Brian, how are you? I'm doing well. How you doing? I'm very well.
Thank you for taking the time to join us. Colorado Buffaloes have a record of 7-2, much different than what we saw at the beginning, or I guess at the end of last year. What's the overall vibe and expectation for this team the rest of the way, especially given the fact that they're competing for a playoff spot?
Yeah, that's the expectation at this point. They see it right out there in front of them, and they know that it's very possible, if they keep playing the way they are, that they can get there. So the vibe is just very business-like. They're excited, but they haven't done anything yet, and they're just going for that playoff. Do you feel a different sense, the way they started last year, that there was so much Hollywood that ended up in Boulder? I mean, we saw Dwayne The Rock Johnson popping up at games, and this year it seems more about business, especially given the fact that they turned over this roster very quick. Is there just a different element of how they are approaching things publicly?
Yeah, I think so. I mean, you still have, you know, the celebrities that will show up pre-game and things like that, but it's not quite like it was last year, and there's certainly more to this team than there was last year. They've brought in a lot of different pieces through the transfer portal that just make them more of a complete football team and more of a complete coaching staff, honestly, to where they just kind of go out and play football and handle their business. Brian Howell is joining us from the Boulder Daily Camera. When you talk about the players that are on the field, and let's get to brass tacks, and I want to get back to the coaches. We see both Travis Hunter and Chidor Sanders.
They're both at the top of the list when it comes down to Heisman. Do you think they're going to rip votes away from each other? How do you think this is going to work out? You know, I think in a lot of cases you'll see that. I don't know if that'll happen with this. I think Travis is such a different type of player that, you know, I don't think Chidor is going to take votes away from Travis. I think Travis could take votes away from Chidor maybe, but I think Travis is so different that people are just looking at him in a different way. I think, honestly, Chidor is probably earning more votes as the season goes along, and if they keep winning and if they can get themselves into that playoffs and potentially, you know, that top 10 area, I think that he could find himself in New York as well, but it's kind of a unique spot.
It's not your traditional, you know, like 2016 we saw Baker Mayfield and DeeDee Westbrook from Oklahoma were both finalists, but that was the traditional quarterback receiver duo. This is not that because Travis has the defense element too. Well, we see him play every snap on defense. We see him play all these snaps on offense, and I look at him, I go, how the hell is this guy not tired? I want his stamina. I want his energy just to walk down the street. What don't we see? Like, I see him on Saturday, but what don't we see about his preparation?
Well, the other thing too is then you see the videos they put out. He's dancing in the locker room with everybody with just as much energy as anybody else, so he's got all that energy after 170 snaps, but yeah, with the preparation, he doesn't practice every day. He usually takes a day or two off during the week to kind of rest the body, and he does a lot of things on his own to kind of, you know, stretch and get treatment and things like that, and there's a lot of things they do. They basically give him his rest during the week, and you'll see with the team in pads like on a Tuesday or Wednesday, he's kind of walking around and just kind of doing his thing and lending some advice to different players in his groups, but that's where he takes his rest. His rest is those two days. You know, that helps him on Saturday.
Brian Howell is here from the Boulder Daily Camera. What do you think, or where do you think he's best situated in the NFL? Are we talking about someone who is playing defense and has packages on offense? Is he strictly offense, but let's throw him in there and nickel?
What are your thoughts? Well, I think he can do either one. I think what I would do if I was an NFL team is I would make him a corner who plays offense, and I wouldn't play him.
Maybe I would have done. I think to me receiver would be his number two position. I don't know if I'd play him every play, but I think I would want him on the field every play a corner and then have some packages and things like that on offense.
He can dominate on both ends, but I would not want to take him off the field at corner because I think that shutdown corner is so important in the NFL that, you know, it changes the defense when you have that. Well, when we look at what Colorado has the rest of this way, they got three games left, Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma State. They're seven and two. We got a lot of seven and two teams that are operating in the Big 12 right now. We know BYU is undefeated at nine and 0. What do you think is going to happen with Colorado? Are you favoring them to get into the playoff? Are they going to have to win out the Big 12, win the championship? How do you think they can get into the playoff?
