University of Colorado Athletics
Five Spots, Too Many Answers: CU's Offensive Line Embraces the Crowd
August 10, 2026 | Football
BOULDER, Colo. — Three weeks from the opener, Gunnar White knows exactly when he'll name his starting five up front.
"Night before the game," White said.
He's in no hurry, because the number itself might be negotiable. Colorado's offensive line room is carrying eight, nine, maybe 10 players its coaches believe can play winning football, and rather than treat that as a problem to be solved, the Buffaloes' four-man offensive line staff is treating it as the plan.
"It's a great problem to have," White said. "I would much rather have the 'all right, we've got too many bullets' than the 'not enough' situation."
That includes entertaining something offensive lines rarely do: a rotation.
"Honestly, I would love it," White said. "Defensive lines, they do it all the time — so why can't the offensive line? I can't make promises whether we're going to do that or not, but I think we have the guys to be able to do that."
Assistant coach Andre Gurode, a former All-American center for the Buffs, has coached rotations before and sees no downside.
"That means that I have enough guys on the field that all want to play, and so there should never be a drop-off," Gurode said. "If I've got guys that are rotating in, everybody's hungry. Everybody's ready to play. And what I was taught as a young child was hungry dogs run faster."
Nowhere is the competition tighter than at center, where third-year lineman Yahya Attia, fifth-year transfer Demetrius Hunter and third-year transfer Sean Kinney are pushing one another daily. Offensive line coach George Hegamin likes the fight — now he wants a winner.
"We want to see somebody take that role," Hegamin said. "The center is the first person to touch the football on the football field, so we want to make sure that whomever that guy is, they own it. We do believe that we've got the guy in the room — it's time for that guy to show up and stay up."
The competition stays honest because the coaches keep it that way. Every rep is graded, every grade is posted, and nobody in the room is guessing where he stands.
"They're going to tell you straight up: if you had a bad day, you had a bad day. And if this guy's been beating you, he's been beating you," second-year guard Jayvon McFadden said. "We don't really have ones, twos and threes. It's kind of like a 1A-1B system, and the best man will play."
Whichever five — or more — take the field Sept. 3, the identity is already set. It gets repeated in the room daily, and it showed up in the handful of scraps that marked the first days of camp: this group intends to be violent.
"There's a lot more aggression, there's a lot more violence happening up front," Hegamin said. "That's something that either you got it or you don't. It's a mentality thing. But when the scheme speaks to violence, and you've got guys that like being violent, you get violence."
The scheme in question is first-year offensive coordinator Brennan Marion's Go-Go offense, which asks the line to play vertical, north-and-south football no matter what the defense believes is coming.
"I know people might think it's just run-first or pass-first or triple option, whatever they think. We really don't care," McFadden said. "This offense puts our players in the best position to win. It's really not about the scheme, it's about the players."
Attia explained why the guessing game makes the line more physical, not less.
"We don't know if we're gonna throw it or run the ball, so we just treat it like run every time," Attia said. "That's what makes us so physical. We can't just take a rep off."
And if the tempo makes violence harder to sustain? Gurode isn't interested in the question.
"Simple answer for you: just do it," Gurode said. "If that's what the offensive coordinator wants, and that's what's required of the play, you execute. There are no other options but to be violent."
Grant Hammer, who's an analyst for the offensive line, is tasked with keeping a crowded, competitive room pointed at the same thing every day. His answer fits on a wristband.
"Our goal is to win, and W.I.N. means what's important now," Hammer said. "Be where your feet are. We've got to operate as one as a front five."
However many of them that turns out to be.
Colorado opens the season Thursday, Sept. 3 at Georgia Tech (6 p.m. MT, ESPN).
"Night before the game," White said.
He's in no hurry, because the number itself might be negotiable. Colorado's offensive line room is carrying eight, nine, maybe 10 players its coaches believe can play winning football, and rather than treat that as a problem to be solved, the Buffaloes' four-man offensive line staff is treating it as the plan.
"It's a great problem to have," White said. "I would much rather have the 'all right, we've got too many bullets' than the 'not enough' situation."
That includes entertaining something offensive lines rarely do: a rotation.
"Honestly, I would love it," White said. "Defensive lines, they do it all the time — so why can't the offensive line? I can't make promises whether we're going to do that or not, but I think we have the guys to be able to do that."
Assistant coach Andre Gurode, a former All-American center for the Buffs, has coached rotations before and sees no downside.
"That means that I have enough guys on the field that all want to play, and so there should never be a drop-off," Gurode said. "If I've got guys that are rotating in, everybody's hungry. Everybody's ready to play. And what I was taught as a young child was hungry dogs run faster."
Nowhere is the competition tighter than at center, where third-year lineman Yahya Attia, fifth-year transfer Demetrius Hunter and third-year transfer Sean Kinney are pushing one another daily. Offensive line coach George Hegamin likes the fight — now he wants a winner.
"We want to see somebody take that role," Hegamin said. "The center is the first person to touch the football on the football field, so we want to make sure that whomever that guy is, they own it. We do believe that we've got the guy in the room — it's time for that guy to show up and stay up."
The competition stays honest because the coaches keep it that way. Every rep is graded, every grade is posted, and nobody in the room is guessing where he stands.
"They're going to tell you straight up: if you had a bad day, you had a bad day. And if this guy's been beating you, he's been beating you," second-year guard Jayvon McFadden said. "We don't really have ones, twos and threes. It's kind of like a 1A-1B system, and the best man will play."
Whichever five — or more — take the field Sept. 3, the identity is already set. It gets repeated in the room daily, and it showed up in the handful of scraps that marked the first days of camp: this group intends to be violent.
"There's a lot more aggression, there's a lot more violence happening up front," Hegamin said. "That's something that either you got it or you don't. It's a mentality thing. But when the scheme speaks to violence, and you've got guys that like being violent, you get violence."
The scheme in question is first-year offensive coordinator Brennan Marion's Go-Go offense, which asks the line to play vertical, north-and-south football no matter what the defense believes is coming.
"I know people might think it's just run-first or pass-first or triple option, whatever they think. We really don't care," McFadden said. "This offense puts our players in the best position to win. It's really not about the scheme, it's about the players."
Attia explained why the guessing game makes the line more physical, not less.
"We don't know if we're gonna throw it or run the ball, so we just treat it like run every time," Attia said. "That's what makes us so physical. We can't just take a rep off."
And if the tempo makes violence harder to sustain? Gurode isn't interested in the question.
"Simple answer for you: just do it," Gurode said. "If that's what the offensive coordinator wants, and that's what's required of the play, you execute. There are no other options but to be violent."
Grant Hammer, who's an analyst for the offensive line, is tasked with keeping a crowded, competitive room pointed at the same thing every day. His answer fits on a wristband.
"Our goal is to win, and W.I.N. means what's important now," Hammer said. "Be where your feet are. We've got to operate as one as a front five."
However many of them that turns out to be.
Colorado opens the season Thursday, Sept. 3 at Georgia Tech (6 p.m. MT, ESPN).
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