2021 Fall Camp Preview: Jarek Broussard is the star but who else gets touches in a crowded backfield?

This story is part of our Fall Camp Preview Series for 2021. Before camp starts in early August, we’ll be running through the Buffs’ roster position-by-position and identifying the key storylines ahead of the season.

Check out the inside linebackers preview here.

BOULDER — Colorado will roll one of the top running back groups in the Pac-12 out onto the field in 2021.

The question is who will actually get to see the field?

With at least five backs vying for touches — and one bona fide star already at the position — the battle for playing time at running back could be the most competitive on the roster.

Here are the key storylines to watch for during fall camp.

This is The Jarek Broussard Show

There’s plenty to talk about when it comes to Colorado’s running backs but the conversation starts and ends with Jarek Broussard.

Broussard is the most explosive weapon on Colorado’s offense and one of the top runners in all of college football.

On any given down, Broussard is the guy that Colorado will want on the field, but he isn’t going to be able to carry the entire load on his own (but more on that later).

As the Pac-12’s reigning Offensive Player of the Year, the standards will be sky high for Broussard in his second season as the lead back for the Buffaloes, a title that is all but guaranteed heading into fall camp.

Broussard has all of the speed, quickness and elusiveness that you’d expect from a 5-foot-9, 185-pound running back with his accolades.

He also has physicality that you don’t expect, even from a guy who put up the numbers he managed last season.

Check this stat out, for instance: Broussard averaged 4.4 yards per carry last season… after contact.

That’s a mind-blowing number.

For reference, over 23 rushing attempts in 2019, Laviska Shenault averaged 4.22 yards per carry after contact. And that guy is built like a tank.

Who else needs the ball?

Two names stand out above the rest when talking about the CU running backs, outside of Broussard.

First, Alex Fontenot.

Fontenot was Colorado’s undisputed starter in 2019, serving as a bell-cow back who running backs coach Darian Hagan says would’ve eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark, if not for a concussion that kept him out of a game-and-a-half. Despite the injury, Fontenot was still the Pac-12’s second-leading returning rusher heading into 2020.

But a leg injury sidelined Fontenot for the entire 2020 season, opening the door for Broussard’s breakout campaign.

This spring, Fontenot said that he had been back to 100% health for months and he was ready to bounce back. Barring a new injury, Fontenot will be full-go in 2021.

Fontenot’s vision is his best quality, and his wiggle through the hole is among the beast in the conference. He doesn’t have true breakaway speed, but he bounces off of tacklers and he’s put on 10 pounds since he’s last taken a meaningful snap, which should complement his running style.

The second running back who is due for more time is Ashaad Clayton.

Unlike Fontenot, Clayton has no track record to bank on, outside of a monster run in the Louisiana high school football playoffs when he totaled 1,186 yards and 18 touchdowns in five games en route to a championship game appearance.

But being a highly-touted recruit isn’t the goal; being a productive Power 5 running back is.

We heard positive reports about Clayton’s improvements during spring ball, particularly in his ability to take advantage of the holes that develop in front of him. He’s becoming more patient, and that could change the way that the Buffs use him.

Colorado shifted from a zone-running scheme to a more balanced mix of zone and gap running in 2020, though zone runs were still more common. But out of seven run attempts, Colorado called six gap runs for Clayton and just one zone run.

Gap runs require a running back hitting a predetermined whole that the offensive line opens, while zone runs ask the running back to pick their own route depending on where there is space.

Last year, the coaching staff seemingly didn’t trust Clayton to find his own holes and if his vision is developing there could be more situations where the staff is comfortable putting Clayton on the field.

(In case your curious, Jaren Mangham’s rush attempts leaned more gap-heavy, while Joe Davis’ leaned more toward zone runs. Broussard had 98 zone attempts to just 58 gap attempts. In 2020, when Colorado was very zone-heavy regardless of the runner, Fontenot had 146 zone attempts to just 37 gap runs.)

How much can Jarek handle?

This is the biggest question for Colorado at the running back position — and probably the second biggest question on offense behind “Who is the starting quarterback?”

