Offseason moves

Even though it a slow news time of the offseason and we are still in a "dead recruiting period", there have been a few changes to the current and future Buff football rosters.  First of all, it was announced that two redshirt freshmen would not be returning to the team.  WR Jeffrey Thomas was not a surprise at all as this has been rumored on and off throughout the year and since the season ended.  Thomas certainly could have contributed physically and talent-wise, but had trouble overcoming numerous off the field issues and he will be better off at a smaller school (Lamar) closer to his home.  The other player not returning to the team is OL Gunner Graham, who has decided to give up football, but will remain at CU.  Graham is not that big of a loss as they actually have quite a few young offensive lineman waiting in the wings and he was not one of the most touted. Fortunately, these are two position groups that actually have a little depth and will not be hurt much by these departures.  It also opens up two more scholarships, although I think coaches were already counting on using Thomas'.
There was also one de-commitment this week from CA LB Zach Brown, who has been reportedly wavering for awhile and wants to stay closer to home.  At one point he was rumored to be settling for San Jose St., but it now appears he will head to Fresno St. instead.  As soon as coaches learned of Brown's decommitment, they immediately offered Regis' DE Terran Hasselbach, a two-star prospect and son of former Denver Bronco Harrold Hasselbach, who immediately accepted. He was previously committed to Western Michigan.
So, they have 21 total commits, although one (Sam Bennion) is going on his Mormon mission before coming to CU in two years.  They will likely sign at least one and maybe as many as three more than that.
I am little concerned that they keep getting more defensive ends and really only have one verbal commit (Eddy Lopez) who has the size to play inside, where they are not nearly as deep, so I hope they snag at least one more big defensive tackle (or maybe one of the many offensive linemen will switch sides).
At least four new players will be joining the Buffs for Spring ball.  JC transfers DB Athello Witherspoon and LS Wyatt Smith have already enrolled.  WR Lee Walker didn't originally qualify to play for Arizona last year, so he is basically a grey shirt and is also already enrolled in Boulder and ready for the spring. He will compete for playing time with redshirts Bryce Bobo and Elijah Dunston. Lastly, OL John Lisella was originally an Embree recruit and was asked by MacIntyre's staff to greyshirt; he has been working out with Matt McChesney and is ready for the spring as well.

The Pac12 and therefore entire 2014 schedule was released and it sets up well for the Buffs.  We already knew about the three winnable non-conference games we knew about (csu, @ UMass at the Patriots stadium in Foxborough, and Hawaii), but before the Rainbows come to town, the Buffs will host ASU and open their conference schedule earlier than ever before.  They go on the road next to face a very beatable Cal team that will likely take over for CU at the bottom of the conference in all but the most ardent Cal fan's preseason predictions; I definitely prefer playing them earlier in the season, rather than later if the team really starts to buy-in to Dykes's system.  Most would agree the Buffs expect to be 4-1 at the end of September with Oregon St. coming to Boulder.  Could this team that only won four games in 2013 actually have 5 wins and be ranked on October 4?  I hope so, because after their first bye they have a very tough gauntlet of traveling to USC, hosting a very good, possibly top 10 Brett Hundley-led UCLA followed by Chris Peterson's Huskies, then two road trips to Arizona and Oregon (after another bye week).  Maybe the Washington game with a new coach and possibly Arizona could be steal-able games.  They will not face Stanford (yes!) nor Washington St. (damn!).  The Buffs will close with "rival" Utah coming to Boulder in what could possibly be a "winner go bowling" game.  Should be a great season!
Go Buffs!