Late January scrambling

There is not a lot out there to report, for instance, still no word yet on the last two coaches for RBs and Special teams, but there are a few items of note...

Recruiting: MacIntyre and staff have added their 4th new (5th counting greyshirt Gilliam) and CU's 16th total verbal commitment of the 2013 cycle. Kenneth Olugbode, a 2-star OLB from San Jose, was one of the "secret" visitors this weekend (so was Tim Coleman who committed over the weekend) and accepted an offer from the coaches to whom he had previously committed at San Jose State. His brother Kyle will be a senior safety at Stanford and Kenneth could end up playing safety here as well.  Another two-star flip from SJSU?  This is not awe-inspiring news.

Michigan DB Josh Jones, one of numerous DBs who visited Colorado the previous weekend of the 18th, instead has committed to NC State while on his visit there this weekend.

Although he tweeted that “two other big-time universities tried to get into the picture” DB 

Chidobe Awuzie is waiting for an in-home visit from Mike Leach this week, and then will make his final decision between his three original choices: the Cougs, the Buffs and the hometown (doubtful) San Jose Spartans.  A lot of people think he will be a Buff (based on what I am not sure) and one helping factor may be that he is good friends with Olugbode who just committed.

S Tedric Thompson is down to Fresno State, CU and Minnesota, where he will visit this last recruiting weekend and likely be hosted by his brother, although he has never really acted that high on the Golden Gophers.

Still no word on RB Michael Adkins, who was supposedly down to CU and Air Force, nor on LB Lawrence Montegut, both of whom also visited Jan. 18.

Rifle’s Ryan Moeller, a talented athlete who would likely start out at RB, is deciding between being a preferred walk-on at CU or csu (this used to be an obvious, easy choice for most), and is the only publicly acknowledged visitor (and that may not even be for sure) for Jan. 25, the last recruiting weekend.  Although, there could be a couple more like Coleman and Olugbode.

CUattheGame has a list of everyone left uncommitted who reportedly holds a CU offer, but most of those have shown little or no recent interest in the Buffs and it is highly doubtful that we hear a new name before signing day, although many are hopeful there is some behind the scenes work going on.  http://www.cuatthegame.com/2013/colorado-daily-6/

Ralston Valley OT Dan Skipper flipped his commitment from Tennessee and new coach Butch Jones to Arkansas and Bret Bilema.

Other CU notes: TE Nick Kasa had one catch for 8 yards at the Senior Bowl, where he was sporting the black CU helmet with the North uniform.

Kevin Gemmell of the ESPN Pac-12 Blog gave CU a much deserved D-minus for the season but doesn’t really say anything new or insightful, highlighting the departed Wil Pericak and frosh RBs Christian Powell and Donta Abron, as well as the loss of Paul Richardson in the spring. He said of next season: “Don't expect six wins and a bowl game in 2013, but hoping for three or four wins shouldn't be too much to ask for.”

San Jose Mercury News did a piece on Mike MacIntyre.  In the most anticipated news about his move, it was officially announced that Millie, the family Golden Retriever had successfully settled in.  The Bohnhead’s only quote was…interesting:  “"He has a warm, user-friendly, attractive appeal. He's real."  What exactly is “user-friendly” in a head coach?  http://www.mercurynews.com/sjsu-spartans/ci_22457432/mike-macintyre-discusses-leaving-san-jose-state

New Commit and Lots of Comments

Congratulations to former Buff head coach Jon Embree who was hired as TE coach for the Cleveland Browns.  He also told Les Shapiro and Tom Nalen, “I’m through with college football.”  Who can really blame him after the way he was treated by his alma mater.  I am glad he got back into the League, as Alfred Williams always says, he is surprised when guys leave the NFL for college because there are only so many pro jobs, which generally pay more, are more secure and have way better benefits!  One poster on twitter did comment that he might have had better talent to work with, even on the 1-11 Buffs, than he will in Cleveland.  Good Luck Jon!

Not sure if it’s congratulations, but Embree’s predecessor, dan hawkins will become the new head coach of the Canadian Football League’s Montreal Alouettes.  That’s not Division I football Danny boy so I hope you can motivate them up there, eh. And yes, the first post I saw of this was already wondering if Cody would end up in Canada with his daddy. Take off, to the great white north!

Matt Lubick, who many wanted as a coach here-but I said no way he comes to CU as just a position coach, that he would need something bigger and better to lure him away from Duke-has found that spot as Oregon’s WR coach/some type of special title of  partial Coordinator to make it an upward move.  He will have an excellent corps of blazing fast receivers next year when the Ducks should be much more of a passing team, and he can really make a name for himself before getting his first OC job in the next couple of years.

Former blue chip Buff Nick Kasa is turning some heads with his size, speed and even hands at the Senior Bowl practices, where he is earning some serious playing time in Saturday’s showcase.  He is the only college player from any school in the state of Colorado there.  Could Kasa end up in Cleveland with Embree?

Stuart from CUattheGame posted an interview with CU redshirt freshman QB Shane Dillon, who is full of enthusiasm and positive outlook for the future. He brims with confidence and has the type of attitude you want in a leader.  He has no qualms about saying he plans on winning the starting joband has already developed a rapport with WR Paul Richardson, who joined him on the scout team when he was recovered from his injury.  He is excited to learn the Pistol offense, throw the ball around, but also run with it as well, which he said he did a lot of as the scout team QB last season, surprising his coaches. He just might be the real deal. http://www.cuatthegame.com/2013/qa-with-shani-and-patrick-dillon/

CU Recruiting: MacIntyre picked up verbal #15 when Timothy Coleman flipped his commitment from csu to the Buffs.  While not a huge name from a big school, Coleman is a 6’3” 243 pound DE from Mullen who injured his knee in the second game of the season and therefore may have been overlooked by some programs. Also, he is not even 18 yet so he definitely has room to grow and is a possible grey or redshirt candidate.  This could be a good dark horse in-state snag, or just another two-star roster plug.

MacIntyre has now said that with all of their commitments on the offensive line, CU will not pursue Ohio St. transfer and Windsor product Joey O’Connor, a former four-star national recruit.  I believe this to be a colossal mistake, especially when he will likely end up at csu.  They should find a way to make room for him, even if it means asking one of the current verbals to greyshirt along with John Lisella, especially since most will redshirt anyway.  O’Connor will have three more years to play after he sits out a season.

