Ding Dong the bohnhead's gone!

Although I have been a staunch opponent and very critical of Mike "the bohner" bohnhead since long before the Embree firing fiasco, none were more surprised than I at his..."resignation". While I am glad that his smug arrogant attitude is gone, the timing and process is as bizarre as ever for CU, who seem to make bigger news with their firings than the average program. The move comes with three years left on bohn's contract (he will be paid almost a million dollars over three years-what's another million with as much as CU owes Barnett, hawkins and Embree), after letting him hire his third football coach, immediately after he traipsed around the state with all the athletic programs touting the university.  Chancellor Phil DiStefano said the decision to...demand (?) bohn's resignation was his, although he couldn't comment on personnel publicly.  President Bruce Benson said he supported "the decision to accept Mike Bohn's resignation."  The "separation agreement" states and bohn reiterated in a letter to the CU family that there were no matters of misconduct or impropriety.  Is that "standard"? Why can't they just say they fired him?  Is there a big donor (or donors) waiting in the wings who have pledged a bunch of dough if bohn is gone?  Or is it just another knee-jerk reaction by clueless administration?  It seems it just came down to too many differences between DiStefano and bohn, specifically around the way the department is run as whole, how it manages money and most importantly, how much money it brings in from the outside.  They want it to be run more like a business, after asking bohn, when he was hired, to make the department more a part of the university. I don't expect it will ever make sense.  Anyway, Ceal Barry is in charge while they stumble through the search process.

In other news, the Buffs received their second verbal commitment of the 2014 cycle when Texas LB Grant Watanabe announced he had committed to MacIntyre and staff.  He joins local product OT Oliver Miller from Longmont's Silver Creek in forming the base of MacIntyre's first full recruiting class. I will update the list (text box to the right) as new prospects commit.

Also, the non-conference game times were announced with the rocky mountain blowdown at 4pm, Central Arkansas 6pm and Fresno St. at noon (brunch tailgate anyone?).

Finally...a 2014 verbal commitment

Recruiting 2014: Sometimes it is nice just to finally get “on the board,” as the Buffs new coaching staff did Friday, receiving their first verbal commitment of the cycle from Silver Creek’s OT Oliver Miller.  It was a small monkey off of Mike MacIntyre’s back and the legion of Buff fans on Twitter quickly spread the news.  No more reading that CU is the only Pac-12 team without any commitments whenever someone does a “recruiting update”. 

Miller is a 6’7” beast (I saw him at the Junior Day basketball game) who is rated three stars by both Rivals and Scout, has a 4.2 GPA and, maybe most importantly, is one of the highest rated players in the state of Colorado.  He already had offers from Washington St. and Wyoming, and had taken unofficial visits to Michigan St. and Purdue. He is reportedly somewhat raw and his 255-lb frame still needs to put on some weight, but he should do some of that this year, and more when he redshirts next year. 

The Longmont product said: “I’m pretty fired up about being a Buff. I called Coach MacIntyre this morning, he was very excited to have me as a member of his football family…He sounded very excited.  He asked me if both of my feet were in the Colorado boat. He doesn’t rush a commitment, but once you make a pledge he wants to make sure that I’m completely committed to him and his football program. I’m completely committed to being a Buff”.

Coach Mike Apodaca’s Raptors won the 3A state title last year and he says that they had already had more contact with this staff than the previous one, and that a few players might have been overlooked in the past, including 2012 prospect Trace Gray, son of former Buff  Lamarr Gray (played on 1990 NC team).  There are more Division I quality players on this year’s squad, including DL Levi Cecil, LB Andre Apodaca and K Ryan Charles.

Hopefully this is a jumping off point and more prospects will follow suit soon, both inside and outside of the state.  Rumor has it that the staff has even offered a few 2015 prospects already. 

Depressing Previews: Jon Wilner of San Jose Mercury News gave the standard CU preview, picking them last in the South: “Mike MacIntyre’s first year rebuilding San Jose State was a rough one, and I expect the same to be true in Boulder. The Buffs will be better than they were last year in numerous areas (conditioning and preparation, to name two), but that might not translate to more wins.”  Usually Jon is a little more interesting and thorough.

From Kevin Gemmel of the ESPN Pac-12 blog: “If you want to go by just the raw data, then California and Colorado share the "toughest" schedule based on the combined records of last year's opponents. The 2013 schedule for both teams includes teams that had a .588 winning percentage last year.”  He did go on to state that others like Stanford actually had harder schedules, but it’s still not an uplifting stat.

