The Colorado football team returned to Boulder for Week 2 of fall camp, bringing their highly praised offensive line unit to the podium.
Offensive line coaches Gunnar White, George Hegamin and Andre Gurode all fielded questions, and Grant Hammer took a few, too. Offensive linemen Jayvon “Dough” McFadden and Yahya Attia both spoke to the media afterwards, offering an experienced Buff and a newcomer.
“I still think it's early. We have a lot of guys battling for positions across the board, from tackle to guard to center,” White said. “I do think we've made strides from spring. I've seen vast improvement in all the positions since spring, so I'm happy where it's heading.”
Marion unleashing the violence
While the trenches didn’t get to speak during the first week of fall camp, both sides – specifically, the offensive line – garnered several football compliments: “physical” and “violent” among leadership qualities and depth. And it’s not just one or two players on the front five; it's an entire unit of four coaches and at least nine potential starters that are having solid starts to camp, as offered in Well Off Media’s YouTube coverage.
Where it starts, however, is with the new offensive coordinator Brennan Marion’s Go-Go offense.
Taking over play-calling duties and installing a new system, Marion endorses aggressive-natured linemen because any play could be a run or a pass. But with consistent physicality and multiple options comes more opportunity for successful finesse moves, too.
“I have to give a shout-out to Coach Marion; that Go-Go offense makes it easy on us because all we got to do is just destroy the guy in front of us, and that's all we want to do,” Attia said of Marion. “It's like the Go-Go is like, I like finesse. I like when I finesse somebody. Like, I can laugh at you because you fell for it. You thought we going to run it that way, no, it's over your head, touchdown.”
“I feel like this offense puts our players in the best position to win,” McFadden added. “Our coaches talk about it all the time; it's really not about the scheme, it's about the players, right? The players make the scheme. So, we just go out there and try to execute the scheme to the best of our ability.”
With so many options for ball-handlers, the offensive line has simple but effective roles: either blow up the guy in front of you or don’t play. Naturally, after recruiting and returning players with aggressive, winning attitudes, it has been easy to find competition among the group.
“The physicality of the unit is amazing,” McFadden said. “I feel like everybody is just on that. Like, when I mean ‘on that,’ I mean, ‘on that.’”
Overall, Marion’s offense has sparked a different kind of fight among his offensive line, especially with the help of the four Gs.
“In practice in each drill, there's a lot more aggression, there's a lot more violence happening up front,” Hegiman said. “Say it again, ‘Violence.’ And 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 got guys that like being violent, you get violence.”
Coaching continuity spreading to the players
Despite Marion bringing a new energy to the offense, there is continuity across the offensive line staff for the first time in head coach Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders’s era. White, Hegiman, Gurode and Hammer are entering their second year as an entire unit.
“In years past I've been a part of every aligned group since Coach Prime's been here, and everybody has their ways to coach and to teach,” White said. “With us, we got continuity and how we operate day to day with each other, much less with the guys that have been with us for over a year or two, so that part's always helped. We build off of each other, make each other stronger, too.”
Hegiman echoed White’s sentiment that the staff has built off one another, saying that, like their player personnel, they’ve had to learn the strengths and weaknesses of each coach. In turn, the maturity displayed by coaches stepping in or out based on situation has been mirrored by a crowded, yet talented offensive line. The staff’s unity has built a standard for the players’ unity.
That development is why Gurode and Attia both mentioned their pride in having strong units. It has helped not only unlock players’ aggression but also hone their attention to detail, which is something Gurode has had to learn as a coach at the college level. And with the entire team focusing on the small things, ensuring execution on both sides of the ball, the defensive line has pushed the offensive line.
With so many new players, though, Attia and the returners have built the base for the new guys.
“One band, one sound, right? And we're all preaching the same thing,” Hegiman said.
Position battle far from set (and may never be…)
Most teams aim for a consistent front five due to offensive continuity. However, with nearly 10 capable linemen and an offense that plays to each one’s strengths, White and the staff don’t mind rotating the O-line.
