BOULDER - Given the only real offense the University of Colorado could manage last season was by running, Jeff Grimes' plan to redo some of what the Buffaloes were doing with their legs might have seemed ill-advised.

Don't believe it.

Grimes, hired in late February as CU's running game coordinator/offensive line coach, has not done as much wholesale revision as simplification.

While trying to bump up the Buffs' 172.9 rushing yards a game in 2006 (fifth in the Big 12 Conference, 22nd nationally), Grimes has had to factor in what his returning players might have absorbed in only one season under their previous coach (Chris Strausser) as well as having more than half his scholarship players only a year removed from high school.

Not that any of his troops were incapable of keeping pace, but there might not have been a more appropriate time to pare plays, then emphasize running a handful of them efficiently rather than a bushel full badly.

"If they feel like, 'Man, we've got all these different plays,' it adds up on them - especially the young guys," said Grimes, Brigham Young's offensive line coach for the past three seasons.

"I'm trying to make it sound like it's as little as possible . . . and make it look like it's more than it really is."

It is the offensive equivalent of smoke and mirrors: employ a variety of personnel groups, formations, shifts and motions.

Keep the defense guessing while eliminating the guesswork from your own game plan.

"We want to present as many looks as we can to a defense, yet run as few plays as possible so we can get good at doing (them)," Grimes said. "So we've really got it narrowed down to basic concepts. What we're trying to do is help those concepts carry through to a number of different schemes."

Senior tackles Edwin Harrison and Tyler Polumbus said the conceptual approach appears to be working. The Buffs won't have to wait much longer to see if it works against someone else; they open a week from today against Colorado State at Invesco Field at Mile High (10 a.m., FSN Rocky Mountain).

"As long as we know the concepts - the main goal of each play, where the ball is supposed to go and what's happening on the play - then we pretty much know how to run it against any defense," Harrison said.

Added Polumbus: "If you're not good at something, you're not good at anything. So we're definitely going to become good at certain things and work other plays off of that."

Grimes' approach might have aided the ascent of redshirt freshman tailback Demetrius Sumler, who said the conceptual work "has made things simpler and easier to understand. If you can just read specific (defenders), you're not running around like a chicken with its head cut off."

Meanwhile, Grimes has narrowed his list of which players likely will be used in the opener. Harrison and Polumbus are solid at tackle, with Daniel Sanders set at center. The greenest position is guard, where Devin Head and Wes Palazzi count one start between them.

While Grimes still is unsure about freshman guard Ryan Miller's role, he seems certain of Kai Maiava playing, mainly because Maiava can work at guard or center and has "grasped the offense unbelievably well for a true freshman," Grimes said. "Plus, he's tough and confident; he doesn't act like a freshman."

The second line is composed entirely of true freshmen, any or all of whom could redshirt, Grimes said.

Miller, though, wants to play. His weight has dropped from 335 in July to 308, and he says his pass- and run-blocking from a two-point stance have improved.

"My mind-set right now is, there's nothing stopping me . . . . I've just got to keep going 100 miles an hour in practice, keep getting help from the older guys," he said. "I definitely think I've got a chance to make an impact in that game. But the only person that's limiting that right now is myself."

ETC.: As a condition of allowing the media to watch the final camp scrimmage Friday, CU prohibited reporting on the situational work, which consisted of 72 plays and lasted an hour. Heavy contact work won't resume until Tuesday. . . . If offensive captain Bernard Jackson is ineligible, the most likely stand-in is Polumbus. Coach Dan Hawkins said Polumbus has been leading pre-practice warm--ups in Jackson's absence.

brooksb@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5466