BOULDER, Colo. - Colorado’s offensive line is deep enough that the coaches aren’t rushing to pin down a starting five, and that might be the point.
With three weeks left before the opener, offensive line coach George Hegamin and his staff are treating the competition up front like a strength rather than a puzzle. The Buffs believe they have eight, nine, maybe 10 linemen who can help them win, and that surplus has even opened the door to a rotation - a rarity on the offensive line, but not something the staff is dismissing.
“Night before the game,” assistant coach Gunnar White said when asked when he’ll name the starters. “It's a great problem to have,” White said. “I would much rather have the 'all right, we've got too many bullets' than the 'not enough' situation.”
White said he would welcome the idea of rotating linemen if that’s what the group earns. “Honestly, I would love it,” White said.
“Defensive lines, they do it all the time - so why can't the offensive line? I can't make promises whether we're going to do that or not, but I think we have the guys to be able to do that.”
Andre Gurode, the former All-American center for the Buffs, has seen that approach work before and doesn’t see a downside. “That means that I have enough guys on the field that all want to play, and so there should never be a drop-off,” Gurode said.
“If I've got guys that are rotating in, everybody's hungry. Everybody's ready to play.
And what I was taught as a young child was hungry dogs run faster.”
The sharpest battle is at center, where third-year lineman Yahya Attia, fifth-year transfer Demetrius Hunter and third-year transfer Sean Kinney are all pushing for the job. Hegamin wants the fight, but he also wants somebody to seize it.
“We want to see somebody take that role,” Hegamin said. “The center is the first person to touch the football on the football field, so we want to make sure that whomever that guy is, they own it. We do believe that we've got the guy in the room - it's time for that guy to show up and stay up.”
The room is built to keep everybody honest. The coaches grade every rep and post every grade, so nobody has to wonder where he stands.
“They're going to tell you straight up: if you had a bad day, you had a bad day. And if this guy's been beating you, he's been beating you,” second-year guard Jayvon McFadden said.
“We don't really have ones, twos and threes. It's kind of like a 1A-1B system, and the best man will play.”
That competition is tied to the identity Colorado says it wants to play with this fall. Hegamin said the first few days of camp already showed the tone the group is aiming for.
“There's a lot more aggression, there's a lot more violence happening up front,” Hegamin said. “That's something that either you got it or you don't.
It's a mentality thing. But when the scheme speaks to violence, and you've got guys that like being violent, you get violence.”
The scheme is Brennan Marion’s first-year Go-Go offense, which asks the line to move forward and play north-south football regardless of what the defense expects.
“I know people might think it's just run-first or pass-first or triple option, whatever they think. We really don't care,” McFadden said.
“This offense puts our players in the best position to win. It's really not about the scheme, it's about the players.”
Attia said the uncertainty of not knowing whether a snap will turn into a run or a pass makes the line play even more physical.
“We don't know if we're gonna throw it or run the ball, so we just treat it like run every time,” Attia said. “That's what makes us so physical. We can't just take a rep off.”
Gurode brushed aside any concern that tempo or tempo-related demands might make that edge harder to keep.
“Simple answer for you: just do it,” Gurode said. “If that's what the offensive coordinator wants, and that's what's required of the play, you execute. There are no other options but to be violent.”
Helping hold the room together is analyst Grant Hammer, who keeps the competition pointed at the same goal. He has reduced the message to a wristband.
“Our goal is to win, and W.I.N. means what's important now,” Hammer said. “Be where your feet are. We've got to operate as one as a front five.”
However many end up in that front five.
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