Colorado hopeful for healthy second-year transfer, may lose more RBs

According to BuffZone’s Brian Howell, Coach Prime’s Colorado football program will be looking to rely on a healthy Alton McCaskill IV during the 2024 season after Anthony Hankerson’s decision to hit the transfer portal — and based on Howell’s language, the Buffs may not be done seeing its running back room thin out this offseason.

“CU hopes to have Houston transfer Alton McCaskill IV at the full strength next year,” Howell wrote. “The former AAC freshman of the year was never fully healthy this year and had just 14 carries for 59 yards before shutting down and deciding to redshirt.

“As of now, the Buffs also have Edwards and former Jackson State transfer Sy’veon Wilkerson lined up to return in the backfield. Wilkerson rushed for 190 yards and three touchdowns on 53 carries and was CU’s leading rusher in three of the last four games.”

Colorado football losing running backs and offensive linemen shouldn’t be surprising

Everyone wants to paint the sky as falling in Boulder, but after the season Colorado just had, no one should be shocked that the transfer portal is filling up with Buffs from the running back room and offensive line.

Coach Prime couldn’t have made it clearer what he thought of the offensive line during the season, essentially calling for their ouster in the offseason and claiming his coaching staff needed to focus more on scouting OL talent.

“The [offensive] line has to improve,” Sanders said (h/t FOX Sports). “It’s a struggle to run the ball, and we got to figure that out because now you’re one-dimensional, and it’s easy to stop a team when they’re one-dimensional. And that’s who we are at this point in time. … The big picture, you go get new linemen. That’s the picture, and I’ma paint it perfectly.”

If any Buffs running back may be planning to leave, it could be Sy’veon Wilkerson, who spoke out publically against the struggling run game — and the lack of support for it from the coaching staff — ahead of CU’s season finale against Utah on November 25.

“We’ve just got to commit to the run — That’s it,” Wilkerson said (h/t BuffZone). “If we commit to it and establish it then I feel like we can run the ball. Me and (Anthony Hankerson), we average about four yards per carry. So if we commit to it and just do it consistently, we can have a good running team.”

Another offseason, another slew of transfers in and out of the portal, to and from Boulder. That’s what “Prime Time” is seemingly all about thus far at the helm of the University of Colorado’s football program.