Gary Harrell sees depth in Colorado's running back room

Like many aspects of Colorado’s 2024 roster, the running back room looks much different than it did in 2023, but running backs coach Gary Harrell still feels great about the unit as a whole.

At a recent press conference, Harrell was asked about the personnel turnover.

“You know, you only can coach the guy that’s available to you, and one thing this year, we have depth,” said Harrell. “From Charlie (Offerdahl), who’s a walk-on, who’s going to have opportunity to show what he can do, from the transfers — Dallan Hayden and Isaiah (Augustave) — you know, they add some different things to the room.

“You got a young guy like Micah (Welch), even though he was here in the spring, but he’s still fresh out of high school, did some good things in the spring. And then Brandon Hood, who just came from high school.”

That’s a solid starting spot, per Harrell.

“With those those guys, I feel good we can plug those guys in, they know their assignments,” Harrell said. “You know, they’re great kids, they learn well and they compete. One thing about the room is great chemistry. It’s a friendly competition, but they know, like, at this point, you got to start to separate yourself. But we have different elements in the room.”

Looking at their skillsets specifically, Harrell also likes the nice blend Colorado has.

“Isaiah, he brings a bigger body,” remarked Harrell. “But we got guys who can run in between the tackles, guys that can catch the ball with Micah good and Dallan, the transfer kid. I feel good about it.”

Gary Harrell does have a No. 1 guy in mind but says practices will continue to determine the pecking order come Week 1.

“They all get a chance to go with the ones,” he said. “Charlie, he earned it, he deserves it, he’ll be the guy that leads the reps. But then, as we go through practice, Michael will get a chance to go with Shedeur (Sanders) and the two transfers, Isaiah and Dallan, get a chance to go with Shedeur as well somewhere through our practice.”

With such a weapon at quarterback, getting on the same page as Shedeur Sanders will be key for each of these RBs, per Harrell.

“Once we go through a week and a half, we’ll find that chemistry. But I’m going to give them opportunities. They have to make sure they make Shedeur feel comfortable with them in the game.

“So they have the opportunities, they’re going to know their assignments, they have the opportunities to perform. So it’s all on them,” Harrell added. “That’s all we can do is coach them to this point, prepare them, put them on the field and see how they execute.”

Colorado has plenty of bodies at running back, which is a good thing. But now is the time for practice to determine who’s getting touches first in September.