After last season, you may have thought the injuries to our line had come to an end. I’m sure we all hoped that was the case. But think again; on Tuesday (March 3rd) Max Tuioti-Mariner tore his ACL, again, for the third time since his senior season in high school. His ACL tore during conditioning drills, and it was the same leg that he hurt back in high school (his left). Tuioti-Mariner tore his right ACL last season and was forced to miss most of the season. With spring practices starting up March 31st, Tuioti-Mariner will miss spring practices but should be ready to go come September 5th for the game against CSU.
NOTE: Spring Game is April 25th at 1:00 PM at Folsom. Try to make it out and support the team, we have good potential to have a great season, but more on that later so keep checking back for updates….

More bad news for the Buffs’ OL. According to the Denver Post, Ryan Miller has a fractured fibula and is now out for the season. Hopefully they’ll be able to get a medical red shirt for him so that he gets another year of eligibility.

It’s the hamstring. Is it torn? is it tweaked? Is it strained? Depends on which new source you are reading. Regardless it doesn’t look good. Bloom is on the Physically Unable To Perform List for the Eagles. What caused the problem? Here’s what Bloom has to say, “I probably didn’t have enough transition time coming right from the Olympics and going to the combine,” the former moguls skier said..

Blake Mackey tore his ACL on Sunday during practice and will be out for the season. This is a big blow to a very inexperienced position. Mackey was listed at number 2 on the depth chart, so one or more of the younger guys is going to have to step up and make a difference at WR.

Brandon Caesar tore his patellar tendon and will be out for the year. That is tough for a this promising star. Injuries kept him from competing last year and will keep him out again all year. He is the reason the medical red shirt was invented and shouldn’t have any trouble campaigning the NCAA.
So where does that leave the CU running game. Hugh Charles and Byron Ellis are going to be our supermen. They are not long on experience, last year Ellis ran for 61 yards on 19 carries and Charles had 49 yards on 17 carries, but they are who we have access to.
Anybody else? V-Back Lawrence Vickers might need to shift roles to be our prominent back instead of our full back. That’s too bad because our team is better with him at full. Maurice Greer our top recruit – academically ineligible and will attend junior college this year instead. Leaving us with one final name. Kevin Moyd. A name I expect we will all become quite familiar with over the course of the season. In high school, Moyd carried the ball 160 times for over 900 yards and 10 touchdowns. He chose the Buffs over Florida State and the 5-8, 190-pounder runs a 4.5 40-yard dash. Not too shabby.
Walk ons are still welcome. David Bellamy are you still eligible?

JJ Billinglsey will most likely sit out another week as he knee is still healing from surgery several weeks ago. Barnett believes he should be ready for the Big XII schedule
Brian Iwuh will be listed as a game-time decision for this Saturday. He did not practice Monday, but he says he feels much better
Brandon Caesar will likely miss the rest of the season with a knee injury that will require surgery. He injured a knee ligament during the last week of training camp.
Chris Hollis is scheduled to return to action this week after foot surgery. Welcome back.

TB Bobby Purify will have surgery to remove a calcium deposit from his foot, and will apply for a medical redshirt. So next season with a more seasoned o-line Purify, Calhoun, and Jolly should be able to gain some yards and take pressure off Klatt. Oh yah almost forgot, huck the fuskers!

Neither Klatt or Purify will be available for the FSU game. Look for Brando Caeser to take up some of the slack in the running game. And pray that the CU secondary finds some answers this week..

Chris Brown will definitely sit out the Big XII Championship game in Houston, TX Saturday. In other news, he will not win the Heisman this year nor will he rush for 2000 regular season yards. Now that we have that off our chest. Here is a brief overview. His sternum won’t heal and he hasn’t been able to practice. No practice no game. Feel free to go to any news source to read about it.
Purify isn’t looking to likely either. This does not make me happy. Purify has been struggling with a sprained MCL, but that is not the problem. He has been slowed by the high ankle sprain he suffred last week in Lincoln. He ran in practice a little yesterday but no wehre close to full speed. That hasn’t stopped Eric Bienemy from being hopeful. Bieniemy said Purify would see some action, “Ain’t no ands or buts about it,” he said.
Starting Lineup Marcus Houston. Marcus, if you’ve ever had a big day wearing black and gold, please have one Saturday. Maybe something akin to what you did against USC.
Calhoun, just keep it up. The kid can run, but I don’t think he can carry the load of the entire game. Houston and Calhoun are going to have to split carries, for this to work.
And for the short pounding yards I feel more comfortable after seeing Drumm make some plays last week. Regardless, the entire team is going to need to be firing on all cylinders to win in Houston. By the way – Drumm has the flu.

Chris Brown is still listed as day-to-day going into the Nebraska game. He didn’t practice on Monday. Gary Barnett says that Chris will be a game-time decision for Friday. Chris we need you to heal for Friday for several reasons.
#1 – Another 6 touchdowns against NU would be super nice.
#2 – If you don;t play Friday you are out of the Heisman race.
#3 – We like to watch you run.
BTW – Who said this wasn’t a rivalry?