What do you think is most likely? Yeah, I think they probably have to win out and win the Big 12. I think the only scenario I could see would be, you know, they have to win every game the rest of the way in the regular season. So if they get into that Big 12 title game and let's say BYU has run the table as well and now BYU is a top five or four team and CU is up to 10 in the CFP rankings, then it's a field goal game and they lose it. I could see the committee keeping Colorado in there like in that 12 range. I think they would love to have Colorado in there, you know, for the ratings and all that. I think they'll do what they can to get Colorado in there. But yeah, if they get to the title game and they get blown out, it'll be hard to keep them in there.
But if it's a close game and all they're doing is losing by a field goal to a top five team, you might be able to keep them in there. Well, Brian, one thing we know for sure, next season there will be no Chidor. There will be no Travis Hunter.
They will be on NFL rosters. What do you think this means for Deion? We have heard for the better part of a year that he's not built to coach in the NFL with these men who don't want to play.
What does this mean? Do you think he's sticking around? Is he just blowing smoke up everybody's behind? Is he changing his mind?
What do you think is really going to happen? Well, I don't think it's not that he's not built for the NFL. I think he just doesn't want to. He's been very consistent. Going back to, I remember the 60 Minutes segment when he was at Jackson State, he said, I do not ever want to coach the NFL.
He's been very consistent. He's also said he's not going to follow his son into the NFL, that that's not how he operates. I really don't think that he'll be an NFL coach. There's some talk, I guess, that Stephen A. brought it up the other day and other guys brought it up that the Cowboys should tank and draft Chidor and hire Deion, but I don't think he wants that. I think he would rather stay in college.
He loves working with young players and influencing them and trying to mold them for their future. And so I think if he's coaching, it's going to be in college football. Well, Brian, you say college football. Do you think that'll be Colorado or do you think there might be some other pastures he might be taking a look at? I think it'd be Colorado. I honestly think that he'll retire as a coach at Colorado. And it may be after this season, it may be three years down the road. I don't know when it will be, but I think he would retire at Colorado.
Okay. Brian Howell is here with us from the Boulder Daily Camera. You talk about how Deion has changed things up through the transfer portal and then some of his coaching staff as well.
I mean, I look at it kind of wild. He brings in Pat Shermer, he brings in as a defensive line coach, he's bringing in legends from Tampa Bay. How has he rounded out that coaching staff and made a difference? Yeah, it's really interesting to see how it's come together because it's kind of a collection of some veteran coaches like a Pat Shermer, and then you got a young DC, Robert Livingston, who had never called the defense and been a coordinator before this year.
And that defense is phenomenal right now, especially the improvement they've made. And then you've got a lot of guys that are sort of young coaches that haven't been lifelong coaches at this point, like Damian Lewis, the defensive line coach who spent a decade in the NFL. He's been coaching with the Seahawks the last few years. Warren Sapp as a GA, he had never coached anything until he got to Colorado this year. And then you have like Phil Loadhole, who was an eight or nine years with the Vikings as a tackle. And this is his first full-time coaching job and he's doing a really nice job with the offensive line.
So they've just got kind of a nice collection of guys that are veterans and also some younger coaches that bring some energy and some NFL experience. How has the reception been from Deion here? We saw what fell down last year.
A lot of pressure. There's a turnaround. Has he been embraced? Has the community been like, oh man, this is great. Like, is everybody just along for the ride while it's here?
Well, I think it's a little of both. I mean, he's definitely been embraced. You know, the people love him here, especially now they're winning. He brought some energy here. I mean, it was pretty apathetic around here during 2022. I mean, there was no energy around this program and this fan base. So he's brought a lot of energy and excitement back.
People love it. I think maybe there was a little bit of that being tempered after four and eight last year, but the way this season's gone, people are all in there excited about it and having fun. Without a shadow of a doubt.
Last question for you, Brian. What do you think is going to happen here with this team the rest of the way? What should we expect? Well, they're really good. I mean, they're playing with a lot of confidence. They're getting better as the season goes along. I really think that they're going to run the table in the regular season, get to the big 12 title game. I would imagine they'll face BYU.
And that's a really good BYU team, but I think the Buffs are capable of winning it and getting into college football playoffs. Okay. Hey, let's see what happens, Brian. Thank you so much for the time. Where can people follow you and your work with the Boulder Daily camera?
Yeah, go to BuffZone.com and then on Twitter at BrianHowell33. Hey, Brian, thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of the ride. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it.