There were no scheduled visits for this weekend, the second to last of the recruiting cycle, or at least none published.  There is some speculation (or maybe just hope) that there are some prospects that are verbally committed elsewhere that are quietly visiting CU.  Stuart from CUattheGame suggested Victor Egu, a four-star LB from Concord, CA, who had been committed to Cal, but he has since flipped his commitment instead to Yale. 

It can’t really be a good sign that we haven’t heard anything from RB Michael Adkins or CB Chidobe Awuzie, who were both supposedly going to decide this week, but have yet to announce anything.

Read on for a compilation from the “Comments” section from the last post “More January Tidbits” of a dialogue between myself and frequent Commenter “Boulder Devil” who logs on from the Netherlands!  He shares some great insight as well as great optimism for the future-I hope his prognostications are correct!

BD: Thanks for keeping up on the doings of the Buff football program. You remain my "go-to" source of information.
That said... if you think this class is mediocre, you can blame Embree (since most of the recruits were his) and Hawkins (who screwed things up so badly that we only have a very limited number of scholarships available).
   As a CU grad and fan, I am proud that MacIntyre was honorable enough to honor the scholarship offers that my university made. I am also happy that I am not reading about our new coaches being banned from high school campuses for screwing over kids who were offered scholarships prior to a coaching change.
   Looking back at your prior posts, I am not certain that MacIntyre had anything at all to do with Kisima Jagne and his decision to attend ASU. Embree's guys were still recruiting him hard up until the very end, signaling that his commitment was not that strong. And the fact is that Jagne grew up a stone's throw (or a short drive, actually) from Sun Devil Stadium. It is no surprise that he ended up there.
   Recruits change their minds all the time, for a wide variety of reasons. That's why signing day is such a big deal. Until that contract is adorned with a signature, it's just talk.
  Right now, Mac's staff is dealing with promoting a football program that was the laughingstock of big time college football. Embree and Bieniemy may have been able to woo teenage boys into coming to CU, but were unable to develop and mold these young men into a decent division 1 TEAM.
  I believe Mac and his staff will be able to take this CU team and give them direction. They will help them grow as men first, and their ability to play as a TEAM will show that growth. Embree, Brown, and Bieniemy showed absolutely no ability whatsoever as pre-game planners or game day decision makers. Mac and his guys have proven themselves as men of honor and as men who have a PLAN when it comes to both offense and defense.
   I look forward to once again having Folsom Field a rowdy place where other teams dread playing, instead of the place where in the last several years good opposing players knew they were going to put up Sportscenter highlight numbers.
   I do wish our departing tackle David Bakhtiari would stick around and develop himself one more year with some coaches who know how to develop a team. I fear that someone has erroneously convinced him that he will be a high draft pick. It is possible, of course, but he is more likely a low round draft pick or someone who will have to tryout as an undrafted free agent. In any case, I wish him all the good luck in the world.

Looking forward to Spring football again, since fans are now welcome again. Go Buffs indeed!

DS: Thanks for the great insight Devil! As it stands, the class is mediocre, but I believe Embree would have improved upon it down the stretch-he had saved his visits for a reason, not just to host the verbals in January. MacIntyre isn't using anywhere close to all of them. Jagne was still listening intently to Embree and Kanavis (and he had signed last Feb. but was jacked around by our admissions), did not announce anything in the interim between the firing and hiring, then immediately told ASU he was coming there when MacInytre was announced. MacIntyre and staff just don't bring a ton of credibility and absolutely no big time connections (except Eli a long time ago) for recruits. I do agree he will be way better on game day-that is the saddest and most disappointing aspect of the short-lived Embree era for me. MacIntyre is indeed "honorable", but maybe to a fault? I thought the decision to send off fourth year juniors who contribute nothing was justified by Embree and should be more common. Those kids have already been given a free degree and do not need a fifth year of being baggage on a weak team. This is much different than yanking a scholarship at the last moment (Leach and WSU) or revoking after one or two years (USC and the SEC)if the kid hasn't panned out yet. I agree with you about Bahktiari, but I don't think he had his heart in it to try and play for a third coaching staff. Lastly, I think we might still have a while to wait until Folsom is rowdy and dreaded again, but I am super excited for open practices! I will attend as many as I can!

BD: It is tough to get in to CU, so Jagne certainly shares the blame for his lack of admission. His grades and test scores are all on him.
   While Mac has a lot of young guys on his staff, Baer and Bernardi have been around for a long time and have coached and recruited for Pac 12 teams (Arizona, ASU, Cal, Stanford, Washington, UCLA, and USC) and Baer was also DC for Notre Dame. They obviously have experience recruiting top notch talent.
   As for players being labeled "non-contributors" by Embree and staff and "let go," you gotta consider that a lot of guys on the squad are underperforming primarily because they had no quality guidance from a coaching staff that really did not know what the hell it was doing. I think that Mac realizes every kid on the team was good enough to be given a scholarship to a Big 12/Pac 12 team coming out of high school, and that they might not be the only ones responsible for their lack of development.
   Since Mac and staff cannot look at their new charges until spring practice, I think it is wise for them to wait until then to evaluate the attitudes and performance of every player. Why depend upon the judgment of Embree and his folks? If they had done their own jobs well, CU would not be trying to recover from being the worst team in its history. Embree, Bieniemy, and Brown were great position coaches, but none of them were qualified for their positions at CU.
   It's all in the coaching. Who's the baggage on USC? They are ALL four and five star recruits, yet the team barely made it over .500 this year. Good coaches make all of their players better, and bad coaches waste talent. Time will tell how much CU talent was going to waste.      

Wait until signing day to evaluate the recruiting class. If Mac pulls any big surprises, it will probably not be known until right before signing day. As "CU at the Game" points out, the Buffs may very well be hosting some good players the next couple of weeks. Players who right now are verbally committed to other programs. Not announcing who is coming allows the kids to not be pressured into not coming by other schools. Really looking forward to signing day to see who will be the new Buffs.

DS: I hope you are correct on many fronts, but I tend to be more skeptical. Maybe MacIntyre, Lindgren and Walters (who I really like)can find a way to motivate Thorton and Darden, but when I watched both of them in practice hawkins' last season and Embree's first, they were both very lazy and lackadaisical about everything they did, and Darden never even showed a glimpse to get himself in live action and neither has done anything since to change that reputation through two staffs. 

