Colorado's Deion Sanders makes a running back change after loss to BYU

Colorado's Deion Sanders makes a running back change after loss to BYU originally appeared on The Sporting News

One of the more frustrating aspects for football fans is believing a phase of the game simply isn’t good enough with a lack of options to address it midseason. Many fans and pundits move almost immediately to ask for coaches to be fired and players to be replaced. Believing in the age-old fallacy that anything else would be better than this. 

Anything else would be better than this, is rarely ever true. Whether it’s college or pro, there isn’t a wealth of excellent coaches and difference making players sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring. College Football doesn’t have player trades, and the transfer portal window doesn’t open for 3 months. Yet, Deion Sanders found a third option and did not hesitate to confirm the move in the BYU post-game press conference.

From the moment Dre’Lon Miller stepped onto the University of Colorado Boulder campus, the Deebo Samuel comparison was noticeable. By position, Miller is a wide receiver, who just so happens to be very good at running the ball. At 6’1 and 200 pounds, Miller is not easy to tackle.

Like Samuel in the NFL, Miller has been used as a WR who can get yards on the ground. The rushing numbers are not staggering in volume, but very respectable on a per carry basis. Prior to the BYU game, Miller had not yet seen much action from the backfield. Against BYU, Colorado ran Miller 8 times for 52 yards. Providing a much needed and consistent 6.5 yards per carry average, but more importantly, a threat the opposition must respect.

There is one aspect to the Colorado roster construction that is unquestioned at this point. Colorado is going to have a stable of stallions in the wide receiver room. It has been that way all three years Deion Sanders has been at the helm. While Colorado’s impressive WR room is not in question year to year, the running back room has been a massive question mark.

Going into the BYU game Miller was listed as the starting slot receiver on a team that has as many as eight WRs who present a threat on some level. Dre’lon is talented but schematically he is one of eight. With a 6.5 yards per carry against a respectable defensive front, Miller just might be the change at running back needed to keep defenses honest. Miller now begins the journey of altering his mental approach to being specifically a running back instead of a receiver who can run.

Colorado needed to make a change somewhere if they hoped to render a different result. Defensive fronts are pinning their ears back vs Colorado because they have had no reason to respect the CU running game. Colorado is scheduled to face TCU, Iowa State, and Utah in order over the next month. 

All of which offer a significant front seven. Instead of another game of QB musical chairs, Sanders’ coaching staff has decided to move Miller to the RB room full-time. Such a move would typically be viewed as a desperate move, having a WR change positions mid-season. However, WRs don’t typically start their college career with a significant amount of experience running the ball. Most college programs also don’t have a Hall of Fame RB with over 12,000 rushing yards leading their running back room.

Deion Sanders has been rather specific on the criteria required for him to allow a player to play both ways, which was the case with Travis Hunter. Sanders has said on numerous occasions, “You have to dominate on one side before I’ll let you play both.” Miller doesn’t play both ways, but he can play two positions. Miller has shown an ability to be successful at both, but it seems the circumstance of the moment dictates that Coach Prime needs Dre’lon running the ball more than he needs him running routes. This announcement pertaining to Miller came as no shock to anyone in that press conference and has been received as a welcomed and logical change.

This week Colorado travels to Fort Worth, Texas to take on the TCU Horned Frogs. The first meeting since Sanders’ Colorado debut when they defeated TCU coming off their appearance in the College Football Playoff championship game the year before. The specific plan for Miller’s usage alongside Micah Welch, DaKalon Taylor, and Simeon Rice is still unknown, but based on Coach Prime’s response to the Miller question, early expectations are that his role vs TCU should be ‘significant’.

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