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Spring Preview – Defense: Enjoy Robert Livingston While You Can
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This past week, ESPN writers were asked to identify “Teams which have the most to prove“. One writer chose Colorado, stating:
After finishing in last place in the Pac-12 in 2023, Colorado took a massive step forward last season. It was a tiebreak away from reaching the Big 12 title game and went 9-4. Now comes the hard part. Travis Hunter, the Heisman Trophy winner, and Shedeur Sanders, the possible No. 1 NFL draft pick, buoyed the team at a level that is hard to quantify. Without those two this year, we’ll have a better sense of what life in Boulder will be like for Deion Sanders.
Fair or not, the “Can CU win without Travis and Shedeur?” question is going to be the narrative for the 2025 off-season. While the influx of new players has gone well (CU is ranked No. 27 in overall recruiting/transfer class strength by 247 Sports; 2nd in the Big 12), and while there are significantly more returning players on the roster this spring than in either of Coach Prime’s first two seasons, much of the success – or failure – of the 2025 season will come down to how well the coaching staff adapts to the post-Shedeur/Travis world.
As with every team, there has been some turnover in the coaches room, but the two coordinators – offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur and defensive coordinator Robert Livingston – return.
The retention of Robert Livingston, together with his contract extension and a hefty raise, is good news for the Buff Nation. The CU defense ranked in the Top 50 nationally in total defense and scoring defense for the first time in almost a decade, and Livingston has a number of quality players returning on his side of the ball.
So … What are the headlines for the defense as Spring Practices open this week? (the Spring Practices Offense Preview can be found here) …
Keeping the Coach
Colorado has lost only seven defensive players to the Transfer Portal so far this off-season, but the biggest “save” of the off-season by far has been the retention of Robert Livingston at defensive coordinator.
Albert Breer of the Monday Morning quarterback at the NFL Network posted this tweet a week ago …
A leftover from the coaching carousel: Colorado DC Robert Livingston made a real impression interviewing for the Saints DC job, per sources. The long-time Bengals assistant (he spent 12 years in Cincy) gave Kellen Moore plenty to consider before going with Brandon Staley.
Livingston’s new two-year deal with CU is worth an average of $1.55 million per year, making him the highest-paid assistant coach in school history. According to the USA Today, only 26 assistant coaches nationally made at least $1.5 million during the 2024 season.
Will the added money be enough to keep Livingston in Boulder past the 2025 season?
Perhaps. Perhaps not.
If CU has another jump in defensive statistics this fall, the NFL will likely come calling again next off-season … but that’s a conversation for next January.
Keeping the Players
As noted, only seven of CU’s 19 entries into the Transfer Portal this off-season come from the defensive side of the ball. From that list, only linebacker Nikhai Hill-Green was a tough loss. Hill-Green was second on the team in tackles last season, to go with 11.5 tackles for loss, two sacks and two interceptions.
Hill-Green left CU for, well, the green, taking a bag of cash to play his final season at Alabama (but, according to at least one article, little playing time).
While Buff fans will be sifting through Transfer Portal options this April, looking for additions to the linebacker corps and the defensive backfield, the Buff Nation should also be on edge during the second Transfer Portal period … for fear of losing talent.
It isn’t hyperbole to suggest that CU’s defensive line may not only be one of the best in the Big 12, but one of the best in th nation.
The Buffs led the Big 12 – and were 11th in the nation – in sacks last season … and could be better this year.
Towards the end of the 2024 season, Hall of Famer and then Senior Quality Control Analyst for Defense Warren Sapp stated: “We got five ends on a two-lane highway, so the depth of talent is pushing everyone”. A total of 14 different Buffs recorded at least one sack, nine had two-plus, with six CU players recording at least three.
And now the line has the No. 1 defensive line prospect in the Transfer Portal, Jaheim Oatis from Alabama, together with Gavriel Lightfoot, who had seven sacks and 18 tackles for loss at Utah State and Texas State.
Oh … and then there is true freshman London Merritt. A four-star prospect from the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, Merritt, in almost any other season, would have been the toast of Boulder. Now? Merritt could be a candidate to play in four games and use his redshirt year in 2025.
So, the concern for the Buff Nation this spring may not be so much about how the rotations along the defensive line will be set, but whether the coaches can find enough playing time for everyone to keep some quality players from leaving.
Learning on the Job
Speaking of coaches …
While the Colorado defense appears to be in good shape in terms of personnel, the coaching staff still has question marks.
