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Earlier this week, Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said there’s a “distinct possibility” that freshman quarterback Byrd Ficklin plays against Colorado after starting quarterback Devon Dampier re-aggravated an ankle injury in the Utes’ loss to BYU.
How is Colorado coach Deion Sanders preparing for the possibility of facing someone other than Dampier under center on Saturday?
“We’re not. We’re preparing for their scheme. We’re preparing for what they’ve done consistently and what they’ve done well consistently. You don’t want to get into that, now we got to prepare for this, now we got to be,” Sanders said. “Yeah, we’ll make adjustments if that happens and do a research and a study on this particular quarterback, but right now we’re just preparing for what they do well and what they do well, they really do it well.”
Making Colorado’s scouting process a little easier this week is the fact that both Dampier and Ficklin have similar playing styles — both are dual-threat quarterbacks who utilize their legs often.
Ficklin fits well in offensive coordinator Jason Beck’s RPO scheme, and he’s already had extended run in a couple of Utah blowout wins this season, getting valuable game reps.
Ficklin has rushed for 111 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries, and is a perfect nine for nine for 138 yards and a touchdown through the air.
“We’ll just check the availability report comes out Wednesday and we have to wait a few days to see how these guys are healing up from the game, and so that’s a distinct possibility, I can tell you that,” Whittingham said of Ficklin playing this week.
On Tuesday, Whittingham said that he’d like there to be a decision on whether Dampier is playing or not by Friday.
“We’d like to have that decided by Friday. Sooner if possible, but it could go to Friday. We’ll see,” Whittingham said.
Ficklin has taken reps in practice early this week as Dampier heals from the ankle injury, something Whittingham said has been the case for a lot of weeks this season.
“Well, Byrd gets more reps early in the week because Devon kind of heals up from the game and that’s kind of been standard procedure for a lot of the weeks this year,” Whittingham said.
Dampier suffered an ankle injury against Wyoming and was clearly hobbled against Texas Tech. That injury appeared to improve ahead of the game against West Virginia, and the bye week ahead of Arizona State helped majorly.
Dampier looked close to 100% against the Sun Devils, where he ran for 120 yards and three touchdowns and threw for 104 yards.
He appeared to re-injure his right ankle in the third quarter against BYU, returning to the game with a lot of tape on it and finishing the game, but also didn’t run once from that point on.
Thanks in part to Dampier, along with Wayshawn Parker, Daniel Bray and NaQuari Rogers, and a strong offensive line, Utah has the No. 6 rushing offense in the country, averaging 245 yards per game.
Sanders has tried to prepare his players for the Utes’ rushing attack by having physical practices this week.
“Well, we’ve been physical all week. We’ve been doing some things all week that prayerfully, we prevent that and force them to be uncomfortable,” Sanders said. “They have a young quarterback that, well, not a young quarterback, got a quarterback that can get it done through the air as well as on the ground, but prayerfully on the ground make some good decisions. They don’t really make a lot of mistakes. We got to force them into doing things that they’re uncomfortable with doing.”
Sanders also singled out Utah’s cornerbacks and linebackers after watching film on the Utes.
“I like the way the corners play. Got some DBs that make plays, got a linebacker that’s a darn dawg. I mean they got something special, I love what I see on film from them,” Sanders said.
Linebacker Lander Barton will have to sit out the first half against Colorado after being called for targeting BYU quarterback Bear Bachmeier in the second half.
As he’s done since he started coaching Colorado in 2023, Sanders praised Whittingham this week.
“Coach Whittingham. Unbelievable. He’s a pillar of consistency. One of my heroes in his coaching realm. He’s been doing it for quite some time. I wish I could have the tenure he’s had at Utah,” Sanders said. “His team resembles who he is as a man, how he played the game. Physical, tough, consistent. … Coach Whittingham is one of those ones that you are lucky that you have him as your head coach and I think Utah understands that.”
Colorado is 3-4 on the season, but picked up its first Big 12 win against then-No. 22 Iowa State ahead of a bye week before traveling to Salt Lake City.
Utah is currently a 13.5-point favorite against Colorado.
“I know they’re 3-4, but the combined record of those four losses of the teams they played is 25-3. I mean, they’ve played some really good teams and so they are a much better football team than their record indicates. I can tell you that for certain,” Whittingham said.
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