Addazio Impressed with Progress Made in Spring Camp

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – The focus was on the finish. Not necessarily the how, but the fact they did.

No interruptions. A full 15 practices for the spring. There may not have been a spring game, per se, but Colorado State's football team put in a full spring of work, and the fact they were able to stack days made a world of difference.

"I think we saw too much of the, now we're shut down for two days and now we're back in," defensive end Scott Patchan said. "For a lot of guys that aren't 100 percent mature, it's a hard thing for sure, and we saw that in the fall with all the shutdowns and bringing guys back. It's hard, because some guys would wake up and their heads weren't in it that day because they weren't sure if they were going to be sent home or the next day.

"I think that's a great part of growth, is just not being interrupted and being in a state of mind where you can actually attack the day."

The final day was mostly a practice session, though head coach Steve Addazio let younger players scrimmage against each other throughout the session and to close it out. He knows they enjoyed it, and he did, too, as they were given a bit of a reward for their hard work.

But what he couldn't get away from was the growth of his team when looking at spring camp as a whole. He said he couldn't really find the words to express just how far.

"How do I say this the right way? It's not even comparable," he said. "It's so far from where it was, I wouldn't know how to verbalize that. That's striking, right? I look back to last spring, whether you want to talk about our team's culture or our team's toughness or our team's ability to focus on the details of the game … It's like just two different programs. That's how dramatically different it is.

"I'm not sure I'm overstating it. If you sat in our special teams meetings now versus then, just for an example, you'd think we're like five years difference. I guess that's a good thing, or it just reflects on where we were. Probably both. What's that thing: We've come a long way, baby? I mean, we've come a long way."

Both coordinators said earlier in the week they have been able to install their entire packages, and that was completed long before the final day. For Jon Budmayr on the offensive side, it was also about getting to know the players he's working with, as well as getting them up to speed with the alterations he brought with him from Wisconsin.

His clues came from the way plays were run. He could see an understanding start to develop, not just of the system, but how the players factor in to it and make it work. It was in route details, as well as the quarterbacks going through their entire set of progressions, showing him they understood the entire play, not just the beginning.

He said all the quarterbacks need more work in those regards, and when it comes to the younger ones, they'll need to show him a true desire to learn the system by what they do on their own time with the playbook and film study.

"From a holistic approach, what we want our offensive to be, what we want out identity to be, setting a foundation (was important), which we were able to do," he said. "So I feel real fortunate that we got through what we did get through, especially where you look at where we were a year ago."

For Heater, with a more experienced set of players, it was pushing the defensive further into his scheme than last year. Having a strong pass rush and run defense up front helps set those advances in motion, allowing them to focus on where they had to improve.

For him, those areas were most definitely in the secondary, with a particular attention paid to third-and-long and red-zone defense.

"I feel good about where we're at. We've got a foundation built," Heater said. "It was abbreviated a year ago with what had happened, so you're always scrambling to get your foundation in there, but I feel like we got it all in this spring, and guys have a general understanding of what we're trying to get done, so certainly something to build on."

While Addazio had trouble finding his words about improvement, tight end Trey McBride did not. He agreed with his head coach, the Rams are leaps and bounds beyond this time last year.

He also believed having a full spring camp without delays or stalls, coupled with a roster bought into what is being taught had a dramatic effect on the work being done.

"I mean, it's night-and-day difference from where we started to where we are now," he said. "I feel like the offense has kind of jelled together. We have a new quarterback, Todd Centeio is coming in and playing really well, he's making a lot of big plays for us. Just up front, they're a lot more physical, being able to run the ball a lot better. It's just a night-and-day difference. We have one of the best D-lines in the conference, so going up against those guys every day has been improving our offensive line and making sure we can run the football, because that's an emphasis for us."

Addazio said the players will be off now until the end of spring break, with the last day of classes on campus April 9. After they return, the Rams will get a full conditioning schedule in, marking the next break for the team in July.

By that time, Addazio hopes the world is open a little more and the NCAA ends the dead period for recruiting, and if allowed, will enable the program to run camps and bring recruits to campus.

Backing Up – Addazio continued to express his pleasure with the play of starting quarterback Todd Centeio, as well as the improvements he's made during spring camp. The battle is for the No. 2 job, and while Jonah O'Brien has taken hold of that spot, he has yet to throw a collegiate pass. Neither have the two true freshmen who were in camp, a pair Addazio reminded the media could be at school getting ready for their prom. He suggested the transfer portal may provide an opportunity to bring in more experience after going through personnel meetings. Not just as quarterback, but elsewhere.

However, both McBride and Patchan said they have other alternatives.

Themselves. McBride ran a wildcat package as a freshman, though he said Centeio throws better than him. Patchan believes he has intriguing intangibles himself.

"Very good looks. A lot of satire," Patchan said. "You know, that's just what I bring to the table all the time, I feel like."

Another point he liked: He's in the offensive backfield enough as a rush end, he might as well stay there for offensive snaps.

Impressive: Camp gave some younger players a chance to prove their worth to the staff and move up the depth chart, and there wasn't a shortage of names.

Heater said Devin Phillips gets overlooked with the return of the senior defensive lineman, but he's had a strong camp. So have linebackers Troy Golden, Tavian Brown and Bam Amina, with Addazio mentioning Chase Wilson yet again, as well as Sanjay Strickland and Cian Quiroga. The addition of Linwood Crump to the secondary, as well as the influx of true freshmen in the secondary, has given them hopes of having more competition and depth.

Offensively, the first name everybody goes to is tight end Gary Williams, who Budmayr said has proven he can be useful at the line of attack, as well as spread out wide in the passing game. He also mentioned the development of A'Jon Vivens and Tanner Hollens, with Addazio taking note of the young offensive lineman Tautai Li'o Marks.

"There's pieces to it, and we've got to keep developing them as a coaching staff to make sure we maximize this next phase that were going to jump into with the end of spring and summer," Budmayr said.

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