The staff enjoys the versatility of someone like Attia, who has experience at multiple positions. So, many individuals have played at several spots this fall camp to ensure potential first reps aren’t in-game. And with the stamina needed to block with aggression on each play, the potential for injuries and plays called based on strength, it helps to have nearly two full capable lines.
As the position battle has remained neck-and-neck, though sort of by the offense’s plug-and-play design, the idea for a rotational offensive line has become more intriguing.
“Honestly, I would love it,” White said. “The defensive line, they do it all the time. So why can't the offensive line? I think we're getting to that point. 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, though.”
“It's not tough to coach a rotation because 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 added. “If you think about it, if I 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 players feel the benefits of competition, too.
“The best guy is going to be out there,” McFadden said. “You earn everything you get. It's not like we're just given anything…You got to go out there and prove it every day, right?”
One of the only issues is that the anticipation is building.
“Night before the game,” White said when asked about his potential Week 1 starting five.
McFadden preparing for first year with CU
Arriving in Boulder as a second-year from Ohio State, McFadden has made some lengthy strides.
“[He’s] physical, and it doesn't matter if it's run or pass,” White said of McFadden. “Once he gets his eyes locked in on his target, it's game over. I love everything that he's doing, and like I said, his growth on the field, off the field has been phenomenal. I mean, night and day since the time that he walked in.”
While McFadden has been the one putting in work, it has also been a result of solid coaching around him.
The 6-foot-3, 295-pound lineman said having four knowledgeable coaches was a big part of his recruitment to CU. They can teach him about football and life. Plus, they all “speak the same language,” even if it’s a harsh one.
“What they really did, which was super important to me, was tell me exactly what I was doing wrong,” McFadden said. “They wasn't like beating around the bush about it or just telling me that I'm doing well. When I'm doing something that's wrong, Coach Gunnar is going to tell me that it's wrong…Because at the end of the day, we have a great relationship, and I listen to all my coaches, right? And I want them to tell me the God-honest truth.
“Like if I lie to you and just tell you you're the best reporter in the world, blah, blah, blah, then it's like, ‘Oh, then you get this big gas in your head,’” McFadden continued. “But if I tell you like what you can work on to be a better reporter, then it's like, ‘Okay, now you know. Now you can learn from it,' right? And that's kind of what they did for me.”
With McFadden echoing the coaches’ sentiment that players who don’t practice well don’t play well, along with receptive coaching, he has emerged as a name to follow.
“What I see from him is he has a lot of hunger,” Gurode said. “He wants to prove something to himself, and so the way that he approaches work every day is that he wants to find something to be better at.”
Attia preaching aggression in third year
“I love it here. It's like home,” Attia said amid his third fall camp with the Buffs.
And naturally, the 6-foot-4, 340-pounder is competing and leading as such. He’s standing toe-to-toe in viral 1-on-1s and, as a guy who has played multiple positions on the line, he’s leading as an example for the new guys in the Go-Go offense.
“Yo-Yo is a guy who is extremely tough,” Gurode said. “He's getting thrown in there. He's getting thrown in different positions. Doesn't really complain too much. He just wants to work, and we love that mentality in that room.”
Due to Attia’s presence, along with what appears to be a severe culture change, he feels the offense is more “rough” than years past. While making sure the new guys are on the same page is “always hard,” Attia feels everyone is on the same sheet of music.
“We want to win,” Attia said. “That's the reason. You know how it was last year; we got to change it this year.”
Who else was mentioned…
- OL Chauncey Gooden: The returning youngster earned some kind words from his coaches and Attia. From being the only name to emerge when Hegiman was asked about who was the most “violent” to being rewarded Hegiman’s air mattress for a night at UCCS, Gooden seems to be thriving. White mentioned Gooden’s “energy” and “physicality.”
- “Whenever I play next to him, it just makes it easier on me,” Attia said. “No matter what, he's going to probably take 75% of the guy, A and B gap, like he's taking everything, so he's just a very, very strong guy, big guy, knows ball. Um, I mean, he takes care of his center; I take care of him.”
