Colorado's first practice of Fall Football Camp in the books

A new era with Coach Prime in Boulder

Jason Jones

On a gorgeous August day with the backdrop of the flatirons, a slew of media outlets descended upon Boulder for the start of Fall football practice sessions at CU.

Shedeur Sanders looked crisp in his delivery behind a Buffs offensive line working on technique drills. It was the only portion of practice made available to the media with the rest closed off.

Shortly following the conclusion of the morning practice, Colorado defensive coordinator Charles Kelly gave an update on the state of the team a month away from the opener with TCU. Outside noise was a common theme during the Q&A segment. Kelly spent a moment explaining how the players “simply need to ignore the noise” and just need to focus on getting better every day. Colorado comes into the final stretch of the off-season needing to make adjustments. 

“Winning is the result of a process. You have to go through things to get that result and that’s what we’re doing now," Kelly added. He went on to mention that having the ability to tune out the noise is an intangible trait this team always looks for.

This fed into the concept we’ve heard consistently since January with "The standard." Kelly went on to tell a story about his first year. A new standard was implemented, and the players elevated to that standard.

“The problem comes when you start lowering the standard, that’s when you become average.” Kelly noted. It’s the job of the coaches to ensure the message of the CU Gold Standard is being received by the players.

Kelly was asked if the outside noise from other coaches fuels the players.

“None of that has any bearing on what we’re doing. What we do and our results will be about us. It won’t be about what another coach said. It won’t be from what someone outside said. Everyone can have their opinion, but we’re not going to apologize for how we do things.”

While Coach Kelly is a no-nonsense coach, his body language and delivery suggested that at least some inside the building might be annoyed by certain ‘specific’ noise, but it was clear that noise does not need to be a concern for the players.

Kelly was asked about Coach Prime’s recent medical procedure to remove blood clots. The first-year Buffaloes head coach, who's a week away from his 56th birthday, is coming off a second surgery to render ongoing health issues.

“Coach had a medical procedure, but you’d never know it to talk to him,” Kelly said.

The former Alabama defensive coordinator spent some time reflecting on Prime and how he’s constantly thinking of others. Even amidst a significant medical procedure, Coach Prime seemed to be more concerned with others than his present situation at that moment. Which, believe it or not, is very ‘on brand’ for Deion Sanders.

No players were provided for media availability today. BuffsBeat will be in Boulder covering fall practice throughout the next few weeks.