Jim Leavitt has discovered this much about his new defense at Colorado: He has some talent with which to work, but his players need to put it in another gear.
Leavitt is already more than halfway through his first set of spring football practices at CU less than a month after his hiring was announced. He and coach Mike MacIntyre along with the other defensive assistants are still in the process of deciding what the defense will look like next fall.
They are practicing 4-3, 3-4 and hybrid defenses. Leavitt said he needs the second half of spring ball to sort it all out.
What he has discovered is he has some work to do when it comes to getting CU defenders to practice and play at a level he expects.
“That’s my biggest thing right now is trying to teach them what it is to really work and play hard,” Leavitt said. “They don’t really understand what it is to play hard yet. They don’t. We’re trying to get that instilled, but we’re not there.
“What I define as playing hard and what they define as playing hard are two different things right now, but we’re trying to push to what it is to play hard. That’s probably more important to me right now than anything.”
CU coaches added a handful of talented junior college defensive linemen to the roster this spring and they have already made their mark, earning plenty of reps with the first-team defense.
Third-year sophomore defensive end Derek McCartney said the influx of talent has increased competition dramatically. He said he feels like it’s good for everyone involved that no one can feel safe with their position on the depth chart the way some players have been able to in the past.
While there are more players on the defensive line and greater competition, the group lost one of its key contributors from last season. George Frazier played both fullback and defensive end last fall and made plays on both sides of the ball. MacIntyre said the plan is to keep Frazier on offense from now on.
“He’s not on defense at all right now,” MacIntyre said. “We’re trying to get a bigger role for him on offense.”
MacIntyre said Frazier could play defense again if an injury situation demanded it, but he is focusing on playing the H and Y positions in the passing game and fullback.
McCartney said Leavitt has definitely brought a different mentality to the defense so far.
“He’s really intense, but he’s a positive intense and that’s a cool thing,” McCartney said. “He’s constantly encouraging guys and at the same time getting on them.”
Linebacker Kenneth Olugbode is coached on the field and in meetings by Leavitt, who also serves as the linebackers coach. Olugbode said Leavitt is demanding but it’s not difficult to keep up if players do the work asked of them off the field in reviewing film and studying the game.
“He’s a great coach,” Olugbode said. “He’s always fired up, always moving left and right. He’s running with us in almost every drill. He’s out there with us breaking a sweat as well. He’s a great teacher as well. He knows exactly what he wants his guys to know and how to teach it to us.”
MacIntyre said he has no doubt the roster has improved from a talent standpoint from last season because of the additions of a handful of junior college players, several grayshirts and an early enrollee from the high school ranks. He said the next step on defense is continuing to refine the schemes to find out where the talent fits and how it works together best.
“I think we can make a big jump like we did on offense,” MacIntyre said. “I think we’ll be able to do that.”
Leavitt is a little more guarded at this stage of spring. He said he’s still getting to know his players and no matter what he does this spring, he won’t have the benefit of knowing what individuals are like on game days when the pressure is on in the fall.
The CU defense is still very much a work in progress as far as he is concerned.
“It’s still not there as far as where we’re going to go,” Leavitt said. “We’re throwing a lot of stuff at them to see what hits and what doesn’t.”
Notable
MacIntyre said he has not decided yet what the format of the spring game will be. He said he is waiting to see what kind of shape the team is in health-wise before deciding if they will draft teams and play it like a true game again.
Kyle Ringo: ringok@dailycamera.com, on Twitter: @kyleringo
