Buffs Hold Second Spring Football Scrimmage

BOULDER - The University of Colorado football team went through an 88-play scrimmage here Friday afternoon, the eighth of 15 spring practices, with the team reaching the midway point of spring drills ahead of CU's spring break.

Due to inclement weather, the scrimmage originally planned to be held in Folsom Field was moved to the team's practice bubble.  The Buffs still got most of their planned work done, other than no live punting or kickoff drills.

Much of the scrimmage was situational, featuring red zone drives and its polar opposite, starting deep in CU territory, meaning the aim was to move the ball out of trouble.  There were also 2-minute drill simulations; all three situations accounted for 35 out of the 67 plays run on the afternoon by the offense.

"The tempo was good, even though we did a lot of situational stuff that slowed things down a little bit," head coach Mike MacIntyre said.  "We ran a lot of plays in the two-minute drill, and overall, I thought the tempo was better than last week."

A week ago, the Buffs ran 120 plays, including 29 on special teams, in just 79 minutes; Friday, the 88 plays took 73 minutes to complete.

The two plays that stood out the most were a 42-yard touchdown pass from Connor Wood to Tyler McCulloch, which came on a 4th-and-2 call, and a 100-yard interception return for a score by safety Terrel Smith.  He actually picked off quarterback John Schrock's pass three yards deep in the end zone and raced untouched down the right sideline.

"That was a great play by Terrel, and he made a great run after the catch," MacIntyre said.  "It was fun to watch and I was happy for him.  I think the defense caught up a little bit this week compared to last.  Terrel's play was one of many good ones by the GÇÿD' and that was very good to see."

MacIntyre noted that the effort was better in the second scrimmage, and the players have started enjoying things more as they adjust to CU''s new coaching staff.

"Overall, the attitude of the guys has improved every day," he said.  "The kids are really starting to enjoy it, and that's a part of getting better.  There was a lot of excitement out there, which we as coaches like.  The effort was better, much improved.  We had fun and that's good."

He said the coaches are close to putting together a "pencil depth chart," meaning that things were still ripe for change even in the middle of a practice.  No decision has been made yet on how many of the six quarterbacks will emerge to earn more reps by the end of spring practices.

"I have to look at the tape to see how well we played," MacIntyre said.  "Our guys made some big plays, but they also made some mistakes.  But overall, I think we were good."

NOTES: MacIntyre delayed the scrimmage, originally intended to start at 4 p.m., so the players, coaches and staff could watch the CU men' basketball team play Illinois in the NCAA tournament (the Buffs lost, 57-49, after rallying at one point from a 16-point deficit to briefly take the lead) - OG Daniel Munyer suffered a broken bone in his lower leg in practice on Thursday and will be out for six weeks, missing the remainder of spring drills; he was injured in a fumble recovery drill - QB Jordan Webb reinjured his thumb on his throwing hand, the same one on which he had offseason surgery, but was hopeful to return to action after CU's spring break (which runs March 23-31) - The Buffs have seven spring practices remaining and will resume on Tuesday, April 2 ... The annual spring game is set for Saturday, April 13 at Folsom; kickoff will be at 10:30 a.m. and it will be televised live on the Pac-12 Networks.