How can the Colorado Buffaloes improve the run game in 2025?

The Colorado Buffaloes were the worst team at running the football in 2024, and without the same weapons on offense as last year, they need to find ways to be better at moving the ball on the ground

BY TRENT FINNEGAN

Jul 11, 2025, 9:29 AM

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The Colorado Buffaloes had the worst rushing attack in the entire country in 2024, and it wasn’t close. The offense was as one-dimensional as possible but still succeeded due to the talents of Shedeur Sanders, Travis Hunter and the rest of the receiving core. With those elite NFL talents no longer in Boulder, Pat Shurmur is going to have to have an offense that can do some damage on the ground this season.

Last season, the Buffs averaged 65.2 yards per game on the ground, over 11 yards behind Kent State, who boasted the second-worst mark in the nation. Their leading rusher was Isaiah Augustave, who finished with a whopping 384 yards four touchdowns on 4.5 yards per carry. Dallan Hayden was next with 196, then Micah Welch with 186 while Charlie Offerdahl rounded out the room with 119 yards. Colorado’s best way to move the ball on the ground at times was having Sanders put together a scramble drill when the pass protection broke down, as he was tied for the most rushing touchdowns on the team with four.

How can the Buffs be more dynamic on the ground this season? What they did last year clearly was not the answer, and Shurmur has a lot of searching to do through the rest of the summer to find a better answer.

First, let’s take a look at what tools they have to work with.

The Returning Backs

Colorado will have Hayden, Welch and Offerdahl all back in Boulder this season.

Hayden was the biggest name of the bunch coming heading into last season as he came to the Buffs from Ohio State, but didn’t have any pop in his runs, and was tackled at the first bit of contact way too often. His longest carry was just 27 yards after he put up a dash of 45 yards in his first season with the Buckeyes back in 2022.

Welch, the youngster who is built like a bowling ball, showed some flashes but health was an issue. His two best games were against Colorado State and UCF, but couldn’t consistently get the ball in his hands.

Offerdahl, who became a fan-favorite last year, started the year as the lead back against North Dakota State, but was quickly worked out of the rotation when he wasn’t able to move the ball against the big boys in the first two weeks of the season.

If these guys either can’t stay healthy or can’t break more tackles, then the run game is probably going to look pretty poor again. They have to be able to turn a two-yard gain into a six-yard gain occasionally to move the sticks and help open up the playbook.

The New Backs

The Buffs will have two new guys joining the running back room this year in DeKalon Taylor and Simeon Price, who were both rated as three-star recruits in the portal. They did not get a high school recruit at the position.

Taylor, standing at 5-foot-9 and 166 pounds, is a guy who can bring some speed off the edge to the running back room and can provide a spark in the screen game as well. His longest carry was 97 yards last year at Incarnate Word, showcasing his ability to leave defenses in the rearview mirror. He finished the season with 909 yards and nine touchdowns on 152 carries.

Dekalon Taylor turning on the jets into the end zone 💨 👀#TheWord | #TakeFlight pic.twitter.com/0r6Pz1CDlP

— UIW Football (@UIWFootball) September 22, 2024

Price packs the punch, standing at 6-feet and 215 pounds. However, in three years at Mississippi State and Coastal Carolina, he has just 79 total carries for 327 yards and no rushing touchdowns (he caught a touchdown in 2022). He hasn’t seen much collegiate action, and will have his hands full if he wants to earn some playing time.

The Quarterback Element

Colorado went out in the transfer portal this past offseason and snagged Kaidon Salter from Liberty, a veteran who has thrived in a triple option scheme in recent years. While no one is expecting Shurmur to stop what he’s doing and convert the Buffs’ offense to an option scheme, it would be in this program’s best interest to incorporate some designed QB runs if Salter beats out true freshman Julian Lewis for the starting job in Week 1.

Salter has shown that, option or not, he has the tools to make defense look silly, and not just outside of the tackles.

QB1 or RB1? What a juke and score by Kaidon Salter of @LibertyFootball 😤 pic.twitter.com/dR8c5ZVAz5

— CBS Sports College Football 🏈 (@CBSSportsCFB) December 2, 2023

Even if Lewis ends up overtaking Salter for the starting job midway through the season, it would be blasphemy to not have some kind of a special package for the veteran in the red zone where he can come in and keep defenses on their toes. Using Shedeur Sanders in the goal-to-go run game last season was very successful, and should be even more lethal with Salter.

Colorado takes the lead 🦬

Shedeur Sanders takes it himself for the @CUBuffsFootball TD 😤 pic.twitter.com/c27bJuOZLl

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 9, 2024

The bottom line is that the quarterback has to be more involved in the run game this year.

What Needs to Change?

Now that all the guys in the room are covered, let’s look at how Colorado needs to change the attack to be better in this aspect of the game.

To start, Pat Shurmur didn’t even try to run the ball last year. The Buffs ran the ball on 39.36% of offensive snaps last year, good for the 132nd-best mark in the FBS. Their 26.5 rushes per game also slotted in at 132nd overall. While Colorado had an elite pass attack last year, there were too many times that they tried throwing the ball on early downs and put themselves way behind the sticks.

If Shurmur wants to call more plays, he’s got to change the variety of what run plays he’s calling, instead of just running in between the tackles with a zone blocking scheme over and over again. Salter’s ability to run the ball should make it easier for Shurmur to be more creative in the run game, but there needs to be more pulling and creativity on carries to the backs.

Colorado had some flashes of creativity last season in the red zone with pulling guards on two separate occasions, both of which resulted in touchdowns. The creativity is there, it just needs to come out more.

Look at this block by Jordan Seaton on Isaiah Augustave touchdown 🔥 #SkoBuffs pic.twitter.com/B1lxfzG15C

— We Coming 🦬 (@SkoBuffsGoBuffs) October 27, 2024

Colorado is cruising 🔥@CUBuffsFootball takes a quick 14-0 lead in the first quarter ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/oL4d99EkoG

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 19, 2024

Yes, the second clip is technically a pass, but a shovel pass is about as safe a play as handing the ball off. In that instance, it allowed the pocket to move as it slowly developed almost like a draw, creating a lane inside for the easy score.

It’s not that Colorado can never run a zone scheme once this season, it’s that powers and traps and other concepts need to be utilized way more to make the run game less predictable.

This Buffs team can be just as good, if not better than they were in 2024. Coach Prime said it earlier this week at Big 12 Media Days, he believes that the team is better event though they lost two of college football’s best talents and brightest stars. However, if they try to generate success offensively like they did last year, things aren’t going to look so pretty. Shurmur and the rest of the offense have to commit to running the ball and creating some diversity on offense this year if they want to have another successful season.