Facilities Upgrade: The upgrades are almost complete and look very nice, if you are a Wildcat fan at least, as Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez gave a tour of the new digs.  I won’t post the video because it just pisses me off.

May Suddenly Full of News

May is generally a pretty slow month in the college football world, spring practices are over, coaches are recruiting but it is by no means the busiest or most important time of the year.  However, all of a sudden in Buff world, a few things are moving and shaking.  When we last left you we were only pondering the bizarre flake out and defection of nick hirschman...

It appears that Mike MacIntyre and Brian Lindgren are not entirely comfortable with the QB situation after hisrchman's transfer with the injury then felony charge for Jordan Webb.  To help fill the void, Colorado went out and got a commitment from unrated JC QB Jordan Gehrke, from Scottsdale, AZ (Ventura College via Scottsdale JC and Notre Dame Prep).  He is not rated anywhere and wasn't recruited anywhere else except Weber St.  Gehrke had played one year for Scottsdale and was set to play for Ventura College, then Weber St. this fall until the desperate Buffs came calling.  He will have four years to “play” three. Not the most reassuring move the staff could make for us fans.

Before all that of course, the Alex Lewis situation came out and at least that has been so entertaining (with no disrespect intended for the Air Force cadet involved).  First, Lewis announces very publicly that he is transferring to nebraska, a place he said during recruitment that he would never consider; on top of that, he does so without even having the decency to notify Coach MacIntyre, who heard about it from media.  Less than 12 hours after his announcement, he is arrested for beating the crap out of a much smaller guy. Lewis very freely (and proudly?) admitted to having consumed 22 drinks, not “a bunch”, or “more than 10” or “twenty or so” but “6 glasses of wine, 10 beers and 6 shots”, which is a lot for anyone, even a 275-pound linemen.  Needless to say, his enrollment is at least being delayed by nebraska until this is sorted out.  I wonder if it was some type of Fusker initiation.  Although it is a loss on paper of a talented player, he obviously didn't have the heart to stick with it here (like hirschman), obviously doesn't make very good choices, and the coaching staff doesn't really “lose” anything since they were operating without him in the spring. The program will be better off without him.  The saddest part is that he will probably get charges reduced to a misdemeanor with no real consequences, and he will still get a free college education from Nebraska (so he can be hired by some other fusker alumnus).

The person who benefits most from Lewis’ story is not an offensive linemen, but rather former Buff  nick hirschman, who didn’t get named the starter, so he quit and left to pursue his “Ivy League dream” at, uh, Akron, of Ohio that is (I guess I don’t need to clarify because as far as I know there is only one Akron), who was also 1-11 last season against inferior competition and has what I am assuming to be a less prestigious graduate degree than CU or any school in the Ivy League.  The ridicule was just starting when Lewis and Webb took the spotlight away.

Coaches Caravan: CU coaches Mike MacIntyre, Tad Boyle and Linda Lappe toured the state this week, touting their athletic teams and serving crappy fast food to fans from Denver to Pueblo to Vail and Grand Junction.  It was on this tour that MacIntyre was notified by media of Lewis’ decision to defect to nebraska. They all spewed off the typical cliches throughout the week, although MacIntyre had a cute story for each stop. MacIntyre’s best quote: “I can’t wait to play csu. . . I can almost smell the game.” They all smiled for fans and media cameras, including photo ops at the most publicized stops, the drive thru windows and counters of McDonald’s across the state.    

Does anyone else find it as pathetic as I do that the bohnhead chose the greasy pits of the world’s largest fast food chain to be the main host of his coaches and the most publicized and photographed spots each day? This trip was supposed to be about Colorado community and such, so why did they go in this direction?  They couldn't have worked exclusively with and promoted a few more smaller, local venues and places that served real food?  Way to set the example of a healthy lifestyle!  Is this who caters the training table? Although they did stop at many other businesses and spoke at some schools, the stops at the fast food chain locations were by far the most hyped by CU and the media, shown over and over again in papers and on newscasts.  While it may be good general PR, if that footage wasn't there, they would have used something else from one of the other stops. How much did McDonald’s pay? (At least one donor owns a franchise.) I guess WalMart didn't bid enough.  Another baffling move by the bohner, who has to beg for any scraps he can get.

Chuck Neinas stopped by the Vail visit and said that his son Toby is enjoying being Special Teams coach. Of MacIntyre, he said (Toby) “tells me he’s never been with a better coach in terms of leadership and organization.”

