CU Buffs position breakdown: Ohio State transfer Dallan Hayden leads revamped running back room

Startling statistics — good and bad — have been the norm for Colorado football the last few years.

There’s a new leading contender for the strangest, however.

Entering the 2024 campaign, the Buffaloes return minus-74 rushing yards from the previous season.

Considering CU was dead last in the country last year in rushing, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. The team’s top four leading rushers — Dylan Edwards, Anthony Hankerson, Sy’veon Wilkerson and Alton McCaskill — are all gone.

The leading returner in that category is actually a receiver, Jimmy Horn. Walk-on Charlie Offerdahl is the only running back from last year’s roster who remains, and he had only 11 yards.

Add in the negative yardage racked up by Shedeur Sanders on sacks, and that’s how you get a number below zero.

There’s a brand new group in the running back room and despite the fact that this will once again be a pass-heavy offense with Sanders at quarterback, the run game unquestionably must be more effective this fall — if only to ease the load on Sanders.

Let’s take a look at the faces at running back:

The Power 5 transfers

There was a lot of shuffling during and after spring ball.

While the Buffs were actively courting reinforcements to the running back room, key contributors Edwards, McCaskill and Wilkerson all entered the transfer portal and found new homes across the country.

CU was able to get arguably its top target out of the portal, however, in Ohio State transfer Dallan Hayden.

A former four-star recruit, Hayden was an instant impact player for the Buckeyes as a freshman, rushing for 553 yards and five touchdowns in 2022. He had back-to-back games over 100 yards late in the season after he was thrust into a bigger role due to injuries. He had a career-high 146 yards and three touchdowns against Maryland.

Hayden’s role was diminished in 2023 and he only saw action in three games, carrying the ball 10 times in a game just once. That came against Purdue, when he had 11 carries for 79 yards and a touchdown.

The Memphis native has the power conference experience and talent necessary to secure a starting spot for CU.

Hayden’s biggest competition will likely come from a fellow transfer from a high-profile program.

Former Arkansas running back Isaiah Augustave joined the team this summer after one year with the Razorbacks. His addition was a needed one after Miami (Ohio) transfer Rashad Amos backed out of a pledge to CU and landed at Ole Miss.

Augustave is a former four-star recruit who appeared in four games in 2023, meaning he still has four years of eligibility left. He shined late in the season, rushing for 101 yards in a win over Florida International and 80 yards and a touchdown in a loss to Missouri.

The impact freshman

One player who could earn a big role this season is freshman Micah Welch.

The three-star recruit out of Georgia enrolled in January and was able to participate in spring practices, where he impressed throughout.

Although he stands at just 5-foot-9, Welch has shown to be a bruising running back who’s willing to lower his shoulder and pick up extra yards.

“It’s been a great feeling to come in early, get a good start, go and get a feel for everything (and) get the playbook down,” Welch said. “I’m just ready to ball out this year.”

The other guys

As the Buffs have shown in recent years, it’s almost impossible in this era of college football to count on just two, or even three, running backs to carry the load across an entire season.

Next on the depth chart will likely be Offerdahl, a Littleton native, who has managed to stick around under coach Deion Sanders and was rewarded by Coach Prime with a scholarship.

He picked up an injury near the end of spring practices, but should be fully healthy for fall camp and always seems to have a knack for making plays in practice and could be in the mix for playing time.

The fifth and final scholarship back on the roster is true freshman Brandon Hood, a three-star recruit who joined the team this summer alongside his brother, Colton, a cornerback who transferred from Auburn.