The Colorado Buffaloes (3-3, 0-3) knew they would have to replace many key defensive contributors from just a season ago. The Buffs’ secondary in particular was a unit that saw three starters selected in the 2017 NFL Draft. Now, Dallas Cowboy Chidobe Awuzie and San Francisco 49er Ahkello Witherspoon, left two vacated starting spots at cornerback for Head Coach Mike MacIntyre’s Buffs.
Junior cornerback Isaiah Oliver was slated for one of those spots but the other would be manned by someone who hadn’t played a down for the black and gold. Redshirt-freshman cornerback Trey Udoffia had a very strong spring and many considered him the front-runner when fall camp arrived. After battling it out with transfer, sophomore cornerback Dante Wigley for the month of August, Udoffia built on his spring and earned the job to begin the season.
For a defense that had few expectations as the season began, depth at cornerback was one of the biggest concerns. Udoffia was in the spotlight for his first game action in the season opener against Colorado State. CSU’s redshirt-senior quarterback Nick Stevens had been embarrassed in the Rocky Mountain Showdown the year before by a dynamic Colorado secondary.
At the outset in 2017, it seemed Stevens made it his mission to expose the Buffs’ defensive backs now that the trio of Awuzie, Witherspoon and Tedric Thompson were gone. Early and often he targeted Udoffia’s assignment and had a good deal of success. Then in the second quarter of his debut, Udoffia stepped up and intercepted a Stevens’ pass that gave the Buffs great field position.
Now, nearly a month and a half later, and half of his first college season on the field under his belt, Udoffia has made big plays for the Buffs. In both the run and the pass game, Trey has turned himself into a key contributors for CU’s defense. Udoffia suffered a sprained knee in the fifth game of the year against the UCLA Bruins (3-2, 1-1) and was forced to miss the next week’s game.
In his stead, Dante Wigley had a solid showing against the Arizona Wildcats (3-2, 1-1) but the defense reeled as the Buffs fell short, 45-42. Udoffia says he’s feeling much better and is back to a full go for this weekend’s matchup against the Oregon State Beavers (1-5, 0-3). Head Coach Mike MacIntyre said he also expects to see Udoffia in action for Colorado on Saturday, October 14th at 2pm MT from Corvallis.
