Ramon Jefferson isn't coming to Boulder. Who will carry the rock?

BOULDER — Colorado has another big question to answer.

Running back Ramon Jefferson announced Friday on Twitter that he has decommitted from Colorado. The former FCS All-American committed to CU in January as a graduate with one year of eligibility remaining. He won a national championship and competed in the semifinals during his two seasons at Sam Houston.

After further consideration i have decided to decommit from University of Colorado.

— Ramon Jefferson (@Jefferson1Ramon) May 20, 2022

CU landed RB Ramon Jefferson from the transfer portal this morning. He’s been a force at the FCS level.

Jefferson is the fifth scholarship RB on the roster (Fontenot, Smith, Stacks, Venn) so he figures to be an important piece.

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— Henry Chisholm (@HenryChisholm) January 31, 2022

With Jefferson out of the picture, the Buffs moved quickly to replace him. Anthony Hankerson, a member of the 2022 recruiting class, planned to grayshirt this season and join the team in January. He will now join the team this June, according to CUSportsNation’s Justin Guerriero.

Hankerson was a three-time 1,000-yard rusher at Florida powerhouse St. Thomas Aquinas, as the Raiders won three consecutive state titles. St. Thomas Aquinas has a strong football tradition, which includes producing the most NFL draft picks of any high school in the country since the turn of the century by a wide margin. The group includes Geno Atkins, Giovanni Bernard and Lamarcus Joyner.

Hankerson finished his three-year, full-time varsity career with 3551 total yards and 45 touchdowns. He averaged 6.6 yards per carry and fumbled three times.

The Fort Lauderdale native is a well-rounded back, with good speed and solid vision, which will be important in what we expect to be a zone-heavy scheme in Boulder. His calling card, though, is his contact balance and ability to fight past tacklers. At 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds, he may be slightly undersized for his playstyle as a freshman but not overtly so.

While Hankerson is a fun breakout candidate, a handful of CU backs are likely to receive snaps before him. Alex Fontenot is at the top of the list.

The senior was Colorado’s bell-cow back in 2019 and could regain that role this season. He figured to compete with Jefferson for the starting job and probably split the reps fairly evenly, but the door is now open for Fontenot to do the heavy lifting for the CU offense.

Fontenot was seventh in the Pac-12 with 874 rushing yards in 2019. He added five touchdowns and averaged 4.7 yards per carry. He came up four yards shy of 1,000 all-purpose yards. When Fontenot missed the 2020 season with a hip injury, he opened the door for Jarek Broussard to serve as the bell-cow back and win Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year.

In 2021, Broussard received about 45% of running backs’ carries and Fontenot received about 30%. The rest was split among four other backs who saw the field.

In 2019, Fontenot received about 60% of the carries with the other 40% split among the rest of the backfield. We can probably pencil in Fontenot for that same 60% this season, since you don’t see primary backs earn many more carries than that in modern football. (Broussard had 75% of the Buffs’ backs’ carries in the 2020 season, but that was a manageable workload because it was half the length of a typical season.

So how will the other 40% be split?

Deion Smith figures to be the primary beneficiary. He’s a junior back who served as the third option in 2021 after missing 2020 with a torn ACL. He carried the ball 53 times compared to Fontenot’s 96 carries.

Smith is a speedy option who could pair nicely Fontenot, whose vision and contact balance is best used between the tackles. Smith can attack the edges of the defense and isn’t afraid to get his nose dirty. He has 260 rushing yards on 76 carries in his career.

ON. THE. BOARD.@CUBuffsFootball's Deion Smith kickstarts the team with his rushing touchdown.

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📱https://t.co/od3l0Tm2ul#GoBuffs | #Pac12FB pic.twitter.com/3n7nXlrcb2

— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) October 2, 2021

After Smith, spots in the pecking order are wide open.

Jayle Stacks has two years of experience under his belt but fits in best as a fullback. Given his blocking and receiving skills, he should be high on the list of potential third-down backs. Running backs coach Darian Hagan has made it clear that Stacks will have a role in the offense, and has mentioned that he is a good enough runner to play halfback, but we’ll see if they actually give the 5-foot-11, 230-pound bruiser any singleback snaps.

.@JayleStacks punches the first TD of the day 👊#GoBuffs | #CUlture pic.twitter.com/wNhLal2Jnm

— Colorado Buffaloes Football (@CUBuffsFootball) April 30, 2021

The other two scholarships options are a pair of freshmen who will arrive on campus over the summer. One is Hankerson, and the other is Georgia-native Victor Venn.

Listed at 5-10 and 175 pounds, Venn is a pure speed back. He racked up over 3,000 yards and 36 touchdowns at Buford High School, and won three state championships as the team’s starting back. He averaged more than eight yards per carry for his career. Venn and Hankerson figure to pair perfectly together in the long term, but they both could receive opportunities this season as well.

There’s an outside chance a walk-on back could get some work as well. Noah Hubbard and Charlie Offerdahl are the candidates, with Offerdahl being much more likely to see the field. The second-year freshman was one of the star’s of the spring game with a pair of touchdowns. He also scored in last year’s spring game.

My prediction for the carry distribution (not factoring quarterbacks or wide receivers who could see some touches) is this:

1. Alex Fontenot (55%)
2. Deion Smith (25%)
3. Jayle Stacks (10%)
4. Victor Venn (5%)
5. Anthony Hankerson (5%)

All of this is subject to change if somebody gets a hot hand and the Buffs have some capable, although unproven, options.