Most Important Buffaloes: #10 Delrick Abrams

The Colorado Buffaloes’ defense is littered with uncertainty. With questions ranging ‘who’s even starting?’ to ‘how involved with Mel Tucker be on defense?’, there’s not much we know. That holds especially true in the secondary, where roster turnover has left just one starter from a unit that struggled in 2018. That’s Delrick Abrams, the best DB last year and probably the best this year.

Abrams started in year one with the Buffs, his first year of division I football. Despite being long as hell and plenty athletic, Abrams didn’t receive any FBS scholarship offers out of high school. He attended Independence C.C. in Kansas, where he briefly showed up Last Chance U, but not too much because he’s a good kid who didn’t piss off his coaches. He played his first two years there, transferred to CU and soon became the pride of the secondary.

Abrams didn’t have any interceptions in his 10 games (he missed two to injury), but he led the team in pass breakups despite not being thrown to very often. (He had a team-high 5 deflections. This is a good time to remind you that Ahkello Witherspoon and Tedric Thompson had 19 and 16 deflections in 2016, which was 1st and 4th in the nation, respectively.) Abrams is the best defensive back on a roster that needs good players to turn into great player.

Abrams is the classic MacIntyre corner whose length and physicality blankets receivers in man coverage. The Buffs are not staying in Mac’s man defense, however, as they are moving to Tucker’s zone coverage. Abrams is better suited for press coverage, but considering how much he has improved in the past year — let alone since high school — you would think he can make necessary adjustments. He’s a fast learner who got better as the season progressed. Now that he’s locked in as starter, he’s going to be counted on to blanket an entire swath of the field instead of a single player.

If Abrams’s rapid ascension continues, he should be able to go from quality starter to a legitimate difference maker. He should be able to take that next step.