Getting Needs, Wants and Hopes Met

Knowing the difference can make all the difference.

Each spring, football teams across the nation address key areas of their team in 15 practices spread out, which at Colorado State culminated Saturday with the spring showcase. Those first 14 days were spent seeking the important answers, most importantly the things Jay Norvell and his staff needed to see.

There were also things they wanted to see (not as critical, but nice) and others they hoped to see (not paramount, but discoveries which could prove beneficial). From coaches to players, the needs may be a bit altered, but as it turns out, pretty much everybody is walking away from camp with their boxes checked.

Being the guy in charge, Jay Norvell forced his need list to the top via the practice plan. The best way to see what he needed was to plant it firmly within the workout. Situations arise in games. He made them happen in camp.

"We did it in tons of places. I think every day we come out here and introduce a situation we haven't done," Norvell said. "One day we did a situation which came up with me, I think it was 1998, when I was with Indianapolis. First-and-10 on the 10 with 22 seconds, no timeouts, you need a touchdown. It's a hard situation, but I wanted to introduce that to the guys. We've done 4-minute, 2-minute and all kinds of unusual kicking situations. We play a game of unusual situations, so the more familiar your team can get with that the better.

"We had guys like Tory Horton and Jacob Gardner, guys we would go to in crisis moments. We have to figure out who those guys are now."

Which Tyson Summers had to do in a much broader sense. Installing a new defensive scheme takes time, and there were very few returners, just a handful of defenders who played substantial snaps the year prior.

Teaching becomes much easier with intentional listeners. That was Summer's main need. It was a want and a hope, too, just to speed along the process. Check.

"If you would have told me in January that we'd be as far along as we are, I'd have said no way. The thing I really wanted to see was where their understanding of the concepts were," Summers said. "What I needed to see what their buy in. I think they've done a great job of understanding what we're trying to do in each situation and each package, and I think the buy in has been tremendous.

"You're trying to find success and have some success early, and we've been fortunate to do that. Really since day five of spring ball we haven't put anything new in, we've just tried to apply the things we had into the situations that come up. Coach Norvell has been awesome in being able to help with the buy-in piece and the explanation piece."

Mukendi Wa-Kalonji, the most grizzled of the returning CSU defensive vets, came in willing to learn. Besides, it wasn't his first rodeo. But during an install he's also looking for how his teammates react, learn and approach the switch.

The more he's seen and learned, the more he likes.

"I feel we've done a good job, especially since we started early. We got accustomed to the defense," he said. "Learning a new defense is nothing new. I went through the Addazio staff and then Coach (Freddie) Banks' defense. I feel it's almost second nature to study play books.

"I'm excited about how much chaos the defense is going to bring and how explosive the offense is looking. I think the offense looks really good and our defense was chaotic. I think we got a little bit more than what we needed, especially with a new defense and the way we're playing."

There were other specifics. Norvell pinpointed tackling, running backs breaking contact and seeing the backup quarterbacks in action. He liked all of what he saw transpire.

As for Summers, it was positional growth. Across the board, the key group being the corners. They will have to be active in multiple ways, and with the three transfers the team brought in, he felt it was the group which showed the most impressive growth in camp.

Some of needs can be rather personal in nature. As one of two returning starters on the offensive line, Aaron Karas was keenly focused on his position room. How much depth had they developed, how tied in the group became. It's vital for that group to lead to get to where Karas really wants to be as one of 11 members of the offense.

"Offensively, I just wanted to see us moving the ball. From the O-line point, I wanted to see us getting our blocks and creating holes, setting a pocket for whoever was at QB," he said. "The wide receivers, I wanted to see them going up and making plays. The tight ends, blocking the crap out of the defense and growing crazy with the ball. They've had the best camp I've ever seen the tight ends have. The running backs have been doing great and running through people.

"I have seen those things. We've seen a lot of things coming together. It was some weeks this group would perform, or that group would perform. Now, all the groups are working together and we're seeing explosiveness out of the offense."

If you need a consensus from a 'wow-factor' standpoint, the tight ends were it. They all looked good, even though Jaxxon Warren was a bit limited. Carolos Anaya turned heads. Rocky Beers did the same, doing things the staff didn't expect.

Pick a vantage point and the takeaway was the same – spring was nothing but a positive experience for the Rams. Gains were made and key questions answered, even with a handful of projected starters or regular contributors sidelined by ailments. Particularly as a couple of prominent players were lured to enter the portal, only to decline, happy with what is transpiring. The portal can give, but it can take away, and the Rams were thrilled with the ability to retain their players. The program lost a grand total of 139 snaps and one starter – longsnapper Jake Dennis – and just four players overall. As the staff charted it, they lost less snaps than any other team in the Mountain West, including Washington State and Oregon State for good measure, and eight of those teams lost 1,000 snaps or more.

The positive feeling was also a need, because at the end of August reality hits. A road game against a Power 4 school for the fourth consecutive season. The right attitude is required.

"Yes, and it's a maturity thing. And an experience thing," Norvell said. "We've played in some pretty big venues against some pretty big schools, and we're going to Washington. We need to go in there with the mindset we're going to win the game. We know what the schedule is and what the challenges are. We have a lot of guys who have played in bigger venues. We need to have the mindset we're going to go beat those people when we're on the road."

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Rocky Beers

Jake Dennis

Jacob Gardner

Tory Horton

Aaron Karas

Mukendi Wa-Kalonji

Jaxxon Warren

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