We’ll just have to wait and see.

Go Buffs!

More January Tidbits

Congratulations to former Buff Anthony Perkins, who was hired by Mike Sanford and Brian Cabral to coach the secondary at Indiana St. I am glad to hear he is getting this opportunity because he was supposedly a great coach when he was injured for much of his senior year, then passed up an offer to be a graduate assistant at Stanford to take a (long) shot at the NFL.  Go Sycamores!  (That’s a little weird-I wonder what they actually say?!)

Pacific Takes polled its bloggers on who was the better hire in the conference this year?  More of them liked Sonny Dykes at Cal a little better (as did the AD in Berkeley as she had first choice between the two), although nobody disliked the hiring of MacIntyre here. http://www.pacifictakes.com/pac-12-football/2013/1/22/3881936/colorado-buffaloes-mike-macintyre-cal-bears-sonny-dykes-football

At least we don’t have crazy freaking Mike Leach, who just reneged on a Washington St. scholarship offer to DB Myron Turner, barely two weeks away from signing day.  Turner had been committed to WSU since October and had supposedly rebuffed other schools.  Leach had even been at DeSoto high school recently and mentioned nothing of the possibility, only calling just this week to inform the kid that the school is going with a bigger guy. Hence, Leach and Washington St. have been banned from visiting the Texas powerhouse by coach Claude Mathis. Get on that MacIntyre!

CU Recruiting: Assuming there are no surprises, this will be the first time since 2002 that CU will not even host a “blue chip” (four or five star) prospect. ESPN listed its 50 or so best left uncommitted prospects and the Buffs are not in play for any of them.

However, one interesting news item to watch is that former four-star offensive line prospect 

Joey O’Connor (Windsor, CO) is transferring from Ohio St. to be closer to home, with the three schools most likely to be considered Wyoming, CU and csu.  O’Connor originally committed to Penn St. before all heck broke loose there, then redshirted after knee surgery and had a difficult freshmen year at Ohio St. last season.  Wherever he goes, unless he steps down a level, he would have to sit out a year as a transfer. MacIntyre needs to move on this yesterday.

Damon Sayles, of ESPN’s “RecruitingNation” said that Colorado’s list of commitments gives them “a decent nucleus of players with which to build. Twelve of the 15 players are three-star athletes or better, including four-star quarterback Sefo Liufau (Tacoma, Wash./Bellarmine), who has a chance of being the face of the program in a couple of years.” [*NOTE: ESPN is only place to rate Liufau as 4-stars, and just barely.] 

Sayles emphasized that the Buffs still need more help on the defensive line (in part to replace Kisima Jagne) to bulk up more on the inside, where you can really never have too many big bodies.  He mentioned two possible prospects CU is still coveting, the first of which was a new name to me: “Three-star defensive tackle DeOnte Reynolds (Pinole, Calif./Pinole Valley) is still on the board, as is defensive end Fred Melifonwu (San Diego/Abraham Lincoln). Reynolds has the size at 6-foot-4 and 314 pounds, and Melifonwu, at 6-5 and 215 pounds, is quick and agile. They could be the right kind of players in a Pac-12 defense.”

WR Coach Troy Walters is on the road recruiting, having left the cold of Detroit (probably to talk to Josh Jones) for Houston, Texas, where he could be meeting with any number of players as well as meeting high school coaches about next year’s prospects. He tweeted from Houston: “Ran into Alabama n Nebraska coaches. I must be on the right trail.”

Current offensive line prospect and verbal commit Colin Sutton told Adam M. at Rivals that he never wavered in his commitment to Colorado.

CU reportedly offered a scholarship to Ath. James Ooten if he would greyshirt and delay enrollment until next January. He will have to decide if he wants to start in August at New Mexico State, or wait a little while longer to play in the Pac-12.

San Jose, CA CB prospect Chidobe Awuzie had an in-home visit Wednesday night and it was hoped he would commit then.

La Mesa, CA RB Michael Adkins was supposedly deciding this week between CU and Air Force.

S Josh Jones (Michigan) is visiting NC State this weekend, and then will choose between CU, Pitt and the Wolfpack.

The only scheduled visitor the last two weekends is Rifle RB Ryan Moeller who will decide if he wants to take a scholarship at a smaller school somewhere else in Colorado or become a preferred walk-on at CU.

Not sure if it is worth writing but WR Austin Vincent, who was suspended for entering a girls dorm shower, has re-enrolled at CU and will walk-on in the spring.  I hope he can take some shit from the boys.

It is interesting that MacIntyre is receiving more praise than not for his bottom of the conference recruiting class, with the main thing he’s accomplished is convince Embree’s recruits to stay.  He and his staff have only gained one guy who grayshirted at San Jose State, along with one new verbal (neither of whom rate more than two stars and weren’t really on anyone else’s radar); all this while losing highly ranked three-star greyshirt DE Kisima Jagne, who by all indications would have stayed along with Embree. The math doesn’t add up in this area.

One of Embree’s biggest criticisms was that recruiting was suffering, especially this year.  However, let’s look at the facts: 1) when Embree took over for hawkins, he inherited only four commits (and he only kept two of those), but still put together a decent class, flipping six guys who had committed to other schools, including one four-star (although Paulay Asiata has since left the program) very late in the process; 2) this first group vastly was improved upon what he was given, and was much better than the previous year’s group; 3) then the staff followed that up with a nationally recognized group, snagging two 4-star corners late in the process with Kenneth Crawley and Yuri Wright, and ended up with a 35^th ranked class nationally; 4) they improved upon the previous year’s group both times, with a lot of the reward coming in late January, showing that Embree (and Bienemy among others) were closers and would have likely snared a surprise or two at the end again this year; 5) the only de-commitment under Embree’s watch this year was Mitchell Parsons, whose ego and weight gain scared off many programs , but MacIntyre immediately lost Jagne as well as another three-star commit in Marcus Loud (Missouri).  What am I missing here? 

We can’t really afford any more mediocre classes but that is exactly what we are getting.  I am a little worried that MacIntyre and staff have never really recruited the big boys, especially out west.

Go Buffs!

