CU Buffs striving to find duo to lead run game

Gary Harrell might still be getting used to the guys he’s working with this year, but Colorado’s running backs coach already knows enough to like what he has.

“I’m glad the guys I have in my room,” Harrell said after CU’s practice on Monday. “You only can coach the guys available to you. One thing this year, we have depth.

“The room has a great chemistry, friendly competition, but they know, like at this point, you’ve got to start to separate yourself. But we have different elements in the room.”

As Colorado enters its second year under head coach Deion Sanders, it enters a Big 12 loaded with star power at running back. CU doesn’t have stars in the backfield, yet, but there is potential.

“(Charlie Offerdahl) is going to have an opportunity to show what he can do,” Harrell said. “The two transfers, Dallan Hayden and Isaiah (Augustave), they add some different things to the room. You got a young guy like Micah (Welch), even though he was here in the spring, he’s still fresh out of high school, did some good things in the spring. And then Brandan Hood, who just came from high school. So with those guys, I feel good.”

Every scholarship running back from the 2023 season is gone, so it’s a completely revamped room. Nobody on the roster this year has ever been a full-time starter in college, so competition is wide open.

“They all will get a chance with the ones,” Harrell said. “Charlie, he earned it. He deserves it. He’ll be the guy that leads the reps.”

A former walk-on who earned a scholarship this spring, Offerdahl is a junior and one of the few players left from the pre-Coach Prime era at CU.

Augustave, a transfer from Arkansas, is a big back (6-foot-2, 210 pounds), and Hayden is the most experienced. He ran for 663 yards in two years at Ohio State, with 553 of those in 2022.

Welch and Hood are both true freshmen who had highly successful prep careers and they both bring exceptional skills to the table, as well. Christian Sarem returns as a walk-on.

“Once we go through a week, or maybe a week and a half (of camp), we’ll find that chemistry, but I’m going to give them opportunities,” Harrell said. “They have to make sure they make (quarterback Shedeur Sanders) feel comfortable with them in the game. So they’ll have the opportunities.”

Ultimately, however, Harrell said he’d like to settle on two backs that get the bulk of the playing time.

“In today’s game, you’ve gotta have two and that’s the process we’re going through because we’re so deep and talented, and those guys do a great job,” he said. “We’re going to give them equal opportunity to show who are the best two guys. It’s hard to have three running backs in the game because of the reps.”