At a Safeway in Lone Tree the coaches and the bohnhead participated in a grocery bagging contest where the AD was named “Master Bagger”.  So proud.

Depressing Previews: The various websites and publications are starting their 2013 conference and team previews, and not surprisingly, they are already waxing poetic about how bad the Buffs will actually be, challenging each other to create the most flamboyant descriptions and the strangest analogies.  I don’t even bother to read the defensive statistics from 2012 anymore, just glossing over them and going to the next paragraph, although the offensive stats are almost as offensive.  Although most concede that the Buffs will be improved, mostly because no can or wants to envision it getting worse, so has almost everyone else in the conference.  Even with another year under the belt of many younger kids and a new coaching staff led by everyone’s favorite swell guy Mike MacIntyre (national writers love him to death), I doubt anyone outside of the program is going to predict more than 3-4 games.

College Football News/Scout posted a pretty comprehensive preview for all teams.  Here’s the CU one, but be forewarned that it is in no way sugar-coated.  There is also a preview of both the offense and the defense (the depth chart is way out of date and whack): http://cfn.scout.com/2/1291232.html

The piece does contain a few misinterpretations of the actual facts, such as the statement that QB Sefo Liufau “was handpicked by the new regime” or that Tony Jones “hits the hole with authority” (unless that means turns to the outside) or that WR Tyler McCulloch “used his hands well when catching the ball” (should read “only his hands” since he gets muscled out by every DB).

USA Today is the latest to join the Buff-bashing party, ranking CU 115 out of 125 teams this year (actually that’s pretty good compared to how we finished last season). Paul Myerberg doesn’t hold anything back, using phrases like “multiple year rebuilding project” and stating boldly that they will finish in last place in the pac-12 South again.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2013/05/17/colorado-buffaloes-college-football-countdown-2013-preview/2166591/?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=t.co

The article stated that “the tight end will play an enormous role in this offense” and that we should expect both Kyle Slavin and Vincent Hobbs and at least two other TEs to “earn significant playing time”, which seems like a stretch, especially since they didn’t even mention Hobbs’ home situation, or the fact that no one else stepped up in the spring, nor do they really have anyone coming in this fall. It doesn’t even mention Brady Daigh at LB, assumes that Kawai Crabb, who was out all of last year with back problems, will be the LG, but that is far from a foregone conclusion at this point, and also gives Gus Handler a lot more credit than most, not even mentioning that Daniel Munyer will still challenge for the center slot when he is healthy.

Athlon also posted an article on the Buffs that was actually picked up by the Chicago Tribune as well. http://stats.athlonsports.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=athlonsports&page=cfoot/news/news.aspx?id=4593781

Early preseason honors: WR Paul Richardson has been officially named to the “Best chance to join Pac-12 blog's All-Interview team” by Ted Miller of ESPN.  Some of P-Rich’s quotes: "I expect nothing less than for people to sell us short or pick us to finish last. I even joked before in another interview that if there was a spot below last they'd pick us there as well. But you never know what will happen in the Pac-12." 
 "I don't think Coach MacIntyre is in a bad position at all. I think he was given an opportunity to move up to this coaching job at a really good time. We're going to have some key players back and our young guys are going to have experience. To me, he came at a perfect time." 
"I was very upset to say the least [at coach Jon Embree's firing]. It was very surprising. I had a really good relationship with Coach Embree. It caught us all off guard. Some of us were pretty bitter." 
 "I think we'll be .500 or above. The best thing I can say is don't sleep on Colorado football. We're a work in progress, but it is progressing over here." 

Richardson was also named as one of the Pac-12 players who are “Ready for their close-up”.

I will repeat, mike "the bohnhead" bohner was named "Master Bagger" at a Lone Tree Safeway.

2014 Recruiting: CU is still without a commitment for the 2014 class (the only team in the pac-12 without any).  However, according to Adam M. of Rivals/BuffStampede and the “new” FoxSports/Scout/Buff Playbook the Buffs have offered 10 or so prospects in Colorado and numerous prospects in California and Texas, with lots of kids talking about their interest in CU. BuffPlayBook said one of their scouts has reported hearing “Colorado” mentioned among California recruits than ever before.

Numerous prospects, including Texas defensive backs Courtland Sutton (Brenham) and Chance Waz (Pflugerville/Hendrickson), received 38 handwritten letters each from CU players and staff.  Neither player is rated with any stars from ESPN yet, and so far, Sutton’s only offer is from Colorado while Waz has also attracted the interest of Utah.  Needless to say, this type of news, really the “biggest story” I’ve seen, does not get the fan that excited for the future.

