With gray skies hanging over the practice fields in Boulder, it hardly looks like spring.

But the sound of players colliding and whistles blowing served as a reminder that spring, in fact, is upon Boulder and, with it, the beginning of a new football season.

The 2011 Colorado Buffaloes begin their season with a lot of issues to tackle. With a new staff led by first-year head coach Jon Embree, a new conference and new players, these early practices will be key to a successful season.

“It’s a lot of new stuff, a lot of new technique, but were picking it up, slowly but surely,” said junior defensive tackle Will Pericak. “I think we’ve adapted well. It’s a lot different but it’s a good change.”

That change came after five underwhelming years under Dan Hawkins, who was fired last season. After his ballyhooed hiring in 2005, Hawkins failed to deliver on the hype that surrounded him after leaving a highly-successful Boise State program. After CU blew a 28-point fourth-quarter lead, the largest in school history, in a 52-45 loss to Kansas, the Hawkins era came to a close.

In five years at CU, Hawkins never posted a winning season and compiled a 19-39 record. CU made one bowl appearance under Hawkins – a 30-24 loss to Alabama in the 2007 Independence Bowl.

Looking to win back the fans, CU went back into its own history to hire its next coach.

Embree was a star tight-end at CU in the late 80s and spent last season as a tight-ends coach with the Washington Redskins before taking the CU job, which will be his first head-coaching gig.

Embree has quickly made his mark on the team, and is using spring to reevaluate and shape the roster to his liking, including practicing without pads to toughen up the team.

“Guys are showing who they are, and that’s what we wanted out of here: the evaluation process,” Embree said. “Some of them, if they can’t play and they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing academically and they’re not doing some other things and following the program, they won’t be here, it’s just that simple…I don’t ask a lot. I want effort, I want you to compete, and I want you to do it on and off the field. That’s all I ask. I think those are pretty simple rules.”

The staff around Embree also has a distinctly CU feel. In addition to Embree, four coaches were former CU players, five were former CU coaches and three are Colorado natives.

In addition to different coaches, several players who played significant roles in their time at CU are gone.

All-American tackle Nate Solder and corners Jalil Brown and Jimmy Smith will probably hear their names called in the upcoming NFL draft. Team captains Scotty McKnight and Cody Hawkins, who hold many of CU’s career-receiving and passing records, are also gone.

Of the returning players, no one may be more crucial to the Buffs’ success than senior quarterback Tyler Hansen. Hansen has impressed coaches so far this spring and appears to have the job won, but he is coming off of a ruptured spleen that cost him the second half of 2010. While he has shown flashes of brilliance in his career, he has yet to find consistency.

“I’m back to normal and I feel healthy,” Hansen said. “Now I’m excited to go out there and play and hopefully I stay healthy a full year because I haven’t gotten a full year under my belt, but I’m doing better.”

Joining Hansen in the backfield is another returning starter, senior Rodney Stewart, who tallied a career high 1,318 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in 2010.

At the receiver spots, sophomore Paul Richardson returns after coming on strong late in the season with two 100-yard receiving games and will probably line up across from junior Will Jefferson.

The offense will be working under a CU legend, Eric Bieniemy, who left his job as a running backs coach with the Minnesota Vikings to become the offensive coordinator at the school where he won a championship and was a Heisman runner-up.

“He’s been nothing but great towards me, towards the other quarterbacks and towards the offense,” Hansen said of his new coordinator. “He wants to win, and he’s a Buff and he wants his Buff tradition to be back as soon as possible. Not next year, this year and it’s been real fun and exciting.”

On the other side of the ball, with Smith and Brown both gone, CU’s secondary will need a lot of work before they are ready to face some of the pass-happy offenses in the Pac-12.

“There are still a couple times we let a ball get outside of us and there are some contain issues we’ve got to be better about,” Embree said after a recent practice. “We’ve got to be better about trusting our technique. But they played well. A lot of it is the communication. A lot of it is they’re starting to understand what’s being asked of them.”

CU and its secondary will have a tough test to begin the year, especially considering past struggles on the road.

The Buffs will travel over 3,000 miles to open their season against the University of Hawaii and their explosive offense in Aloha Stadium.

Embree has already made it clear that despite being in paradise, the game will be no vacation. He has already said he will only take players he feels have earned the trip.

“I told them when I got hired they had a clean slate,” Embree said. “This will be four months to show me if you want to be a part of this program. It’s a privilege to be a Buffalo, it’s not a right.”

Besides filling out the roster, Embree will need to find team leaders to replace captains like Hawkins and McKnight. As the team’s quarterback and a senior, Hansen has embraced that role.

“I want to make this year special,” Hansen said. “I’ve got to be a leader on this team and lead this team and take it one game at a time. We’re not going to say Pac-12 champs; we’re not going to say national champs. We’re saying ‘beat Hawaii.’ That’s our first game of the year so my goal right now is to work and lead this team and beat Hawaii.”

Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Mitchell Byars at Mitchell.byars@colorado.edu.

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