Notes to start the week

Former LB coach Brian Cabral has been hired as Defensive Coordinator and Associate Head Coach at Indiana St. under an old friend, Mike Sanford, who almost hired him at UNLV in 2005. I hope this means that any rumored health problems are under control.  Good Luck Coach Cabral!

A lot of us really like new WR coach Troy Walters because he is quite interactive with his twitter account @CoachWalters1 for both recruits and fans of the Colorado Buffaloes. Last week he tweeted out a plea to fans: “Official visit weekend! Turnup CU! Let’s show these recruits how we do it in Boulder” then followed up with something for everyone, a picture of a quote from the CU locker room that I had never seen, heard or read before: “A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo.  When the herd is hunted it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back which are killed first.  This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest member.”  This is true on many levels for this team and program.  Besides the obvious one in the Bohnhead, who are the slow, weak ones that need to be culled from the herd?

Speaking of coaches…there is nothing to report on the remaining two vacancies, except one random reference on twitter to Andy LaRussa and special teams, but I have to believe it was just outdated.

Former Buff Matt McChesney’s “ZeroSixStrength” is working with over 100 local athletes from high school to pros, including CU commits John Lisella (will greyshirt) and Philip Lindsay (recovering from knee surgery).  He has also worked with Parker Orms (originally from Wheat Ridge) over the years and said on Adam M’s BuffStampede Radio Podcast that the senior safety is in good health, ready to be a leader (and lay off the pipe?) and is looking forward to making a big turnaround next year.

Recruiting: There were reportedly 14 recruits in for the weekend and they took in the women’s basketball win over ASU (someone on the AllBuffs.com forum said they “looked huge”), in addition to the very nice weather in the middle of January. I love how no matter the weather, super nice or very wintery and snowy, recruits are always impressed with Boulder.  All reports so far have been positive.

Ath. Ryan Severson, who played with Jay MacIntyre at Valley Christian in San Jose, committed seemingly as soon as he was officially offered or as soon as he stepped on a real Pac-12 campus (previously committed to MacIntyre’s staff at San Jose St.).  He is the 14^th verbal commitment to CU for the 2013 cycle (at least one, OL John Lisella, will greyshirt until Jan. 2014), plus 4 greyshirts who have joined the program.  Severson will likely play safety but could be used at cornerback and even running back down the road, and is expected to play on special teams immediately (he runs a 4.46).

WR Devin Ross said he will not take his scheduled visit to Utah and is definitely coming to CU.  The other six verbal commits also reportedly enjoyed their visits; OL Jonathon Huckins supposedly falling in love with Boulder and posted a photo of himself in Buff gear; George Frazier is excited to play ILB. It would be really nice to hear something similar from Ross’ good friend WR Elijah Dunston, who is one of the few previous verbal commits that is not necessarily 100% yet.

La Mesa, CA RB Michael Adkins is definitely comming to the state of Colorado, but will decide soon between CU and Air Force.

La Marque, Texas LB/DE Lawrence Montegut (looks pretty small in his picture) is seriously considering the Buffs, after having only previously looked at in-state school, but really enjoyed his visit to Boulder.

San Jose, CA CB prospect Chidobe Awuzie (how great will it be if he and Chidera Uzo-Diribe combine on a tackle?!) tweeted out a lot of really positive things to say about his visit, Boulder, the facilities and everything he saw, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he commits over WSU.  He will have one last in-home visit from each school this week, but all indications are that the Buffs are frontrunners.

Supposedly, MacIntyre made a home visit to DE Marcus Loud (who de-committed from Missouri, committed to the Buffs, then went back to Mizzou after the Embree firing) trying to flip him one more time, but I am not holding my breath on this one.

Even though they have more than half of their allotted visits remaining, CU only has one visitor scheduled in the last two weeks: RB Ryan Moeller from Rifle, who is likely a preferred walk-on for MacIntyre.

Although no one will actually say it, I am guessing the reason that MacIntyre is going to “oversign” a little is that they expect at least a few players to bail after they see how spring practice shakes out and where the roster stands; the Bohnhead will likely also help out his coach by releasing a few guys, as long as they are academically eligible, after spring ball.

Word is that (formerly four-star) TE Mitchell Parsons (Chaparral), who de-committed from Embree in December, has maybe has gotten a little complacent, putting on a bunch of weight, and not the good kind.  His name has all but disappeared nationally but he announced this weekend that he will sign with Vanderbilt.  He and his friends tweeted a couple of digs at CU, but I think we are glad that he didn’t bring his ego and attitude to Boulder.  Good luck at the little sister in Tennessee Mitchy!

Go Buffs!

BIG Recruiting Weekend starts today

UPDATE: ATH Ryan Severson, from Valley Christian in San Jose and who was a SJSU commit, was a last minute addition to the weekend visit and according to Rivals has committed to MacIntyre and Colorado on his trip. He is a two-star prospect as an RB or DB, the latter of which is more likely for him in Boulder.

Recruiting: This weekend will be the biggest weekend of the cycle with more than a dozen recruits scheduled to visit today and maybe tomorrow.  On the slate are seven verbal commitments (QB Sefo Liufau, WRs Devin Ross and Elijah Dunston, LB George Frazier, OL Colin Sutton, Jonathon Huckins and Sam Kronshrage), one who is committed elsewhere, and at least four or five uncommitted prospects. A little more on those below, although not all of them are listed on every site that tracks these things, and therefore all of them may not actually make the trip.

You would think that most of these guys would have a no-brainer choice when you look at their other options, but CU as fallen a long way in regards to their national reputation.

James Ooten is a two-star athlete (played WR and DB) who is committed to New Mexico State, but I guess does not show up in the Scout database yet.

WR Delvon Hardaway (Los Angeles, CA) is rated as high as 3 stars by ESPN, is currently committed to San Jose State, but could probably be flipped.

CB Chidobe Awuzzie (San Jose, CA) will decide after this weekend between three schools: CU, San Jose State and Washington State, which has much less depth at CB and may be more attractive for immediate playing time, but is located in Pullman.

S Tedric Thompson (Valencia, CA) will also choose from three schools after his visit and you would think the Buffs would be frontrunners over Fresno State and Minnesota.

RB Michael Adkins (La Mesa, CA) is a two-star prospect who has also played safety.  He is definitely not an academic risk as he holds offers from Yale and Harvard, as well as Arizona.

LB Lawrence Montegut (La Marque, TX) also has offers from Texas Tech and a lot of smaller schools.