May Buff Update

There has not been a lot of news in the Buff program since Spring practices ended.  However, there has been enough happening of late for an update.

The biggest news involved a couple of defections, the first when QB Nick Hirschman quit on his teammates, supposedly to pursue a Master’s degree at an Ivy League school. It turns out Hirschman didn’t actually end up at an Ivy League school after all (big, big surprise). Instead, he settled for the only program that would take him: football powerhouse and academically renowned…Akron!  They were also 1-11 last year against way worse competition than the Buffs, but Nicky get to be the starter and kinda big man on campus I guess.  Whatever Nick, that Akron grad degree will make a big difference in your post-college non-football life.

The second defection came as projected starting offensive guard Alex Lewis suddenly announced he was transferring to Nebraska.  It appears Lewis wanted to play tackle and saw a better opportunity to win at Nebraska.  He will have to sit out a year and will have two years to play.  Lewis had told MacIntyre he just wanted to explore his options and was given a release, however, it appears he always had intended to transfer and then did not even bother to inform coach MacIntyre himself, who instead had to hear the news from the media.  Although he was expected to start, since he missed all of spring ball, the line and new coaching staff doesn’t really “lose” anything, especially if he had a poor attitude and bailed on his teammates. 

That brings the number to eight scholarship players with eligibility (plus four walk-ons) who have left the program, although a couple of the scholarship players were basically walk-ons getting a free ride from previous coaches.  Besides Bahktiari headed to the Packers, Hirschman and Lewis quitting on their teammates, DB Sherrard Harrington and LB Kyle Washington took medical retirement, while K Zach Grossnickle and WRs DaVaughn Thorton and Jarrod Darden (should have never been given scholarship by Hawkins), who were told to hit the road by Embree, didn’t bother to stick around even when offered by MacIntyre.  So far, there have been no other reports of players wanting to transfer after spring ball.

Depth Chart: The CU post spring depth chart came with few surprises but a couple of changes. 

QB Shuffle: Of course, Jr. Connor Wood inherits the QB spot for now; he feels very confident and comfortable with the new offense and thinks he experience from last year will help him on the field this season.  We will see if R-Fr. Shane Dillon of incoming true frosh Sefo Liufau can mount any kind of a challenge.  Sr. Jordan Webb, who tore his ACL in the spring, is progressing well and may actually be able to play this season (since it looks like he would not be granted a 6^th year), possibly being available as early as the first Pac-12 game against Oregon St. Sept. 29.  Hopefully, he just provides a solid, experienced backup and we do not need him for anything more than a fill-in.

Even losing Lewis, the offensive line should be fine if it stays relatively healthy.  Four starters are basically set. William Gardner was on the most recent BuffStampede podcast (usually records Monday afternoon and covers both football and basketball with Adam M and William Whelan of Rivals) and he said that he thought the Buffs tackles Jack Harris and Stephane Nembot looked great in the spring, although it is not known for sure who will be left (likely Harris) and right.  Gus Handler (and backup Brad Cotner) struggled somewhat with the Pistol snaps in the spring, so Daniel Munyer will definitely get some reps there in August if those two haven’t shored up their problems by then.  The loser of that battle will be one of the guards.  Kawai Crabb is the frontrunner to grab the last guard spot on the line, but I believe it will be one of the younger guys, maybe Alex Kellley or Jeromy Irwin.  Gardner said his sleeper pick for playing time on the line was incoming frosh Colin Sutton.

So. Christian Powell tops the RBs ahead of Jr. Tony Jones, then Sr. Josh Ford AND So. Donta Abron.  Three, if not all, of those four will play. Walk-on transfer So. Jordan Murphy is listed atop the fullbacks, with Sr. Alex Wood having moved back to TE, but I doubt they are going to play the FB that much. Jr. Kyle Slavin and Sr. Scott Fernandez lead the TEs for now, at least until So. Vincent Hobbs returns to Boulder, which he is still expected to do.  These two positions are being coached together this year since how they pass protect and slip out for some receptions is so similar.

The WRs are deeper than they have been in years, led of course by Paul Richardson.  The other starter for now is Nelson Spruce, backed up by Tyler McCulloch.  DD Goodson is listed behind P-Rich, but will often be the third receiver in the slot.  G-Fr. Jeff Thomas and Keenan Canty are the number threes, with So. Gerald Thomas slated at 4.  Plus, they have three incoming true freshman who all have the potential to contribute right away, although at least one, if not two, will probably redshirt (especially if G. Thomas keeps his shit together).  One of the new guys, Devin Ross was on BuffStampede and says he is excited to report to Boulder in June and start working with the team and Connor Wood; he is also excited to work with Coach Walters.

