Gophers prepared

Following practice on Wednesday, Colorado head football coach Karl Dorrell watched receiver RJ Sneed run up the hill from the field to the locker room.

The senior transfer from Baylor looks and feels healthy, and the Buffaloes would like to get him more involved in the offense than he’s been through the first two weeks.

Sneed, who caught 133 passes during his career at Baylor, has only three catches for 24 yards so far this season. He could be more of a factor at Minnesota on Saturday (1:30 p.m., ESPN2).

“He’s been solid and it hasn’t been his fault (that he hasn’t been better),” Dorrell said. “He just hasn’t had a lot of targets. I like how he caught a high ball out in the rain (at Air Force on Saturday), where we struggled catching the ball, but he plucks it and gets seven yards. We need to get him going.”

Sneed injured a foot during the spring showcase on April 23 and spent the summer recovering. He didn’t fully return to practice until about a week and a half before the Sept. 2 opener against TCU.

Sneed played only nine snaps against the Horned Frogs and 15 against Air Force and he’s been targeted just three times.

CU hasn’t announced whether Brendon Lewis or JT Shrout will start at quarterback on Saturday, but Minnesota doesn’t seem to have a preference.

Senior defensive back Tyler Nubin said during a press conference this week, “It doesn’t affect anything. We’re going to prepare for both guys; we’re going to prepare for everything. I

costly drops.

The rainy weather was a factor, as it made the synthetic gloves worn by the receivers too slick. That led to the group taking the gloves off, but it wasn’t a good day overall for the passing game.

“It’s difficult (to catch the ball in rain), but I’ve seen it done a lot of times,” Mcgeoghan said. “I’ve been a part of doing it well a lot of times and I was a part of doing it not so well this time. It’s been like that before with NFL players.

“There really isn’t any magic glove to catch the ball in the rain. It’s your eyes and your hands and you have to narrow your frame…you’ve got to just lock in and catch the football and look it into the frame and you really have to have heightened awareness and situational awareness when you’re dealing with those conditions — and they’re gonna happen again.”

Rain or not — there is a slight chance of showers in Minneapolis on Saturday —