CU's speedy Lockridge learning on the run

BOULDER – Darian Hagan will tell you that Brian Lockridge is fairly new to football, but that doesn’t tell you how much of a newbie Lockridge really is. Lockridge’s tale is far more telling.

Don’t get the idea that he’s greener than the grass about to come to life on the University of Colorado’s practice fields. Given Hagan’s tutelage (he’s CU’s running backs coach) and this particular pupil’s innate ability and incomparable drive, Lockridge – he’s “B-Lock’’ to his teammates – is getting ready to contribute in large and multiple ways come September.

Still, he chuckles at an introduction to football that doesn’t seem so long ago.
Told as a middle-schooler that summer football camp was approaching and he should prepare himself, Lockridge and his mom got him “ready for a camping trip – a sleeping bag and all that.

“I went to practice and I’m all happy waiting for the bus. Guys are out there with cleats on, and I was so embarrassed.’’

Told he needed a pair of gloves that might help him as a receiver, he produced a pair of snow mittens.

“Just shows I was inexperienced,’’ said Lockridge, of Trabuco Canyon, Calif. “They kind of made me the water boy . . . for my first two years.’’

More education was forthcoming. Usually among the fastest players on the field, he was asked about playing running back.

His response: “Is that defense or offense?’’

To which his coach replied: “We hand you the ball and you run.’’

“Ever since, it’s been mostly easy,’’ Lockridge said. “I like that play.’’

Hagan and the Buffaloes do, too. After sitting out his sophomore season (he redshirted) due to a slow-to-heal sports hernia surgery, a hungry Lockridge is full-go this spring and fully charged – but then, when hasn’t he been?

At various times, coach Dan Hawkins has likened him to the Energizer Bunny for his non-stop, full-tilt style. Even as a freshman, Lockridge never had to be told to “finish’’ a play; not only did he continue running at full speed, he returned to the huddle at the same pace.

Full speed is his only speed, and it’s been that way “all my life,’’ he said. “I had to do a lot of up-downs (at Mission Viejo High School) because I was going too fast. But to me, I’d rather get penalized for going too fast than get penalized for jogging or going through the motions.

“So I’d rather just go 100 percent all the time. But I have to be patient – that’s really one thing I have to learn.’’

Hagan likens Lockridge, a finely tuned 5-foot-7, 175-pounder, to a $100,000 sports car: “You drive it fast all the time and nobody sees you. You pay that much and you want everybody to see you.

“You want to cruise, then when it’s time to put your foot on the gas, do that. I tell all my guys to save a gear; don’t show (top speed) all the time.’’

So Lockridge’s learning continues, and it’s not limited to gearing down. CU’s offensive coaches plan to utilize him in numerous ways this season. He’ll line up outside as a receiver, be used in motion, or sometimes as a single back.

“We talk all the time about him being in a multi-dimensional role,’’ Hagan said. “He’s the guy who comes by my office, just to check in and talk. He’s dynamite; he wants to do well.’’

Lockridge, though, isn’t Hagan’s only hypermotivated or supremely gifted back. Of his six top tailbacks, he contends four (Lockridge, Rodney Stewart, Demetrius Sumler and Darrell Scott) “could go anywhere in the country and start. The other two (Kevin Moyd and Corey Nabors) could contribute as role players.

“I’m really happy with my group.’’

Of the top quartet, Hagan characterizes Lockridge, Stewart and Sumler as “wiggle guys,’’ meaning they run with enough of an elusive style to make tacklers miss. What about Scott, CU’s prized 2008 recruit?

“He’s going to be a guy who’s straight-up power,’’ Hagan said. “He doesn’t have any wiggle . . . no wiggle.’’

The Buffs were somewhat surprised at that last fall, but in hindsight, Hagan said, it should have been apparent when watching Scott’s high school highlight tapes: “When you go back and look . . . he ran over or away from people.

“You can’t teach (wiggle). If you don’t have any moves, you can’t teach them. You just make sure you hone up his game, get him to be explosive and make the right cuts. Get him to use his hands, run behind his pads, run through tackles.’’

Scott, said Hagan, appears to be latching on to what’s being taught him, has toned himself during winter conditioning and “looks explosive.’’

Among the other top backs, Sumler, a junior, has the most experience and should benefit from a strong 2008 finish. And Stewart is showing no after-effects of the broken leg that derailed what was looking like a 1,000-yard freshman season.

Then there’s Lockridge, who still is learning as he goes but is light years from the kid who showed up for football camp lugging a sleeping bag. Whatever the coaches have planned in the way of being multi-dimensional suits him, but he’ll continue to meet with the running backs.

Said Hagan: “He’ll never go into (receiver) meetings . . . I told him he’ll play multiple roles, so he thinks, `I’ve got to go to their meetings.’ Nah. He can learn his routes in our meetings. It’s not that hard.’’

Thus, Lockridge will learn on the fly – which probably suits a guy stuck in overdrive.

“I’ll pick up things as I go,’’ he said. “I’m really inexperienced, but whatever the coaches say, I’ll do. I’m going to go 100 percent all the time – even if I don’t know what I’m doing, I’ll go 100 percent until I get it right.’’

BUFF BITS: Denver East kicker/punter Zach Grossnickle, a 2009 CU signee, attended Monday’s practice and watched current Buffs kicker Aric Goodman hit a handful of lengthy field goal attempts — one from 57 yards — to conclude the afternoon’s work . . . . Coach Dan Hawkins believes the second knee injury suffered by guard Max Tuioti-Mariner might not pose the mental difficulty brought on by the first, which kept the player out of most of the 2008 season. Hawkins surmised that already having been through knee rehabilitation might aid Tuioti-Mariner this time around. Hawkins remains hopeful Tuioti-Mariner can be available in September . . . . Who has the team’s best hands? Quarterback Cody Hawkins mentioned receiver Markques Simas the other day, but Dan Hawkins rattled off a list that included most of Simas’ position mates, a couple of defensive backs and the tight ends. Take your pick . . . . The Buffs’ first full scrimmage is set for Saturday (10 a.m., site to be determined).