First -- and lasting -- impressions from Saturday's Colorado spring fling ...

If I'm Dan Hawkins, I'm finding out today whether Ralphie V has some eligibility left.

That girl can run.

She's a brute at the line of scrimmage (she knocked down one handler out of the gate on each of her runs), she can break tackles (she dropped four handlers on her second run) and she has a nose for the end zone.

Forget Darrell Scott. The best runner in Folsom Field on Saturday -- in or out of uniform -- was Ralphie. Definitely the star of the game. ...

Speaking of CU's prize recruit (Scott, not Ralphie), the prep standout certainly isn't the shy type. While trying to keep an eye on the field, Scott still ended up spending much of his afternoon chatting with fans, signing autographs and generally introducing himself to the CU faithful.

In that respect, at least, he's already a fan favorite. ...

Bill McCartney might have wanted 50,000, but CU officials were plenty happy with the announced crowd of 17,800. Saturday proved to bea good day for the program in just about every respect, beginning with a picture-perfect sun-splashed Colorado spring day.

Other numbers that had CU officials feeling good? Try the fact that approximately 1,500 youngsters were on hand for the pre-game festivities, and about 200 former Buffs gathered for the weekend's alumni functions.

But one of the more impressive numbers came from "upstairs" at Folsom, where Centerplate catered an open house in the club seating area. By day's end, CU officials had sold 50 club seats for the upcoming season -- a nice little income boost of about $50,000 for the department. ...

Best play of the day? Try the one made by senior Zeb Kopasz. Don't recognize the name? He's the guy who managed to hang on to Ralphie after she dumped the rest of her handlers. Kopasz, who will graduate this spring with a degree in civil engineering, hopes to be able to return next fall and make one game-day run with Ralphie, who he helped train.

"All I could think of was, 'Don't let go,' " said Kopasz. "She knows when people have dropped off, and that just makes her speed up." ...

Best play of the day by people wearing helmets? We'll take the 19-yard scoring pass from Matt Ballenger to Jason Espinoza. Ballenger threw a perfect pass and Espinoza ran a perfect route. As Camera cohort Kyle Ringo put it, "The ball caught Espinoza."

But while Ballenger puts some pretty passes in the air, he's still far too inconsistent to make a serious challenge for the starting spot. It's no secret that barring an upset of epic proportions in fall camp, Cody Hawkins will be the starter when the Buffs open the season against Colorado State. ...

Maybe the best news in terms of the quarterbacks is this: the Buffs now have three quarterbacks who have a couple years of the system under their belts. That means if something happens to the starter, there will be a capable backup on hand.

That's a huge difference from a year ago. ...

Best pep talk of the day goes hands down to former Buff player and coach and current Vikings assistant Eric Bieniemy, who addressed the team before the game.

"I talked about life experiences," Bieniemy said. "I told them that every decision you make, every choice you make, follows you for a lifetime."

Bieniemy knows. The man who bumped into a couple of off-the-field issues as a player here has dealt with those issues ever since.

"Every year, wherever I go, I have to prove who I am," Bieniemy said. "I have to show that I'm a man of integrity, a man of my word. I have to show that I'm not that person anymore.

"I realize those things now, and I tried to deliver that message to the players today."

Message received. At least a half-dozen players mentioned his talk after the game, and it also left a solid impression on Dan Hawkins.

"Very powerful," Hawkins said. "He talked about being a person, being a student, being a Buff -- and how decisions you make can affect you for life. He did a great job." ...

Hawk's handful of players who had an impressive spring from beginning to end?

Here's his off-the-top-of-his-head list immediately after the spring finale: safety Anthony Perkins, tackle Nate Solder, "all the quarterbacks," linebacker B.J. Beatty, running back Demetrius Sumler, defensive end Marquez Herrod and defensive tackle Eugene Goree.

Not that their performances were a surprise. Rather, Hawkins said, "They rallied up. They were what you expected them to be." ...

Neither was Hawk surprised by the largest-ever crowd for a CU spring game. "I've always said this place has potential," Hawkins said. "We just have to keep cooperating, keep collaborating, keep working -- and we'll keep this thing rolling in the right direction." ...

And finally, one of the happier folks in Folsom Field on Saturday was athletic director Mike Bohn.

"I couldn't have been prouder," Bohn said. "Not just by what happened on the field, but by the obvious desire from the fans to help us keep improving. That means a lot to all of us -- from the coaches to the players to everyone in our department. When you see the kind of support, you know you are going in the right direction." ...

And so ends spring ball.

September is just around the corner.