Less than two weeks before the 2024 season gets underway, the Colorado Buffaloes aren’t where they need to be just yet.

Progress is being made, though.

On Friday night, the Buffaloes went through a practice in Denver at All-City Stadium that was open to the public, with an estimated 3,500 to 4,000 fans in attendance, and head coach Deion Sanders was “somewhat” happy with the energy he got from his team.

“I mean, we could always do better,” he said. “I’m never going to be 100% satisfied. I’m a former football player, not just a coach, so you’re never going to be 100% satisfied. But I’m happy with what we got accomplished today.”

With thousands of eyes on the practice and knowing anyone could have recorded and posted plays from throughout the night on social media (as many did), the Buffs didn’t show much.

“I made sure the offense, we didn’t show no signals,” Sanders said. “We cut down the playbook tremendously. We didn’t give them really quick game. So we did some things that we didn’t want to show too much of our hand, and I think we did a phenomenal job at that, not showing anything.”

The Aug. 29 season opener against North Dakota State (6 p.m., ESPN) is quickly approaching, however, and Coach Prime wants his guys locked in. They were on Friday, but there’s more to get accomplished between now and the opener.

“We just want to make sure we’re conditioned properly, that we could go 100% the entire game,” he said. “The best thing about this season is a tremendous amount of depth on the offensive line, on the defensive line. You’ve got several guys that can possibly start.”

On the offensive line, the Buffs didn’t have Kahlil Benson on Friday, as he’s still coming off an injury. In his place, Kareem Harden started at right guard. The rest of the group — tackles Jordan Seaton and Tyler Brown, left guard Justin Mayers and center Hank Zilinskas — was similar to what the Buffs have used throughout camp.

Overall, the line didn’t have a good night, though, and appears to still be a work in progress, as the defense posted several sacks.

Other position battles appear to be taking shape, such as:

• At running back, Charlie Offerdahl got the start but Dallan Hayden also got a lot of reps with the first team as it appears they’ve separated themselves a bit. Both ran well, as did freshman Brandon Hood. Isaiah Augustave had some good runs, as well.

• At inside linebacker, LaVonta Bentley and Trevor Woods were with the starting unit while others, such as Jeremiah Brown and Nikhai Hill-Green, continue to push for time.

• On the defensive line, several players rotated in, as coaches have stated would happen this season. Shane Cokes and Chidozie Nwankwo were solid on the interior, while depth showed up on the edge, with BJ Green, Dayon Hayes and Samuel Okunlola, along with Taje McCoy, who had several sacks. McCoy may have been the MVP of the practice.

• Will Sheppard, a transfer from Vanderbilt, was exceptional at receiver. Sheppard, Jimmy Horn Jr. and LaJohntay Wester were all with the first team as expected. With Travis Hunter out (getting rest), though, Terrell Timmons Jr. got reps with the first team and played well.

• With Hunter out, Preston Hodge played in the slot while Colton Hood stepped up at corner and had a good night. DJ McKinney played well at the other corner spot. Isaiah Hardge also made a couple of plays with the second unit.

Although the opener is around the corner, Coach Prime said the Buffs won’t solidify their depth chart until “probably right before kickoff.”

“There’s too many things that happen,” he said. “You know, somebody may sustain an injury in practice. Somebody may not give the effort that you desire. That’s why you do little things like that. But you want to keep them safe.”

Along with that, Coach Prime is finding pressure situations to test the team as they prepare for the season.

“A few days ago at practice, I stopped everything in the middle of a practice, and we did gassers,” he said. “I wanted to fatigue them to see who would retain the information, who would fight through the exhaustion. So we do things like that just to see what we got. You’ve got to put people in pressurized situations to see where you’re going with it.”