The Colorado Buffaloes have gotten mixed news on the injury front over the past few days. Running back Dallan Hayden and nose guard Chidozie Nwankwo are set to return on Saturday against the UCF Knights, but CU is dealing with a season-ending injury at another position.
On Sunday, kickoff specialist Jace Feely announced via X that he suffered a complete tear to his ACL during Colorado’s Week 4 win over Baylor, meaning he’ll miss the rest of the season.
Head coach Deion Sanders was asked about what Feely’s absence means on Tuesday, and Coach Prime named local standout and former Oregon Ducks kicker Cristiano Palazzo as the leading candidate to handle kickoff duties:
“He (Palazzo) did a phenomenal job coming in (against Baylor),” Coach Prime said. “We have several kickers that can can do it. These guys compete on a daily basis, even (Alejandro) Mata can can kick the ball off. We have several kickers that can do a valiant job. The problem is we want the ball in the end zone. Jimmy (Horn) does not get to return the ball when we’re on a kickoff return and we want that same sentiment. We don’t want them to be able to return anything. If not, we just got to bloop kick it and hope they fair catch.”
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