Colorado punter Damon Greaves says the Buffaloes got more out of their first week of fall camp than just reps and conditioning.
Speaking Tuesday, Greaves pointed to the team’s off-campus setup as a built-in bonding session, one that gave him a chance to see teammates in a different light and helped lift the group’s energy heading into the rest of camp. With Colorado set to face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Week 1, Greaves said the time away from Boulder may end up mattering more than it seemed at the time.
“It was good fun,” Greaves said. “We had a great time out there.
It was a good opportunity to bond with guys you wouldn’t necessarily bond with as much away from the facility. So it was good to get to know them, and you can see it in the team right now.”
That’s been the broad feeling inside the program, too. Greaves said the team viewed the opening week as a success, with the isolation and the shared focus on football helping Colorado get ahead of the curve for the rest of fall camp.
The biggest change, according to Greaves, has shown up in the mood around the team.
“The energy and the vibe among the team is in a really positive spot, and I think that camp and that time away with each other was very beneficial in that,” Greaves said.
For a returning senior who watched Colorado deal with chemistry issues last season, that matters. Greaves sounded especially encouraged by the way teammates have opened up once they were removed from the normal routine of the facility.
“You get to know guys in a different way,” Greaves said. “Sometimes, the guys you see in the facility are different when they’re away from the facility.
So, there are some pretty low-key funny guys on the team that, now that you’ve broken their shell, you can have a bit of fun with. That was another beneficial part of the time away.”
He pointed to long snapper Nelson Williams as one of the players he’s grown closer to during that stretch.
“Nelson [Williams] is a very funny guy,” Greaves said. “I just didn’t see it in him, not in a bad way, but in the first few weeks of getting to know him, I saw he’s a great worker and a talented long snapper, but now I see he can be a bit of a comedian as well.”
The real test comes once Colorado opens Week 1 against Georgia Tech. For now, though, Greaves’ comments suggest the Buffaloes believe that unusual first week of camp did exactly what it was supposed to do: bring the group closer together and set a different tone inside the Coach Prime era.
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