While the 56 scholarship and JUCO transfers have taken the headlines for Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders’ roster rebuild at Colorado, Coach Prime has brought in an exciting and intriguing group of walk-on players.
Coach Prime and his staff were able to secure walk-on commitments from across the country but have also kept a handful of players from last year’s roster. Some of the players listed below will also be notable breakout candidates who we are sure to hear from again later this season.
Quarterback
Colton Allen
Allen joined Colorado as a walk-on last season. He is a hometown kid from Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch, CO who completed 60% of his passes for 2133 yards and 20 touchdowns with seven interceptions as a senior in 2021.
Allen was one of four quarterbacks the Buffs had on campus during spring football this year and saw action in Colorado’s spring game in April.
Running back
Charlie Offerdahl
Colorado fans old and new already know who Offerdahl is. While only listed at 5-foot-11 and 185-pounds, Offerdahl is a tenacious runner who set a CU record for rushing yards by a walk-on in a season last year (150 yards). After Coach Prime was hired and spring practices were underway, Offerdahl received direct praise from Coach Prime in front of the team after breaking off a series of big runs.
Another local kid, Offerdahl played at Dakota Ridge High School out of Littleton, CO, and received Player of the Year and First-Team All-State honors from Max Preps as a running back, kick returner and defensive back in 2020. He also played lacrosse and ran track in high school. Offerdahl has been on CU’s roster since 2021 and will be a redshirt sophomore in 2023.
Dante Capolungo
Capolungo was teammates with Offerdahl at Dakota Ridge High School for a few seasons. After Offerdahl graduated from Dakota Ridge, in 2021 Capolungo followed in his footsteps and received All-State First-Team honors from Max Preps as a running back, wide receiver and kick returner. As a senior, he had 1519 all-purpose yards and 13 total touchdowns. Last season he played in four games and was moved to defensive back once CU struggled with injuries at the position late into the season.
Capolungo is listed as a running back but has been working at slot receiver since Coach Prime’s arrival.
Wide receiver
Kaleb Mathis
The son of cornerbacks coach, Kevin Mathis, Kaleb Mathis had a strong junior and senior season of high school to earn a preferred walk-on offer to Colorado and has already flashed early on in his college career. Mathis played his final two seasons of high school football at Grace Preparatory Academy in Arlington, TX and was a two-way player at wide receiver and defensive back. In those two seasons, Mathis had 103 receptions for 1567 yards and 14 touchdowns and 58 total tackles, five passes broken up and two interceptions.
Mathis was a playmaker during spring football and was one of 10 current players to have earned their jersey number. However, given his age and the depth Colorado has at wide receiver, 2023 could be a redshirt year for Mathis.
Chernet Estes
Estes had a breakout 2022 season at Lake Travis High School in Austin, TX and walked onto Colorado’s roster last season. After providing a fair share of splash plays for the Buffs throughout the spring, Estes has stuck around and will factor into the depth chart in some regard this fall.
Cole Boscia
Another spring star, Cole Boscia was routinely going up and high-pointing the football for some spectacular catches in Coach Prime’s first few months leading Colorado. At 6-foot-3 and 210-pounds, Boscia was a senior standout at Monte Vista High School in Danville, CA with 51 receptions for 820 yards and eight touchdowns.
With his frame and the on-field relationship we saw between him and Shedeur Sanders, Boscia could be one of many receivers to rotate on the field this season in Sean Lewis’ high-paced offense.
Jack Rilling
Originally from Madison, WI, Rilling played his senior year at St. Cloud High School outside of Orlando, FL. Rilling joins Colorado after playing the last two seasons as a walk-on at LSU. Last season Rilling played in four games but did not register any stats.
Colorado Director of Player Personnel, Corey Phillips was hired from LSU and could be the common thread that found Rilling on CU’s roster going into the fall.
Michael Harrison
Harrison enters his fourth season on Colorado’s roster after walking on in 2020. He took a redshirt season in 2020, played in all 12 games in 2021 on special teams and played in all 12 games last season and had two receptions for 12 yards.
Harrison also scored a touchdown in April’s spring game.
Gavin Marsh
Marsh will be a true freshman this season after just graduating from Marquette Sr. High School in Chesterfield, MO earlier this year.
Tight end
Elijah Yelverton
In 2020, Yelverton was a three-star recruit ranked 522nd overall and committed to Iowa. After redshirting in 2020 and not seeing any game action in 2021, Yelverton left the Hawkeyes program due to medical reasons in the spring of 2022. After the 2022 season on December 9th, Yelverton entered the transfer portal and committed to CU on January 31, 2023.
Yelverton went to high school at Trinity Christian School where he was coached by Andre Hart and Coach Prime and played with Shedeur Sanders. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the former Hawkeye on the field significantly this season.
Brady Kopetz
Kopetz was a 2022 three-star LB recruit ranked 188th at his position before switching to tight end once he arrived in Boulder in 2022.
He is listed at 6-foot-4 and 250-pounds, the ideal size for tight ends coach Tim Brewster, and could factor into the tight end rotation but we have yet to see him breakout.