On defense, the line shuffled a little with sophomores Josh Tupou and Tyler Henington grabbing the #1 DT slots ahead of Sr. Nate Bonsu; So. Justin Solis is the other backup and will be part of the rotation for sure, as could R-Fr. Kyle Rasmussen.  So. Samson Kafovalu going across from Sr. Chidera Uzo-Diribe at DE.  Jr. Juda Parker could challenge there in the fall after missing the spring with a shoulder injury.  R-Fr. De’Jon Wilson, who was the star of the scout team last year, but has had some struggles, was moved back to 3^rd string DE from DT.  Jr. Kirk Poston will contribute and G-Fr. Derek McCartney and R-Fr. John Stuart will try to break into the rotation at end, but will have some competition from incoming frosh Timmy Coleman and Jimmie Gilbert.

Greyshirt frosh Addison Gilliam remains above Jr. Brady Daigh at the inside Mike LB and both will play. So. Jr. Woodson Greer appears to have solidified the Sam outside slot with SR. captain (likely) at the Will LB in the middle. Sr. Paul Vigo will likely see action on passing downs as a former safety, and juniors Lowell Williams (had a decent spring) and KT Tu’umalo, who are listed as Webb’s backups, could also get onto the field.  It will be hard for R-Fr. and former FB Clay Norgard and true frosh Markeis Reid (or other newcomers) to get on the field.

 So. Kenneth Crawley and Jr. Greg Henderson are the CB starters, with R-Fr. John Walker and Jr. Josh Moten (who was tried out at all four secondary slots) backing up, with sophomores Yuri Wright and Jeff Hall (who auditioned at WR but moved back to D) listed third.  Jr. Jered Bell and Sr. Parker Orms are listed as the #1 safeties but I expect to see a lot of both Sr. Terrel Smith and So. Marques Mosley.  I would not be surprised at all to see a true frosh crack the secondary rotation.

Obviously, the kicker and punter, juniors Wil Oliver and Darragh O’Neill are solid, with Oliver listed as “C0-#1” for kickoffs with Sr. Justin Castor and O’Neill appears to have won the holder job from Justin Gorman.  The long snapper will be Sr. Ryan Iverson, but the returners won’t be named until the Fall and could very like include a true frosh or two.

Recruiting: Unfortunately, there have been no commitments yet, leaving CU as one of the last Pac-12 schools to get on the 2013 board. Coaches are out on the road, but to no avail yet.

The first day of the recruiting window opened April 15 and even in the blizzard that hit Colorado that day, the coaches hit the road and visited 30 Colorado high schools that first day.  They plan on visiting every school in the state and meeting with every head coach.  Mike MacIntyre will also hit the road this week with Tad Boyle and Linda Lappe for the now-annual CU Coaches Caravan.

Instate recruits: Valor Christian RB Christian McCaffery, the top prospect in the state to many people, committed to Stanford. Offensive lineman Dalton Rizner committed early to Kansas St. but recently received an offer from CU.  It seems that CU has offered most of the top Colorado recruits but without any luck yet.  The biggest uncommitted name is Falcon’s do everything man Kaleen Ballage, who is being recruited nationally, including by Oregon.  It may be another year before MacIntyre’s crew makes enough inroads in state to secure some of the bigger names in Colorado.

Out of state: It sounds like MacIntyre and staff are also combing the west, trying to get into the ear of coaches and players.  They have spent a lot of time in Texas and California and have supposedly offered many of the bigger names out there.  We’ll see what kind of success they have this year.

For the latest info, rumors and speculation on the recruiting front, check out the AllBuffs.com Recruiting board: http://www.allbuffs.com/forumdisplay.php/14-Colorado-Football-Recruiting-Central

Other Buff Notes: Congratulations to the original Coach Mac as Bill McCartney was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.  Mac said that although he didn’t agree with the Embree firing and that it was premature, he fully supports the program and the new coaching staff.

Buffs in the NFL: Besides David Bahktiari being drafted in the 4^th round by the Green Bay Packers, Nick Kasa will get a shot with da Raiders getting selected in the 6^th round, and a few player signed free agent contracts: S Ray Polk with the Seahawks, defensive lineman Wil Pericak with the Ravens and LB Doug Rippy with the Denver Broncos!  LB Jon Major was also invited to tryout out the Chicago Bears mini-camp.