S Josh Jones (Michigan) has de-committed from Illinois and may also visit this weekend or maybe not.  This guy has changed his itinerary more times than any site can keep up with so who knows where he will visit until he is there. He was scheduled to visit Michigan St. this weekend but cancelled that, and has said his final three are now NC State, Pitt and Colorado.  He visited Pitt last weekend and will maybe visit the last two these two weeks, or not. New receivers coach Troy Walters had recruited him at NC State.

LB Kiel Robinson (San Marcos, CA) is a two-star who is committed to csu and had been recruited by MacIntyre’s staff at SJSU was scheduled to visit but cancelled his shot at playing in a real conference. 

Stuart has full bios on all these prospects: http://www.cuatthegame.com/2013/stoppin-by-for-a-visit-2/

I still do not understand how MacIntyre expects to be able to sign 17, meaning four more on top of the 13 verbals, plus four greyshirts that are already here and cannot be counted back to last year’s cycle, and he invited two lame duck senior receivers back for more free school and board?!  The Buff could really use one of the safeties and anyone with some speed, but there is no one on this list that is

Other Program Notes: Jack Follman of PacificTakes.com did a piece analyzing the rosters of Pac-12 teams and where their players call home. Here is where the Buffs come from: California 32%, Colorado 25%, Texas 12%, Hawaii, DC & Arizona 3% each, Louisiana & New Jersey 2% each. Not surprisingly, the Buffs pull more players out of the state of Colorado than any other school. They also pull a low percentage of players from California, but subsidize with players from Texas which is actually closer to Texas than it is California.

TE Nick Kasa has been invited to play in the Senior Bowl on January 26 in Mobile, Alabama.  This is his chance to show NFL scouts what he can do as a pass catcher and blocker.  He has the size and raw skills to develop into a decent TE, but needs to get a lot better.  A good showing here and the combine could get him drafted, a bad one could leave him scrambling to try and sign on as a free agent.

CU Football’s APR score should stay high with all eight seniors graduating or on track to: four December graduations (Major, Polk, Rippy, Richter), to go along with two from last May (Dannewitz and Ebner) and two expected for this May (Kasa and Pericak-both in four years).  Former Buffs who retired due to injury, Max Tuoti-Mariner and Vince Ewing, also graduated.

Not that it is a win now, but the schedule gets a little bit easier without Chip Kelly at Oregon, whose departure indicates for most that the program is about to receive some pretty harsh sanctions.  It appears that Oregon will fake the process of interviewing with at least one minority candidate before promoting Mark Helfrich, former CU OC under hawkins.  Most believe this is an obvious choice and a great match.  Reed Marks is about the only one who doesn’t coo at the expected move, tweeting out last night: “I can’t be the only one that would applaud if Oregon hired Helfrich would I?  On top of being placed on probation, he’s a disaster.”  When I thanked him for finally saying that, he replied, “I know him pretty well.  He would need to improve 100% just to suck.”  It will be interesting to see how this plays out and if they lose any of their highly ranked recruiting class based on this news and the now even more highly anticipated report on Willie Lyles.

In addition to raving about the Pistol offense and coaches MacInytre and OC Brian Lindgren for helping him become the nation’s most accurate passer, San Jose State QB David Fales also told the Denver Post’s John Henderson that MacIntyre’s “Four F’s” (can you name them yet?) set the tone for the team in going 11-2 and this season. 

No big surprise that Athlon’s early Pac-12 predictions have CU at the bottom of the South Division; here’s what they said:    “Key Returnees: QB Jordan Webb, RB Christian Powell, WR Paul Richardson, WR Nelson Spruce, WR Tyler McCulloch, LG Alex Lewis, C Daniel Munyer, RG Jack Harris, DE Chidera Uzo-Diribe, NT Josh Tupou, LB Derrick Webb, CB Yuri Wright, CB Kenneth Crawley, CB Greg Henderson, SS Terrel Smith, SS Marques Mosley, S Parker Orms;  Key Departures: TE Nick Kasa, LT David Bakhtiari, DE Will Pericak, LB Doug Rippy, LB Jon Major, S Ray Polk.  

After a failed two-year stint under Jon Embree, the Buffaloes hit a home run with the hire of former San Jose State coach Mike MacIntyre. Although Colorado should be more competitive in 2013, escaping the cellar of the Pac-12 South is unlikely. The offense was one of the worst in college football last season and finding stability and production from the quarterback position will be MacIntyre and coordinator Brian Lindgren’s No. 1 priority in spring practice. Helping the passing attack in 2013 will be the return of receiver Paul Richardson, who missed all of 2012 with a knee injury. The defense was the worst in the Pac-12 last season and must replace a handful of key players, including end Will Pericak and linebacker Jon Major. Improvement will be noticeable for Colorado in 2013, but the Buffaloes are at least one more year away from contending for a bowl game.” 

Go Buffs!

More News and Notes for January blahs

New CU head coach Mike MacIntyre told the Denver Post’s John Henderson that he is not a “player’s coach… A lot of people say a player’s coach is ‘Ah, they’re having fun. Let them do whatever they want.’ I care deeply about my players. I don’t use them as pawns. And they know that…They also know I hold certain standards high and we’ve got to meet those standards. I’d like to say I’m a good parent. A good parent can laugh with their kids but at the same time they know there are certain standards and I hold them accountable.”

Recruiting: At least two of the four verbal commits who visited this weekend re-affirmed their loyalty to CU after a very positive visit.  ESPN recruiting bloggers talked to three-star CA prospects WR Bryce Bobo and OL Gunnar Graham (was supposedly offered by but turned down the U of Miami-the real one in Florida), and both are excited to sign with the Buffs in a few weeks.  Bobo was definitely feeling out elsewhere and is needed desperately in Boulder, as are any skill position players with speed. The other two previously committed in-state visitors, Denver South’s RB Philip Lindsay (greyshirt candidate depending on knee recovery) and Columbine’s OL John Lisella, were already on board with the new staff.

The fifth recruit that was supposed to visit last weekend, csu commit DE Timothy Coleman, did not end up making his visit.  I am not sure if he is re-scheduling.

