The former CSU Ram took off a big run last week against the Raiders, a reward for delivering all those lead blocks for others.
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — From his garage in Cheyenne, Wyoming to his locker at Dove Valley, Adam Prentice is a Bronco through and through.
He makes his living playing fullback for the Denver Broncos. He’s pretty good at it, too. A fine lead blocker over the Broncos’ first 13 games for the likes of J.K. Dobbins and R.J. Harvey, Prentice showed, at long last, he’s also a pretty good ballcarrier, at least he is when given a hole his ‘69 Bronco could drive through.
“It wasn’t a surprise the offensive line blocked it the way they did,’’ Prentice said in an interview with 9NEWS for Broncos Game Day Live, which will air at 9 a.m. Sunday, about his 18-yard run that converted a third-and-short in a 24-17 victory against the Las Vegas Raiders last week. “It was just that it was that big. I mean that’s a dream right there. That’s what you want any hole to be.”
Prentice’s hobby is that ’69 Bronco waiting for him in his garage once this season is over. Which the way it’s going for the 11-2 Denver Broncos, may be a couple more months. The truck sits there as a bigger challenge than clearing out an outside linebacker so Harvey can maneuver to daylight.
“I got the Bronco a few years ago,’’ said Prentice, who also invested in a 1970 Dodge Power Wagon Crew Cab that his buddy is working on in Wyoming while he and his wife reside in an apartment near the Broncos’ facility. “It was kind of when the market was going crazy on those early Broncos. And I was like, ‘These things are sweet, I want one of those.’ Everybody was redoing them. Everybody has the YouTube channel. All those parts are being readily made. So it’s easy to get your hands on them and I was like, I can do that. I was an engineer in college so I was, ‘Aw, I can figure it out. It’s been a bigger task than … it’s still not done. It’s been a bigger task than I thought but it’ll be worth it.”
Just because the helmet-leading fullback position is the grittiest of the football’s grunt positions doesn’t mean the headgear doesn’t protect a brain dripping with intelligence. Prentice earned his civil engineering degree while spending four years with the Colorado State football program, then utilized a graduate transfer option to play one more year at South Carolina where he picked up his master’s in structural engineering with a railroad specification.
He loves football and wants to play it as long as he can. But he does so with the understanding there’s plenty of life left after the playing days.
“I want to be in some kind of structural design, buildings, bridges, roads, you name it,’’ he said.
Perhaps the Penners can put Prentice to work on those bridges at Burnham Yard.
“Yeah, new stadiums, that’d be sweet,” Prentice said. “So, yeah, I’m prepared for whenever football is taken away. But right now I’m enjoying the ride and enjoying the process and grateful to be here.”
To be here again, that is. An undrafted rookie in 2021, Prentice signed with the Broncos and while he impressed the coaching staff and front office during OTAs and training camp, Andrew Beck was already the team’s established fullback. The Broncos had every intention of signing Prentice back to their practice squad after he was among the final cuts in late August but the New Orleans Saints, in their final year with Sean Payton as their head coach, claimed him away.
Prentice spent four years with the Saints – only one with Payton, but four with special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi and three with offensive coordinator Pete Carmichael, who is now a Broncos senior assistant.
“That was wild,’’ Prentice said. “I chose to come here (in 2021). Was obviously familiar with Colorado being at CSU. I fell in love with Colorado the second I stepped on campus at CSU. So I was here, I enjoyed being here and I was about to sign with the practice squad and I found out I got claimed and, ‘Boom, I’ve got to go right now.’
“So that was wild. But it was a great four years in New Orleans. I loved being out there and being with that organization and I’m grateful to come back and be with coach Payton and being a Bronco again.”
A free agent who didn’t draw much interest during this past offseason as the Saints went through a full coaching staff change, Prentice became the first guy the Broncos thought of in late August when starting fullback Michael Burton went down for the season with a torn hamstring. Besides having the mountains as a backdrop, Denver also has a fullback-devoted head coach in Payton.
“He’s one of the few who likes the traditional fullback role, keep that alive for us so it’s very much appreciated and it’s a lot of fun,’’ Prentice said. “I love being with coach and being in this system again. There’s a lot of coaches on this staff that I was familiar with in New Orleans. A lot of guys, too, and it’s nice to be back and be with him and be with those guys.”
Adam Trautman, Wil Lutz, Malcolm Roach, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Lucas Krull, Jordan Jackson, Calvin Throckmorton and A.T. Perry have been Prentice teammates in New Orleans and Denver.
Fullback used to be where the best ballcarriers played. Jim Brown, Jim Taylor, Larry Csonka, Franco Harris, Marion Motely and John Riggins were fullbacks. Then there were fullbacks who gradually became more blocker than ballcarrier but were still running threats like Mike Alsott, Daryl Johnston, Matt Suhey and Tom Rathman.
Now the standard is Kyle Juszczyk, who blocks 90 to 95% of the time but is a viable threat when he gets his chance as a receiver and runner. Prentice is almost exclusively a blocker – he had just 26 rushing yards total in his four season in New Orleans – which is why that 18-yard burst last week – his longest run since high school – was so nice. It’s unlikely he’ll ever have to carry the ball that far again.
“My go-to is I’m a lead blocker for the running back and whoever else is carrying the ball behind me,’’ Prentice said. “And usually I start out by saying I’m on offense. Because not a lot of people know what a fullback is. Which is fair.”