Mel Tucker and Darian Hagan are playing no games when it comes to polishing up CU's young core of tailbacks. Much is being asked of this position group. Tucker and Hagan are placing an increased emphasis on the RBs being contributors in situations when they aren't carrying the ball.
"Coach Hagan has us focusing in, said redshirt freshman Deion Smith. "He knows what we can do with the ball. He wants to see what can do without the ball; pass protection, can we run the routes? Are we going to pay attention and scan the whole field before we get out? Are we picking up the right blitzes?"
What is impressive is how the young bucks have acclimated themselves to their list of tasks.
“I see them embracing [those] challenges...It’s one thing to be able to run the ball, but pass protection is very important," Tucker said. Keeping the ball high and tight is something that we emphasize. I like that group, I see those guys step up and take blitzes. They don’t seem like they’re afraid to do it. Coach Hagan has done a great job. He knows the game. They respect him and they like him and want to play well for him.”
Pass protection is an area that's received much attention this fall. It seems fair to say that it'll be a prerequisite to the job in terms of seeing significant minutes on the field.
"We do a whole period of blitzing," Smith said. "[The defense] has free reign and blitzes however they want and we have to see that. It’s a lot of pressure, but we’re doing it every day in practice and during game time, there won’t be any surprises.”
While Tucker said today that "we're going to play the best player," but given the multiple guys competing for snaps that are making a good impression, I'm going to wager that the Buffs' backfield in 2019 won't be a one-man area.
As it sits right now, Deion Smith, Jarek Broussard, Jaren Mangham and Alex Fontenot seem likely to be used in a rotation-styled manner, at least early into the season but perhaps for the foreseeable future. That said, the above guys may very well see varying degrees of action.
That of course will be a change of pace from years past, when Travon McMillian was the go-to guy in 2018 and for years before him it was Phil Lindsay.
“I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a rotation," Smith said. "As coach Hagan says, he doesn’t want [the run game] to be solely dependent on one guy. He wants us to be more of a committee and he wants us to all grow together. You see the guys we have in our room. Everybody can make plays. If you can keep fresh legs during the game at all times, as a defense, how can they stop that?"
Hagan has been necessarily ruthless with his guys when it comes to perfecting technique. Smith and Jarek Broussard both told me today that even on a play resulting in a long touchdown, if the "little things" weren't in order, they'll be hearing about it.
"We could have a great run but we could have had some bad steps, our eyes in the wrong place, a read could have told us to go a different way and we [ended up] going the wrong way," Smith said. "Even though it was a good outcome, we just didn’t do the things that coach Hagan wants us to do."
"Did you see that that LB was two yards ahead of his alignment? Or did you see that this corner was cheating up? It’s all about the little things with coach Hagan.”
"Coach Hagan has us focusing in, said redshirt freshman Deion Smith. "He knows what we can do with the ball. He wants to see what can do without the ball; pass protection, can we run the routes? Are we going to pay attention and scan the whole field before we get out? Are we picking up the right blitzes?"
What is impressive is how the young bucks have acclimated themselves to their list of tasks.
“I see them embracing [those] challenges...It’s one thing to be able to run the ball, but pass protection is very important," Tucker said. Keeping the ball high and tight is something that we emphasize. I like that group, I see those guys step up and take blitzes. They don’t seem like they’re afraid to do it. Coach Hagan has done a great job. He knows the game. They respect him and they like him and want to play well for him.”
Pass protection is an area that's received much attention this fall. It seems fair to say that it'll be a prerequisite to the job in terms of seeing significant minutes on the field.
"We do a whole period of blitzing," Smith said. "[The defense] has free reign and blitzes however they want and we have to see that. It’s a lot of pressure, but we’re doing it every day in practice and during game time, there won’t be any surprises.”
While Tucker said today that "we're going to play the best player," but given the multiple guys competing for snaps that are making a good impression, I'm going to wager that the Buffs' backfield in 2019 won't be a one-man area.
As it sits right now, Deion Smith, Jarek Broussard, Jaren Mangham and Alex Fontenot seem likely to be used in a rotation-styled manner, at least early into the season but perhaps for the foreseeable future. That said, the above guys may very well see varying degrees of action.
That of course will be a change of pace from years past, when Travon McMillian was the go-to guy in 2018 and for years before him it was Phil Lindsay.
“I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a rotation," Smith said. "As coach Hagan says, he doesn’t want [the run game] to be solely dependent on one guy. He wants us to be more of a committee and he wants us to all grow together. You see the guys we have in our room. Everybody can make plays. If you can keep fresh legs during the game at all times, as a defense, how can they stop that?"
Hagan has been necessarily ruthless with his guys when it comes to perfecting technique. Smith and Jarek Broussard both told me today that even on a play resulting in a long touchdown, if the "little things" weren't in order, they'll be hearing about it.
"We could have a great run but we could have had some bad steps, our eyes in the wrong place, a read could have told us to go a different way and we [ended up] going the wrong way," Smith said. "Even though it was a good outcome, we just didn’t do the things that coach Hagan wants us to do."
"Did you see that that LB was two yards ahead of his alignment? Or did you see that this corner was cheating up? It’s all about the little things with coach Hagan.”