I am trying to do the math after MacIntyre said he wants to sign 17 guys this cycle but I am not sure where all the scholarships are coming from after graduating only eight seniors, plus Grossnickle.  Plus, they invited back two of the wideouts who had essentially been let go by Embree in order to open up a couple of scholarships.  They had a full complement of 25 start camp last fall so none of the greyshirts can be counted back.  I guess they technically don’t need to be down to their official numbers until fall camp opens (this is how SEC teams overstock then let go lesser players each summer). I would guess a few players leave after spring practices when they see what the writing on the wall looks like, and some of the current 13 verbally committed guys will likely end up greyshirting until next January, counting toward the 2014 class which should have 20+ slots.

Lisella has now said that he will greyshirt, delaying enrollment until next January in order to put on weight, supposedly with outspoken former Buff and NFLer Matt McChesney, who now runs a local fitness and training company.

This coming weekend is the big weekend with more than a dozen recruits lined up for a visit, including most of the rest of the verbal commitments (QB Sefo Liufau, WRs Devin Ross and Elijah Dunston, LB George Frazier, OL Colin Sutton, Jonathon Huckins and Sam Kronshrage), at least four uncommitted prospects and one who is committed elsewhere.  More on them later this week.

CB Chidobe Awuzzie is slated to visit that weekend and has officially narrowed his choice to three schools: CU, San Jose State (can’t see them winning this battle even if he is from the area) and Washington State, which has much less depth at CB and may be more attractive for immediate playing time.

New WR coach Troy Walters is recruiting a guy he was after at NC State, Josh Jones, a three-star safety from Michigan, who is shopping around even though he committed earlier to Illinois.  He might visit January 25, but he has been changing his itinerary frequently.

It appears that CU is not recruiting local 4-star TE Mitchell Parsons (Chaparral), who decommitted from Embree before the firing and still has shown some interest in CU, has tweeted that he has not gotten any reciprocated.  The TE at SJSU was the second leading receiver last year, but they have many TEs on the roster and don’t use multiple TE sets often.  So. Vincent Hobbs is a perfect fit for the offense and they have other needs than stocking the TE position.

From the WOW category: New Cincinnati coach Tommy Tuberville showed his absolute lack of class by never bothering to call any of the prospects who had committed previously to Butch Jones. They only found out that their offers would not be honored after the families called the university trying to find out what was going on with their son’s life.  Absolutely terrible-if this is true then it should be publicized better so kids know that they may be cast aside at any time there.  The upside of this is that maybe MacInytre can capitalize and swoop in on a couple of those guys.

Spring Practice: I am really excited that practices will be open again, I just hope I can make some of them.  I will be very curious to watch who is getting reps at all position groups, but especially the offensive skill positions (QB, RB, WR, TE) and the defensive line.

The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of having a practice the Monday after the spring game (Saturday April 13) to go over everything and make sure the team is ready to keep working in the offseason.  The spring game always just feels anti-climatic-it just ends and there is no more football for a few months.  The kids should be able to go over the film and know what they need to correct in order to be better prepared for the following year and earn themselves more playing time.  Not many teams do this, but if those who do have some success, many will follow.

Other Program Notes: SI’s Stewart Mandel gave CU an “A” for hiring Mike MacIntyre: Colorado took a smart long-term approach and hired one of the few coaches who have experience overseeing the type of massive rebuilding job necessary in Boulder. In three seasons, MacIntyre lifted the long-irrelevant Spartans from 1-12 to 11-2. Prior to that, MacIntyre, 47, spent two seasons on David Cutcliffe's Duke staff. The guy knows rebuilding.

San Jose State QB David Fales, in an interview with the Denver Post’s John Henderson raved about coaches MacInytre and OC Brian Lindgren for helping him become the nation’s most accurate passer (72.5%-almost ¾ of his passes completed!).  This season he finished third nationally (albeit against slight inferior competition) in QB rating behind only national champion Alabama’s AJ McCarron and Georgia’s Aaron Murray, both sure fire first rounders in 2014.  Fales also said they gave him confidence, kept him focused and taught him how toprepare mentally. He also said that Lindgren’s Pistol offense and each play’s “base plan” keep it “real simple”.  At first this sounds good, but then I get worried that Jordan Webb will be out there under center again.

New WR coach Troy Walters tweeted that while he was “flattered by interest from Arkansas”, he is “pumped about the future of CU football” and the wide receivers he will be coaching.

We might be a little bummed that LT David Bahktiari is one of 10 Pac-12 players forgoing his senior season to enter the NFL draft, but in Baton Rouge LSU alone is losing ten guys who played a lot as juniors this year.  Remember though, most of those names were posted on Les Miles’s office door basically calling them out as slackers in bowl preparation.  Can the Mad Hatter bounce back from losing (including graduating seniors) most of his starters?  Probably.

It makes me sad that it has come so far that this is ESPN Pac-12 bloger Ted Miller’s BOLD prediction for CU next year: “Colorado will win four games in Year 1 under Mike MacIntyre: And Buffs fans will be reasonably encouraged.”

Go Buffs!

Sunday Morsels Jan. 13

Spring Practice: The most important news of the weekend: Spring practice begins March 7, which means it is only 53 days away!  The schedule is 8 practices before spring break, 5 more after break before April 13 Spring Game.  All practices will be open, even during the season!  MacInytre might close off the end of some practices when installing specific pieces of game plans.  He will ask fans, reporters and bloggers not to report too much on the internet, 

so I will be careful what I write (yeah right as if anyone from the Dept. reads this).

The 15th and final spring practice will take place after the spring game in order to go over the film, work on mistakes and give specific direction as to how they can run player-led drills during the summer, since coaches won’t be able to have contact with players until fall practices begin.  I freaking love this idea and approach and am surprised that so few schools do this.

Recruiting: Coach MacIntyre said he plans on signing about 17 players this cycle, with 13 verbal commitments heading into this weekend.  He has honored all offers from previous staff, saying that many are indeed getting a lot of late attention from other schools.

Five prospects were scheduled to take their official visits to CU this weekend; four reportedly attended the men’s basketball game vs. UCLA.  Four were previous verbal commitments: Denver South’s RB Philip Lindsay (solid commit), Columbine’s John Lisella (also solidly committed), CA WR Bryce Bobo (still feeling things out with new staff) and OL Gunnar Graham (not sure how he feels, or how much he will ever help).  The fifth was DE Timothy Coleman, a csu commit from Mullen who is an intriguing case as he only played a small amount of defense this year before tearing up his knee (he had only played offensive line in the past). 