Well I walked out to my back porch this morning and measured 10 inches of fresh powder. Well powder might be what Jeremy Bloom likes in the winter, but right now it is hamperin preparation for the Oklahoma game. Colorado has very poor indoor facilites; the whole team can’t even practice at the same time. Barnett doesn’t get any better opportunities than this to complain about the facilities. No, wait, that was Rick who was the complainer. Barnett handles it with a little more dignity. He knows it’s a hardship but just deals as he has had with so many other hardships that have crossed his path. (See Craig Ochs)
On the injury front. Drew Wahlroos is ready to go big time this weekend after playing sparsely against Tech. Sean Tufts looks like he is a go. JJ Billingsley is definitely out withthat sprained ankle and here is a strange one. Marcus Houston is listed everywhere as probable, but it looks like Barnett doesn’t think he will play at all.
From the Camera “Houston, who returned to uniform last week against Texas Tech, still has not taken contact during practice. Furthermore, Barnett said, the sophomore running back still needs to get back into playing shape. “Two guys would have to be hurt, maybe three guys, before he would play.””

All three of our injured running backs, including Heisman candidate Chris Brown, should be ready to play on Saturday against Texas Tech.
Brown, the leading rusher in the NCAA, suffered an ankle sprain against Baylor last saturday and had to leave the game in the third period. The injury was minor and he was able to practice Monday.
Bobby Purify, who has a hip injury, will be ready for Texas Tech. Also returning to practice Monday was Marcus Houston. Barnett said he is now listed as day-to-day on the injury list, and might play on Saturday.

This weeks issue of People Magazine (Oct 21) has a full page story on Jeremy Bloom on page 104. It has little new information about him; it mostly talks about his struggle with the NCAA to keep his endorsement cash from skiing. There’s a quote from Jeremy, “Why not put yourself at risk to be great at something?” which is a perfect segue for an injury update…
On Jeremy’s second punt return attempt at KU last weekend, he sustained a mild concussion after faking a fair catch and allowing the punt to fly into the end zone. Jeremy was able to practice on Tuesday and he said he will ready to play against Baylor this Saturday (1:00 pm).

The injuries that mounted up last game are going to affect our lineup on Saturday against the Jayhawks..
First Lovell Houston’s career is most likely over. He needs another shoulder surgery. It’s a bummer that injuries, not his skills, have prevented him from being the football star that he could be.
WR Ron Monteilh (concussion) will play
DT Sam Wilder (concussion) will play
LB Sean Tufts (ankle) out
LB Aaron Killion (hamstring) out
LB Drew Wahlroos (elbow) out
C Ryan Gray (toe) probable
With all of the LBs out. Look for true freshman Chris Hollis, Andrew Ward and Akarika Dawn.
Nobody has said anything about Marcus Houston. I expect tha twe will see him for 2 or 3 plays.

Roy Hobbs (gunshot complications), Sergeant Hulka (mortar fire), Vito Corleone (multiple bullets to the chest) and Monty Python’s Black Knight (flesh wound) are all listed on this week’s injury report. This is a direct jab at Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder who has long refused to give out information on injurues.

Neither Marcus Houston nor Lovell Houston will be suited up for the Kansas State game. No report on when we can expect either of them back in the lineup. This is the first of any injury reports that we have heard in a while. This is because some of the legalities of the new HIPAA act (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act).
The rest of the reported injuries look like this.
OL Drew Shader (shoulder) OUT
LB Joey Johnson (concussion) Questionable
OL Karl Allis (foot) Probable
WR Jeremy Bloom (toe) Probable
LB Drew Wahlroos (neck) Probable
S Brian Iwuh (broken thumb) Probable

QB Craig Ochs has decided to sit out the rest of the season. He will withdraw from CU, relinquish his scholarhip, and seek a medical redshirt.
“I don’t know that Craig’s career is over, but it is for this year. He is stepping away, that’s what it is,” Barnett said. “I think this whole thing has been hard on him because he is such a competitor and he wants to play.”
Wow this is big news considering all signs pointed to a return. I have to say I think this is the best decision for Craig’s health. More details to come soon.

Looks like Bloomer might be out for USC. Pretty much the same information we got a few days ago, just another round.

I knew it wasn’t turf toe. We don’t have artificial turf. Apparently Jeremy Bloom broke his toe instead. Now he is walking around in some sort of plastic boot. This does not bode well for Saturday.
Anyway he is say if there is a shot to be taken to allow him to play on Saturday, he is ready to take it.

Man this sucks. You hate to have your starting QB go down, especially with a concussion. Although I am confident Hodge will be able to step up..
Ochs, I thought we already talked about not taking hits for the team when you could simply step out of bounds. That was stupid. Just plain dumb.
Concussion Coverage [DPO] [DPO] [ESPN] [BuffZone]
Me personally I agree with Neil Woellk. 4 concussions is enough. Hodge should start for the remainder of the year. Football is not reason enough to ruin Ochs entire life. We love you Craig, but not enough to let you continue to injure yourself. It looks as though Ochs is already doubtful for the USC game.
Other injuries
Aaron Killion severly dislocated finger
Donald Strickland another hip pointer
Phil Jackson sprained shoulder
Clyde Surrell sprained shoulder
Jeremy Bloom turf toe (don’t we play on grass?)
Everybody is probable for the USC game.