Colorado’s Erik Mitchell Is Slim but Fast : College football: At 162 pounds, the 5-foot-10 former Los Alamitos High School running back needs to add about 13 pounds to play in the bruising Big Eight.

Erik Mitchell is starving for playing time with the Colorado football team, so much so that he leads the daily stampede to the Buffalo training table.

And there’s nobody on the team who can catch him.

Not with Mitchell’s 4.26-second speed in the 40-yard dash. And not with Mitchell’s appetite, which has been increasing along with his hopes for playing tailback for the defending national champions.

But Mitchell, a wide receiver who’s now in a three-way battle for the starting tailback spot, said he needs to add about 13 pounds to his 5-foot-10, 162-pound frame. He weighed 150 pounds as a senior running back at Los Alamitos High School.

“I’ll be fine if I can get up to 175 pounds,” he said. “I have a lot of trouble putting weight on. Last year, I didn’t put on any at all until spring ball.”

Size counts, especially in the Big Eight, where linebackers the size of Coke machines loom a few feet off the line of scrimmage.

So Mitchell, a redshirt freshman, has been putting away the groceries this fall.

“I head straight for the training table after practice,” he said. “I’ll eat anything. I ask for seconds, or I fix my plate up real big. Then I’ll come back later and drink a shake.”

He also has been taking a powdered drink mix in an effort to add bulk. Although the mix is legal under NCAA rules, many doctors question its effectiveness and advise against using it.

Mitchell said he has had no problems.

“The stuff tastes pretty bad,” he said, “unless you mix it with orange juice.”

Mitchell’s size is more suited for wingback, where he was listed second on the depth chart last spring. But Colorado Coach Bill McCartney wanted Mitchell’s speed at tailback.

“We needed more speed back there after Eric Bieniemy left,” Mitchell said. “Coach Mac asked me if I would move, and I said I would.”

And Mitchell can move. His 40 time is the best on the team, one-hundredth faster than receiver Rico Smith, a former standout at Cerritos College.

“I should break 4.26 next spring,” Mitchell said. “I want to try to get as close to 4.1 as I can.”

Mitchell, a Southern Section champion in the 100 and 200 meters in high school, also runs track at Colorado.

He qualified for the NCAA indoor championships in the 55-meter hurdles last year, with a personal best 6.21 seconds. He also ran the 100 outdoors in 10.75 and the 200 in 21.16.

“My goal this year is to get back to the indoor nationals,” he said. “I was pretty pleased to make it last year. Outdoors, I want to get a better time in the 200, but it’s tough because that season conflicts with spring (football) practice.”

The track season was a chance for Mitchell to cut loose after spending a redshirt season practicing with the football team and adjusting to college life.

“The classes are tougher here than in high school and that was a big adjustment,” said Mitchell, who has a 2.7 grade-point average in communications. “And it’s hard during the track season because we’re gone all the time. We’ll leave on Wednesdays for some meets and miss a lot of class time.”

Although he didn’t play in games, Mitchell still contributed to Colorado’s championship season as a scout squad player.

While preparing for the Orange Bowl matchup with Notre Dame, Mitchell simulated Raghib “Rocket” Ismail’s moves as a kick returner and receiver.

“Now that was fun,” Mitchell said. “I got to try out a lot of new moves. And I made them aware of the Rocket’s speed.”

Mitchell is now in a race for the starting tailback spot with freshman Kent Kahl and junior Matt Bell. Mitchell has been listed at second and third on the fall depth chart, and will likely be a backup when the Buffaloes open the season Saturday at home against Wyoming.

“The coaches have told me I’ll get a lot of playing time now, no matter where I am on the chart,” Mitchell said. “I just want to play.

“I’d like to be higher than second or third on the depth chart, but I’m pretty much on schedule. I still have a lot of stuff to improve on.

“The offense here allows me to show my speed and get outside. But I really need to work on my blocking. It’s tough because I’m so much smaller than everyone.”

Along with the other players and redshirts, Mitchell received rings for Colorado’s national, Big Eight and Orange Bowl championships. His rings were sized too large, so he wrapped tape around them so they would fit.

“I don’t wear them very much,” he said. “I’m going to get this display case made for them one of these days.”

And with four years of eligibility remaining, Mitchell might have to have the case built a little bigger to hold his collection.