Opportunities to jump into coaching have come up in the past for Marshall Faulk.

Every time, the Hall of Fame running back would say no. When Colorado head coach Deion Sanders came calling this winter, however, Faulk was finally ready.

Now, he’s in his first week of spring practices as the running backs coach for the Buffaloes.

“I’ve been saying no to coaching since I left football,” said Faulk, who retired after the 2005 season and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011, along with Sanders. “For the past, like, three, maybe four years, coach (Sanders) has been grooming me. He’ll call me and ask me certain stuff. He’ll ask me about a player, and we’ll talk about this and that. ‘Hey, come up and watch us practice.’ So he’s been grooming me.”

In the past, Faulk often rejected coaching opportunities in part because he didn’t want to miss his kids’ activities. Now that his kids are older, the timing is right.

Hired last month, Faulk is brand new to being a coach but is leaning on his tremendous wealth of knowledge, as well as his history with coaches.

“The reality is realizing the age gap between myself and these kids,” said Faulk, 52. “That’s the difference. Because, I mean, I still remember myself as a player sitting in the room, and for me, it’s good, because I think about how I wanted to be coached, the things I liked about coaches, the kind of coach I wish I had. Now I’m trying to be that for them.”

One of the coaches who mentored Faulk is current Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton. He was the running backs coach during Faulk’s final two sensational seasons at San Diego State, in 1992 and 1993.

“It’s just serendipitous that I’m here now and it’ll be an even easier commute to go there (to Denver) and watch them practice, spend some time with Sean and get better at the craft, like learn some stuff,” Faulk said.

Faulk, who is the only player in NFL history to record at least 12,000 rushing yards (12,279) and 6,000 receiving yards (6,875) in his career, knows plenty about the game and is eager to help the Buffs get better at running the ball.

Led by star quarterback Shedeur Sanders, who is projected as a top-five pick in next month’s NFL Draft, the Buffs have posted a lot of passing yards in the past two seasons, but they’ve been last in the country in rushing.

“You got to understand, when you’re bad at running the ball — when it appears to be that you’re bad at running the ball — is because you’re really, really good, or borderline great at throwing the football,” Faulk said. “And that’s what Shedeur brought to the team.

“I don’t believe that we were as bad as the numbers say, but I think that we were really good at throwing the football, so I focus on that part of it. Coming in here, and just trying to figure out how do we statistically look better to you guys as a team at running the football?”

All five scholarship running backs from last season are back, led by junior Isaiah Augustave, who had a team-high 384 yards and four touch- downs.

“I have some guys that’s talented,” Faulk said. “They’re good. And one of the things that I believe at this age that resonates with a lot of young kids is they don’t know what they don’t know, and it’s my job to teach them what they don’t know.

“They know what they know, and they’re good at that, but the things that they don’t know … well, it’s my job to coach them and get them better in the areas and at the things that they don’t know. I am here to deliver that information to them, and then hopefully that helps them to get better.”

There’s no question the Buffs have to get better at running the ball after posting just 68.9 yards per game in 2023 and 65.2 per game in 2024. Faulk is intent on making sure those numbers improve.

“I can’t change what you thought about the run game last year,” he said, “but we’re going to be better. I can guarantee you we are going to be better.”