Broussard was an absolute workhorse in 2020. Only 16 running backs in the country carried the ball more than Broussard times last season, even though Colorado only played six games. Of those 16 backs who carried the ball more, 12 played at least 10 games.

And only two running backs in the entire country put up more yards per game than Broussard.

But playing a 12-game regular season is very different than the five-game slate the Buffs wound up with in 2020. The cumulative toll that comes with three-straight months of pounding the rock could become an issue if Broussard carries the ball more than 25 times per game again in 2021.

And the consequences of serving as a true bell cow back are more than just an increased risk of injury.

“He got down to like 178 pounds (last season),” running backs coach Darian Hagan said of Broussard during spring camp. “You play against Texas and Utah and they were putting the wood on him and he laid the ball on the ground a couple of times and I think that was because he lost a lot of weight.”

There’s another factor, though: Jarek Broussard is really, really good. Even if he isn’t at 100% strength, he’s still one of the best runners in the Pac-12.

It’s tough to justify giving him 30 touches per game, but it’s just as tough to give the ball to anybody else when you have Broussard on your roster.

Hagan’s philosophy at running back has been to rotate as many guys as you can justify, usually 3-4, and give the ball to whoever gets hot.

“You just roll the dice,” he said. “Whoever plays the best is going to get the most reps.”

Here’s how the carries broke down for CU running backs during the regular season:

Jarek Broussard: 129 (74%)
Jaren Mangham: 23 (13%)
Joe Davis: 16 (9%)
Ashaad Clayton: 7 (4%)

And one more note: don’t forget that Broussard only has one healthy season under his belt so far in his college career. As much as I’d love to ignore that detail, the injury risk is real, and it absolutely factors into the workload management conversation.

And you’d better knock on wood when you read that.

Who takes Jaren Mangham’s role?

This might feel like a silly question at first glance; Jaren Mangham only carried the ball a couple dozen times last year and he averaged an incredibly-modest 1.5 yards per carry. The Buffs are deep in the backfield and there are too many mouths to feed. Surely, somebody can fill the Mangham-shaped void.

So why are we concerned with replacing Mangham?

Because he filled a crucial role in any offense: short-yardage power back.

That’s not to say he was the world’s most effective goal-line back, but he was serviceable. The yards per carry weren’t the greatest, or even anywhere close to where you’d like it to be, but pounding the rock twice from the one-yard line and getting the touchdown on the second run is much more beneficial than the 0.5 yards per carry average it comes with would make you think.

That’s not the point, though. The point is that a handful of running backs are trying to find their way onto the field and being the short-yardage back is the one role that is wide open, now that Mangham has transferred to USF.

Could Jarek Broussard fill this role? Of course. He’s basically Superman. But if you’re trying to find times to rest your 5-foot-nothing, one-hundred-and-nothing-pound running back, then right around the goal line is the first place you look to the bench.

We’re going to highlight three candidates to fill that role.

1. Alex Fontenot — Fontenot doesn’t profile as a true goal-line back; he’s more of a zone runner than a bulky, north-south goal-line prototype.

Fontenot does have one thing going for him, though: He’s a talented and proven runner.

Fontenot will be the first back that the coaching staff looks to when it’s time to take Broussard off the field, no matter the situation. Fontenot probably isn’t at his absolute best in short-yardage situations, but he’s still probably more effective than Mangham was last season.

It’s worth noting that he’s listed at 205 pounds on the official CU roster, which is 10 pounds heavier than the last time we saw him.

2. Ashaad Clayton — Now in his second season in Boulder, Clayton could be ready to contribute and goal-line situations may be the perfect launching-off point.

Remember his breakout performance against Arizona (the first time he touched the ball multiple times in a game)?

If not, here’s what went down: His first carry went for 17 yards, and two of his other three carries went for short-yardage touchdowns. He was used as a goal-line back and the results were inspiring.

If Colorado is trying to get Clayton the ball more—which is more likely to be the case in 2022 than 2021—then, like Fontenot, this could be the way to do it.

