Brennan Marion Breaks Down Process of Installing the 'Go-Go' Offense at Colorado

Colorado Buffaloes offensive coordinator Brennan Marion broke down how he installs his system and what he's learned in his coaching career during his fall camp presser.

Sacramento State Hornets head coach Brennan Marion listens to one of the assistant coaches yell at players on Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025, at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium in Brookings, South Dakota. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

After day three of the Colorado Buffaloes' fall camp, offensive coordinator Brennan Marion took to the podium for his press conference. He discussed how he implements his pattented 'Go-Go' offense and what he's learned throughout his coaching career.

Marion gave insight into what he's seen from Colorado's defense as well, painting a good picture for fans on what fall camp has looked like thus far.

What Brennan Marion said:

On his first impressions of the running backs in fall camp

Sep 6, 2025; Boulder, Colorado, USA; Colorado Buffaloes running back Micah Welch (29) celebrates a touchdown in the second half against the Delaware Fightin Blue Hens at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“Well, all of those guys can be explosive,” Marion said. “They’ve been very violent, running downhill. They've done a lot of better job in protections. That was the challenge from the spring to the summer, to understand protection. Those guys have been doing a really good job of understanding the protection and then being physical at the point of attack and protection.”

“The number one rule if you want to play in the National Football League at running back is you have to protect the quarterback,” Marion said. “So, Coach [Johnnie] Mack and Coach Joc [Upton] have done a really good job of helping those guys understand protections and working with the offensive line to get it done.”

“So, really proud of that group from a standpoint of trying to be three-down backs,” Marion said. “Being able to catch the ball out of the backfield, being able to run the ball. They're all here because they can run the ball when they get the ball, and then being able to protect the quarterback, obviously being the most important thing.”

On quarterback Julian ‘JuJu’ Lewis

Apr 11, 2026; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Julian Lewis (10) prepares to pass the ball during the spring game at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“Yeah, I think anytime you have the type of ability that that kid has coming out of high school, and you have all the people that try to get around the kid who’s supposed to be ‘the next coming,’ that creates trust issues,” Marion said. “So for him, it's just about the consistency of him seeing me be me every day, and it's giving him more confidence to be himself and open up to the group, just let his personality really thrive and show.”

“So he's continuing to grow every day,” Marion said. “He's still a young kid. He still has a lot of growth to do. He's not going to be a final product year one, or year one and a half, or however we look at that. But he's doing a really good job of being the same guy, consistent every day, and his teammates are respecting him for that.”

On quarterbacks Isaac Wilson and Kaneal Sweetwyne

Apr 11, 2026; Boulder, CO, USA; Colorado Buffaloes quarterback Isaac Wilson (16) during the spring game at Folsom Field. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“Isaac and Kaneal are at different stages,” Marion said. “Isaac is really on like the comeback tour. He was anointed as a young quarterback, thrown into the fire. It didn't go the way that he wanted to go. He played okay, but not great, right? That's the reason why he's here, and so he's really worked at just letting go of what happened in the past, the hurt feelings, the I should have beens, and really worked on what can I do here, and really be where his feet are.”

“From Kaneal’s standpoint, he should have just gone to the prom and all that,” Marion said. “So, he's a young kid with a lot of ability, a lot of talent. Everybody can see that, ‘oh yeah, he's going to be special,’ because every day he has those flashes and plays where you see, like, man, this dude is going to be something.”

On installing the ‘Go-Go’ offense

“It takes time to install it from the standpoint of all the things that it's capable of doing,” Marion said. “It's really an engine that's run off of players. So, based on what we have, based on what we can do with our players, then we adapt it to that. There are a lot of pages in the book; there have been pages stolen from other people's books, so there are a lot of things that we can pull out and look at because of the skill set of players that we have.”

“We're going to adapt to what we have and what we can do well,” Marion said. “And then we're always going to be able to run the football, and that's a staple of what we do. You have to be physical and violent. We practice offense with a defensive mentality. We love contact. We love physicality. We we we love that. We relish in that.”

“So, for our guys, the guys that we recruited up front, that's their natural habitat of being violent and over the top,” Marion said. “So, we just have to scale those guys back a little bit and continue to work their technique, but as far as the physicality and the violence, if you were able to see practice today, you would see a lot of bodies hitting the ground. It was very violent in the trenches.”

“From the standpoint of the skill position guys, they have a lot on their plate,” Marion said. “From the standpoint of multiple formations, multiple guys getting the ball.” 

“Some of our guys came from places where one guy just dominated the ball,” Marion said. “They line up on the left side, run a go route, okay. Until you play a better team, and then you don't have any catches because you don't know how to motion, you don't know to be on another side, you don't know how to play multiple spots.”

