It’s really been
a dead period, not just in terms of recruiting, but everything college football. Even so I was able to find a few morsels of
holiday cheer…
There is some
recruiting going on as a few names are popping up on internet forums that are
talking about new names supposedly receiving offers from CU. We should start hearing about some scheduled “official”
visits from prospects in January. I can’t wait to see a new name commit.
From the “believe
it or not” files: The ESPN college
football recruiting page actually has a countdown clock until 12:00 AM on February
6, 2013 (still FORTY days away at time of posting!), National Signing Day, when
recruits officially can fax in their official LOI (letter of intent).
I read a re-tweet
of Jordan Webb saying his cast was off.
I thought, “Who the hell cares?”
But then it kept nagging at me: “OMG?!
What if Webb practices really well in the new offense?” Although he rarely did well for any stretch
of time during an actual game, Webb always practiced very well, does drills
really well and can throw the ball to receivers when he has no pressure and a “no
tackle penny” over his uniform. Hirschman
and Wood showed their true colors by never really practicing or playing consistently
well, and frankly I doubt we hear much from either of them going forward. Dillon is still very young and we really don’t
know what we’re getting in him yet, even more so for commit Sefo Liufau. The cold, harsh reality is MacIntyre and
Lindgren may end up having to throw Webb out there, only because he is the
least bad.
ESPN Pac-12 blog
recently posted a “Recruiting Roundup” and had this to say about CU, maybe
giving a glimmer of hope that one of the young guys can take the job from Webb:
“It looks like the Buffs are going to be a Pistol offense, which bodes well for
redshirt freshman Shane Dillon and 2013 commit Sefo Liufau (Tacoma, Wash.). Both are
dual-threat guys and if Liufau is as advertised, he could make a push for an
immediate appearance. He's part of an outstanding crop of Washington
quarterbacks that includes Max Browne (USC)…and Isaac Dotson (Nevada).” Dillon isn’t necessarily a “dual threat” as
he didn’t really rush much in high school; however, he certainly isn’t afraid
to, his offense, team and coaches just didn’t really require him to run that
often. The biggest question about Liufau
is that other schools have not really recruited him that hard, even in the face
of all the transition and uncertainly.
Surprise,
surprise, the CU Athletic Department outlined how they are “fiscally
responsible” by explaining exactly how they have no money, even with the influx
of Pac-12 cash. The articles explain how
they have made some minor upgrades, added some staffers, increased salaries for
numerous positions, and oh yeah, how they still owe a ton of money from the
head coach buyouts (all three) and the transition to the Pac-12 that won’t be
paid off until 2019!? The whole point of
this, of course, is to once again remind us, the fans and donors, that we must
give money in order for the program to succeed.
Usually, when a school is doing something like this, the plan is to,
well, first have a plan, but then to actually have some big donors lined up
when they make the announcement, getting people excited about the
possibility. What schools do NOT do is
every year or so announce: “We have some big plans coming” with nothing to
really show, then adding, “Oh yeah, and it’s up to YOU to make it happen
because we haven’t been able to raise the money any other way.”
Post by
GrumpyBuff on NetBuffs: “Can someone
answer this question: “
It has been
widely postulated by numerous media outlets that it is highly likely and
probable that San Jose State offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren and defensive
coordinator Kent Baer will almost for sure make the move to Boulder after their
bowl game in order to possibly take those respective positions for the University
of Colorado. If they both do indeed
come, which according to all reports very well might happen in the coming days,
it will end weeks of repetitive and redundant speculation and daily articles and
blogposts with all the same information using slightly different word orders. Maybe tomorrow after the bowl game, but if
one, or even both, doesn’t end up in Boulder, will anyone really be surprised
with the way things have gone around here under the Bohnhead?
Baer has had
success re-vamping defenses at various stops, including Notre Dame, Utah St.,
Arizona St. and Stanford. He also has
recruited all over the country and has coached in four other different schools
in the Pac-12 (also at Washington), so he knows the Buffs’ footprint well. Baer generally runs an aggressive 4-3 scheme
with a lot of blitzing, which will fit right in with the passing focused
conference. John Henderson got an interview
of the probably-soon-to-be OC: http://www.denverpost.com/cu/ci_22252396/coordinator-kent-baer-could-help-cu-buffs-turn
So depressing,
but hard to argue with Kevin Gemmell, Pac-12 blogger: “I think if MacIntyre can
have Colorado to a bowl game in three years, that would be a huge step forward.” He also said of the non-bowl teams in the
conference: “None of them are ready to make a run at the Rose for at least 5-6 years.” (my emphasis)
Also depressing:
Who would have ever thought that we were all going to eagerly watch (maybe even
DVR) the Military Bowl, featuring San Jose St. vs. Bowling Green today (1:00 PM
Mountain, ESPN)? This will be our first
glimpse of our new offensive and defensive styles, our new coaches and how they
approach a game. Not sure how much we
can really learn here, but what else are we going to do?
It seems rather appropriate that San Jose State played in the Military Bowl, because it will feed right into the analogy I am going to make. The problem with the Buff over the last two coaching regimes has NOT been that the players were bad soldiers. They have been bad on the field because the coaches were BAD officers.
ReplyDeleteHaving watched both Embree and Bieniemy play, I can tell you that both were excellent soldiers and excellent non-coms. They are not officer material. They may learn someday, but that remains to be seen.
There is an overwhelming belief out there that the star rating of recruits is the be-all end-all. It's BS. Look at the recruiting ratings over the last 10 years or so and you will find some teams play very good football with the majority of the recruits being 2-3 stars at best and some teams consistently get 3+ star recruits and still play bad football.
The difference is in the coaching, the development of players, and having a damn plan when it is time to go into battle. Embree, Brown, and Bieniemy were ALL deer in the headlights once the games began. Hawkins obviously had a good staff in Boise, but they did not come with him, and he did not hire well.
To stretch the military analogy just a little more, remember back to one of America's greatest military generals, George Patton. He was brought in to lead in North Africa after our troops had had their asses handed to them. He came in and identified that the soldiers did not act like soldiers because the officers had no discipline and provided no example to the troops. He famously told one GI to get back on the floor and go back to sleep because he was the only SOB in the camp who knew what he was doing. That camp in North Africa represents how CU was doing under Hawkins and Embree.
Styles of leadership differ, of course, but I am holding out hope that MacIntyre and his supporting staff from San Jose State are the guys to come in and give the CU players some leadership. It is an old axiom that there are no bad soldiers, just bad officers that cannot lead.
The players at both San Jose State and Bowling Green are guys that were recruits that were lower in grade according to the recruiting services than CU, yet they play good ball. Boise State and Nevada are lucky if they are able to have a TOP 50 recruiting class, yet they play excellent football.
Part of supporting the Buffs is realize that we must quit ragging on the players. Players are only supposed to do what they are told to do and trained to do. If the coaches doing the telling and training do not know what they are doing, the players and the team look bad.
Coaching and leadership are the key. Yes, one of things that coaches do is recruit, but that is not the most important thing. USC was supposed to walk away with a national championship this year with a team made up of primarily 4 and 5 star recruits. How did that team end up outside of the Top 25? Coaching! How did San Jose State and the 2-3 star recruits end up winning 11 games? Coaching!
Bring on the new leadership. Go Buffs!
Astute perspective as always and much appreciated!
DeleteThe more I think about it, I think Embree wanted, much too ambitiously, to build more of an NFL pipeline, and thought he would have the patience and support to build it from scratch. It was not realistic in this day and age.
Time will only tell with MacIntyre, but I do think he has a decent roster with which to start.