3. Jayle Stacks — The second-year freshman from Cherry Creek is the dark horse in this race.

At 5-foot-11 and 230 pounds, Jayle Stacks absolutely fits the mold for a goal-line back. He’s a big-ass bruiser and at some point in his CU career, he’s going to be able to run over just about any defender when the Buffs need a yard or two.

But is he ready to be that guy in 2021?

This quote from Darian Hagan toward the end of spring ball will spark some excitement:

“He won’t get a lot, but he’ll get some carries. When he is running behind his pads—he has his pads down—he’s a bruiser. Nobody wants to get in his way.”

And there’s another, maybe even more exciting, line in this quote… but we’re saving that for later.

Colorado was 14th in the country in coming away with points in the red zone last season, doing so on over 91% of red zone possessions. Their 15 touchdowns on 23 red zone attempts are an incredible mark.

If Colorado regresses in 2021, a less-effective red zone attack could be a key reason why. Picking out the right goal-line back will be crucial for the CU offense.

Does CU have a receiving back?

The third-down running back role is just as wide open as the power back role, but the difference is that it’s a job that Colorado hasn’t filled effectively in years.

Take a look at Colorado’s leading receiver among running backs by year over the past four seasons:

2020: Jarek Broussard (9 catches, 65 yards)
2019: Alex Fontenot (27 catches, 122 yards)
2018: Travon McMillian (14 catches, 118 yards, 1 TD)
2017: Phillip Lindsay (23 catches, 257 yards, 1 TD)

For reference, these were the top four Pac-12 receiving backs in 2019 (the last 12-game season):

Max Borghi (WSU): 86 catches, 597 yards, 5 TDs
Demetric Felton (UCLA): 55 catches, 594 yards, 4 TDs
Zach Moss (Utah): 28 catches, 388 yards, 2 TDs
Eno Benjamin (ASU): 42 catches, 347 yards, 2 TDs

The receiving back role simply hasn’t existed at Colorado recently, but we don’t know whether that’s by design or because there hasn’t been a back capable of producing consistently in the passing game.

So, what would one of these running backs have to prove in order to win a job as the Buffs’ receiving back?

1. That he could run routes/get open, catch the ball, then turn upfield with the potential to make a play. That part is obvious.

2. That he could stay in the backfield and serve as a viable pass protector whenever the defense shows that it’s going to blitz.

Let’s start with that second part.

Colorado didn’t seem to prioritize putting any of its running backs on the field for passing plays versus the others. The Buffs ran passing plays between 33% and 36% of the time when each of their four runners (Broussard, Mangham, Davis, Clayton) were on the field.

There was variation in how they were used during passing plays, though. Broussard (23%), Mangham (21%) and Clayton (25%) were used in pass protection much less than Davis (47%). It’s worth noting that Davis’ 47% is the result of seven pass protection snaps on 15 total passing-play snaps, so the sample size is small enough that these numbers might not be worth anything.

Here’s what could be a little more useful:

Joe Davis was the only running back to give up a pressure last season, and he gave up three. That was good for 81.2% pass-blocking efficiency. Alex Fontenot had a 94.8 pass blocking efficiency rating in 2019.

Honestly, I don’t think there’s much to read into any of these numbers, mostly because of the lack of sample size in a shortened season. I included them so you could make your own judgments though.

If one runner takes over the receiving back role this season, my money would be on Alex Fontenot. He may not be the most explosive runner, but his ability to make defenders miss in space is great and he should be even better in protection with his 10 additional pounds. I think the safe bet would be on Broussard to hold down the primary running back job with Fontenot coming in on third downs and short-yardage situations, with the other backs rotating in as needed.

Joe Davis and Deion Smith both have some exciting traits for the role though. Davis has received praise from coaches at various points, especially this spring. Smith missed last season with a torn ACL but he’d put 15 pounds of muscle on before the injury, leaving him as an intriguing yet tough to evaluate piece of the backfield.

Oh, and the other part of that Darian Hagan quote on Jayle Stacks.

“He can do a lot of different things for us.”

The blocking aspects should absolutely be there for Stacks, and I’ve seen him catch a swing pass and turn it into a very solid gain by bulldozing a defender and dodging another during a spring scrimmage.