AT COLORADO: This Season (Soph.)-Enters the fall in contention for starting honors at tailback, ending the spring tied for atop the depth chart at the position. He had a tremendous spring, earning the Fred Casotti Award as CU?s most outstanding offensive back, and was one of 13 players to earn prestigious Spring Victory Club honors. He had 24 carries for 120 yards in the three main scrimmages, including the longest rush of the spring (46 yards) in the Black & Gold Game.

2002 (Fr.)-He played in all 14 games, including the Alamo Bowl, making one start (against Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game). Used sporadically during the first 11 games, he got his chance in the regular season finale at Nebraska due to injuries at tailback, and he made the most of it. He had 20 carries for 137 yards, and then followed that up with 20 attempts for 122 yards against Oklahoma. He first got some attention against Kansas State, as he caught a 71-yard touchdown pass from Robert Hodge, the first chance he had to showcase his 4.28 speed to the fans in Boulder. It was the third longest reception by a Buff running back in a 21-season span. For the year, he rushed for 298 yards, the seventh most by a true frosh in CU history, as he had five runs of 10 or more yards (all against NU and OU), and 21 of five yards or longer. In the bowl game against Wisconsin, he had nine carries for 16 yards, most of the carries coming late after CU had lost two linemen to injuries. He also saw some spot action returning kickoffs; he had six for a 13.2 average.

HIGH SCHOOL-As a senior, he garnered Prep Football Report, PrepStar and SuperPrep All-America honors, with Rivals.com ranking him as the nation?s No. 12 running back and Student Sports the No. 25 RB. As both a junior and senior, he earned first-team all-state (Associated Press, Wisconsin Coaches), all-CNI, all-region and all-Southeast Conference recognition, and as a junior, he was the state?s Gatorade player-of-the-year as well as the region and conference player-of-the-year. He was a second-team all-league performer as a sophomore. The G&W Recruiting Report called him the No. 1 recruit in the state of Wisconsin prior to his senior year. In his prep career, he rushed for 4,790 yards and 82 touchdowns: as a senior, he gained 1,275 yards and scored 26 touchdowns on just 120 carries, averaging 10.4 per, with a long run of 80. In addition, he caught 15 passes for 300 yards and two more scores, all despite battling ankle injuries a good part of the season. As a junior, he rushed 177 times for 1,967 yards and 38 touchdowns (11.1 per carry), with 12 catches for 173 yards and two TDs. He had gaudy averages on special teams, returning 10 punts for a 37.8 norm (1 TD) and eight kickoffs for a 45.0 average (1 TD). As a sophomore, he had 105 carries for 1,548 yards and 18 touchdowns. Top career games included a 28-6 win over Muskego his senior year, when he rushed 25 times for 295 yards and four touchdowns, and a 52-28 win over Racine-Horlick his junior year, when he scored seven touchdowns (6 rush, 1 kickoff return). He had 20 carries for 250 yards in that game to go with a pair of kickoff returns for 185 yards and two receptions for 25 yards, or 460 all-purpose yards in all. Oak Creek was 12-2 his senior year, reaching the state semifinals, and was 9-1 his junior year and 10-2 his sophomore season under coach Joe Koch. He also lettered twice in basketball (11 points and six assists per game as a junior), and four times in track, participating in sprints and jumps. Owns career bests of 10.5 in the 100, 21.2 in the 200, 24-3 in the long jump and 6-8 in high jump as he was a four-time team MVP. He led Oak Creek to its conference title as a senior by winning all four of those events and scoring 40 of his team?s 119 points.

ACADEMICS-He is interested in journalism/mass communication as his major at Colorado. He was the sports editor of his high school newspaper, and was on the technical crew for the school?s daily video announcements.

PERSONAL-He was born May 8, 1984 in Atlanta, Ga. His hobbies include lifting weights, playing pool and ping-pong. An accomplished drummer, he won several competitions over a six-year period. He participated in the World Youth Championships in Athletics, placing seventh in the long jump (24-3) in 2001 in Budapest, Hungary; it?s basically a lower-level Olympics for those 18-and-under. He was honored with two "Code of Conduct" awards for citizenship, and was a member of TATU (Teens Against Tobacco Use), speaking to kids about the dangers of tobacco.

2002 13 67 298 4.4 0 37 20 137 4 73 18.3 1 71t 2 71

ADDITIONAL STATISTICS?Kickoff Returns: 6-79, 13.2 avg. (2002).