“Our guys play basketball on grass, musical chairs,” Marion said. “They move to multiple spots. So once the guys continue to grow and develop with that, Coach [Rashad Davis] has done a good job. [Jason Phillips, when he was here, did a really good job with the guys. Everybody is learning, going extra, and striving to be their best self out there.”

On wide receiver coach Jason Phillips retiring

Oct 19, 2024; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Colorado Buffalos wide receivers coach Jason Phillips against the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

“That's my dog. I mean, I love that dude,” Marion said. “He's a truth-teller. He keeps it real, which is frowned upon by a lot of people. People want just to be praised and not hear any criticism. But I love [Phillips]. I love what he brought to our team; that'll stay with our players."

“The culture that he put in that room, what he taught Coach [Davis] over the years,” Marve said. “He's been developing Coach [Davis] for years, so I'm happy for him to spend time and be with his family and his mom and take care of them when they're in their time of need right now.”

“[Phillips] meant a lot to the game of football. He's been in a lot of places and won a lot of games. So obviously, you don't replace a person like that. You just hope to honor them with the way that the receivers play out there on the field.”

On if installing the ‘Go-Go’ offense gets easier the more he does it

When I first learned the West Coast offense when I was in junior college, it was explained to me like it's a language,” Marion said. “So at the time, there were 32 NFL teams, and there were probably like 20 to 24 running the West Coast system. So if you were a player and you got traded on a waiver wire or you got cut, you could go to another team, and you would know the terminology, the verbiage.” 

“So over the years, being with guys that have called plays in the NFL, guys who have played called plays in college, guys who have called plays in high school, seeing all the different terminology, putting it together, making it mine, and then the four unique formations that we use now,” Marion said. “When I say it to the guys, it's kind of like a language. It's kind of foolproof.”

“So now you see multiple teams using it, right? NFL, college, high school, right?” Marion said. “Everybody's kind of adapting some of the plays because the verbiage and terminology is really easy to communicate.”

On building the ‘Go-Go’ offense around his players’ strengths

“Absolutely, but you have to earn the right for that to happen,” Marion said. “You know the Ricky Whites, the Jacob Days, Jaiden Maiava, all the guys that have been All- Americans in the system, they had to earn the right by playing the right way, doing the little details first. What we do, we're a fundamentally sound offense. We're not going to go out there and lose the game. We're not going to just go do crazy stuff.”

“We're not out there just trying to call cool plays and go as fast as we can and throw it out of bounds and clap our hands,” Marion said. “We're trying to actually go win the game, so you have to be able to do the little details right first. Make plays within the small plays, the mundane plays, and then we start to open up and create for you.”

On the Colorado Buffaloes being called ‘small’

“I have zero reaction,” Marion said. “As the kids would say, pull up. So we're small. We're this. We're that. Whatever. I mean, at some point you've got to spot the ball and see. So that's my mindset.”

On the center position

Oct 25, 2025; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Houston Cougars offensive lineman Demetrius Hunter (59) against the Arizona State Sun Devils at Mountain America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“The center always is the engine of the offensive line as far as the communicator and the guy that gets all the guys on the same page going the right way,” Marion said. “In the past I've had an All-American guard who kind of made the calls for the center, but here our centers will probably make the call.” 

“For the center position, I think we have three really good guys,” Marion said. “Veteran guys who have played the position, have played in big games, who understand what to do, understand communication, understand protections, and what they do. Mostly, that helps young quarterbacks. Look back there, you got an 18-year-old, so you got young guys back there that you're able to help them point in the right direction and get them started.”

“Obviously, we're going to be hard on our quarterbacks, and it's always better when the guy who knows the play and can see everything can tell them what to do,” Marion said. “But our centers are definitely going to have some responsibility this year when it comes to calling fronts and identifying the mike and taking care of things like that.”

On the centers’ relationships with the quarterbacks

“It's been great. Right now, in the early part of camp, it's hot. It's dog days,” Marion said. “So you're worried about just the perfect operation. Quarterback to center exchange, just making sure the snap is perfect. The ball's not on the ground. Today was a good day. We only had one. We had one the entire practice, from quarterback-center exchange.”

“We're talking about all the way, all the way through run mesh, all the things that we did throughout the day; we only had one snap that was bad,” Marion said. “With three different centers going, to me, that's a really good practice when you have about 70 reps and team periods, then you have however many individual reps that you have; you only have one bad snap.”

“So, that's the most critical thing,” Marion said. “The center is really the first quarterback on the field because he throws the snap in a shotgun operation; he throws the ball to the quarterback every play. So that has got to be crisp and perfect, and that's what we're focused on.”

