BOULDER — Brady Russell didn’t have the season he expected in 2020.
“I don’t want to say I thought too highly of myself but this kind of brought me back down to another level and made me feel human again,” Russell told reporters Friday.
Russell, Colorado’s starting tight end, caught five passes for 77 yards and a touchdown in Colorado’s season-opener against UCLA. It was the most receiving yards in a game from a CU tight end since Nick Kasa almost a decade prior. Four plays into the next game, Russell suffered a lower leg injury that head coach Karl Dorrell said would force him to “miss significant time.”
“I was pretty calm in the experience as it was, because I can’t do anything at that point once it’s happened,” Russell said. “Now you’ve just got to come back.”
In December, Dorrell said that Russell was “dead set” on getting back in time for the Alamo Bowl. He traveled with the team to San Antonio and had a chance to be ready, but his recovery wasn’t quite far enough along to see the field.
Fast forward to spring ball and Russell still isn’t on the field… at least not completely. Russell started practicing early last week and is now participating in everything except for the full-contact periods.
With Russell sidelined during the most competitive parts of practice, there’s room for more of Colorado’s 12—yes, 12—tight ends to get some reps. Freshmen Louis Passarello and Caleb Fauria, in particular, have seen more action.
“They’ve both showed flashes of greatness but they’ve also showed flashes of being young guys,” Russell said. “Louis is more of a blocker. Caleb, I kind of see a little bit of myself in him. He can do a little bit of everything, which is fun.”
Russell has embraced his role as a mentor. Before joining the media zoom call on Friday, Russell had been working with Passarello and Fauria following the third of four spring scrimmages. (Veteran tight end Matt Lynch led the group during the scrimmage with a pair of touchdowns.) Today’s lesson was on stances.
“They’re coming around,” Russell said. “It’s fun seeing progress. It can be frustrating sometimes—and I’ve been here for awhile seeing some of the mistakes—but that’s part of the fun of it too.”
Even though Russell isn’t back to full go quite yet, there’s still been plenty for him to do over the offseason. Recovering from injuries takes rehab work and the Buffs also implemented a “football school” ahead of spring camp. The idea was to teach the team everything they could need to know about the offensive and defensive schemes, while also developing a deeper knowledge of the game in general.
“It also made us get closer with our coaches,” Russell said. “You’re with them all spring rather than just seeing them in the halls and then all of a sudden working with them in spring ball. We’ve gotten to know our new coaches, we’ve gotten to invest some time into each other, so it’s helped us grow closer relationships.”
For Russell, building relationships with coaches should be easy. Bryan Cook is entering his first season as Colorado’s tight ends coach, making him Russell’s fourth position coach while in Boulder. He’s quite a bit different than the last tight ends coach, Taylor Embree, according to Russell.
“Coach Cook is very detail-oriented,” Russell said. “Coach Embree was more—he wanted you to know your assignment and not worry about too much of what’s going on. So, it’s two very different things.”
The differences, Russell says, can actually be valuable.
“I’ve learned a lot of different things, a lot of different techniques,” Russell said. “(I’ve) gotten to piece together what I like, myself.”
And a new position coach isn’t the only change for Russell.
While Sam Noyer could be backs as the starter again in 2021, he’s going to have to earn his job. Second-year true freshman Brendon Lewis and Tennessee transfer JT Shrout, who has three years of eligibility remaining, are competing with him for the starting gig. True freshman Drew Carter could make a run at the position, too.
“It’s been fun watching them play and seeing them progress over the spring and seeing them take different steps because they all started in different places,” Russell said. “They’re all kind of progressing at different rates, doing different things good from each other.”
For Russell, building chemistry with whoever the quarterback is will be important.
“Now that I’m healthy and I can go work with them, it’s been fun,” Russell said.
