The Colorado Buffaloes’ running back room is loaded with talent, and it has been a tight race in fall camp. Buffs running back DeKalon Taylor opened up about the competition during an exclusive interview at fall sports media day.

The battle has been hotly contested, and each running back sees everything as a competition. However, it is also an extremely tightly-knit group that lifts one another up in the pursuit of greatness.

DeKalon Taylor’s thoughts on the running back competition

When asked about the status of the running back competition, Taylor highlighted how much each player in the room pushes one another.

“Man, those guys are great,” Taylor told Colorado Buffaloes on SI's Liam Howard. “We continue to push each other every day. It’s always best man up, but we eat off of each other’s energy. Say I go in, and I run for 20 yards, Damian [Henderson II], Richard [Young], Micah [Welch], they might come in and go, ‘Well, I’m going for 30.’ So it's always a competition between us, but it's all a brotherhood in there.”

Colorado’s top four contenders for starting roles are Taylor and the three players he listed. It's a 50-50 split between transfers and returning talent in the room. Taylor and Welch withstood the struggles of the 2025 team and are driven to produce better results. As for Henderson and Young, they still have much to prove, and they believe Colorado is the place to do that.

How DeKalon Taylor’s teammates have helped him

The competition doesn't drive the group over the edge, though. They still prioritize elevating one another above all else, and that is what has helped Taylor find early success. He’s looked great in the receiving game, running routes out of the backfield and generating immense run after catch.

He credited his teammates for creating openings for him to find that type of success.

“I’ve been used pretty well in the passing game in this offense,” Taylor said. “It attests to the other guys. The other guys open up opportunities for me to get the ball in the passing game, so it's been pretty elite in that way.”

Taylor’s style is unique to the room, as Henderson is a pure power runner, and Welch and Young are hybrid backs with good balances of strength and speed. The change of pace that Taylor offers as a result makes him a lightning-in-a-bottle type of secret weapon for the Buffaloes. He’ll likely be a big play magnet in 2026 who catches defenders off-guard on many occasions.

How Week 1 of fall camp helped Colorado Buffaloes’ running backs

The primary reason Colorado’s running backs have been able to balance elevating one another and competing hard in the first few weeks of fall camp is the experience they had in Colorado Springs for Week 1 of fall camp. While there, they capitalized on the isolation and built deep connections with one another.

“Man, we grew a lot,” Taylor said. “We decided to put the phones down and actually be interpersonal to learn about each other. We learned a lot about each other. We learned what each other were going through; we learned why we each play football; who we’re doing it for. So it made it a lot more personal to us when we see each other having success on the field, because we’re like, ‘We know what he’s doing it for, so we’re going to support him a bit harder.’”

Taylor’s remarks are the newest in a line of praise for the position from the offseason. With the season opener against Georgia Tech rapidly approaching, the hype surrounding the group will finally be put to the test on a prime time stage.

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