Colorado sophomore offensive lineman Kanan Ray has had something of a turbulent college football career since graduating from Sierra Canyon High School in Chatsworth, Calif.
Originally joining UCLA's Class of 2017 as a grayshirt, Ray wound up never enrolling in Westwood as the Bruins went from the Jim Mora era to hiring Chip Kelly.
He eventually committed to and signed with Colorado, joining the Buffs for the spring 2018 semester while redshirting later that fall in Mike MacIntyre's final season at CU.
Ray was used sparingly as a redshirt freshman under Mel Tucker in 2019, seeing a handful of snaps on the offensive line against Colorado State and then the Buffs' blowout losses to Oregon and Washington State.
After a college career dictated by coaching changes and a lack of action, Ray finally got some ground under him last fall, seeing an increase in snaps per game across Colorado's final four regular season contests, culminating with a start against Utah at Folsom Field.
“It helped a lot, getting that game experience and really being out there," he said. "You get so much of a better look and get so much better from actual game snaps than just here in practice.”
While, in the past, the 6-foot-4, 295-pound Ray had practiced at both tackle and guard, this fall camp, position coach Mitch Rodrigue has him focusing at right guard, where he's seen a lot of first-team reps as Casey Roddick continues to get back into form.
At this point, with the season-opener vs. Northern Colorado inching closer and closer, Ray has a legitimate opportunity to take the field as the Buffaloes' starting right tackle.
His third head coach at CU, Karl Dorrell, has noticed the progression he's made, in particular with respect to staying healthy; last year, Ray was unable to play in Colorado's opener against UCLA, as he was recovering from injury.
"Kanan Ray, last year he kind of came out of training camp dinged up and really had some issues just maintaining his health but he was able to make it through camp and get all of his reps, so he’s a much better player," Dorrell said.
Ray credited director of strength and conditioning Shannon Turley with helping him get to a good place health-wise with the season approaching, namely via injury prevention work before putting the pads on at practice.
“I’m feeling really good — I’m feeling the best I have in some years," he said. "Coach Turley and I have created a plan together where I’m pre-habbing and getting things figured out before an injury comes up. I’m staying on top and before practice, I’m doing so much mobility stuff to where I’m feeling great out here. Of course, you’re going to be sore after a day of camp, but I’m feeling great.”
As of right now, junior Colby Pursell and senior Kary Kutsch appear to be locks to start the season at center and left guard, respectively.
Ohio State transfer Max Wray, who has practiced this fall at left guard and who was banged up a bit the last week or so of practice with a sore shoulder, is back practicing.
Next to Ray, redshirt freshman Jake Wiley has eaten up the majority of the first-team reps at right tackle in the absence of the injured Frank Fillip, who is expected to miss at least the first three weeks of the season.
As Colorado's first official depth chart shapes up, Ray is excited to be a part of the action on the offensive line.
"This is probably the most depth we’ve had as a group since I’ve been here," he said. "We probably have like nine or 10 guys that could play and we really wouldn’t miss a beat. It’s great to have that depth knowing we can have fresh legs in there and it’s great knowing there’s somebody behind you that can come in and play and step up. There’s so much competition — everyone’s been getting better with that depth.”
