Colorado’s win over Georgia Tech got most of its attention for the finish, but the player who set the tone for that whole night didn’t touch the ball once. Chauncey Gooden spent Thursday doing something he had never done at the college level, and by the sound of it, he’s not going back to doing just one job.
At 6-foot-3 and 380 pounds, Gooden built his reputation on the offensive line. Against Georgia Tech, he lined up on defense too, and it wasn’t a gadget package or a one-series experiment. Deion Sanders and his staff have Gooden penciled into the defensive rotation for the rest of the season.
The numbers explain why they’re willing to try it. Georgia Tech managed just 51 yards on 30 carries, a stunning turnaround from a year ago, when Haynes King ran wild on Colorado’s defense in Boulder and the Yellow Jackets piled up 320 yards of total offense in a 27-20 win. Gooden’s physicality up front was a big reason the rematch looked nothing like the original.
Watch LG Chauncey Gooden (51) completely displace the nose tackle and then get up to the second level 😮💨 https://t.co/vtWCIUSSZt pic.twitter.com/fPkguvZwvm
— Scott Procter (@ScottProcter_) September 6, 2026
The Travis Hunter Parallel Is Hard to Ignore
Sanders has done this before. Back at Jackson State, he beat out his own former program, Florida State, for a five-star recruit named Travis Hunter, and the pitch that won him over was simple: play both ways. Hunter took that offer and turned it into a Heisman-caliber career playing receiver and cornerback at the same time.
Gooden’s situation isn’t an exact copy. He’s not chasing a Heisman lining up at two skill positions, he’s holding down spots in the trenches on both sides of the ball. But the willingness behind it is the same. Sanders doesn’t see a two-way lineman as a novelty. He sees it as another version of the same bet that worked with Hunter, betting on an athlete’s motor rather than boxing him into one job.
I tried to explain im really that. on my family.
— Chauncey Gooden #5️⃣5️⃣ (@ChaunceyGooden) September 4, 2026
Gooden earned that trust during fall camp, where his athleticism and physicality kept coming up in practice reports, along with a demeanor that showed up as violent in the best possible way once pads came on. If Colorado’s defense keeps stopping the run the way it did against Georgia Tech, expect him to keep living in the trenches on both sides of the ball.