Karl Dorrell has repeatedly described the depth Colorado has at tailback a "great problem to have." After practice on Tuesday, Dorrell dove into how he's been evaluating that position group and how he plans to utilize them in terms of personnel and workload this season.

Dorrell believes he has his No. 1 man in junior Alex Fontenot solidified. Fontenot, of course, has done much to earn the de facto starting tailback position.

He's the oldest and most experienced player at the position and averaged 4.72 yards per carry last year, totaling 874 yards.

“Sometimes you have your guy who’s your workhorse and gets 70-80% of the work and then you have a guy who supplements when he comes off," Dorrell said. "In our situation, Alex Fontenot is obviously our veteran player — he’s done a really nice job and probably, of anybody that has the biggest piece of the pie, he may have the biggest piece."

However, Dorrell after Saturday's scrimmage had some good things to say about sophomores Joe Davis and in particular Jarek Broussard.

With fellow sophomore Jaren Mangham, who rushed for 441 yards on 107 carries in 2019, also likely to continue contributing like he did in 2019, Fontenot won't be the only tailback taking handoffs.

"I think with the other guys that are actually having really good camps, as well, they’re going to get some smaller slivers of the pie, too," Dorrell said. "I won’t say it’s by committee clearly, like (switching players) every other series — I think we have a guy that we think is the guy, and then we have two guys that we feel can be a hot hand for us."

"That’s how I’m used to using the second guy that comes off the bench: if he’s a hot hand you give him more plays or chances, but it’s definitely a great luxury to have, the depth that we have right now.”

Dorrell's numbers — citing 70-80% of handoffs going to the No. 1 back while the rest coming from the 'hot hand' tailback, presumably behind Fontenot.

Last season, Mangham certainly was the 'hot hand' No. 2 running back, with Fontenot taking 42% of CU's handoffs and Mangham handling 24% of the carries.

However, the 436 total tush attempts by Colorado last year did include 23 by Laviska Shenault out of the Wildcat or on a jet sweep, while Steven Montez rushed 65 times.

Only counting rush attempts by tailbacks, Fontenot took about 58% of the carries.

If Dorrell sticks to his 70-80% vs. 20-30% of handoffs taken by the No. 1 and No. 2 running back(s), Fontenot could be in for a meatier workload than he saw last year.

But after 10 practices, competition to slide into the formal backup spot behind Fontenot remains tight.

After Saturday's scrimmage, Dorrell said that he's not just yet seeing a clear indication that separation between players in position battles is becoming obvious.

Following Tuesday's sessions, he had essentially the same to say.

“It is getting fierce, which is what I like," Dorrell said. "(Players) understand, particularly in some of the close battles, that every rep counts. They don’t want to make a mistake, they want to make a play, execute the technique and do their assignment properly — they don’t take any plays off so to speak, so there’s a level of urgency that a lot of these guys that are competing for jobs are really heightening their awareness to do — no real separation yet."

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Redshirt freshman OLB Joshka Gustav is injured with a sprained ankle, causing him to miss time. Dorrell had referred to him as the most pleasantly surprising player out of the OLBs corps thus far into camp, expressing that Gustav had been impressive before going down.

Gustav was practicing directly behind junior Carson Wells at the right OLB spot, and his injury could mean a multitude of things with respect to who starts seeing snaps behind Wells with the second team defense.

Specifically, it might be one of three true freshmen OLBs — Alvin Williams, Jason Harris or Devin Grant who is thrust into a higher position on the depth chart.At any rate, god forbid an injury to Wells, the most tenured OLB in position coach Brian Michalowski's room, Gustav's sidelining is far from a calamity.

“We’re really fortunate to have a guy like Carson Wells," Dorrell said. "He’s really the leader of that group and has the most experience and starts. We’re really excited about where he’s at — he’s a veteran player but has improved his skill set. He’s a little bigger, he’s stronger and he runs a little bit better, so all those are things that we’re really excited about."

On the other side of the line of scrimmage, competition continues to brew for the other OLB spot opposite Wells, with a pair of JUCO alums in the thick of that position battle.(Junior) Guy Thomas is having a good camp and is learning the system and being one of our outside SAM linebackers," Dorrell said. "(Senior) Jamar Montgomery has done really well, too. Both of those guys are being implemented into our system and I think they’re getting more comfortable in the roles that they’re doing right now.”

A multitude of situational sequences were completed today, with all three of CU's quarterbacks — senior Sam Noyer, junior Tyler Lytle and true freshman Brendon Lewis earning high marks from the boss.

"I think our quarterbacks overall today, all three of them did some really good things today," Dorrell said. "They all had two-minute drives and I thought they performed well in the plays that were given to them. I was really pleased with that.”

With work left to do before UCLA comes to town on Nov. 7, Dorrell continues to be pleased with the trajectory his team is on.

"We have a few details to clean up but I’ve been very impressed with how hard this group works and how conscientious they’ve been," he said.