Buffs football
full practice since the injury. Dorrell said after Shrout made a nice play on Tuesday, “He got all excited about, ‘Oh, man, I love football!’ Because he missed it.”
Shrout said he’s feeling good physically and happy to be on the field again. He’s also got a new outlook of not taking anything for granted after losing the game for a year.
“I definitely do hold myself to a high standard for sure,” he said. “I think at times, I just need to let loose and just go play and not think too much. … Obviously, (Dorrell) has told me I’ve just gotta get back into the rhythm of playing in the pocket again, and getting used to having guys around you. So that’ll help with more reps and time as camp goes on. But I felt good out there for the first day.”
Consistency with positive results will help Lewis or Shrout separate from the other.
“Whoever takes care of the ball the best, whoever makes the proper reads and gets us to the right place,” Dorrell said. “The management of the offense, the decision making of the offense, the accuracy in your throwing game. Those are those are kind of the telltale signs, and we’ll stat every one of those. You throw an interception or touchdown, they all count. Every throw will be scrutinized.”
Dorrell, Sanford and the offensive coaches will evaluate the group every day and the quarterbacks will see the results of each practice.
“We want them to be very coherent about where they stand every day,” he said.
While it is a two-man race for the starting job, Dorrell said there will be plenty of competition between Carter, Kopp and Mccown.
Carter, the top backup last year, had a “hell of a summer and it shows,” Dorrell said. He added that Kopp, a transfer from Houston, had a good spring and is picking up where he left off. Mccown, a true freshman who arrived this summer, made some good plays Tuesday.
“We are looking for who’s the right quality two or three,” Dorrell said. “That’s kind of where we’re trying to stack our depth. We think there’s three good, legitimate players that will give us really not much drop off from where B-lew and JT are.”
How the quarterbacks stack up will be sorted out over the next month, but for now, Dorrell is just pleased to have options. Including walk-ons, there are eight quarterbacks in camp.
“Our offense knows that this is a challenging decision that this is going to be for us,” Dorrell said. “But it’s a good thing. It’s a good problem to have, instead of where we’ve been in the past.”
He is a top-50 2023 prospect in Colorado per the recruiting site Prep Redzone. Last year, in fact, he caught 25 balls for 506 yards and eight touchdowns while playing with a broken thumb according to his coach.
Like he did in 2021, he’s expected to play both as a receiver and defensive back.