BOULDER — Robert Livingston coaches defense like David Adelman draws up plays for Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray down at Ball Arena.

The Colorado defensive coordinator tries to identify his five or six best players — he calls them “shooters” — and tries to put them in position to be successful and make impact plays.

Last year, that was sticking Travis Hunter on the opposing team’s favorite wide receiver on a key third down, letting Cam’Ron Simon-Craig come into the box and make a big play on a running back, or having a defensive tackle eat up a double team so B.J. Green could beat one offensive lineman and get to the quarterback.

That philosophy helped orchestrate a massive turnaround for the Buffs defense last fall. The unit went from a liability in 2023 to one that swung (and won) multiple games in 2024.

This week, as Livingston and the Buffaloes opened fall camp in preparation for the 2025 season, all of those faces are off to the NFL. Even though Livingston has lost over half of the starters from last year’s defense, and as he tries to find who his “shooters” are this year, his first instinct is to look at the few guys who are returning.

“We really talk about culture here. The guys that have been here, they know how blessed they are,” Livingston said. “It goes back to that defensive line (and) Arden Walker. I think Quency Wiggins has done some good things. Obviously we’re much bigger on the inside than last year, so that’ll look a little bit different. Then, you try to get (cornerbacks) Preston (Hodge) and DJ (McKinney) in positions where they can go make plays.”

McKinney is a good place to start. The former Oklahoma State transfer had about as good of a first season in Boulder as anyone could’ve asked for last fall, ranking fourth on the team in tackles and coming in behind only Hunter in interceptions. The Buffs believe he could be the program’s next first-round NFL draft pick in the spring.

“I tell DJ this all the time … DJ can be as good as he wants to be,” Livingston said.

Still, McKinney is not a like-for-like Hunter replacement. No one in college football is. The same can be said for Green, Simon-Craig, and others who are also hard to replace.

But that’s the thing, Livingston isn’t out to replace the players he had last year. He feels it’s his job to adjust to the new group he has at his disposal heading into his second year as a full-time defensive coordinator.

“We’ll do some things defensively that are drastically different from what we did last year,” Livingston said. “A little bit more of the NFL stuff. It’s our job as coaches to take our best players and put them in position to be successful. So, that’s what we’ll try to do.”