Last season’s defensive line coach, Damione Lewis left Boulder less than a month ago, taking a similar position at his alma mater, Miami. The departure of Lewis leaves Warren Sapp, who was a “Quality Control Analyst” last season, without a mentor.
The edge coach is George Helow last season was “senior defensive coach”, watching the game from the press box. Helow does have experience coaching at Michigan and Colorado State, but hasn’t coached the defensive line.
Enter Domata Peko.
A 15-year NFL veteran, Peko will be a fan favorite, with an enthusiasm for the game which will rival that of Warren Sapp.
But as a coach? Peko was with the Dallas Cowboys last season as an assistant, but otherwise doesn’t have any coaching experience.
Peko was a player for the Cincinnati Bengals when Robert Livingston was on the staff, so he has that going for him, which is nice.
But, otherwise, one of the best defensive lines at CU in the past 30 years will be coached by three coaches with exactly zero years experience as a collegiate defensive line coach.
Linebackers coach Andre Hart and cornerbacks coach Kevin Mathis return, but both will have the challenge of replacing, respectively, LaVonta Bentley and Nikhai Hill-Green and … Travis Hunter.
So … the defensive coaching staff has mirror issues … the line has talent but rookie coaches, while the back end of the defense has experienced coaches but new starters.
Good thing CU and the Buff Nation have Robert Livingston to run the show …
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3 Replies to “Spring Preview – Defense: Enjoying Rob Livingston”
Stuart,
Do you think Helow will stay in the box or on the field. Was there another returning coach in the box? Livingston did a great job, but I thought the defense was well coordinated via the guys in the box too. Where some adjustments and jumping certain plays came in.
It’s a great question.
There’s plenty of talent on the roster, but game day adjustments are going a question mark for these new coaches until they aren’t.
With Sapp and Peko doing the “rah rah” on the sidelines, it would make sense to have Helow upstairs, but we’ll see how they divide the duties.
Stuart, what was the consensuses on the over all experience of the defensive coaches last year? Was there a concern about the experience of the staff then? Especially Livingston? I don’t really remember what the thoughts were on the staff as a whole, but wasn’t the main the concern that Livingston was in his first year in his role as a DC?
The Buffs lost Damione Lewis, and promoted Sapp & brought in Peko, who was a player for the Cincinnati Bengals when Robert Livingston was on the staff, and spent a year on staff in Dallas, do we really think they can’t do well after Livingston came in and did an excellent job at DC?
Sure Livingston had over a decade of coaching experience, but the concern was that it was his first time as a DC and that ended up great. My point is some are just going to be great at their jobs, but they have to start somewhere. A coach who has many years in the pros and who has worked with great coaches are going to pick up a thing or two and their own experience as a player at that level come into play too.
Are we worrying too much about a few changes on the coaching staff (it happens every year) who are support personal, when the core of the staff AND it’s leader are back? And that leader, Livingston has worked with Peko before as his coach and should have great insight to his ability to be a great coach. Replacing a coach or two by promoting from within and bring on a coach who has ties to Livingston just doesn’t seem like it’s the setback that some are saying it could be.
Replacing production like Hill-Green and a few others is the real story and so far coach Prime has done well with probably more to come this spring. The fact that CU is losing a player to Bama while getting a player from Bama is something that wouldn’t be happening if Prime wasn’t at CU. Oatis is a great get and last year he only played in four games due to the new coach bring in his guys from UW. It happens all the time and this time the Buffs should benefit greatly with Oatis who had a .9300 transfer rating from 247 Sports and was ranked as the No. 14 overall player in the transfer portal, the No. 1 defensive player, and the No. 1 defensive lineman.
Pretty big get!
So great coaches are important, but great people can become great coaches faster than we know, and, with leadership like Livingston, who became a great DC faster than anyone could predict, and their own experiences in the NFL, I think the Buffs will do just fine from a coaching stand point. The Buffs just need a few more good players to fill a few holes and in today’s NIL, that’s pretty amazing what RG & Prime have accomplished so quickly at a program that was in dead last three years ago and looking like it was going to be left behind in the new times of NIL and the transfer portal.
I’m going to have faith in the staff, to put together a quality team and build a quality program, my biggest concern is how other teams with billionaire boosters are spending loads of money buying up talent in the portal. And yet, Prime still brought in the No. 27 in overall recruiting/transfer class strength by 247 Sports; 2nd in the Big 12!
WOW, CU a school that had no real budget compared to the schools with billionaire booster did that well! We’re so lucky RG got Prime and Prime brought in Livingston, someone who wasn’t a splash hire either. Prime knows talent and I’m betting Livingston and he think Peko may be the next quality under the radar hire too.