BOULDER - Colorado’s running back room doesn’t fit one mold, and that’s exactly how coach Klayton Adams wants it in Brennan Marion’s Go-Go offense.
Mack said Thursday that the Buffs have built a backfield with size, speed and power all mixed together, giving the scheme a different answer for just about every look. There are 205-pound downhill runners, 165-pound sprinters and a 215-pound back who can handle both styles, all working within an offense that gives each of them a role.
“With our running game, we pretty much run everything,” Mack said Thursday. “We got big guys, like the Damian Hendersons and the Richard Young s, and then we got the speedsters, and the power guys like Micah Welch - he could be both.
And we got DeKalon Taylor, that can make guys miss on the third level, as well as JaQuail Smith, that can do a multitude of things as well. So it's always good in the Go-Go offense, especially with the multitude of formations and different styles of plays that we do.”
For Mack, the first thing that matters is simply having enough bodies. He said depth at running back is a major advantage because the position takes such a beating over a season.
“That's always good at the running back position,” he said. “We all know that playing that position is very physical, and sometimes it's hard to make it through a season. So to have some depth this year within the room, it builds competition, and it just makes you feel a little better when you know you got depth.”
Micah Welch is the veteran in the room, entering his third season and his third year at the Power Four level. Mack said the offseason was about getting Welch to play like a back who has seen it all.
“His work ethic from this offseason to now - Micah put in a lot of work this year,” Mack said. “There's times that we had breaks to go home.
He didn't go home. He stayed around.
He worked out. The kid loves football, man.
He don't have a plan B. This is it for him.
So he's putting in a lot of work, and as you see, he's running with an attitude. He's running with a purpose.”
The room got a boost from two transfers who followed Marion’s offense from Sacramento State: Damian Henderson II and JaQuail Smith. Smith already knows the system, and he described his own game in simple terms.
“Speed,” Smith said. “I try to make a lot of people miss.
I don't try to let the first guy bring me down. I just like scoring touchdowns.”
Smith also thinks the offense still has another level to show.
“It's going to expand the Go-Go,” Smith said. “The Go-Go is not going to be like how the Go-Go was last year and the year before that. It's really going to expand this year, so it's going to be fun to watch.”
He said the system asks more of a back than just taking handoffs.
“You got to be a running back to be able to do everything,” he said. “So you got to be like a third-down back - be able to block, run, catch out the backfield.”
Colorado has even started pulling help from another position group. Fifth-year tight end Brady Kopetz has worked at fullback, and the 270-pound former high school tailback said the move feels natural.
“I always love hitting someone with a running start,” Kopetz said. “Being in the backfield reminds me of high school. Being able to get in a three-point stance in the backfield and really have a physical play and make an impact like that - nothing fires me up more.”
Mack said the most important work comes in the tight spaces, where Colorado has wanted more consistency for years. He has made short-yardage situations a daily focus.
“Once you get in that red zone, that goal line, it's really all a mentality right there, man,” Mack said. “When we get that close, we got to put it in.
I mean, three points, we're happy about, but we rather take the six. We rather take the six.
So your mindset got to really change when you get in there.”
Mack said he was pleased when Marion got the coordinator job because he already understood what the offense could mean for his position group. With the Sept. 3 opener at Georgia Tech two weeks away, he wants the backs to carry that belief into the season.
“I knew his offense was built for running backs to have success,” Mack said. “To me, you don't need any more motivation, right?
If I got to give you any more motivation about that, then you may be on the wrong team. Now we just got to continue to put in the work and make sure, man, that we apply pressure.”
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