Next weekend January 18-19 is the big weekend with more than a dozen recruits lined up for a visit.  More on them later this week.

Former greyshirt WR Peyton Williams will enroll at Texas Tech and be immediately eligible to play since he never suited up or officially took scholarship here (just like LB Gilliam from SJSU to CU, Kisima Jagne to ASU).

Not having last two coaches in place shouldn’t have a major impact on recruiting since only 7 coaches can be on the road at a time anyway.

Other Program Notes: MacIntyre believes all current players are sticking it out, at least for now, ready for the spring semester.  A few had talked to him about transferring, but all agreed to go through spring practices first.  I would expect to lose a few at that point when the roster and depth chart start to shake out.

He also said that the fourth year juniors, who were scheduled to exit the program upon graduation this spring, are being allowed to return to the team and continue as fifth year seniors.  WRs DaVaughn Thorton and Jarrod Darden, two of the biggest underachievers in the combined Embree/hawkins era, will give it one more shot, although K/P Zach Grossnickle passed at the option and has moved on.  I am not sure I like this idea as the two returning guys have both been terrible busts, wasting scholarships that could be used on players who actually contribute.  Maybe MacIntyre, Lindgren and Walters can motivate them, but I am not holding my breath.

According to Kyle Ringo of the Camera, “He (MacIntyre) said it’s possible he could hire one assistant who would be entirely responsible for special teams and no other position.” (my emphasis)  It would seem to me that he should know if he wants someone dedicated to ST or not by this point.  I actually really like the idea of having one coach preparing and coaching all aspects of the unit, allowing for kicking and punting “coaching” to happen throughout practice, rather than having each coach take a part, like punt return or kickoff coverage, to be accountable for, and only “coaching” up when it is the period for ST work; with this approach, ST will never be an important aspect of their game.  Frank Beamer at Va Tech has always coached ST himself as the HC, which shows the players how important it is and makes everyone want to play it.

Now, MacIntyre is saying he would like to have the staff completed by next week.  Still not holding my breath.  How much further will it continue to be pushed back?  Has the Bohnhead encouraged this approach?  Maybe we should have held a pool on how long it would take.

By the way, I asked Alfred Williams on twitter what he thought of the quiet announcement about no CU staffers being retained and his response: “I told ya.”

John Henderson of the Denver Post did an article much like the one on Mile High Sports last week, focusing on MacInytre’s “Four F’s”- can you name them?  Don’t worry, if not, we will all have them etched in our brain as we grow sick of hearing them soon enough. http://www.denverpost.com/cu/ci_22362943/mike-macintyre-has-four-point-plan-rebuild-cu

MacIntyre has met with every player and plans to have a team meeting Sunday, followed by meetings with position coaches, except of course the RBs, who still don’t have a coach named.  He will also put them in “family” groups, mixed by position, age, race and talent, to build relationships within team and across the team,; these “families” will work together, including community service, hold each other accountable (one messes up they all run), and support each other in every way.  He also likes to have close knit coaching staff as well.

In-season practices will held in the AM, instead of the late afternoon, so I will not be making too many of those.

MacInytre also wants to implement a “Walk of Champions” on game day, with players walking to stadium/Dal Ward/ locker room through a throng of fans.  First red flag: this was also a hawk idea that he tried with mild success; the walk across a few parking lots wasn’t that exciting and there is just not a great natural place to set this up. CU fans are too busy tailgating to be bothered moving anyway.  Even the path the band takes wouldn’t make sense for the players.  However, if he does get it going, I will be first in line!

Go Buffs!

Plodding along in January

There is not a lot to report but the Pac-12 2013 conference schedule has been released with Colorado’s full schedule now posted at right and everyone can start digging for some wins.  It lines up to be another excellent tailgating season, with two bye weeks for traveling or relaxing. For the first time since 1995, the Buffs will play all their games on Saturdays.  They were not given any of the league’s Thursday night games (big surprise there) and the Utah game has been moved to the Saturday after Thanksgiving, with the Oregon Civil War and Washington Apple Cup garnering the Friday slots now on ESPN.  The Buffs will spend the first month of the season in Colorado with the csu game, home tilts against Central Arkansas (no DII pushover) and Fresno St. before their first bye, leading up to conference play.  Their first road game is not until Sept. 28, their Pac-12 opener vs. Oregon State, the only team we have not faced yet as a member of the conference.  They will have five games in the month of November, only two at home, closing the season at Utah.  Also, not that it is likely to affect the Buffs for awhile, but the Pac-12 Championship game has also been moved to Saturday.

There is nothing really new on the coaching front.  However, it did officially come out that no CU staffers will be retained from the previous staff.  MacIntyre said a few members of that staff were being considered (ask Alfred Williams if he believes that one), but he has decided to go elsewhere after the coaches’ convention in Nashville and hopes to have the last two coaches named by “this weekend”-who’s holding their breath for that announcement?  

There just does not appear to be any urgency to fill the last two positions, RB and some other defensive assistant.  We may not hear anything on an RB coach until after signing day, especially since the position is fairly well stocked on the roster and one already committed (Denver South’s Philip Lindsay).

However, MacIntyre did fill out much of the rest of the program’s staff by bringing over four more from San Jose State: Director of Football Operations Bryan McGinnis (previously reported here, 8 years at SJSU), Football Academics Coordinator Katie Bason (two years as whatever a “learning specialist” is at SJSU), and Adam Toyoma will be the recruiting coordinator, even though he only joined SJSU two years ago as “student support assistant in recruiting” (again, whatever the heck that is?!);  Kerry Johnson, who was an offensive operations assistant (great titles MacIntyre has for his staff) last year at SJSU, will help Dave Forman as assistant strength and conditioning coach, a position he previously held at Duke.  Not sure if I am so excited about so much inexperience at these support positions, especially the recruiting.

Eric Bienemy is indeed going to Kansas City to be the new RB coach under Andy Reid.  That is probably all he ever should have been-I would be surprised if he ever got another shot at coordinator anywhere.  Bienemy played for Reid his last season in the NFL, and also worked with Brad Childress (also expected to be hired) at Minnesota.

Bobby Kennedy appears headed to Iowa to coach wide receivers there.

