First Scrimmage Highlights What Addazio Expected

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A test. It's what a scrimmage boils down to, and the first of camp is always enlightening.

Colorado State has learned a lot, but Saturday's outing proved to Colorado State football coach Steve Addazio what he already expected.

"There was good effort, good attitude, but we need to scrimmage and tackle full speed a lot more," he said. "We're not ready for that right now. This is a new normal. Normally you worry about how much tackling you're doing, but we've got to tackle, play football, and get tougher. We've got to be able to gain a couple yards when you have to run it for a couple of yards. We've just got to get that mentality."

The defense showed up early, and the offense and Dante Wright hit some big plays yet. But along the way, it was proven out the team needs to dial up the amp to Spinal Tap levels to reach Addazio's happy place in terms of a physical presence and toughness, especially at the goal line.

First scrimmages are like that, especially in a season where the stops and starts have messed with continuity. Being hit was a good first step, but more will be coming. Tight end Trey McBride craved it, as well as proving to himself he can still muscle through the first wave.

Which he did. Numerous times. But it wasn't a matter of proving what's known, it was a welcomed part of moving toward game day against New Mexico.

"Obviously getting tackled, that's always beneficial," the junior tight end said. "You don't want your first time being tackled to be Oct. 24, so getting that tackling in and knowing what a hit feels like is also very good. My goal is not to get tackled, but obviously, it's going to happen. Just going out there and trying to make a play when you get the chance, you have to make a play."

Much of what has been going on in camp has been teaching, with elements of new systems being installed daily. The scrimmage was a test for the team to see exactly what they've absorbed and how quickly they can put it in motion, giving a clear indicator of how to move forward.

Junior corner Marshaun Cameron doesn't feel the defense is behind in terms of knowledge, yet they are far from perfect when it comes to execution. That, he said, needs to change.

"We still have work to do," he said. "The effort is there, but there are still some corrections to do with plays and missed assignments. Once we get those fixed, we'll be at the top."

Similar signs appeared on offense. The goal this year is to play with more pace. While the Rams have had packages in the past, tempo will become the norm in 2020 with offensive coordinator Joey Lynch calling the plays.

There is a myriad of moving parts involved, starting the mental clock the players will feel ticking from inside, as well as simply getting set and ready for calls to come in. It was clear on Saturday the clocks are not yet aligned.

"We're running all no-huddle. Everything is signaled from the sideline, so we're trying to get lined up as fast as we can," McBride said. "We're trying to get lined up before the defense can react to what we're doing. It's a little bit faster than what we're used to, and that's something we're trying to adjust to. With conditioning we're going to be just fine."

Conditioned they will be. Using a scoring system, the offense's late rally put the unit on top, but Addazio still have the entire roster running after the session. And this will not be the final scrimmage, as Addazio would like to do it at least three more times.

He knew that going in, noting the Rams still have one more tough week of camp coming out of this before starting to slide into game preparation with kickoff just a mere three weeks out.

The team still has a lot of ground to cover in his eyes, and synching with that clock is just as crucial.

"We're not where we want to be. We're just not there yet," he said. "I don't know how many days we've had it pads, but it just doesn't work like that. We've got another week of camp coming up. In that week, we've got to have some real tough practices and scrimmages, and we've got to grind this thing out and raise our level of play."

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