Colorado State University Athletics
Spring Notebook: Running backs shine in first practice with pads
3/25/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Grant Larson
CSU Athletics Communications
FORT COLLINS, Colo.-- Saturday afternoon marked Colorado State’s third of 15 spring practices, and the first practice of the new season in full pads. With the added pads comes increased energy and physicality, but head coach Mike Bobo stressed after practice that the Rams need to be better about sustaining that energy throughout all of practice.
“In general, it was good,” Bobo said. “I thought as practice got going the energy picked up a little bit. Overall, it was a good first day. I have to look at the tape of how we did. There were some good things on both sides of the ball. We are still not pushing ourselves the way I would like throughout the practice.”
Running backs coach Bryan Applewhite was also made available to the media following practice, and the third-year assistant is excited about the depth and talent he feels the Rams have at the position.
“Iron sharpens iron,” Applewhite said. “(Dalyn) Dawkins will go make a play and Izzy (Matthews) wants in to show what he can do.”
Dawkins and Matthews combined for 1,643 yards and 17 touchdowns in 2016, while true freshman Marvin Kinsey, Jr. added 546 yards and seven touchdowns. With Kinsey Jr., continuing to rehab his ACL injury however, redshirt freshmen running backs Darius May and Rashaad Boddie have taken full advantage of the added reps, impressing coach Applewhite with their hard-nosed running styles.
“Darius is a slasher,” he said. “He has deceptive power. He has a really good burst and is really fluid in his movement. Rashaad is more of a bruiser. You get in his way and he’s going to let you know you got in his way. He’s more of a power kid. He makes people miss by running through tackles.”
Blocking the way for the talented backs will be an offensive line that graduated three starters in Nick Callender, Paul Thurston and Fred Zerblis. Despite the personnel changes, Bobo remains optimistic about the options the Rams have in the trenches, speaking to the versatility of Zack Golditch, Colby Meeks and Jeff Taylor.
“We are having to mix and match just because of numbers,” Bobo said. “Jeff Taylor is playing right guard, left guard and center. Golditch is playing guard and tackle, Meeks is having to play all three, as well. But they are getting lots of reps and are able to see themselves on film. They have done some nice things and it is just about putting them in those situations to find out where their best fit is to help us."
The Rams now have two days off and will be back in full pads for practice on Tuesday afternoon. Follow @CSUFootball on Twitter and check CSURams.com for exclusive coverage and content.
Spring practice 3️⃣ pic.twitter.com/5Ah1bwWk8L
— CSU Rams Football (@CSUFootball) March 25, 2017
Coach Hammerschmidt visits
Former CSU special teams coordinator and current New York Jets assistant coach Jeff Hammerschmidt was in attendance for practice on Saturday. Hammerschmidt spent four seasons with the Rams under both Coach McElwain and Coach Bobo, bringing with him over 20 years of coaching experience. Having moved on to the NFL following the 2015 season, he now enters his second season with the New York Jets as the assistant special teams coach.
Fullback Adam Prentice providing boost for offense
The fullback position has always been a focus of Mike Bobo-led offenses, but the Rams found themselves short-handed at the position last year following the preseason injury to starter Adam Prentice. With the redshirt sophomore now returning to individual drills-- and expected to be full-go by fall camp-- the Rams are excited to plug the position back into the offense and believe it will give them an advantage in both the running and passing game.
Room to improve in the passing game
Despite ranking 12th in the country in team passing efficiency rating in 2016, Bobo insists the Rams still have room to improve in that category and views it as a key to Colorado State being a championship-caliber team.
“We have to be more efficient in the passing game,” he said. “That was one of our objectives this spring offensively. We were good at the deep ball last year and that was one thing I wanted to improve from. We were good at the screens but our intermediate passing game was not at the level that we need it to be at to be a championship football team. We have to improve in that and that went very well today.”
