Grading the Week: For CU Buffs’ Karl Dorrell, it’s one step forward and one step back – The Denver Post

For a coach known for his knowledge of offense, Karl Dorrell sure does struggle to gain ground.

Just this week the CU Buffs football coach took a solid step forward after bringing in the Pac-12 Conference’s sixth-best recruiting class, according to 247Sports composite rankings.

Then just two short days later he gave it all back with a head-scratching offensive coordinator hire.

Karl Dorrell — C

Here’s a tip from the Grading the Week staff:

If you’re going to attempt to sell the general public on your recent assistant coach hire, maybe don’t invoke the names of Gary Andersen and Willie Taggart in the news release.

Of course, there were other names (Brian Kelly, David Shaw and Jim Harbaugh) that inspired hope that Dorrell might have made a good choice with his hire of Mike Sanford as his next offensive coordinator.

Recent history, however, isn’t quite as kind.

The good news: The last time a Sanford-led offense visited Boulder this past September, his Minnesota Golden Gophers slapped a 30-spot on the Folsom Field scoreboard.

The bad news: Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck liked Sanford’s work so much he didn’t ask him to stick around after his second season in Minneapolis.

Then there’s this: While Sanford’s Minnesota offense was decent running the ball (30th in yards/game nationally in ’21), it was mediocre to bad throwing it (66th in passer rating and 115th in yards/game).

Not exactly a glowing endorsement for the man tasked with turning around the most moribund passing attack this side of the Service Academies. It’s certainly not the sort of innovative hire CU Buffs fans were hoping for after old OC Darrin Chiaverini was shown the door at the end of this past season.

We can only hope that CU gets the coach who helped recruit Christian McCaffrey to Stanford, and not the one who was let go after two losing seasons as Western Kentucky’s head coach.

Dorrell’s latest recruiting class ensured Sanford will have weapons to work with, including three-star Fairview High wide receiver Grant Page — CU’s first recruit from that venerable Boulder prep institution in 19 years.

Whether Sanford can figure out a way to use them will likely determine whether either one sticks around Boulder long-term.

NHL — F

How dire were things for the Avalanche on Thursday night in Nashville?

The Avs were one Pavel Francouz groin pull away from having to call upon Nashville-area goalie Dustin Smith to serve as a backup against the Predators.

Smith is the Predators’ emergency backup goalie — the kind of guy who might shine in your weekly skate but is far from NHL-caliber between the pipes. Or ECHL-caliber, for that matter.

A few years ago, Nashville’s emergency backup was a second-year Vanderbilt Law student. When the Avs are in Colorado, they call upon a 52-year-old grandfather.

Yet after Darcy Kuemper was lost to COVID-19 protocols before Thursday night’s game, Smith was next in line if something happened to Francouz (which, let’s face it, wasn’t highly unlikely given his injury history).

Throw in the fact that the Avs trotted out just 16 skaters due COVID absences, and you start to get a full picture of just how absurd the game was.

That the NHL allowed it to go on is a testament to the power of money.

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