BOULDER — When Brady Russell gets the ball in his hands, he doesn’t always remember what happens.
“I’m not gonna lie,” Russell told DNVR on Wednesday. “A lot of the time I kind of just black out and wake up.”
He misses out on quite a show.
Whenever Russell gets the ball in his hands, he’s going to make somebody pay. He puts his 250-pound frame to good use and, despite not being the fastest weapon on CU’s offense, he’s the team’s leader with 137 yards after the catch so far this season. He’s forced seven missed tackles in the passing game this season, which is also the most, with Jarek Broussard (4) and Brenden Rice (3) next up on the list.
On Saturday, Russell’s big play was a 28-yard catch-and-run where he ran over one defender and drug a few more with him.
“I don’t got anywhere else to go but through him,” Russell said. “So I guess I’ll just go through him.”
Statistically, the Oregon game was Russell’s second-best of the season. His three catches tied his season-high and his 42 yards trailed only his performance against USC.
And Russell wasn’t the only one setting season bests on Saturday. Colorado was able to sustain drives and give opportunities to most of its skill position players. The Buffs completed 25 passes to 11 different receivers. The group was led by Brenden Rice, who racked up 102 yards and a touchdown on five catches.
“He’s always been an explosive player,” Russell said of Rice. “It’s kind of the deal with a lot of guys; you don’t really know what they can do ’til they get the ball in their hands and now he’s had some opportunities. He’s shown how special he can be.”
The offensive performance, according to head coach Karl Dorrell, was the offense best of the season and it’s tough to argue with him. Colorado is still in last place in the nation in yards per game, but the Buffs put up 29 points on an Oregon team that was just placed at No. 4 in the initial College Football Playoff Rankings.
“It’s just been miserable; three-and-out, three-and-out, three-and-out, every game, all game,” Russell said. “So it’s fun when you finally get clicking and you like like how you know you could have looked all year.”
Despite the struggles, Russell never lost his belief in what Colorado was capable of.
“It probably got old, all the reporters and stuff asking me questions and I’d say the same thing every week,” Russell said. “I’m like, ‘I know there’s so much capability and potential in the guys in the room, we just haven’t found it yet, haven’t started clicking.’ Hopefully that continues.”
Last Saturday was a new story for Colorado. Despite the offense’s struggles for the majority of the season, the defense did its part more often than not.
Throughout the season, players and coaches alike have stressed the importance of not letting the disparity in performance between each side of the ball create a rift.
“There shouldn’t be division between offense and defense but it is nice to be the unit that is succeeding,” Russell said. “Especially just because of what the previous half of the year has been.”
There are several reasons that Colorado’s offense turned things around last week, according to Russell, and one of them is the coaching change. The Buffs moved on from offensive line coach Mitch Rodrigue a week before the game and replaced him with William Vlachos.
Russell, who calls himself a sixth offensive lineman, has been impressed with Vlachos so far.
“Everything got simplified,” Russell said. “I wouldn’t say ‘dumbed down’ but we understand why we’re doing things more and the reasoning for why we do certain things and make certain calls.”
But Vlachos isn’t the only reason the offensive line played better, according to Russell. A bulk of the answer, at least in his mind, is pretty simple.
“I think the tackles just looked way better last week,” he said. “They’re going against Kayvon so it doesn’t make a lot of sense. I don’t really know what changed for them but whatever it was I hope it keeps happening.”
By Kayvon, Russell means projected first overall pick in the NFL Draft Kayvon Thibodeaux. He’s a monster edge rusher and the most dominant player in college football. But the Oregon defense only managed one sack, just a week after Colorado gave up six sacks to Cal.
It’s no surprise that quarterback Brendon Lewis’ best game came in the game when his pass protection was arguably the best it’s been all year.
But Russell says that another big piece is his confidence.
“After the Arizona game, when Brendon finally had some big completions, ever since then in practice he’s just seemed way more confident,” Russell said.
What does that look like?
“It’s just quicker decisions and more swagger,” Russell said. “You feel the confidence more than you did before.”
Finally, on Saturday, everything fell into place. The offensive line played well. Lewis played well. The entire offense was able to work together to move the ball down the field and score points.
And that means there were enough touches to go around.
“It is funny that it came against Oregon,” Russell said. “We just needed to play the best defense in the conference to make us start playing well.”
