Holdover status a badge of honor for CU Buffs football returnees – The Denver Post
Last week, as he held court during his first preseason news conference, Colorado football coach Deion Sanders described the abrupt and expansive culture shift experienced by the Buffaloes program.
Sanders said no one needed to take his word for it. Asking the precious few holdovers on the roster — from last year or even just this past spring — would do the job.
“Ask them how much better this team looks,” Sanders said, “how much closer this team is. That will tell the tale.”
This week one of those familiar faces, safety Trevor Woods, was able to recount some of that tale as the Buffs barreled through week two of preseason camp. One of just 10 scholarship players who remain from the 2022 roster, Woods backed his head coach’s claim that things have changed even since April, as CU has brought in 42 new scholarship players — and 57 players overall — since holding its spring game on April 22.
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“We almost had a whole new team (in the spring) and even more of those guys are gone. It’s a little different vibe. We’re bringing a winning culture here,” Woods said. “It’s always funny, because they all just know what we went through (last year). So they kind of just, like they respect us for sticking it out and then staying. For me, it’s kind of like, I know I can compete with guys. No matter who’s brought in, I’m still in contention for the starting spot, so it’s just that I know I can play.”
Among the 10 scholarship returnees wearing their 2022 scars like badges of honor, Woods expects to be in the rotation mix at safety for the Buffs. He hardly is the only 2022 returnee hoping to make a mark under Coach Prime.
Tight ends aren’t typically a big part of the offense under first-year coordinator Sean Lewis, but 2022 holdovers Caleb Fauria and Louis Passarello are CU’s only scholarship players at the position. Returnees Gerad Christian-Lichtenhan, Van Wells and Carter Edwards are battling for playing time on the offensive line. And although Charlie Offerdahl isn’t on scholarship — he’s one of nearly two dozen walk-ons back in the mix this season — he has routinely been praised by Sanders and his staff for holding his own amid much greater competition at running back. The same holds true for another 2022 scholarship returnee, running back Anthony Hankerson.
Another intriguing story emerged this week around returning linebacker Marvin Ham II. New linebackers coach Andre Hart readily admitted Ham was regarded as a player that could be run off along with the scores of others from the 2022 team. But Ham has more than answered the challenge, even recently playing his way into reps with the first team defense despite adjusting to a slight position change.
“I tell Marvin all the time, I tried to get rid of him. I did. I graded him every day, tough and hard, and he rose to the challenge,” Hart said. “It’s kudos and hats off to him. As a matter of fact, he’s one of my starters right now. If I had to go into a game right now, Marvin Ham from last year would be my Mike linebacker. Now, he played Sam last year for them in their defense, so this move I’m not sure what happened but it clicked for him and he’s playing a lot better. He’s executing really, really well.”
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