Spring Practices … First Look: Linebackers


Posts Tagged ‘Nate Landman’

CU two linebackers coaches are a generation apart … Nate Landman: A superstar in the making? … Tyson Summers cut his coaching teeth with 4-3 defenses. Can he successfully make the transition to an attacking 3-4 defense under Mel Tucker? …

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Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew completed 35-of-58 passes for 335 yards and two touchdowns, running for a third, leading the No. 10 Cougars to a 31-7 win over Colorado in Boulder.

The Cougars held the ball for 41:46 of game clock (to 18:14 for the Buffs), going for 477 total yards. The Buffs were held below 300 yards (297), and turned the ball over three times. Steven Montez went 20-of-35 for 199 yards, but was ineffective against the Cougar defense. Wide receiver Laviska Shenault returned for the first time in a month, collecting ten receptions for 102 yards, but had drops when the game was still in doubt, and later fumbled the ball away for the first time all season.

“Washington State is good team,” said Colorado head coach Mike MacIntyre. “Minshew made some plays like he always does. I thought our guys came out and played extremely hard. I feel like if we had been able to get something going offensive, it might have been a different story.”

“We have to say on the field and convert on third downs,” said Montez (the Buff offense was 2-for-11 on third down conversions). “I think we are struggling in the third down area. We had opportunities in this game to keep those drives going but we have to do a better job executing.”

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Arizona 42, Colorado 34

//posted 11.4.2018

A year after burning Colorado for 327 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, Arizona quarterback Kahlil Tate torched the Buff secondary for 350 yards and five touchdowns through the air, leading the Wildcats to a 42-34 win over the Buffs. Tate went 17-for-22 passing, needing to carry the ball only four times, relying on running back J.J. Taylor (40 carries for 192 yards) to carry the rushing load.

In all, the Arizona offense went for 566 yards of total offense, compared to 386 for Colorado. Quarterback Steven Montez went 27-for-42 passing, good for 343 yards and three touchdowns. Juwann Winfree had eight catches for 101 yards and a touchdown, but it was the Colorado rushing attack which failed to keep up with Arizona. While Arizona had 216 yards rushing, the Buffs were held to 40. Travon McMillian contributed 11 carries for 59 yards, but Steven Montez was sacked five times, setting the CU offense back time and time again.

“I thought our kids battled,” CU head coach Mike MacIntyre said. “We had opportunities to win the football game. They made some big plays. Khalil ran around and threw it up in the air and their guys came down with it on long, delayed plays. Those were tough to stop”.

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Colorado squandered a 31-3 third quarter lead, falling to Oregon State, 41-34, in overtime. A Travon McMillian 75-yard touchdown run on the first play of the third quarter raised a 24-3 halftime advantage to a four-touchdown lead. From there, however, the Beavers out-scored the Buffs 31-3, forcing overtime. Oregon State scored on its overtime possession, with the Buffs failing to answer as a Steven Montez pass fell incomplete on fourth-and-goal at the OSU seven yard line.

“I guess you’d call this a gut-wrencher,” Colorado coach Mike MacIntyre said after his Buffaloes matched their biggest blown lead in program history. “We were rolling,” MacIntyre said, “and the wheels just rolled right off.”

The loss spoiled a career-day for Buff wide receiver K.D. Nixon, who set a single-game career-high in receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns, finishing with 13 catches for 198 yards and two touchdowns. He also established a career-high in first downs with eight.

“My best game turned into my worst game,” Nixon said.

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Colorado, down a number of starters and playing the back half of a tough road swing, was in the game until the midway point of the fourth quarter, eventually falling to No. 15 Washington, 27-13. The Huskies out-gained the Buffs, 351 yards to 263, in a game controlled by the defenses.

The Huskies were led by quarterback Jake Browning, who went was held to 150 yards passing, but also contributed 25 yards rushing on scrambles. Buff quarterback Steven Montez went 17-for-28 for 144 yards, with one touchdown and one interception, but was harried all afternoon by the Washington defensive line. Travon McMillian led the Buffs in rushing, with 25 carries for 86 yards.

Notably, all of CU’s points were scored by true freshman. With star wide receiver Laviska Shenault out with a toe injury, CU’s touchdown was scored by true freshman wide receiver Daniel Arias, who turned his first career catch into a 37-yard touchdown. The Buff field goals were posted by true freshman kicker Evan Price, who was good from 37 and 26 yards. Price was in for James Stefanou, out with a hip injury.

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Laviska Shenault scored four touchdowns, with two scoring receptions and two scoring runs, leading No. 21 Colorado to a 28-21 win over Arizona State. For the game, Shenault had 13 receptions for 127 yards, to go with five carries for 13 yards.

