Colorado State University Athletics
CSU Fall Camp Notebook: Day 8
8/11/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
Statistics 
Colorado State held its first scrimmage of fall camp on Thursday afternoon. After holding eight practices in seven days, head coach Mike Bobo and the coaching staff got a better feel as to how the team is progressing and which players are making an early impact.
"It was a typical first scrimmage," Bobo said. "A lot of sputtering from an offensive point of view, but that happens the way you do things with the drives. I thought the defense came out and played hard, made some tackles. As the scrimmage went on, the offense made a few more plays, but the defense created some turnovers, which was good to see."
While each step of camp - from adding shells to full pads to now a scrimmage - has shown the coaches more and more, Bobo noted that scrimmages still don't fully offer the typical ebbs and flows of the game.
Even so, there were several players that stood out to Bobo, including multiple newcomers who are vying for early time on the field. Bobo singled out receivers Michael Gallup, Olabisi Johnson, Sammie Long and Xavier Williams, stating that Johnson scored a touchdown and that all four made impressive plays.
"The receivers made plays on balls that weren't that good and made some nice catches," he said. "Secondary was in tight coverage and the receivers made plays."
Additionally, freshman Marvin Kinsey, Jr. was praised for his speed, and his ability to both run and catch the ball.
"25's a football player," Bobo said. "He still has to learn how to run behind his pads, but every time he touched the ball something good happened today."
Bobo described a swing pass that Kinsey turned into a big gain after breaking a tackle just past the line of scrimmage.
"Marvin broke the tackle and turned it into 50, maybe 60 yards to the 3-yard line and outran everybody on the sidelines."
On defense, cornerbacks Jamal Hicks, Kevin Nutt, Jr., Tyree Simmons and Jordon Vaden were singled out by Bobo. Hicks is now running with the 2s and made an interception Thursday, as did Nutt and Vaden.
"Kevin Nutt continues to play really well for us defensively," Bobo said. "He's a guy we needed to step up for us in the secondary. Vaden, in our overtime period after the first group scored, the second group had it inside the 10 and Vaden intercepted it and would have gone 100 and some yards."
The position most in the spotlight remains the quarterbacks, which Bobo reiterated Thursday is a three-man competition. He even added that redshirt freshman J.C. Robles ran with the 3s several times and did some nice things. Overall, though, it's too early to make any decisions.
"I don't want to say anything until I watch the film and get a better understanding," Bobo said. "They all had moments, but nothing really got clicking offensively enough to say, `This guy is head and shoulders above everyone else."
A couple areas that Bobo would like to see improvement in were creating pressure on the defensive line and finding more of an offensive rhythm.
CSU will get its first day off tomorrow - an opportunity to have the players over to coaches' houses to watch film and eat together - before a two-a-day Saturday and a full week of camp next week, which culminates with a second scrimmage on Aug. 20.
"You always expect more and hope you're further along than where you are, but that's OK," Bobo said. "It's how you come back and how we work tomorrow. Every day is about evaluation and getting the right guys out on the field who have the right chemistry."
