In his first two seasons with the Colorado football team, Carter Stoutmire has been asked to do a little of everything in the secondary.
Whether he’s playing cornerback, safety or nickel back, Stoutmire typically has come through for the Buffaloes.
This year is a bit different for the junior, but he still views his versatility as a top asset.
“This year, they want me to focus on safety, but I’m a Swiss Army Knife still,” he said this week as the Buffs opened preseason practices. “So I train, I still gotta focus on all three different positions: corner, nickel, safety.”
This, however, was the first offseason in which Stoutmire has focused mainly on safety, a position his father, Omar, played for 11 NFL seasons from 1997-2007.
“Learning route concepts, stuff like that,” Stoutmire said of his offseason. “Getting with (defensive coordinator Robert Livingston), trying to learn the ins and outs, really playing middle of the field safety.”
On a defense tasked with replacing eight primary starters, Stoutmire is one of the most experienced players coming into this season.
Last year, he started seven games, three filling in for injured safety Shilo Sanders and four while filling in for injured nickel Preston Hodge. He finished sixth on the team with 42 tackles, while adding seven pass breakups. As a true freshman in 2023, he played in nine games, recording 11 tackles.
“Just coming through the system, paying my dues in my early years, learning how everything goes,” he said of previous experience paying off. “Getting used to how Coach Prime wants to operate the program, just instilling that to the young guys, trying to help us move forward.”
Now that he’s projected as a starter at safety, Stoutmire said he gained a great deal of confidence last year when he filled in for Shilo Sanders and played well.
“Tremendous (confidence). Crazy situation, when I went in last year, those were my first actual reps of safety ever in a game,” he said. “So I was just going in there, just playing ball, not really knowing.”
Now he’s being counted on as a leader in the back of the defense.
“I know the scheme, but also how to really play the position, being savvy, disguise the coverages, all that,” he said. “I have a full offseason under my belt, so I feel like I can reset my game to the next level this year.”
Having a father who played safety at the highest level has helped, but it’s also helped having Livingston, who is a former safety, as a position coach. And he got a chance to learn from Shilo Sanders and Cam’Ron Silmon-Craig — now both in the NFL — the last two years.
Stoutmire is eager to prove himself at safety this year, but he still plans to be ready if the coaching staff needs him at other positions.
“Whenever your number’s called, just step up to the plate,” he said. “The game is all about opportunities; take advantage of your opportunity. Going into a game, I gotta play at safety; say Preston goes down and I gotta go to nickel, boom, gotta be ready to go. So that’s why I gotta train at all three positions to be ready for any given opportunity.”
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