Dante Carter didn’t need a whiteboard this week. His message to Colorado’s defensive line fits on a sticky note.
“Do more,” the Buffaloes’ defensive line coach said Wednesday. “Like, that’s my only words.”
Carter is in his first season running the room. He spent 2025 as a graduate assistant with the line and was promoted in February, when Domata Peko left for a job with the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers.
It’s not that the front has been bad. Georgia Tech ran for 51 yards on 30 carries in the opener. Head coach Deion Sanders noted Tuesday that Toby Anene had a tackle for loss in every game and that Colorado had allowed a rushing touchdown in only one of four contests. In , the Bears had 37 rushing yards through three quarters.
Carter doesn’t grade on the stat sheet. He grades on the scoreboard. Colorado has lost two straight, and the line’s best stretches haven’t been enough to change that.
“We ain’t been winning, so that ain’t enough,” he said. “So we’ve got to take it up a notch.”
The fourth quarter
Baylor’s fourth quarter is the part CU linemen keep coming back to. The Bears ran for 79 yards in those final 15 minutes, with Dawson Pendergrass breaking runs of 16 and 17 yards.
“We’ve stopped it pretty decently. Could always be better,” defensive lineman Santana Hopper said of the Buffs’ run defense. “So this week we want to play a whole four quarters and see how that goes.”
Asked what specifically he wants to see from the group, Carter gave the same answer in different words.
“It’s just about being consistent, doing it for 60 minutes,” he said.
Texas Tech (4-0 overall, 1-0 Big 12) will test that. The Red Raiders average 178.8 rushing yards a game with two backs who can carry it. Cameron Dickey ran for 1,124 yards last season. J’Koby Williams is averaging 6.2 yards a carry this year. Tech ran for 219 against Sam Houston last week.
“If we want to win the game, we’ve got to win up front,” Hopper said. “We’ve got to win one-on-ones and just be dominant.”
Carter wants the run stopped first, then more from the rush. Colorado needs “some juice in the pass rush game,” he said, and Anene, the fifth-year defensive end from North Dakota State, put his own name at the top of that list: the room needs “more pressure on the quarterback,” himself included.
Fresh Legs
Four full quarters takes more than four linemen. Colorado’s rotation has found some relief.
Hopper and Dylan Manuel have carried most of the snaps on the interior. Hopper, a fifth-year transfer, was first-team All-Sun Belt at Appalachian State and started 13 games at Tulane last year. He said he’s used to being on the field for nearly every snap. At Colorado, he has company. Samu Taumanupepe and Quency Wiggins rotate in to give him a breather.
Hopper described the relief of coming off the field after a 15-play drive and hearing the backups get the call.
“I come out and it’s like, hey, Samu, Quency, y’all up this time,” he said. “It lets me catch my breath a little bit more.”
Taumanupepe, a 6-foot-3, 375-pound fourth-year lineman who came to Colorado by way of Texas A&M and Baylor, has made “a big, big jump” since the spring, Carter said. Wiggins, a former four-star recruit who transferred from LSU, moved inside last season out of necessity. Carter doesn’t think it’s been a challenge for him, because Wiggins seems “more comfortable on the inside.”
Manuel said the rotation isn’t something he takes for granted.
“Them coming in, taking a load off of us, it’s pretty darn good,” he said.
All those snaps have another cost. Manuel admitted it’s a challenge to keep his weight up, since some days he doesn’t feel like eating. He makes up for it at the table: “When I eat, I eat a lot.”
The room gets another jolt when Chauncey Gooden crosses over. Gooden is a 380-pound offensive guard who has also played on the defensive line.
“That lights up the room,” Manuel said. “Every time he gets in, he’s getting penetration.”
Holding the line
The line will also be without a familiar voice behind it. that linebacker Tyler Martinez may miss the rest of the season with a lower-leg injury. Carter said the loss doesn’t change the job.
“We’re up for the challenge every week. We sign up for it because we play defense,” the coach said.
Two weeks ago, Anene said he wanted to become more vocal. Asked Wednesday how that’s gone, and whether it matters more with Martinez out, he said there’s “definitely more of an emphasis on it.”
“Within my room, I’ve gotten a little more vocal,” Anene said, “but I still have a lot of work to do.”
Colorado (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) hosts No. 12 Texas Tech at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Folsom Field (FOX), with a bye to follow. Manuel knows who’s coming.
“These are supposedly the top dogs,” he said, “so going against them and winning before we go into the bye week means a lot.”
