Published Nov 21, 2024
Q&A: Brian Borland talks about the challenges playing Colorado
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Jon Kirby  â€¢  JayhawkSlant
Publisher- Football Editor
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Defensive coordinator Brian Borland talked about coming up with big plays against BYU, the challenges Colorado presents, and what makes Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders good.

A big play from Mello against BYU in the red zone and key stops…

We work on it a lot and I finally feel like some of those things are paying off for us. And the play that Mello intercepted, that's exactly the play that we had worked on. Really had two different days during the week because they had shown that before and they had really done the same thing, and he was ready for it and there it was.

And then at the end of the game we had our backs to the wall there. I'm not on the sideline but you know, guys just talking to other coaches on the sideline, they were just commenting how confident guys were and were pretty determined not to let them in the end zone.


Talk about the senior players on defense…

I feel like it's a whole matriculation of their careers and really my time here. We just really appreciate the fact that they stayed and have really worked hard and developed to be able to play high level football from our first year they were unprepared and not ready to.

Now a lot of those guys are playing at the top of their game. I'm excited for them. I'm not to that point to being sad or anything. I'm excited for them and I just really want things for them to play their best here at the end.

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What have you seen from the pass rush…

I thought we did a really good job last week of keeping the quarterback in the pocket. When he got hit when he was throwing we weren't always bringing a bunch of guys and pressures. So that was really one of the keys to the game for us.

This week, it is the same. We always mix up calls and bring pressure, some, hopefully different spots and challenge people that way. But there's times that we’ve just got to be able to pass rush. I think Colorado's offensive line is way better than what last year's version was. They've done a really good job, but I think there's still some opportunity for us.

And, you know, if you look at the conference leaders in sacks our two starting d-ends are in the top five. I feel like we're going to be able to mount some pressure versus them. I'd be surprised if we don't. I'd be disappointed if we don't. We're planning on getting after it that way.


Do you see Shedeur Sanders moving around a lot and running…

Yeah, that's some of the best things that they do, in my opinion. When there is a little bit of rush or maybe the initial coverage is pretty good, his ability to stay alive, escape pressure and just kind of drift along and pat the ball and wait for things to happen.

And obviously, I'm sure that's something they work on a lot with scramble drills and things like that, because receivers seem to know when to put their foot in ground and they get places


Would you say in the passing game, as a defense, this is probably your biggest challenge that you've seen this year…

Yeah, in some ways, for sure. Not a formation challenge necessarily, but a personnel challenge for sure. And they sort of do what they do. I think they're pretty smart in recognizing the type of talent that they have and get the ball to those guys in space. Get the ball out of the quarterback's hand quick a lot of times and give them a little. Give those guys a little bit of space and they can really make it happen.

From that standpoint, it's a big challenge just in terms of trying to corral the personnel. We talk about it every day; we try to work it out in practice and as best we can. Hopefully, our guys will rise to that occasion on Saturday because they're going to do a bunch of different stuff.


What makes Travis Hunter such a special wide receiver…

Well, he's fast, he's quick, he's elusive, he makes contested catches and acrobatic kind of catches.

They're smart enough to get him the ball and get the ball his way, and he makes it happen. He's one guy there. But they've got others as well that you can't focus your game plan around stopping number 12 because you're going to get hurt by any number of other guys. I think we know what he does and where he lines up and how things go that way. We've got to pay attention to him. But you can't pay attention to him and neglect the others, because they're all capable.