FUN BEFORE WORK
Buffs enjoy Hollywood trip
LOS ANGELES» Steven Montez donned a Batman mask, juggled some toy footballs and posted a bowling score that was respectable.
The Colorado quarterback, along with linebacker Rick Gamboa and coach Mike MacIntyre made the rounds at Pac-12 media day on Tuesday and Wednesday, including attending a taping of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and filming promotional spots for the Pac-12 Networks.
“It’s really cool,” Montez said from the Hollywood & Highland shopping mall. “They had a lot of cool activities for us to do ... and that was a good time.”
While Montez and Gamboa had fun, media day signals the start of the football season being around the corner. The Buffs report to fall camp in a week, and they came to Hollywood optimistic and itching to get started.
“I’m excited,” Montez said. “I think we have a really good team; really good offense, a really good defense, as well. We’re going to look good. We need to put it all together in fall camp so we have it ready to take into the season.”
Optimism, of course, is high for all 12 teams at this event every year, but the reality is the Buffs have a lot to prove after following their 2016 Pac-12 South title with a last-place finish last year (5-7, 2-7 conference).
The CU contingent wasn’t too bothered by its spot in the preseason media poll, where the Buffs were projected to finish fifth among six teams in the Pac-12 South.
“I don’t really think they matter,” Montez said of preseason predictions. “What matters is when teams are playing between the lines and between the whistles. That’s where 1 through 12 are going to get decided. It’s not preseason polls. It’s going to be actual games and the actual season.”
While the projections certainly don’t dictate where the Buffs will finish, they are an indicator of what the Buffs have done recently, and how they are perceived coming into the year. Coach Mike MacIntyre said the Buffs have some work to do.
“There’s always a bunch of concerns (going into fall camp),” he said.
Still, his main areas of concern — in the trenches — are coupled with optimism.
“Yeah, we’re excited about some of the young guys that we have on our defensive line and our offensive line,” MacIntyre said. “I feel like they’re very athletic, so we need to keep them coming along. So, I feel we’ll be more athletic in those two areas than we have in the past.”
In addition to the lines, the Buffs have unproven talent at wide receiver, running back and cornerback.
The real key to returning to their 2016 form, however, might be attitude.
“I think we need to have that dog in us,” Montez said. “I think we need to get that hunger back, and if we do that, we’ll be in good shape. We need to change our mentality and be tough.”
Comparing the 2016 and 2017 seasons, Montez and the Buffs are well aware how much can change in a year, and that’s part of their motivation.
“I think last year we got a little complacent about having a winning season (in 2016) and we thought we were better than we were,” Montez said. “We need to keep that in the back of our minds how quickly it can change from season to season and stay hungry, stay wanting to work.”
Gamboa said the work ethic of the team this offseason has him excited.
“There’s a lot of guys coming to practice and coming to the meetings with a lot of energy,” he said. “They want to have fun, they want to make plays. For everybody on defense, everybody is real passionate about winning.”
With media day out of the way, the Buffs can sharpen their focus on winning. Fall camp starts in a week and the season opener, on Aug. 31 against Colorado State, isn’t far behind.
“I’m very excited to get going, finally get back to football,” Gamboa said. “We’ve been working out and lifting and running for the past 2½ months. I’m very excited to get back to actually playing football.”