These offensive players impressed in CSU football's first scrimmage

CSU's football team opened up its first scrimmage of the 2018 season to the public Saturday, allowing fans to get an early look at the team.

Coloradoan reporters Kelly Lyell and Kevin Lytle were there and here are their impressions of what they saw:

What stood out to you the most?

Lyell: Quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels looked relatively comfortable running an offense he’s only had a couple months to learn. He looks like he’s capable of getting the ball to a talented group of receivers and some strong running backs.

Lytle: Warren Jackson is your next Rams superstar. He showed flashes last year, and he could quickly become the guy. "No. 9 has a chance to be a man," CSU head football coach Mike Bobo said he told receivers coach Alvis Whitted after the scrimmage.

The Wide Receiver U reputation at CSU is alive and well with Jackson leading the next wave. There were a couple drops, but freshmen Nikko Hall and A'Jon Vivens also made some nice plays. 

Carta-Samuels is your starting quarterback to open the season and he looked solid. His pass over Bisi Johnson's shoulder for a touchdown was gorgeous. 

Justice McCoy looked pretty good, which is good news since he'll likely be the backup QB on Aug. 25 against Hawaii in the season opener.  

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Lyell: Agreed. It was good to see Jackson making the kind of catches we knew he was capable of after his two-touchdown game at Alabama as a true freshman, and it's obvious the coaching staff has high hopes for Hall and Vivens.

There was nothing particularly impressive about the ground game, but they played without their best running back, Izzy Matthews, who was held out, and had another, Marcus McElroy wearing an orange non-contact jersey that limited what he was able to do.

Rashaad Boddie is still a bruising back with some impressive power, and Marvin Kinsey seems to be regaining some of the confidence in his reconstructed knee. He's still the fastest running back on the team, Bobo said.

Bobo said before the scrimmage that he would pass more than run to get a good look at Carta-Samuels, his new QB. But I'm thinking the Rams might pass a bit more this season now than I originally thought after seeing what they've got to work with.

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What do you think?

Lytle: I still think the run game will be huge; there's a huge asterisk today because Matthews and McElroy were in non-contact jerseys. 

I think everyone was intrigued to see the defense. It's hard to read too much into a scrimmage when you can't hit quarterbacks or some of the skill guys. Were you able to read much from the D?

PRESSURE ON DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR: https://noconow.co/2OFdj7K

Lyell: It was hard to get a good read given the circumstances. I couldn't actually tell if the defensive line had improved or not, because I don't really know how good the offensive line is. Protection for QBs was pretty good from a relatively inexperienced offensive line, which suggests the defensive line needs to get a lot better before the start of the season to be effective.

Pass coverage looked a lot tighter so the efforts to improve there with some young talent, graduate transfer V.J. Banks and the return from a season-long suspension of Braylin Scott, seems to be on track.

I wonder, though, how much the defense and new coordinator John Jancek were handcuffed as far as trying to keep things pretty vanilla to give the new players on both sides of the ball a fair opportunity to be evaluated in a game situation.

Lytle: Yeah, and Bobo said as much after the game that the defense was handcuffed a bit. One of the strengths of the D-line will be depth, and they didn't get to show that in the scrimmage format. There also wasn't any real blitzing or attempts to confuse the offense.

This isn't a barometer of how good the D will be. I still worry if the defensive front will be able to consistently cause problems; we didn't get an answer either way on Saturday.

Lyell: Overall, it seemed to be a pretty solid showing by the offense and defense. Other than the potential Jackson showed, which had Bobo saying afterward that he had the chance to be the best receiver in school history, nothing else really jumped out at me.

What were your thoughts, overall?

Lytle: Offensively, I think the Rams will be fine. Plenty of skill guys and offensive line is coming along. 

Jury is still out on the defense. I think the overall talent is better, but we just haven't seen enough to know if they'll be improved.

Scrimmage stars

Offense

Warren Jackson — Sophomore receiver used his 6-foot-6 height and breakaway speed for an early 51-yard gain and finished with two touchdown catches.

Rashaad Boddie — Sophomore running back, in just his third day of practice following a suspension, showed the power and speed that earned him playing time a year ago in a rotation with Dalyn Dawkins and Izzy Matthews. Boddie had 68 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.

Defense

Josh Watson — Senior linebacker was solid in every area and had an interception to end a drive by the No. 1 offense and another pass breakup.

Damion Daley — The freshman defensive lineman was credited with two sacks.