Champion Johnson
Listed on CU’s roster as a fullback, Champion Johnson was seen almost exclusively as an h-back/tight end during April’s spring game. Johnson spent the last two seasons in Berkeley playing for the Cal Golden Bears but did not see the field in that time.
Champion is the older brother of 2023 Colorado commit, Victory Johnson.
Owen Westemeyer
Westemeyer is one of the latest additions to CU’s roster and will be a true freshman in 2023. Listed at 6-foot-4 and 235 pounds, Westemeyer played tight end but was an All-State tackle as well. He also played basketball and helped Valley High School’s basketball team become state champions.
Offensive line
Ben Reznik
From Deerfield, IL, Reznik decided to walk on at CU and turn down multiple FCS offers in the lead-up to the 2021 season. He has yet to see game action as a Buff.
Jack Seavall
A local kid that attended Arapahoe High School in Centennial, CO, Seavall has been on Colorado’s roster since his freshman season in 2020. He has yet to see game action as a Buff.
Camden Dempsey
Dempsey went to Lakewood High School in Lakewood, CO and has been on Colorado’s roster since 2021. He has yet to see game action as a Buff.
Defensive line
Jacob Woida
Woida graduated from Arrowhead High School out of Hartland, WI earlier this year and will be a true freshman at Colorado.
Tristan Marois
After playing two seasons for FCS Robert Morris University, Marois is making the leap to the Power 5 after accepting a preferred walk-on offer to Colorado.
Listed at 6-foot-6 and 240 pounds, Marois had 24 tackles with six tackles for a loss and three-and-a-half sacks. He played high school football at Clearwood Academy in Florida but calls Saint-Bruno, Quebec his home.
Linebacker
Thomas Notarainni
Notarainni only started playing football during his senior year of high school at Cathedral Catholic High School out of San Diego, CA and helped his team to a 5-0 record during the COVID-shortened season.
Notarainni was one of the best basketball players in the state and had a scholarship offer to play at Rutgers but opted to walk on at Colorado to play football instead. He redshirted in 2021 and did not see game action last season for the Buffs.
Caiden Robertson
A 2021 LB recruit out of San Clemente High School in San Clemente, CA, the 6-foot-2 and 205-pound linebacker played his freshman season at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, CA. He has yet to see any game action as a Buff.
Cornerback
Nahmier Robinson
The son of former NBA All-Star, Nate Robinson, Nahmier Robinson committed to Colorado as a preferred walk-on over walk-on offers from Washington and Colorado State and a scholarship offer from Portland State. He was a two-way player for Skyline High School in Sammamish, WA and will be playing cornerback in Boulder. 247Sports had him listed as a three-star recruit ranked 205th at his position and the 48th cornerback in the state of Washington.
Isreal Solomon
Solomon transferred to IMG Academy in Florida for his senior year of high school after playing at his home high school, Santa Margarita Catholic in Rancho Santa Margarita, CA. After recovering from a season-ending injury suffered in the first game of the 2021 season, Solomon was IMG Academy’s defensive captain in 2022 and had 45 tackles, 4 INTs, 5 PDUs, and 2.5 sacks with six player of the week honors.
Solomon joins a highly competitive cornerback room but has the pedigree that suggests he could develop into a contributor under Coach Prime, Charles Kelly and Kevin Mathis’ guidance. To learn more about Solomon read his feature from Sports Illustrated.
Braden Keith
Keith is a local kid from Legacy High School in Broomfield, CO and joined the team as a walk-on last season.
Liam McGannon
McGannon joined the team as a preferred walk-on last season from St. Ignatius Prep in San Francisco, CA.
Safety
Ben Finneseth
A Colorado kid from Durango High School in Durango, CO, Finneseth walked on at CU starting with the 2021 season in which he redshirted. In 2022, Finneseth played in 11 games and had six tackles. Due to the exposure of Well Off, Reach the People and Thee Pregame Show on Youtube; Finneseth has gained a small following and has been seen making plays through the last seven months.
Trey Ortega
An extremely versatile and All-State player for Broomfield High School out of Broomfield, CO, Ortega walked onto Colorado’s roster before the 2020 season. He did not see game action in 2020 or 2021 but he played in seven games last year and had two tackles.
Austin Dahlke
In 2020, Dahlke was the Gatorade Wisconsin Player of the Year as a two-way player for Edgar High School in Edgar, WI. He walked onto Colorado’s roster before the 2021 season and has yet to see game time as a Buff.
Special teams
Christian Palazzo
Palazzo is a local kid from Heritage High School in Littleton, CO who walked on to be a Buff last season. He has not seen any game action.
Trent Carrizosa
Colorado’s punter for the last nine games of last season, Carrizosa walked on as a true freshman and had 46 punts averaging 40.8 yards per punt.
Cameron Warchuck
Warchuck walked onto Colorado’s roster as a 2021 long-snapper recruit with interest from Colorado and Nevada. He did not play in 2021 but charted 16 snaps on the punt team in 2022. He is from Norco High School in Norco, CA.
Jacob Politte
Politte was a 2021 long-snapper recruit out of Lubbock-Cooper High School who accepted an offer to Jackson State over Howard Payne, Oklahoma Panhandle State and Wayland Baptist. He only played in three games in 2021 but was JSU’s long-snapper last season.
