CU Spring Practices Preview - What To Expect: Defense and Special Teams

This is Stuart Whitehair, publisher and editor for the CU at the Game website, and your host for the CU at the Game podcast.

I am joined for this episode by Brad Geiger and Neil Langland, and we would like to officially welcome you to CU Spring Football, 2024! With our most recent episode, we took a deep dive into each unit of the Colorado offense, so today we turn our attention to the Buffs’ defense and special teams. 

There will be plenty of fluff pieces on the progress the team is making during its closed practices. So, with these preview episodes we try to identify the storylines which are going to truly be worth your time to click on, and which stories are just column fillers with stories promoted from within the Champions Center. 

Colorado has a new defensive coordinator, Robert Livingston, who comes to Boulder by way of the Cincinnati Bengals. It seems clear that Livingston was not Coach Prime’s first choice to replace Charles Kelly at defensive coordinator, but will Livingston be the right choice? 

And what does Livingston have to work with? ... Has enough new talent been brought in along the defensive line to improve on CU’s rush defense, ranked 107th in the nation in 2023? ... Is it clear that the linebacker roster will still have to be a priority for Colorado in the Transfer Portal come late April? ... Are the pieces in place for the Buff secondary to become a dominant force, or will the CU defense, 124th in pass defense and 127th in total defense last season, continue to lag behind its Power Four brethren? ... 

Let’s find out ...