Some more May notes

Even though the offseason is slow with real news, there are so many writers dedicated to college football that everyone has to contrive pieces to keep their jobs through these slow months, and therefore I have enough fluff for another new post:
Roster and Player notes:

§  WR Keenan Canty has graduated and since he was hardly going to see the field, has decided to transfer to Nicholls State to play out his last year of eligibility; I always said that at a smaller school this kid could have been a star.  So, that frees up a scholarship, leaving the team to find one more to accommodate all incoming recruits.

§  I have not read anything else on the status of Jeff Hall (numerous incidents) nor Samson Kafovalu or Justin Solis (both academics), although the latter two were on track pending finals.

§  Everyone likes to do lists these days, especially sites like Bleacher Report, and especially when offseason “news” is so slow, so Sefo made their list of “10 College Football QBs who will becomes stars in 2014” and here’s what they had to say: Passing for more than 1,700 yards and having a touchdown to interception ratio of 12 to eight doesn't exactly scream star potential. However, when you're talking about a freshman quarterback who did that in just eight games, it's a different story. For Colorado quarterback Sefo Liufau, that freshman season showed there is potential for greatness ahead. As for the growth of a young quarterback, all one has to do is look at CU's head coach Mike MacIntyre and offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren's history. They were instrumental in the development of David Fales at their previous stop, San Jose State. Watching Liufau's freshman season, there are a lot of similarities between the two quarterbacks early on in their careers. Given the pass-happy nature of Lindgren's offense, Liufau has the potential to put up eye-catching numbers. Liufau finished the spring game passing for 19-of-31 for 238 yards and two touchdowns.  His teammates are clearly behind him, voting the sophomore as one of six team captains after the spring game. If improvement comes along with the confidence his teammates certainly have in him, Liufau could be a star.

§  Avinash Kunnath of PacificTakes.com is doing his “best returning group” at each position and so far he has Powell and Adkins ranked as 9^th best returning RB group in a pretty strong conference, debatably behind Cal and ahead of only Utah, WSU and Arizona. 

§  Looking only at who the Buffs have returning at WR, the picture isn’t that pretty, with seniors Spruce, Goodson, McCulloch the key returning names.  With that being said, Kunnath has the Buffs’ receiving corps as an “area of concern” at the bottom of his list.  However, he doesn’t even mention So. Devin Ross, who will have way more reps and catches than McCulloch--if the senior was actually being counted on, this would be a worrisome group, but with R-Fr. Bobo and Dunston, plus incoming frosh Shay Fields, this group is going to surprise a lot of people, especially those at PacificTakes (Jack Follman overlooked Bobo in his piece and also wrote that McCulloch would be relevant).

     Early 2015 Projections:

§  ESPN’s Brian Fremau did some standings predictions and no surprise that CU came in last in the Pac12 South, only projecting three wins with a zero percent chance of winning the Pac12. Unfortunately, he had some great (terrible) stats to justify it: The Buffaloes sit at the bottom of our Pac-12 projections and have only a little hope for making major strides in 2014. The defense returns eight starters, and experience helps, but they are a long way from efficiency; Colorado allowed opponents to earn 55 percent of available yards (measured from starting field position to end zone) and gave up 3.1 points per drive (114th nationally). Their field-position management was lousy as well. On average, opponents started 2.6 drives per game in Colorado territory -- more than 50 percent higher than the national average. The Buffaloes have a win likelihood of less than 7 percent in seven of their Pac-12 games.

§  The Pac12 blog also did team “Spring Wrap-up” capsules and Ted Miller said that the Buffs are starting to look the part, although they need to still get bigger and faster.  He also predicts a “major upset” win in the conference -which probably means five wins with the three out of conference games and Cal.  They will need two upsets to reach bowl eligibility, but Miller is really the first prognosticator to specifically predict even one. http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/71847/colorado-spring-wrap?ex_cid=espnapi_public 

§  They also tabbed R-Fr. Bryce Bobo as Colorado’s “Spring Breakout Player”: http://espn.go.com/blog/pac12/post/_/id/72440/spring-breakout-player-colorado?ex_cid=espnapi_public

2015 Recruiting

§  CU verbal commit OG Dillon Middlemiss from Pomona has had his rating “upgraded” to three stars and although we know we can’t put too much value in the stars, it is a positive sign that folks are giving MacIntyre and staff a little credit-if an “unrated” prospect signs with a bit program they are usually automatically upgraded suddenly to at least three stars, and in recent past, CU commits were largely ignored in the rating process.  This gives the Buffs a trio of 3* prospects that have committed.  The Buffs’ prospective recruiting class has been ranked as high as 54 nationally, and is currently hovering in the 60’s.

