attendance at the Spring Game (a/k/a “Spring Showcase”, a/k/a “Black and Gold Day”). Before Coach Prime came along, the largest crowd for a CU Spring Game was in 2008, when Bill McCartney challenged Buff fans to come out to support the team … and 17,800 found their way to Folsom.
In Coach Prime’s first season, 2023, the attendance for the Spring Game was – despite it being a cold and dreary day – 47,277. A national television audience on ESPN watched a CU team scrimmage (a team which was, ironically enough, made up mostly of players which would, two days later, no longer be with the team).
Despite poor weather (Colorado spring game temperatures under Deion Sanders: 2023 – 32 degrees; 2024 – 38 degrees; 2025 – 44 degrees), the three highest-attended Spring games in CU history all came in the last three seasons.
This spring, with an overcast but pleasant spring day with temperatures in the 70s, Coach Prime’s fourth Spring game drew the smallest crowd to date (officially 27,772 free tickets were claimed. The Daily Camera estimated the attendance at 10,000).
The Spring game was not nationally televised on ESPN, or on ESPN2, or even ESPN+. Unless you had a YouTube subscription or watched the game on the BuffsTV feed, you were amongst the millions of Americans who didn’t even know CU was conducting a Spring game.
The Buff Nation, arguably, is following the lead of the national media in not fully renewing its interest in Colorado football, 2026.
Which brings us to the second part of our renewal discussion …
The Quality or State of Being Renewed …
CU’s Transfer Portal Class was ranked third in the nation by ESPN’s Bill Connelly (whose analytics have not always been kind to Coach Prime’s Buffs). Coach Prime is hitting the reset button with his roster … as well as his philosophy on how to build a roster.
Gone are the four- and five-star transfers who were sitting on the bench at elite programs. Gone is the assumption that such players were plug-and-play stars just waiting for their chance to take the field. In their place are players from lesser schools who may not have high transfer ratings, but have high football IQ’s.
“We made some tremendous mistakes at certain positions that derailed us a year ago,” Coach Prime said this past week. “The first couple years we had stability at those positions that highlighted us, so we learned quite a bit of not just talent but understanding mentality. And mentality is something that we targeted, it’s something that we sat down and interviewed and made sure not only the young men but the parents had that type of mentality, because the parents play a tremendous role in these young men’s lives.”
About a dozen players brought in as transfers were captains at their previous schools, and that’s not a coincidence.
“That shows leadership, that shows that we chose some guys that are used to being in front,” Coach Prime said. “And we have some young guys, especially some young corners, that came from winning programs; like they were winners. So they’ve experienced the understanding of winning and we like that characteristic inside the locker room.”
For their part, CU’s two new coordinators are excited about their rosters – rosters which aren’t going to be subject to significant alterations in this first spring of college football without a second Transfer Portal window.
Offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, whose “Go-Go” offense is being entrusted to post over 30 points per game this fall (CU averaged 20.9 points per game last fall, ranked 114th nationally).
“We have big humans there (on the line) and then … everybody who can touch the ball on offense can score a touchdown on one play,” Marion said. “We don’t have anybody who’s like a possession guy or he’ll just inch it down there. We have all explosive players that can hit home runs. So it’s going to be exciting out there on the field.”
For defensive coordinator Chris Marve, meanwhile, the focus all spring was building a defensive foundation that players could believe in and play fast within.
“We had four big goals for spring ball, development, identity,” Marve said. “I think we really established an identity this spring. I think the guys bought into what we were trying to preach and what we believe in.”
That identity, he said, is rooted in four defining traits: violence, speed, intelligence and relentless effort.
“We want to be violent and aggressive,” Marve said. “We want to play extremely fast. We have to play smart. Can’t beat yourself. And then at the end of the day, you have to have relentless effort.”
Sounds great … until you remember that last year’s defense was a disaster (121st nationally in total defense; 111th in scoring defense), and Marve didn’t even become CU’s defensive coordinator until the week before spring practices began.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, but Coach Prime doesn’t have several centuries to put together a winning program.
As for the Spring game itself, the Black-and-Gold Showcase was about what you might expect:
- Quarterback Julian Lewis looked fine, with a nice touchdown pass to wide receiver Danny Scudero … but he also overthrew some passes;
- CU’s backup quarterbacks, Isaac Wilson and Keneal Sweetwyne, looked fine in their roles … until Wilson threw an ugly interception on the final play of the scrimmage;
- Other than one 30-yard run by Damian Henderson, CU’s rushing offense looked sadly similar to what Buff fans have seen in the past … two yards up the middle into a scrum;
- CU’s defense made some plays … but then again, they’ve been playing against this offense for a month.
Coach Marion said that the play-calling would be “vanilla”, and no one will argue with that assertion.
“The hardest thing to measure when you’re measuring the spring game is if the offense does well, that means the defense is not doing well. And vice versa,” Coach Prime said after the game. “You hope to see the quarterbacks not throw interceptions like we did on the last play. You hope that they move the ball down the field. You hope that defensive backs are aggressive and physical.
“It’s a multitude of things, but the main thing is you don’t want to get anybody hurt.”
Sanders said two players suffered “strained MCLs,” but not tears, so he said, “We’re going to be OK with that.”
Buff fans have to be OK with that as well.
Every spring is about renewal.
Renewed season tickets. Renewed lineups. Renewed hope.
In less than five months, we’ll know if our hope will be rewarded …
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2 Replies to “Renewal”
It looked to me like ralphie is ready to run. So we got that going for us, which is nice.
That’s all I saw.
Go Buffs
Vanilla desnt even begin to describe it.Some where Shurmur is saying “hey, they fired me for that.”
Add to that the camera work (orconnection) on youtube was horrible and hopefully that run game was just being well camouflaged.
One positve was that there were a few throws to tight ends, one, of course a TD the ref blew. I rerad somewhere the team captains selected their teams with a draft. Whoever did the black team got the best O line. Seemed Wilson had all the time he needed to pass. Is there a glimmer of hope there too?