On what has helped his development as a coach in his career

Giants head coach Bill Parcells gets doused with Gatorade with linebackers Lawrence Taylor, left, and Carl Banks, right, after the 20-19 win over the Bills in Superbowl XXV in Tampa, Fla. on Jan. 27, 1991 Xxx Parcells S Fbn Fl | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“The best thing was high school,” Marion said. “I was surprised that some of the plays that I see guys use in the National Football League from my offense were the plays that I called with JV and high school players.” 

“So from that standpoint, going to high schools where there's zero expectation,” Marion said. “I got one job, and they said, ‘Hopefully you can field a team.’ I got another high school job, and they said, ‘I hope you can just win one game, coach. Just one. If you can win one, that'll be better than the last five years.’”

“I got to try everything,” Marion said. “I was doing all types of goofy stuff out there. Just, just young, dumb and trying stuff, just having fun out there. Then, as I got to college, I got more confidence to go to Howard as the last-ranked HBCU football team in Division I, and then get the chance to go beat FBS teams or play right with them to the end of the game, and then have a good run and be one of the good offenses in FCS and be around defensive head coaches.”

“So a lot of people understand like, as an offensive guy with an offensive guy, you really don't learn as much as people think,” Marion said. “But as an offensive guy being with a defensive guy, you learn a lot of stuff. Because I'm with Mike London, who learned from Bill Parcells and Al Groh, so I go against odd front every day. I go against drop eight, gut-x blitz, corner, every single defense you can see that they run every week in the National Football League.”

“So that gives me a good replication of what I need to do when we go against these fronts,” Marion said. “How do I adapt the offense to go against this stuff right here? Shout out to [Steve Sarkisian], my dog, Mark Whipple. Put some respect on his name at Pitt. He won a Super Bowl with Big Ben [Roethlisberger], my dog, and the Steelers. You’ve got to understand that I learned a lot from those guys from quarterback teaching, the way that they taught the quarterback.” 

“Because obviously, [Sarkisian] playing quarterback and then developing all the quarterbacks he did, and then the same thing with Whipple. Playing quarterback, coaching quarterbacks in the National Football League, just seeing how they talk to the quarterback. Because I'm a receiver at heart. I know how to [coach] a receiver in my sleep. Give me any guy, and we'll find a 1,000-yard receiver in him.”

On how he’s helping Julian ‘JuJu’ Lewis build confidence

“There's quarterback-friendly plays, there's advantage throws, there's so much within the game now that you can help a young quarterback really be successful and not force him to be Dan Marino day one,” Marion said. “He doesn't have to do all that because we have a lot of good people around him; we filled the room with talent around him, so that guy can play free and not feel like I have to hold the ball extra. I have to do too much. I have to.” 

“We built a new offensive line in front of him,” Marion said. “We put better skill players on the outside, in my opinion, no offense to anybody who left. I think our skill players are pretty good. And then in the running back room, we have guys that can get downhill and get those tough yards. Obviously, the run game helps, the defense helps, all those things help a young quarterback not feel like I have to go out there and throw it 40 to 50 times to go win the game.”

“If we can keep him somewhere in that 30 to 40 range where he's not throwing the ball every single play, because bad things happen when you keep throwing the ball over and over and over again,” Marion said. “But you can wear a defense down with running the ball. You can throw shots down the field because they have to be in the box and give him advantage reads based off of our formation.”

“So there are things there that are set up for him to make sure that he doesn't have to just play hero ball, that he can be a point guard, distribute the ball, and go help his team win,” Marion said. “And that'll help him build confidence. You build confidence by winning. I don't think he built a lot of confidence by throwing for 300 yards and not winning the game. At the end of the day, the best quarterback stat is winning.”

On the importance of understanding your team

“I don't really think people understand the areas where you coach,” Marion said. “So, for example, Sacramento State. My first day on the job, there's 35 players. I have to get 70 players in two months before the portal closes; we gotta hurry up, and we're filling the guys, and we're getting- we're like Last Chance U, to be honest with you, like a JUCO.”

“I played JUCO, that's what it felt like,” Marion said. “So we're getting guys who had broken dreams, who were on their third, fourth, fifth, sixth chance. JUCO guys, nobody offered them. So we got guys like that, and I think that every single guy there, from the coaching staff to the players, developed.”

“We were a development program,” Marion said. “We were not, ‘Let's go win the National Championship this year.’ We weren't Montana or one of the other top programs in the FCS. We were building to that, right? So with that, we had a quarterback who did a really good job of communication. He had elite communication, and he knew how to distribute the ball in a short manner.”

“He could throw a deep ball decently, but he was not a drop-back passer,” Marion said. “So instead of forcing him to be something he was not, the way to help him build confidence to go win games was to do what we did. We obviously won a decent amount of games. That took him to go be a scholarship quarterback at Maryland.”