§  One of the top prospects in the state of Colorado, Regis’ “high” three-star OL Tim Lynott, had a long meeting with Coach MacIntyre on May 13, posting a picture on Twitter.  He is the jewel of this class for CU and would be a big step in the right direction keeping the in-state talent home.

§  The Buffs are on the short list of numerous players around the country, many of whom have some other nice names on their lists, including some SEC schools.  In fact, Jack Barsch of Ralphie Report bold predicts that Sheriron Jones, a four-star QB prospect from Rancho Verde, holding offers from most of the Pac-12, as well as the likes of Tennessee and Florida, will eventually settle on the Buffs.

§  However, I also saw a post on Twitter that four-star QB Chason Virgil of Mesquite, Texas, was set to choose between CU and Mississippi State.  Up until now I had not heard much about him, and it appears he chose the SEC, but still a good sign if this report was true that CU was involved.

    NFL Draft Notes:

§  Congratulations to Paul Richardson, who was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks with the 45^th overall pick, in the first half of the second round.  This is a perfect situation for P-Rich to land on a successful team with a dynamic QB, a stable of capable receivers so he does not have to be the man, plus he will get to work against Richard Sherman in practice. 

§  One of his teammates, for camp at least, will be Jackson Jeffcoat (son of CU d-line coach Jim) who signed a free agent contract with Seattle.  Interesting note: this is the first year since 1937 that the University of Texas did not have a single player drafted. 

§  Chidera Uzo-Diribe signed as a free agent with the Saints after the draft and the New Orleans Times Picayune picked him as one of 17 free agents signed that they thought could surprise and actually make the team.  However, I haven’t seen anything else about anyone else signing anywhere else.

§  The St. Louis Rams made a minor media splash in the late seventh round by selecting Missouri LB Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted.  Was this just a publicity stunt or does he have a chance to make the team?  As a seventh rounder, they don’t lose, nor can they be criticized much, if they end up cutting him, but they get some good media hype regardless.

     Facilities Upgrade

§  The university held an “official” groundbreaking ceremony Monday for the planned renovation and remodel of the northern end of Folsom Field.  With ceremonial shovels in hand, the group watched from the Dal Ward Varsity Room as a tractor of some sort (my kindergarten boys would know which one) removed a chunk of concrete from the north endzone area.  There will be major work going on and visible transformation throughout the season for us to observe, envision and criticize.

§  A few questions do still exist though.  How much money has actually been raised? Nobody knows for sure except maybe Rick George.  For a long time it has been reported in the “halfway there” range to the $47.6 million of private money they supposedly needed to raise to get the project going, and before they bond out the rest.  I am wondering if there are one or a couple large donors who are hesitating or waiting on something.  Many others are wondering why CU has not started a smaller campaign with “brick” offering for fans, or maybe they were hoping that idea could create some hype later in the process.  Most of all, we are all wondering if there is any chance whatsoever of actually completing the project within its ambitious timeline, projected to be finished in 15 months from now before the 2015 football season.  Then, Rick George came out and said that it will probably last into the fall, but it is going!

     Other Buff notes

§  The university posted its highest APR ratings ever (for the period of 2009-13), and beating its personal best score for the fourth consecutive year.  Football followed the trend with a solid score of 955, up from the 919 that led to scholarship penalties in 2009.

§  The Pac12 officially announced that the conference championship game would make a permanent move to the San Francisco 49ers’ recently built 69,000 seat Stadium in Santa Clara.  Unfortunately, for TV purposes, the game will again be scheduled on a Friday night, the inaugural one on December 5.  Overall, though, this is a good move for the conference in terms of exposure, as well as logistics, as it has been hard to sell tickets in five days as they have tried to do the last few years, waiting to hold game at the higher ranked school. While some might complain this could be a home field advantage for Stanford or Cal, remember that the Cardinal only drew 29,000 total for the championship game against UCLA last year at their own field, and, come on, when is Cal really going to get back to that game anyway?