- OL Larry Johnson III: White says he enjoys how Johnson is progressing and that he’s “stepped up his game.” The offense uses his run-blocking strengths while he’s bettering his pass-protection. And he can play several positions.
- OL Bo Hughley: White admitted that Hughley has a ways to go, but he stated twice that the former Georgia Bulldog is “heading in the direction he needs to.”
- OL Demetrius Hunter: Gurode didn’t offer much on Hunter, but mentioned that “you can’t take anything from his two years of starting” at Houston. Added that Hunter is in the mix of an aggressive room.
- OL Sean Kinney: The Lafayette transfer seems to be making others better. He’s making the “right calls,” per White, and is showing quite the fight amid position battles, according to Gurode. Mentioned as a consistent player, he seems to be silently making his name known.
- OL Taj White: White, the player, has been “awesome” and “phenomenal,” according to Coach White.
- OL Jayven Richardson, OL Xavier Payne: Both were mentioned as “coming along” by White.
- OL Andre Roye Jr., OL Leon Bell: White said both “stepped up [their] game[s].”
Tidbits from Coach Hammer
Q: Returning with this group, what have you seen from your guys personality-wise, and in terms of good character and vocal leadership?
A: “Back from the summer, I've noticed some guys, they're on their own, they got right with their trainers and whatnot, and they came back, and they realize what it means for them and what it means to us as a team,” Hammer said. “So some guys are stepping up as leaders, vocally and also demonstrating on the field and off the field what it looks like. And the guys really want it. They came back. They're hungry. They want to run the ball. They want to protect the QB, and we want to win games.”
Q: Year two of having three guys who are not only taking you under their wings but getting you involved, what’s that like?
A: “Yeah, I'm truly blessed to be in the position I'm in,” Hammer said. “Year two with all these guys, and year four with Coach Gunnar here, so the continuity with Coach and these guys just keeps developing me as a person, as a leader, and a coach, both on and off the field. And I can't be more grateful for it. I learn drills, more drills, more ways to talk to players. Keep learning my scheme. Keep learning offensive football to keep progressing in my career.”
Q: How do you focus your group on focusing on the now and blocking out the outside noise?
A: “Well, I like to say our goal is to win, and win means what's important now,” Hammer said. “So, be where your feet are. If we got a meeting in the morning, all right, that's important now. Let's focus on that. Mentality is all 100% into the meeting, and you just go throughout your day. When you go into pre-practice, walk through pre-practice stretch, and throughout practice, and even when you have no phones in the cafeteria, talking to your teammates – that's important because we got to operate as one up as a front five, and so the more continuity and the more character and relationship we can build is awesome. So it's really what's important now.”
White offers recruiting note
White was asked quickly about his role in the rather large 2027 recruiting class, which has 20 commits, including five offensive linemen: four-star IOL Dewey Young, four-star OT Li’Marcus Jones, three-star OT Coderro McDaniel, three-star OT Zaquan Linton and three-star IOL Boogie Talib.
“It starts with Coach Prime. He wanted to set out a mission that the recruiting is going to be different,” White said. “In the past, we haven't been heavy on high school guys, but now he said that he wanted 20 to 21 guys, and I wanted to make sure that I'm at the forefront of that.”
Focusing specifically on the trenches, White offered the benefits of developing high school guys.
“It all starts up front with O-line and D-line, too. If you don't have those guys and build them in and getting them into your program, [you will struggle], because ideally you want to keep everybody and not depend on the portal,” White said. “So once you get them in, you get good habits built that you want or that we want. It self-grooms and cultivates in its own. So that way, if you do have to go into the portal, you just kind of get one or two, and you got less variables to build off.”
Players Mentioned
Yahya Attia
Offensive Lineman
Chauncey Gooden
Offensive Lineman
Jayvon McFadden
Offensive Lineman
Jayven Richardson
Offensive Lineman
Larry Johnson III
Offensive Lineman
Xavier Payne
Offensive Lineman
Leon Bell
Offensive Lineman
Bo Hughley
Offensive Lineman
Sean Kinney
Offensive Lineman
Andre Roye Jr.
Offensive Lineman
Coaches Mentioned
