It’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride for, one time freshman All-American, Addison Gillam over the last year.

“As you know, last season was pretty rough, with injuries, and I just had some issues personally, with family and everything,” he allowed. “Right around winter break, I started not really knowing what was going on, didn’t know what I wanted to do… I never really thought I was going to stop playing football, it was kind of just a weird feeling, I guess, I don’t know how to explain it.”

Gillam took a short break from the team in the offseason, but he was back for the spring.

“I started talking to [Mike MacIntyre] a lot and I just kind of found the passion again. I’m excited now,” he explained with a big smile. “I like coach Leavitt a lot and I like everything that’s been happening.”

On top of his talks with his head coach, the standout linebacker was also re-energized by his teammates.

“A lot of it was the guys, I’d seem them around, in class and everything,” told Gillam. “They would tell me they missed me and they’d be like, ‘oh I know you’re coming back,’ and it was just hard not to see them.”

Gillam, who says distractions off of the field led to his short loss of passion for the game, realized once he came back that football was his escape.

“Just coming out to practice, and playing games and everything, it just helps you take your mind off of everything else,” he said.

Now that he’s back to focusing on football, he, like just about anybody in black and gold who has a microphone in front of them, is singing the praises of defensive coordinator, Jim Leavitt.

“He’s really confident in us as players, I like that a lot,” said the Leavitt’s man in the middle. “He’s positive, but he’ll get on you if you need it, he’s just an awesome guy, I love his energy.”

Gillam says that more and more he is seeing that energy that everybody talks about from the new coordinator, become contagious within the team.

“In spring, it was rubbing off a little bit,” he remembered. “But I think you can really see it out here in fall camp.”

While he’s has been a leader basically since he stepped on the field at Colorado, the now upperclassman feels his leadership is improving.

“I find myself approaching people a lot more,” he said. “Trying to talk with everybody on the team, not just the guys I hang out with.”

Mike MacIntyre has said multiple occasions recently that he expects Gillam to be back to, or even better than his old self this season, and the California product, with the hair to star “Lords of Dogtown 2” agrees with him.

“Yes, definitely, I’m really disappointed in last year, personally, and I can’t have that happen again, I hate that,” Gillam admitted. “I feel 100 percent right now, I feel awesome.”

It is no secret how important a healthy Addison Gillam is to the Colorado defense, and while it’s far to early to see if he’s back to his old self on the field, it seems he has had a chance to get his mind right off of it.

He’s out there, he’s running around, and he’s having fun, and that is a great first step.