“Whoever has the ball in their hand, we're going to do what they do best,” Marion said. “When I was with Caylin Newton at Howard, we ran Power Read, and I hate Power Read. I don't want to run that play. A quarterback running right through the A gap is not a great play to me. But that's what he wanted to run. Third and three, ‘Coach, run Power Read.’ I’d say, ‘I got you, go ahead.’ First down.”

“We moved the ball. So, whatever that quarterback wants to do,” Marion said. “If I ask Maiava, ‘What's your favorite play?’ He would say, "Throw it up, coach. Four verts, every time. So, whatever the quarterback's confident with, we check on Thursday night, we go, ‘Do you like this play?’ ‘Yes, sir, I do’…’So, you might not like this one as much, but let's do this one too.’ ‘Okay,’ so that's what we do with quarterbacks.”

On when he knows the ‘Go-Go’ offense is operating properly

“To me, when we're operating at our fullest, we're winning,” Marion said. “I'm sorry that's not a more elaborate answer, but I don't know. My grandfather taught me young, ‘if you didn't win the game, it ain't it ain't good.’ So it doesn't matter. I've been in a game where we had 750 yards of offense, and lost the game. So we sucked. We should’ve had 850 yards. We needed more.”

“So to me, like it's just about winning the game. I just want to win,” Marion said. “I want to operate in a system that creates for our players to give them championship habits and gives them the ability to go win games and win plays. Be 1-0 each play, not be so focused on the outcome, but just be focused on the process of just having great plays when you're out there.”

“How do you get great snaps and put them in position to do that?” Marion said. “So, I think from that standpoint, we've put a lot of people in position in our offense to go either level up from UNLV or be in the NFL from UNLV, or same thing at William and Mary and Howard. Give guys opportunities to go other places, and that's your job as a coach: to travel somebody.”

“Take somebody from here, drive them to the next place,” Marion said. “Take them places where they didn't think they could go, and our offense has done that for a lot of players. So that's good from that standpoint, but ultimately, until confetti's falling down on us and all that, like it ain't good enough.”

On coaching receiver DeAndre Moore Jr.

Dec 21, 2024; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns wide receiver DeAndre Moore Jr. (0) against the Clemson Tigers during the CFP National playoff first round at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

“He's just family,” Marion said. “I mean, from the first day that we met, we just hit it off, and it's not just him; it's his entire family. So, I'm excited for him to be here. People can say what they want, but when he was on certain teams, he helped people win and make sure that their family was good. So, to me, he's family.”

“Our relationship's personal,” Marion said. “So, I'm glad that he's on our team because he knows how to lead. He knows how to win. Every team that that kid's been on, they've been a winner. And so, people think that the leadership only comes from the quarterback room, right, or the head coach. If you called Gus Malzahn right now, he'd tell you Brennan Marion was one of the leaders on my team as a receiver.”

“So receivers can lead as well, and he's one of those guys,” Marion said. “He's a team guy. He's going to try to play every [snap on] special teams. He's going to try to do everything right. He's going to show up every day. He's going to work hard, and he's going to say something when he sees something. 

“He's not just going to sit there and see something, be wrong, and not say anything,” Marion said. “Which, if you want to be a leader, you have to actually have confrontational moments sometimes and tell your teammates they're out of line, they’re out of pocket, we don't do that, this is what we do here, and he's done that every single day that he's been here, and everybody's excited to have him in our program.”

On how Chris Marve’s defense has challenged him

FSU linebackers coach Chris Marve at the FSU National Signing Day Party on Feb. 5, 2020. Img 4547 | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

“I think they do a lot of good things in the back end,” Marion said. “I don't know if people don't understand. Our defensive back room is elite. I mean, that defensive back room is really good. Those guys have played in a lot of football games. They've played in a lot of big games. They played in the SEC and Big Ten. So, those guys can really, really play in the back end.”

“Then we have a physical group of linebackers that get downhill,” Marion said. “So [Marion] has a lot of good things at his disposal, to really get after it and punch us in the mouth and make us be physical and violent.”

“We can't ever go out there and practice offense like some teams practice offense,” Marion said. “Where everybody takes a knee. We run plays on air. We make sure the guys don't hit us too hard. You know, like it's like the defensive scout team. When we practice, you better have your chinstrap buckled. You better have your pads down, or it's going to be a long day.”

“They get after it, so the energy, the intensity, the violence that they operate in every day,” Marion said. “Coach Marve is really challenging us from the standpoint of, we have to look at things and say, ‘What would we do here if someone gave us this look?’ So, a very intelligent guy who gives us a lot of looks so that we can get better each day.”

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