Deion Sanders can turn a simple answer into a viral moment faster than most coaches can read a depth chart, and his Tuesday press conference produced another one. When asked why Richard Young had to wait so long for a real chance, the Colorado Buffaloes coach reached for the Three Stooges.

“And he haven’t had a pity party, he could have, and he should have,” Sanders said. “Because you’ve seen Moe, you know, Curly, Larry, whoever, all in the backfield. Not saying 83 Stooges, but you know what I’m saying.”

“You’ve seen them, multiple names; I can’t remember names to save my life. But he hadn’t got his opportunity, a true opportunity, and he got it,” Sanders said.

Naturally, the clip made its way around X within hours, and critics ran with the idea that Sanders couldn’t name his own running backs. Heard in full, the joke lands somewhere else. Sanders was poking fun at a rotation that cycled through so many bodies that even the man in charge lost count, and he was crediting the one back who kept quiet through all of it.

Richard Young waited out the running back carousel

Colorado’s backfield includes Micah Welch, Damian Henderson II, JaQuail Smith and DeKalon Taylor alongside Young, and for most of the season, Young sat near the end of that line. Before the Kansas State game, he had not carried the ball more than eight times in any game this season.

Worse still, the run game sputtered no matter who lined up behind the quarterback. Colorado averaged less than 2.5 yards per carry against both Baylor and Texas Tech, and a week before the Kansas State win, it ran 30 times for 56 yards at Oklahoma State.

Calling that stretch a Stooges routine is a little harsh on the backs, since a run game that thin rarely has one cause. Either way, Sanders’ point holds up, because the answer turned out to be the guy he hadn’t fed.

Richard Young joined Micah Welch in a very small club

Young’s breakout against Kansas State made him only the second Colorado player to run for 100 yards in a game during Sanders’ four seasons. Welch was the first, against Weber State in September, and he ended a drought that dated back to 2022.

Two 100-yard rushing games in 45 games under Sanders says a lot about how long the ground game has been missing in Boulder. There is a catch, though. Welch is banged up but improving, Sanders said Tuesday, and he could return this weekend, which means the carousel could start spinning again at Arizona State.

Deion Sanders saw something in Richard Young early

Sanders said he noticed something in Young from the start, and the Kansas State game simply forced the issue. The coach made it sound like the decision is no longer up for debate.

“Sooner or later you gotta say, ’He’s in,’” Sanders said.

Young, for his part, sounded like a back who has no plans to give the job back. “The more carries that I was getting, the more hungry I was getting,” Young said Tuesday.