Quarterback Steven Montez went 24-for-33 for 328 yards and two touchdowns, while Travon McMillian had 30 carries for 136 yards, becoming the first CU running back since Rashaan Salaam to post four 100-yard rushing games in the first five games of the season.

The game was tight throughout, with Arizona State taking 7-0, 14-7, and 21-14 leads, with the CU offense responding each time. Late i the third quarter, the Buffs took their first lead of the game on a Montez-to-Shenault three yard score. The Sun Devils appeared ready to respond, but cornerback Delrick Abrams, Jr., knocked away a Manny Wilkins pass on fourth-and-goal from the CU three yard line to preserve the lead.

“When you are the underdog you have to try and steal a possession and go for it even more”, said first-year head coach Herm Edwards of his decision to go for it on fourth-and-goal in the fourth quarter. “That is the logic behind it … If you do not you feel like you have nine minutes left—you hold them they punt, you can hopefully get the ball on the fifty and you get another shot. So it just didn’t work out.”

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Steven Montez hit Laviska Shenault for a 40-yard touchdown with 1:06 to play, giving Colorado a 33-28 come-from-behind win over Nebraska in Lincoln. Montez went 33-for-50 passing, going for 351 yards and three touchdowns. Shenault collected ten of those passes for 177 yards and a touchdown … also scoring on a three-yard run in the first quarter.

The game went back and forth all afternoon. The Buffs raced out to an early 14-0 lead, only to watch the Cornhuskers dominate play for the remainder of the first half. Nebraska led 21-17 at the break, having posted 243 yards rushing to CU’s nine. The Buffs steadied themselves in the second half, overcoming two missed field goals before securing the winning points in the final minute of play.

Nebraska had 565 yards of total offense against the Colorado defense, with freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez completing 15-of-20 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown (one interception), while also leading the Cornhuskers in rushing (15 carries for 117 yards and two touchdowns). For the Buffs, other than the Montez-to-Shenault combo, there was little offensive production (395 total yards of total offense). Kyle Evans and Travon McMillian each had 25 yards rushing, while no Buff other than Shenault was over 50 yards receiving (though Jay MacIntyre had eight catches for 45 yards and two touchdowns.

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Colorado scored on its first three possessions of the game, never looking back in a 45-13 rout of Colorado State in Denver. Steven Montez was almost perfect on the night, completing 22-of-25 passes for 338 yards and four touchdowns as the Buffs won the Rocky Mountain Showdown for the fourth straight time.

In rolling up 596 yards of total offense, there were many heroes for the Buff offense. Sophomore wide receiver Laviska Shenault set Rocky Mountain Showdown records, both with his 11 receptions and his 211 yards receiving. Virginia Tech graduate transfer running back Travon McMillian had 103 yards rushing (equaling the total rushing yards for CSU on the night) on only ten carries. K.D. Nixon also hit triple digits, with six receptions for 112 yards, highlighted by a 46-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter.

How big a night was it for the Buff offense? For the first time in school history, the Buffs had a 300-yard passer (Montez; 338), a 200-yard receiver (Shenault; 211) and a 100-yard rusher (McMillian; 103) in the same game.

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CU’s top two tacklers return at inside linebacker, but after that? Not much depth or experience …

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The Buffs return two 100+ tacklers from 2017, but also have significant issues which remain unresolved …

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No. 15 USC 38, Colorado 24

//posted 11.11.2017

Quarterback Sam Darnold threw for 329 yards and three touchdowns, rushing for another, leading No. 15 USC to a 38-24 victory over Colorado. Ronald Jones II added 142 yards on the ground for 9-2 USC, which defeated Colorado for the 12th straight time.

The Buffs were led by quarterback Steven Montez, who went 27-for-49 for 376 yards and two touchdowns. An interception for a touchdown thrown right before the half, however, gave USC a 20-0 lead at the half, with the Buffs never getting within two scores the remainder of the game.

Overall, the stats were fairly close, with both teams posting 23 first downs. USC had 522 yards of total offense, to 486 for Colorado. Mistakes on offense, defense, and special teams, however, doomed the Buffs to their sixth loss of the season, with a win on the road against Utah now a necessity if Colorado was to go bowling in consecutive years for the first time since 2004-05.

“We had some critical mistakes and kind of gave them the game,” said CU head coach Mike MacIntyre. “They’re the most talented team in our league year in and year out, no doubt about it. We had some opportunities tonight and squandered it away.”

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Late addition to Class of 2017!! – USC didn’t have room, so CU picks up 3-star DL Terrance Lang (bio posted)

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