Recruiting: There is a little less than a month to go until the February 6^th signing day, with four weekends to host official visits to woo and impress prospects.  DE/LB Markeis Reed visited from California last week and committed.  Embree and his staff had held off on most of their visits for January anyway, so MacIntyre has most of them to use now.

There are five visiting this weekend, four of them previous verbal commitments: Lindsay, Columbine’s John Lisella (also solidly committed), CA WR Bryce Bobo (still feeling things out with new staff) and OL Gunnar Graham (not sure how he feels, or how much he will ever help).

The fifth official visitor this weekend is DE Timothy Coleman, a csu commit from Mullen who is an intriguing case as he only played a small amount of defense this year before tearing up his knee (he had only played offensive line in the past).  Most guys, when they get a Pac-12 offer, will choose the bigger, better school over a smaller school from conferences like the MWC, who have less chance of getting into the big bowls and big bucks from future playoff revenue.

Next weekend is setting up to be the biggest weekend with at least eleven prospects scheduled to visit Boulder, including two-star RB/DB Michael Adkins (CA).

It does not look like any of the verbal commits is enrolling early to participate in spring drills.

WR/TE Jason Gaines, who grew up with, was best friends with and has lived with QB Shane Dillon’s family, will eventually come to CU when he finishes up at his JC in California (not sure which one).  This is according to Dillon’s parents (in depth interview with them by Stuart: http://www.cuatthegame.com/2013/qa-with-shani-and-patrick-dillon/) and I assume it will be as a walk-on unless he really develops.  Embree’s staff recruited him with Dillon, but it wasn’t clear if it was talent or academics, or both, that kept him from coming here.

From NetBuffs.com, poster cu70, although s/he has no idea how to use English punctuation, wrote this in an email to CU President Bruce Benson about the university’s commitment and support: “If CU was really interested in athletic excellence as your letter dated January 2013 appears to state. The first thing the university would do is forgive the 22 million owed it by the athletic department. It would be a good will gesture that would speak very loudly about the university’s dedication to excellence on the field. If the university is not willing to make the investment, why should I donate my money to the athletic department.(?) Thus, I will continue to donate to the Red Cross, American Heart Association, etc and continue to skip donating to CU.” (my bold & ?)

Go Buffs!

January Notes

It has been confirmed and reported everywhere else that LT David Bahktiari is indeed declaring for the upcoming NFL draft.  Although he said he woke up Monday morning and knew that this was what he wanted to do, his brother tweeted the news late Sunday night-I believe it was still during the Alabama rout of Notre Lame.  Bahktiari has been rated as the seventh best offensive tackle, projected as a second or third round pick.  Steve Marshall and Jon Embree also told them he rated well with their colleagues around the NFL. With a really good combine he could rise up into the early part of the second round, maybe even the first.  It is hard to blame him for not really wanting to stick around to impress a third head coach and fourth offensive line coach when he can go get paid.

Buffscoop (pay site I do not subscribe to) tweeted a tease that they had information on a new assistant coach.  They usually have good sources, but I don’t know if this is their piece on Walters, or they know something new.  If it’s the latter, it should come out soon.

Ted Miller of ESPN Pac-12 blog put out “returning starters” numbers. He lists CU with 18 total (tied for highest in the conference), 9 offense, 7 defense, 2 specialists. This doesn’t include Paul Richardson, but the numbers wouldn’t change with his addition since both WRs (Spruce and McCulloch) are in there.  He lists “big names” as Sr. DE Chidera Uzo-Diribe and So. CB Kenneth Crawley. There are probably also a few others with some starting experience.  However, with new coaches and systems, all position battles are open. However, it probably means it’s time to update my 2013 “Positional Outlook”.

President Bruce Benson’s letter to alumni and donors just sounds like more begging-CU’s Athletic Department fundraising operates on a different wavelength.  Guilt, “woe is me” and begging will not get me to give (except with my dogs).  They have been “planning” and “studying funding options” for over a year now (remember, they used sketches of the “plans” to help lure recruits like Yuri Wright and Kenneth Crawley last year).  It sounds like planning and studying really mean waiting for one big donor to dump a bunch of cash in their lap. Show me some sound decision-making and assure my money will be used wisely, before I will ever ante up another penny; I doubt this is possible while the Bohnhead is still on campus.

Recruiting: Lose one, gain one.  LB Addison Gilliam (Palo Cedro, CA), who was greyshirting at San Jose State, has decided to follow the coaches to Boulder.  He was rated with two stars and obviously fits with the type of player MacIntyre and Baer want to see on the team. He will enroll in classes next week.

Meanwhile, WR Peyton Williams, however, has decided to go back to Texas to play.  He said that while he enjoyed his semester here, he realized he is a “Texas” boy.  It is not known if he has a school lined up. DE Kisima Jagne, the highest rated of the original five greyshirts, has decided to enroll at ASU.

However, WR Jeffrey Thomas will enroll and has moved into the dorms.  He looks to be a big part of the offense next year.  Two other greyshirts, who probably won’t contribute much in the near future, DE Derek McCartney and OL Gerald Kough, also moved into dorms this week.

Former Buff receiver Austin Vincent, who played sparingly as a freshman early in Embree’s first year, but then was dismissed for a dorm shower incident, apparently has cleared his name and is planning on returning to Boulder as a walk-on this fall.  He has been attending Cisco College in Texas to remain eligible.  I am assuming the team will provide with an ample supply of large towels.

The Buffs look to be in the running for two-star LB Lawrence Montegut (La Marque, Texas) and he will visit on Jan 18, along with verbal commit WR Devin Ross, CB prospect Chidobe Awuzie, WR prospect Devon Hardaway (had committed to SJSU over CU before coaching changes) and others.

If you want to read a bunch of mindless banter about any recruit with whom CU has ever been mentioned, then check out the AllBuffs forum: http://www.allbuffs.com/forumdisplay.php/14-Colorado-Football-Recruiting-Central

The entire Pac-12 conference schedule will be released later today and I will post it tonight or tomorrow.

Congrats to Greg Brown who officially will take over the secondary under Kirby Smart for the Two-time defending National Champion Alabama Crimson Tide.  I figure we will see him somewhere as a DC in the future after tutelage under Smart and Saban.  Interesting fact: the BCS Crystal Trophy has resided in the state of Alabama for four straight years now with Auburn having interrupted the dynasty three years ago with Cam Newton.

Go Buffs!