Colorado football mailbag: Has Buffs’ run defense improved? Record prediction?

Oct 7, 2023; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders with son and quarterback Shedeur Sanders (2) against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium.

Game week is finally here.

The Colorado football team kicks off the 2024 season and Year 2 of the Deion Sanders era against perennial FCS powerhouse North Dakota State on Thursday night.

Before then, let’s dive into some questions that Colorado football fans have:

Will the defense come out in a standard formation (4-3, 3-4, 5-2)? Mostly curious to see how many defensive tackles play in the normal set. (@DaveMRich)

Expect the Colorado defense to start out with four defensive linemen on the field. Two defensive tackles (likely Chidozie Nwankwo and Shane Cokes), two edge players (likely B.J. Green and Dayon Hayes or Samuel Okunlola), two linebackers (likely Trevor Woods and LaVonta Bentley or Nikhai Hill-Green) and five defensive backs (Travis Hunter, Preston Hodge, DJ McKinney, Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig and Shilo Sanders) are the Buffaloes’ projected starters on defense.

NDSU’s power running game (and use of the quarterback in designed runs) might force another defensive lineman on the field for Colorado at certain points, but the 4-2-5 will be its base defense. The versatility and physicality of the Buffs’ secondary allows them to keep five defensive backs on the field.

Amari McNeill, Taurean Carter (Arkansas transfer), Rayyan Buell (Ohio transfer) and Tawfiq Thomas (Louisville transfer) are in the defensive tackle mix with an opportunity to earn more of a role with an impressive showing on Thursday night. Either way, Colorado has serious defensive line depth that it didn’t have in 2023.

More: Dayon Hayes says Colorado football’s pass rush will be ‘very scary’ for Big 12 opponents

Who will be the starting center for CU on gameday? (@Qwee141525)

Hank…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/colorado-football-mailbag-buffs-run-003327660.html

Author : The Coloradoan

Publish date : 2024-08-28 00:33:27

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